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History

The Big Bang

Before the Big Bang, there were Celestials. Later, there were six singularities that existed before the universe exploded into existence; these six were then compacted into primordial ingots that came to be known as Infinity Stones. Meanwhile, the Celestials brought forth light into the universe and shaped creation, as well as life.

Thousands of Years Ago

The Kree came to Earth and experimented with humans to genetically modify them into weapons (giving them powers), using a process called Terrigenesis. Their first test subject Hive was made to command an army of modified humans, but Hive turned the army against the Kree and drove them from Earth. After the Kree left their experiments, the experimented humans formed their own secret society calling themselves the Inhumans. Hive led them, until both the Inhumans and regular humans turned on Hive and banished him to an alien world that they called Maveth through the Kree Monolith. A cult formed not long after made out of Hive's followers whose purpose was to bring Hive back from Maveth. That cult would be renamed in the 20th Century as Hydra.

Malekith sought to harness the power of the Aether, one of the Infinity Stones, to plunge the Nine Realms into darkness as it was before life was breathed into it. His attempt was foiled by the Asgardians and their king Bor. Malekith resorted to sacrificed most of his people in his escape and fell into hibernation in deep space for five thousand years, until the next Convergence.

A meteorite made of Vibranium crash landed on the continent of Africa and affected the surrounding environment. Five tribes soon settled in the area and founded the country of Wakanda. The tribes were at constant war with one another, but they were eventually unified by Bashenga, who, with the strength bestowed upon him by the Heart-Shaped Herb, became the first King of Wakanda and Black Panther. Unwilling to cede power to a monarch, the Jabari Tribe isolated themselves in the mountains outside Wakanda. With the power of Vibranium, Wakandans became the most technologically-advanced country in the world, and adopted an isolationist approach in order to protect Wakanda and its people from all the horrors and petty struggles of the outside world.

When King Bor's son Odin became King of Asgard, Odin, alongside his daughter Hela, colonized the Nine Realms and brought them all under Asgard's rule and protection - making King Odin the "All-Father". Eventually, Hela wanted to expand Asgard's empire. Fearing Hela's lust for power, Odin imprisoned her, wrote her out of Asgard's history, and changed his image to that of a benevolent ruler.

The Dark Ages

Earth was soon travelled to by the Asgardians, who visited the peoples of Northern Europe and taught them language and culture. Most importantly, Asgardians, with their advanced technology, protected the primitive humans from the Frost Giants. Early Norse cultures learned much from these visits, although in time the Asgardians would withdraw and their memory would fall into myth and legend.

Early Modern Period

By the time of rapid globalization on Earth, groups of magic wielders had already grew in number and taken up studying the different schools of magic. The ancient order known as the Masters of the Mystic Arts covertly safeguarded the world from mystical threats, while other groups (such as the Salem coven of witches) gained notoriety and were persecuted for their alleged practicing of dark magic.

20th Century

The 1940s were a tumultuous time on Earth. Depression years and racial disharmony in Europe sparked a Second World War that pressed various factions into a technology race. While Nazi forces occupied much of Central Europe, Hydra was making gains in unconventional warfare. Their leader Johann Schmidt actually managed to procure one of the Infinity Stones; the Tesseract, left behind on Earth by Asgardians. In studying this device Hydra scientists were able to devise new and deadly weapons for their war effort.

In America, Abraham Erskine and Howard Stark were poised on the verge of a breakthrough that would set the stage for the world of the modern "superhero". Erskine had developed a "Super-Soldier" serum that was to transform a soldier from an ordinary man into something altogether stronger, faster, and more resilient. As a result of this experimental process, Steven Rogers became the world's first superhero, "Captain America", but not without cost. Erskine was assassinated and most of the remaining samples of the serum were destroyed before the project could be pushed into widespread use. Rogers and his Howling Commandos defeated Schmidt, all but destroying Hydra in the process, but at the cost of Captain America himself being listed as missing in action. The greater war was won, not with super soldiers, but with countless lives lost due to simple bloody warfare.

Once the war was done, the Strategic Scientific Reserve that created Captain America evolved into a world-spanning security agency they named, Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.)., with one of its founding members being Rogers's former superior and girlfriend Peggy Carter. A collaborator in developing S.H.I.E.L.D. was a former Hydra scientist captured during the War, Arnim Zola, who was secretly also using S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own personnel to create an undercover resurgence of Hydra.

After the success of the Captain America serum, many pursued the creation of another weapon via advances in science. Scientist Hank Pym was the first to succeed, creating a compound that would allow him to shrink down to insect size, yet still retain the strength of an average human. He named his findings as Pym Particles and donned the mantle of Ant-Man, making it his mission to protect the world from potential threats.

Howard Stark, who had assisted with Erskine's program, went on to develop numerous advances in technology and shape the modern world. Learning from the recovered Tesseract, he went on to develop prototype arc reactors, powerful sources of energy in their own right. He was eventually assassinated, leaving his business empire to his young son Tony, while Stark Industries grew into a world renowned supplier of weapons technology.

In the late 1970s, as part of the ongoing conflict between two alien races, the Kree and the Skrulls, the Kree soldier Mar-Vell infiltrated Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. on Earth, where she acquired the Tesseract and began working to create a light-speed engine using the Infinity Stone's power. After discovering the Skrulls were not a race of terrorists as much as victims of the Kree expansion, Mar-Vell attempted to put the light-speed engine to use to help a number of Skrull refugees.

In 1989, she departed on a test flight with S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot Carol Danvers. A Kree fighter craft shot down the test craft, killing Mar-Vell, and attempted to forcibly steal the core of the spacecraft. In a last-ditch effort to save Mar-Vell's mission, Danvers destroyed the core and unintentionally absorbed its energy. She was then kidnapped by the Kree who sought to harness the energy she absorbed.

In the mid-1990s, Danvers returned to Earth on a mission for the Kree, only to discover her past life that the Kree had been hiding from her. Creating an alliance with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury, pilot Maria Rambeau, and a group of Skrulls, she rebelled against the Kree and fulfilled Mar-Vell's original mission to transport the Skrull refugees to safety. Danvers let Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. keep the Tesseract on Earth, as she travelled back to take on the Kree homeworld of Hala. She gave Nick Fury a pager which could be used to reach her in the event of an emergency. Realizing the next threats were to come from outer space, Fury was inspired to start looking for heroes like Danvers through the Avengers initiative.

21st Century

The dawn of the superhero age might have looked like a brief spark to those who grew up reading the exploits of Captain America or those unaware of Captain Marvel, but it was soon to flare into a far brighter flame. The secrets of Erskine's formula had baffled scientists for decades until Dr. Bruce Banner explored a new direction and bombarded himself with gamma radiation to prove his theories. His experiment was successful in augmenting the human form, but the extent of the mutation was far beyond anything anyone could have anticipated. Banner was transformed into a raging green beast that was later dubbed the "Hulk".

In response to threats posed by such things as the Hulk and the Tesseract, governments of the world formed the World Security Council that supervised S.H.I.E.L.D.

The young Tony Stark had spent the years since his father's death learning the role of businessman and further developing his father's company. An inventive genius himself, he was personally responsible for many of the innovations that made Stark Industries a world leader in weapons technology. On a trip to Afghanistan his convoy was ambushed, and he was held captive and forced to develop weapons for terrorists. He escaped from his captors by building a battlesuit for himself rather than the missile they wanted, but the whole incident had a profound effect on him. He turned his company away from the path of violence, while constructing a series of high-tech battlesuits that he wore into battle himself. Tony's vigilante actions had the effect of ushering in a new superhero age, and taking a leaf from the press he began publicly referring to his heroic persona as "Iron Man".

Iron Man's activities led S.H.I.E.L.D. to take an interest in him. They approached Stark on several occasions and reviewed him for potential inclusion into a select group of individuals, but ultimately withdrew from seeking his personal involvement due to his erratic nature. Instead they turned their attentions to exploring weapons technologies. Their mandate was to protect the world from such powerful threats as the Hulk and to this end they began to grow from a clandestine police agency into a powerful military force.

S.H.I.E.L.D. kept a close eye on multiple threats at once, Tony Stark's adventures as Iron Man, atmospheric disturbances in New Mexico, and Banner's return to the United States. Soon, the Hulk was made known to the public due to brief battles with the military and another huge monster. Banner wasn't hailed as a hero like Tony Stark had been. Instead, Banner was forced into hiding again, learning how to control the Hulk rather than cure it.

The Asgardians, thought to be nothing more than a myth after centuries of absence, returned once again to the world when the heir to the throne of Asgard, Thor Odinson found himself banished until he could prove himself worthy to rule Asgard. While his initial appearance went unnoticed to all but a few scientists, his hammer Mjolnir caused quite a stir after it impacted in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico, and also drew the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. Thor did eventually reclaim his birthright and announced that S.H.I.E.L.D. could thereafter count him as an ally.

Alliances would be needed again soon enough. Thanos, in a bid to acquire the Infinity Stones, struck a deal with Thor's brother Loki, to acquire the Tesseract in exchange for rule over the Earth. Immediately upon his surprise return, Loki stole the Tesseract away from S.H.I.E.L.D. In a desperate bid to counter this threat, S.H.I.E.L.D. reactivated an old plan to assemble a group of extraordinary individuals. They called on Tony Stark and Bruce Banner for their scientific expertise. Captain America, reawakened after decades of being frozen in Arctic ice, was called upon to be a super soldier once more. Thor, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Romanoff, and Barton stepped in to round out the new team. Calling themselves the Avengers, they fought Loki and his army of Chitauri to a standstill.

Post-Battle of New York

In the wake of the Battle of New York, the world had become a changed place. The heroes and other gifted humans became either idolized for saving the world, or feared due to all the destruction and collateral damage caused in the process. Some feared the prospect of threats from beyond the known world, but the next threat of significance was a series of terrorist bombings around the globe. Authorities searched in vain for the culprit behind it, and were confounded by the series of hijacked television broadcasts that followed. After a scarring attack, Iron Man and his partner the Iron Patriot put a stop to the terrorist attacks.

Contact with worlds beyond Earth was renewed when the Nine Realms of Asgardian cosmology came into alignment. The Aether was reawakened at this Convergence, and with it, once again, came the Dark Elves. It took the combined efforts of Thor and many of his friends to prevent reality itself from being plunged back into darkness.

In response to these numerous threats, S.H.I.E.L.D. commissioned a powerful new protection measure in the form of three new helicarriers. Suspicions surrounding the purpose of these new warships soon saw rogue elements within the agency turn from it and expose a deeper threat behind the new construction effort: Hydra had been infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. from within, swelling its ranks and influencing its actions, since the end of the Second World War. Hydra's plans for the new helicarriers were finally dashed through the efforts of Captain America and a few of his trusted allies.

S.H.I.E.L.D. ultimately tore itself apart in an internal war between operatives loyal to its founding principles, and those loyal to Hydra. Agent Phil Coulson, resurrected from death just prior to the Battle of New York, and his team evaded much of the conflict, and were instrumental in exposing several of Hydra's many operations. As Coulson had been loyal to the end, Nick Fury appointed him the new director of a new S.H.I.E.L.D. as the agency began to reform.[30] Unknown to both, the agents who survived the Hydra uprising aboard the Iliad, led by Robert Gonzales, had formed a S.H.I.E.L.D. of their own.

Far from Earth, a number of factions sought to procure the Orb. Despite a number of very powerful individuals committing vast resources into recovering this object, Peter Quill, a rogue star-hopping native of Earth who had been abducted from his homeworld in his childhood, was the first to claim it. The Orb in truth contained one of the legendary Infinity Stones, and it was soon wrested from Quill by Ronan the Accuser to be used as a weapon to commit genocide of a star-spanning empire. Quill and a ragtag band of criminals executed a daring plan that saw them successfully oppose Ronan and ultimately place the Orb in safekeeping with the Nova Corps. This act earned them the name of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Scant months after ending the threat of Ronan, the Guardians of the Galaxy found themselves embroiled in a new struggle against a galactic threat after a surprise encounter with Peter's biological father, Ego. Ego, a celestial being who had evolved alone as a small planet, sought to supplant all life in the universe with life of his own creation, and once Quill and his friends discovered this truth they acted on the only practical option available to them, which was to fight. New allies swelled the ranks of the team, and together the group of unlikely heroes triumphed over the living planet, thereby saving the galaxy a second time.

On the streets of New York, "masked superheroes" were given a whole new meaning when blind attorney Matt Murdock began his one-man war against the crime syndicates plaguing Hell's Kitchen. Becoming a crime fighting vigilante, he took down Wilson Fisk, the leader of these criminal organizations, obtaining the name "Daredevil" in the process.

The Avengers, reformed after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., sought to secure the alien sceptre that had been a pivotal part of the Battle of New York three years prior. The computational power of the sceptre, however, had an unexpected impact on Tony Stark's artificial intelligence projects, and gave rise to the sentient AI, Ultron. Ultron interpreted his mandate to preserve life as a mandate to wage war on organic life in order to allow his own artificial life to flourish, and so he created an android body for himself to house the newly found Infinity Stone hidden within the sceptre. The Avengers challenged Ultron's evolutionary designs, and defeated his army of robots, but at such great cost that the war saw a partial fragmentation and reformation of the team.

While snuffing out the final remnants of Hydra, the agents of a new S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Phil Coulson, discovered the Inhumans, descendants of earlier humans who were Kree test subjects, and that one of his own agents, Skye, was part of this lineage. The rise of the Inhumans put S.H.I.E.L.D. in conflict with many different factions, but in the end, they prevented all-out war and started a new specialized task force to keep the peace between man and Inhuman.

Pym Particles resurfaced as yet another threat to the modern world when research scientist Darren Cross sought to rediscover methods of harnessing their power with a view to profiting from selling the technology to military interests. Dr. Hank Pym came out of retirement to put a stop to this plan, and drew Scott Lang, a resourceful engineer and former convict, into his sphere of influence to help him by taking on a mantle he had once worn himself. As the Ant-Man, Lang was able to halt the mass distribution of Pym's dangerous technology with the help of Dr. Pym and a few close allies.

Hell's Kitchen became the map of a violent cat and mouse game when private investigator Jessica Jones sought to stop the psychopath Kilgrave from causing harm with his mind control ability. Jessica put a stop to him in the end, but the loss and damage that had been done were enough to further the unrest between enhanced heroes and the civilians they sought to protect.

Following this and a number of isolated events, the New York District Attorney's office began a pubic manhunt for all vigilantes, focusing on Daredevil and the lone gunman known as the Punisher. However, Murdock's efforts to aid the Punisher were interrupted by the arrival of the ninja cult The Hand. It took the partnership of Daredevil and Elektra to stop the Hand from destroying New York, while the Punisher took measures to permanently eradicate most of New York's criminal organizations.

On the world's stage, rising concerns about the unchecked power of enhanced individuals resulted in an international body of nations drafting up the Sokovia Accords, a weighty document intending to curtail the excesses of superhuman power. While initially the impetus for this measure was the damage from the various public battles fought by the Avengers, a further call for restraint came when the Avengers botched a mission which had resulted in a number of civilian casualties. On the day that the Sokovia Accords were to be signed, a bomb blast in the street outside the building killed the reigning king of Wakanda T'Chaka, and the apparent culprit was Bucky Barnes. The world had been duped however, and the bombing had been the result of Colonel Helmut Zemo's plans to sow the seeds of discord and tear apart the Avengers from within. The ploy was wildly successful in achieving this end, and left the world's pre-eminent superhero team in a fractured state.

A week following T'Chaka's death, his son T'Challa ascended to the throne as his nation's defender, the Black Panther. Shortly afterwards, T'Challa was overthrown by his long-lost orphan cousin N'Jadaka, who had been abandoned at a young age by T'Chaka due to Wakanda's isolationist and secretive ways. He grew up to become a hateful extremist who wanted to use Wakanda's secret riches and advanced technology to liberate all of his skinfolk. Following N'Jadaka's defeat, T'Challa was compelled to abandon the pretense that Wakanda was a struggling country in order to open the doors of the nation to the rest of the world.

The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. did their best to covertly contain Inhumans and other threats to world security. They were once again challenged when they discovered a sub-cult within Hydra, devoted to a being believed to be the first Inhuman. This being was successful in returning to Earth and assuming control of Hydra, which put it into conflict with S.H.I.E.L.D.. The agents were able to destroy the being, but the process of doing so resulted in the loss of a few agents and a major power shift within the organization.

Harlem, a community founded on the hopes and aspirations of New York's ethnic minorities, experienced upheaval when crime lords, and a local body politician with connections to the criminal underworld, sought to increase their stake in the city. Luke Cage, a man with incredible strength and unbreakable skin, became something of a reluctant hero as he engaged in a personal war against these elements. His actions proved to be central to the downfall of a number of criminals illegally profiting from the people of Harlem, and he found himself publicly regarded as a hero of the people as a result.

In the midst of an escalation of superpowered battles and the growing tension between superheroes and private citizens, former blue collar worker Adrian Toomes wanted revenge on the rich and powerful people of the world like Stark, who neglected the consequences of their destructive conflicts on average citizens. Repeatedly stealing from the Avengers, Toomes was eventually stopped by suburban crime-fighter Spider-Man.

Humanity had a close brush with extra-dimensional forces when Kaecilius, a rogue sorcerer, led a small splinter group away from the Masters of the Mystic Arts and stole forbidden knowledge from the Book of Cagliostro. His actions sparked a clandestine struggle between his own sect and the ancient order that resulted in the demise of many on both sides, including Earth's resident Sorcerer Supreme. Dr. Stephen Strange, an unlikely and reluctant hero, rose through the ranks of the masters to fight this menace, and ultimately stood alone in saving the world.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had a brush with the supernatural themselves when the Darkhold was uncovered and opened. After having corrupted Eli Morrow, who vainly sought to use its dark power, it became an object of great interest to Dr. Holden Radcliffe. Radcliffe initially had his artificial creation, Aida, absorb knowledge from the book, and then had her create an artificial world within a digital network of computer systems worldwide. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, while successful in bringing an end to Morrow's attempt to secure unrestrained power, were less successful in dealing with the technological problem that Radcliffe had created. Radcliffe himself died by Aida's hand, while several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were left trapped in his artificial digital world.

Fifteen years after a plane went missing in the Himalayas, apparently claiming the lives of the wealthy Rand family, a young man arrived in New York claiming to be the lost Daniel Rand. Rand had returned to New York on a personal quest to investigate the Hand, and had brought with him a knowledge and power of the Iron Fist, an ancient power harnessed by a lone warrior of the Order of the Crane Mother. After struggling to prove his identity, Rand eventually came to blows with elements of the Hand and successfully reclaimed a stake in his late father's company, ending rogue operations to supply and distribute synthetic heroin in the process.

While seeking out allies to combat the Hand, Rand and Colleen Wing's pursuit led them into a reluctant alliance of convenience with Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones, each of them conducting separate investigations into the Hand. Together, the group uncovered how the Hand's ability to resurrect its members lay in a dwindling store of ancient dragon bone. The quartet eventually took their fight straight to the heart of the Hand's operation under the Midland Circle Financial Building, which resulted in the building's demolition. The Hand leadership had been dissolved, but not without the apparent self-sacrifice of Daredevil.

Six months after eliminating the remnants of the Kitchen Irish, Dogs of Hell, and the Mexican Cartels, Frank Castle had ceased his vigilantism and attempted to live a normal life. However, Frank had been contacted by David Lieberman regarding his participation in Operation Cerberus, a classified Central Intelligence Agency operation designed to remove individuals who have witnessed the agency's illegal activities. With the aid of Lieberman, Karen Page, and Department of Homeland Security agent Dinah Madani, Castle learns that his former commanding officer, Colonel Ray Schoonover had aid from high ranking CIA agent William Rawlins indirectly attempting to assassinate Castle and his family. Castle murders Rawlins and maims former U.S. Marine squadmate Billy Russo for their roles in participating with the conspiracy. During the aftermath, the C.I.A. Director covers up the events while expunging Frank's criminal record.

In space, Thor's fruitless search for the Infinity Stones led him to discover that the Nine Realms were in chaos due to the negligent rule of Loki, masquerading as Odin. Not only had Loki left the people of the Nine Realms unprotected, but he had unknowingly released Odin's firstborn, Hela, the Goddess of Death, who banished the Asgardian princes to Sakaar and reclaimed Asgard for herself. Thor, with his allies, from the gladiatorial planet, moved to retake Asgard from Hela but resorted to releasing Surtur and triggering the obliteration of the realm to ensure Hela's defeat and the survival of their people. By the end of it, Thor accepted the throne and the survivors sought refuge on Earth.

Meanwhile on Earth, Hank Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne were attempting to engineer a device which would allow them to bring Janet van Dyne, Hank's wife and Hope's mother, back from the Quantum Realm after seeing that Scott Lang survive a trip to the microcosmic realm. Their efforts were interrupted by the arrival of a vengeful Ghost, who sought to use quantum energy to cure herself of her powers. Hank and Hope called upon a house-arrested Scott for a team-up of Ant-Man and the new Wasp in order to take down Ghost and the greedy Sonny Burch, as well as to rescue Janet.

Thanos, on a quest to balance the universe by eliminating half its population, reclaimed all the Infinity Stones. After destroying Xandar for the Power Stone and eliminating half the Asgardian population for the Space Stone, Thanos and his Black Order moved towards Earth for the remaining Stones. The splintered cells of Avengers, aided by the Guardians of the Galaxy, stood no match for the Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Titanian. A team of Avengers made their final stand in Wakanda, but were unable to keep Vision and the Mind Stone out of Thanos' possession. With the Gauntlet now completed, Thanos instantaneously eliminated half of all life in the universe and retreated to a remote planet, leaving Earth's Mightiest Heroes to recover from their defeat.

After locating Thanos, Thor brutally killed the Mad Titan after the latter revealed having destroyed the Infinity Stones. Five years passed and the world reeled from losing loved ones in what was called "the Blip."[1] After Scott Lang returned from the Quantum Realm, he contacted the Avengers to talk about Time Travel and get the Infinity Stones from alternate timelines to revert the snap. They succeeded, but a Thanos from an alternate 2014 came to the present to get the Stones. Iron Man sacrificed himself by assimilating them into his armor and snapping his fingers to eliminate Thanos and his army. A funeral was held in his honor.

After the Blip

In the aftermath of Thanos' invasion and the return of those who had been killed at his hand, much of society managed to regain its footing and continue on as normal.

The small town of Westview, New Jersey became the site of what seemingly was the next supernatural threat to face Earth. The threat response organization S.W.O.R.D. was quick to mobilize in order to investigate the Hex, a barrier placed around Westview that vanished its residents into an idyllic sitcom reality. They soon discovered that it was recently-resurrected Avenger Wanda Maximoff, overcome with grief after losing Vision, who was behind Westview's transformation. After meddling done by Salem witch Agatha Harkness, Wanda relinquished her fantasy reality with her husband and embraced her destiny as the Scarlet Witch, though while garnering the resentment of the townspeople whom she controlled against their will for the better part of a week.

In the wake of chaos caused by the sudden reemergence of half the planet's population, multiple organizations emerged hoping to stake their claim in creating the new world order. The international coalition known as the Global Repatriation Council and the United States government appointed a new Captain America to serve as a symbol of stability and protection during the tumultuous period. Conversely, the revolutionary, anti-nationalist group calling themselves the Flag Smashers emerged to disrupt the GRC's plans and return the world back to the liberated and united way of life during the five-year era of the Blip. Wanting to prevent all-out war between the two groups, while simultaneously protecting the legacy of Captain America's mantle, Steve Rogers' former allies the Falcon and Bucky Barnes went straight to the heart of the Flag Smashers' operation and put a stop to them. In doing so, Sam Wilson was pushed to shed his identity as the Falcon and reclaim the title of Captain America, who would now be a hero for all the world's people.

Eight months after being brought back from the Blip, Spider-Man, as one of the only active remaining Avengers, was serving as a spokesperson trying to return hope to the public. Seeing the public's wanting for a "new superhero," a group of disgruntled, former Stark Industries employees came together to create Mysterio, a phony superhero who fought "monsters from another universe". Although initially seeing him as an ally, Spider-Man discovered Mysterio's deception and put a stop to him. The actor portraying Mysterio accidentally took a fatal hit during the battle, but used his death and the public's trust in him as a way to frame Spider-Man and expose Peter Parker's secret identity.

Fictional character biography

Heimdall is the brother of the warrior Sif. He is the all-seeing and all-hearing guardian sentry of Asgard who stands on the rainbow bridge Bifröst to watch for any attacks to Asgard. He partly won the role through using his eyesight to see an army of giants several days' march from Asgard, allowing them to be defeated before they reached Asgard, and making their king a prisoner. For ages, he stood as the guardian of Asgard, defending the city's gates from any intruders, and was one of the most trusted servants of Odin.

In his first appearance, Loki had been imprisoned in a tree until his plight caused someone to shed a tear. Heimdall accidentally freed him when Loki caused one of the leaves of the tree to poke him in the eye. Later Heimdall warned Odin of a threat he had perceived though he did not know exactly what manner of danger it was. Odin wove his own magic and found a Vanna, a wind sprite that was one of the few entities able to physically elude Heimdall. Odin praised Heimdall's courage for warning the others, even though he knew not what he was warning about and thus risking ridicule. When next seen, he battled Thor to prevent him from entering Asgard; He then battled Thor to prevent him from leaving Asgard as Odin did not want him to see Jane Foster again. Heimdall was then immobilized by Seidring in a cuboid of ethereal force when Seidring stole the Odinforce. Some time later, he encountered the Recorder during the attack of the superstrong monster Mangog.

Later still, Heimdall battled Thor at Loki's command. In the prophecy of Ragnarok, he severed the Rainbow Bridge, and sounded Gjallarhorn. He traveled to Earth with Kamorr the dwarf to search for human candidates for godhood. He gathered three such human beings, and arranged for them to be exposed to Ego-Prime's energies and become the first three Young Gods. Heimdall then accompanied the Asgardians into the Dark Nebula.

Heimdall later became afflicted by lethargy in one of Odin's absences from Asgard. He then blew Gjallarhorn to summon Odin's elite guard. Some time later, he summoned Asgardian troops to restrain Thor. Later, he battled Thor again to prevent him from bringing mortals into Asgard.

When Asgard was invaded by the fire demon Surtur, Heimdall attempted to defend the gates, but was overcome, and the Rainbow Bridge was shattered. No longer needing to be stationary, Heimdall spent more time in Asgard. Heimdall is given the Great Scepter of Odin to guard by Loki. Heimdall discovered Malekith's escape. He fetched Amora the Enchantress to help free Thor from ensorcelment. Heimdall later learned of Loki's possession of Surtur's sword.

Heimdall became close to Amora, who was soon infatuated with him. He comforted Amora about the Executioner's death. Heimdall rescued Balder from Seth's assassins. Heimdall was gravely injured during the war with Seth, the Egyptian god of death, when he was struck down in battle with the legions of Seth. Heimdall later battled Sif, Leir and Caber. Heimdall confronted Surtur disguised as Odin about the imprisoned Grand Vizier. Heimdall led the legions of Asgard into battle against Ymir.

When Odin returned to Asgard after Surtur's defeat, he gave a portion of his power to Heimdall to restore the Rainbow Bridge, and Heimdall resumed his duties.

Seemingly betrayed

Shortly afterwards, when Odin was about to enter his Odinsleep, he passed the Odinpower on to Heimdall to rule Asgard until he awoke.[volume & issue needed] Heimdall had to deal with a major crisis in the life of Thor, as Thor had been banished into the subconscious of the mortal Eric Masterson, who had assumed Thor's responsibilities.[volume & issue needed] Sif was determined to find the real Thor, and her determination drove a wedge between her and Heimdall.[volume & issue needed] When Karnilla conspired with Loki to rule Asgard by having Odin awaken with Loki's soul possessing him, Heimdall was branded a traitor and banished to the Dream Dimension, ruled by the demon Nightmare.[volume & issue needed] During this incident, his mind had been altered, leaving him little more than being able to follow directions.[volume & issue needed] The Enchantress battles Nightmare in order to save him, ultimately rescuing them both.[volume & issue needed] Eric Masterson helped restore Odin whose body had been taken over by Loki with Mephisto's help and later Thor as well from the soul shroud.

Loss and death

Heimdall and Amora drifted apart when Amora realized that his duty to Asgard was greater than his love for her.[volume & issue needed] When Odin cast the Asgardians into the guises of mortals to protect them from a false Ragnarok, Heimdall became Donald Velez. He joined the other "Lost Gods" in attempting to rediscover who they were and battling the Egyptian death-god Seth.[volume & issue needed] Heimdall and the others regained their true forms and defeated Seth just as Asgard was attacked by the Dark Gods, and they were all taken prisoner.[volume & issue needed] They were finally rescued by Thor.[volume & issue needed]

Around this time, Jason, a powerful member of the earth-based team the Pantheon, claims to have eluded Heimdall's senses during a trip through Asgard and over the Rainbow Bridge. Not many people trust Jason.

An alternate reality version of Asgard featured the realm itself floating over the East Coast of America. This raises worship of Thor, who was the ruler and he utilizes Heimdall's senses to hear the prayers directed to him. This realm is eliminated from time when the future Thor realizes he has become a tyrant and merges with his past self.

Asgard is struck by another Ragnarok, caused by Loki making weapons like Mjolnir for his army and enlisting the aid of Surtur, one from which there was no seeming reversal. Heimdall perishes in battle defending his people.[volume & issue needed] Many Asgardians, Heimdall included, reform as Earthly beings.

Rebirth

After Thor ends the cycle of Ragnarok, Thor restores Asgard in Broxton, Oklahoma. Heimdall, along with the other Asgardians, are reborn on Earth in bodies of mortal beings, and he is the first Asgardian to be found. Thor locates Heimdall in New Orleans in the body of a man on a bridge and restores him to his Asgardian form. Upon his return to Asgard, Heimdall uses his near-omniscient power to locate the scattered souls of the other Asgardians with the notable exception of his sister Sif, due to Loki's interference.

Heimdall is overcome by guilt when his supervision of all known worlds, including Earth, fails to spot the Fenris wolf savaging a small town in the state of Washington. Thor assures him that no Asgardian is perfect, and that furthermore he should assuage his guilt by performing his job better in the future.

During the events of Siege, Heimdall is one of the first targets to be taken out by Norman Osborn and his forces. Loki transports his bedchamber beneath Asgard so he cannot warn them of the attack. However Heimdall partially recovers, joins his comrades in battle and assists in defeating the invaders. Heimdall's duties and status are touched upon in the 'Avengers Prime' miniseries which takes place in the days following 'Siege'. At the conclusion, he is entrusted with the 'Twilight Sword', a weapon that could destroy the known worlds.

All-Mother

Main article: Frigga (comics)

See also: Freyja

The rebuilding of Asgard comes with a new ruler, the All-Mother. She asks Heimdall to look into the future, where he sees unknown assassins attempting to kill her. He also manages to note something is wrong with the God of Thunder, Tanarus. This Thunder God severely injures Heimdall, leaving him unable to protect the All-Mother and warn others of the mystery of his attacker.

Odin returns, and yet another carries Mjolnir, Jane Foster. When Odin sends Cul to bring down Jane on Bifrost itself, Heimdall fights back, knowing this would end with him imprisoned, as the former All-Mother is now imprisoned under Odin's orders.

Blinded Heimdall

When Mangog attacked Asgard, his latest assault left Heimdall blind when the monster took Heimdall's sword and used it to gouge out his eyes. Heimdall was treated in time to save his life, but when the War of the Realms began, he was still blinded, with the result that Daredevil took over his duties for a brief period as he was better equipped to 'see' while blind, until his eyes recovered.

Death

With his eyesight restored, Heimdall traveled to Midgard to help Jane Foster - the new Valkyrie - find the lost sword Dragonfang, but was stabbed in the chest by Bullseye after the assassin took the sword. Although his wounds proved fatal, Heimdall was able to help Jane accept that she had to be her own kind of Valkyrie rather than hold on to their legacy, destroying the sword to defeat Bullseye, subsequently taking Heimdall on a 'tour' of the multiversal afterlife rather than just taking him straight to Valhalla so that he could experience something truly new.

Powers and abilities

Heimdall possesses the powers of a typical Asgardian, including superhuman strength, stamina, speed, agility and durability. However, he is generally stronger and more durable than all but a few Asgardians, such as Odin and Thor. Like all Asgardians his body is three times more dense and heavy than a human's, contributing partly to his superhuman strength and weight.

Heimdall possesses extraordinarily acute superhuman senses, most notably his vision and hearing. His senses are said to be so acute that he could hear sap running through trees, and "the tiniest plant growing in the heart of the hidden hills", and see and hear anything occurring in Asgard or on Earth. Heimdall can also "look across time, as well as space", in one instance seeing the far-off approach of an invading party and correctly predicting that they were still a full two days away from Asgard; this ability to see what has yet to come is retained even after the establishment of the new Asgard on Earth.[volume & issue needed] Heimdall has been said to be capable of detecting the fluttering of a butterfly's wings "a thousand worlds away".[volume & issue needed] Heimdall is able to sense the life essences of Asgardian gods throughout the Nine Worlds of Asgard, and has the ability to focus on certain sensory information or block it out of his consciousness as he chooses, being so alert that he requires no sleep at all. According to Ares in his War Plan for the Siege of Asgard, Heimdall can "see and hear as far as creation", even capable of seeing the Dark Avengers at Avengers Tower from Broxton. Certain magical spells can block his sensory powers. Additionally, his powers of sight are limited if even one of his eyes cannot see; apparently his eyes are capable of sustaining physical injury and require a long time to naturally heal, if ever. At least once, Heimdall has shown the ability to project an avatar (as an enlarged image of his face) to others from just outside Broxton to Manhattan, as he did with Thor, though he claims that he cannot maintain it for long, as his power has diminished with the fall of Asgard.

Heimdall also briefly possessed the Odinpower which granted him the ability to channel vast magical energies, for various purposes, such as repairing the shattered dimension-linking Rainbow Bridge.

Heimdall is an experienced warrior and a fierce hand-to-hand combatant. He has proficiency and great experience with edged weapons and wields a variety of swords, shields and spears and he wears a suit of armor. Heimdall bore the Gjallerhorn ("Yelling Horn"), which he would sound to alert all of Asgard to dangers threatening the city's gates, functioning even on Midgard and capable of being heard by any and all Asgardians on the planet when sounded. While in the mortal form of Donald Velez he wore enchanted glasses which granted him super-enhanced vision. He possesses the golden-maned steed named Golltoppr ("Golden Top").

Heimdall is armed with an enchanted uru sword that has, on at least one occasion, allowed him to mystically disguise himself as a normal human while on Earth. It is said by Heimdall to contain "all the cosmic force of the universe" has also been shown capable of projecting "the blue flame from countless cosmic suns", used both times to battle Thor, and enabled Heimdall to directly best the Thunder God the first time when the latter's strength was halved. Heimdall has also at least once wielded the powerful Sabre of Sorcery, which projected blasts of mystic energy and/or fire, against the Hulk when the latter was invading Asgard, but was unable to prevent him from entering the Realm Eternal.

Other versions

Earth X

In the alternate Earth X reality, the Asgardians were actually aliens that were manipulated by the Celestials into believing they were the Gods of Norse myth. When the lie was revealed, "Heimdall" and the other Asgardians briefly resumed their alien form, but later returned to their Asgardian forms.

Guardians of the Galaxy

In the Guardians of the Galaxy timeline, Heimdall is still alive and well in the 31st Century. He battled Starhawk and Aleta on the Bifrost Bridge.

Thor: The Mighty Avenger

In Thor: The Mighty Avenger #6, Heimdall, much like his Marvel Universe incarnation, appears as the guard of the Bifrost bridge, sports a goatee and wears a horned helmet that casts his eyes in shadows. Heimdall is ordered by Odin to keep Thor from returning to Asgard. He is also revealed as the one who separated Thor from his hammer. When Heimdall threatens to send Jane Foster to some distant planet where Thor could never find her if he continues trying to force his way into Asgard, Thor ends his attempt.

Ultimate Marvel

Heimdall first appeared in the Ultimate Marvel universe when he is confronted by Loki (disguised as Baron Zemo), who shot and killed him. He was guarding the Bifrost.

The Richest Man in Babylon

This article is about the book by George Samuel Clason. For the album by Thievery Corporation, see The Richest Man in Babylon (album).

The Richest Man in Babylon is a 1926 book by George S. Clason that dispenses financial advice through a collection of parables set 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon. The book remains in print almost a century after the parables were originally published, and is regarded as a classic of personal financial advice.

Background

The parables are told by a fictional Babylonian character called Arkad, a poor scribe who became the "richest man in Babylon". Included in Arkad's advice are the "Seven Cures" (or how to generate money and wealth), and the "Five Laws of Gold" (or how to protect and invest wealth). A core part of Arkad's advice is around "paying yourself first", "living within your means", "investing in what you know", the importance of "long-term saving", and "home ownership".

The content is from a series of pamphlets distributed by U.S. banks and insurance companies in 1920–24; the pamphlets were bound together and published as a book in 1926. The book is often referred to as a classic of personal financial advice, and appears in modern recommended reading lists on personal financial advice and wealth management, which has kept the book in print almost 90 years after its first edition with over 2 million copies sold.

Clason himself published an illustrated hardback edition in 1930 titled The Richest Man in Babylon and Other Stories which now sells for USD 1,250.

The unusual structure of the book has inspired many modern derivative works providing further discussion and insights on the parables.

Structure

The original 1926 book groups the parables into general themes of advice, and particularly "The Seven Cures" and the "Five Laws of Gold".

Some themes can overlap (e.g. The First Cure is similar to the First Law of Gold).

Seven Cures For a Lean Purse

1. The First Cure: Start thy purse to fattening.

Arkad advises on saving 10% of your annual income to start building up your wealth (or purse): "For every ten coins thou placest within thy purse take out for use but nine. Thy purse will start to fatten at once and its increasing weight will feel good in thy hand and bring satisfaction to thy soul".

2.The Second Cure: Control thy expenditures.

Arkad advises against luxury expenditures that ultimately become confused as necessities: "The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start", and, "What each of us calls our 'necessary expenses' will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary", and, "Confuse not the necessary expenses with thy desires".

3.The Third Cure: Make thy gold multiply.

Arkad advises to invest and to compound the investment return from these savings: "The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes ... Learn to make your treasure work for you. Make it your slave. Make its children and its children's children work for you".

4.The Fourth Cure: Guard thy treasures from loss.

Arkad advises against taking a risk of loss and investing get-rich-quick schemes: "Is it wise to be intrigued by larger earnings when thy principal may be lost? I say not. The penalty of risk is probable loss. Study carefully, before parting with thy treasure, each assurance that it may be safely reclaimed. Be not misled by thine own romantic desires to make wealth rapidly".

5.The Fifth Cure: Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment.

Arkad advises buying versus renting your principal residence, and to use your residence to establish a business: "I recommend that every man own the roof that sheltereth him and his", and, "Nor is it beyond the ability of any well-intentioned man to own his home".

6.The Sixth Cure: Ensure a future income.

Arkad advises on having a pension and future retirement income: "Therefore do I say that it behooves a man to make preparations for a suitable income in the days to come, when he is no longer young, and to make preparations for his family should he be no longer with them to comfort and support them".

7.The Seventh Cure: Increase thy ability to earn.

Arkad advises to keep developing your own skills to increase your investing wisdom and also to increase your earnings power: "The more of wisdom we know, the more we may earn", and, "That man who seeks to learn more of his craft shall be richly rewarded".

The Five Laws of Gold

1.The First Law of Gold. Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family.

Arkad's advice here is very similar to the First Cure, which is that saving is the start towards building wealth.

2.The Second Law of Gold. Gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.

Arkad's advice here is very similar to the Third Cure, which is that these savings can themselves grow and compound your wealth.

3.The Third Law of Gold. Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.

Arkad's advice here is similar to the Fourth Cure, which is about being patient and having a long-term view.

4.The Fourth Law of Gold. Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.

Arkad's advice here is about investing in what you know about and understand.

5.The Fifth Law of Gold. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.

Arkad's advice here is about avoiding get-rich-quick or very aggressive wealth creation strategies.

Other parables

The final chapters of the 1926 book cover individual parables:

-The Gold Lender of Babylon. Better a little caution than a great regret.

-The Walls of Babylon. We cannot afford to be without adequate protection.

-The Camel Trader of Babylon. Where the determination is, a way can be found.

There is then an unusual section where a contemporary archeologist reveals five clay Babylonian tablets (numbered I to V), whose inscriptions provide short parables.

The final chapter in the 1926 book is on The Luckiest Man in Babylon.

To break things down further, PWM circuits [PDF] typically involve a very tiny power source, and a large one. The tiny power source controls the large one with the help of power transistors.

Bila Tserkva (Ukrainian: Бі́ла Це́рква [ˈbilɐ ˈtsɛrkwɐ]; Polish: Biała Cerkiew; Russian: Белая Церковь, romanized: Belaya Tserkov [ˈbʲeləjə ˈtsɛrkəfʲ]; all lit. ''White Church'' is a city in western Ukraine, the largest city in Kyiv Oblast, and part of the Right Bank. Bila Tserkva is located on the Ros River approximately 80 km (50 mi) south of Kyiv. The city has an area of 67.8 square kilometres (26.2 sq mi). Its population is approximately 208,737 (2021 est.)

From its earliest incarnation, Bila Tserkva was considered to provide important defense against nomadic tribes, ranging from the Cumans to the Tatars. Nonetheless, it was devastated by a 13th century Mongol invastion. The site of the 1651 Battle of Bila Tserkva between the Zaporozhian Cossack Army and their Tatar allies and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Bila Tserkva was also where they signed a Treaty. Four hundred years later, 22,000 residents of the city and its environs died under the Soviet Famine-Genocide of 1932–3. Less than a decade later, Bila Tserkva would become the site of a brutal massacre of the city's Jewish population, that required the separate executions of nearly 100 children. Kiev's Judaica Institute was later created "after the tragic decades of Bolshevik repressions, Nazi genocide of the Jewish people, and bans on Jewish studies" to research and "popularize the past and the present of the Jewish community of Ukraine."

Bila Tserkva first began serving as an important county center during the Lithuanian and, later, Polish rule, and it has maintained that role due to its close proximity to Kiev and its place at the center of Europe's breadbasket, The economy first began diversifying in the late 1700s, when Alexandra Branicki, the wife of the Polish King Franciszek Ksawery Branicki had a 400-hectacre landscaped park designed. The Oleksandriia Dendrological Park is now a part of the Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences, and it currently cultivates more than 1,800 endemic and exotic plant species, with more than 600 species of exotic trees and shrubs alone, in addition to publishing academic research.

The Branickis also funded several ambitious architectural projects during this period:

[T]he Winter Palace on the bank of the Ros River, the Summer Palace, an ensemble of postal station buildings, the Church of Saint John the Baptist (1789–1812), the Transfiguration Cathedral (1833–9), and the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene (1843). The Church of Saint Nicholas, whose construction was initiated by Hetman Ivan Mazepa and Colonel Kostiantyn Maziievsky in 1706, was finally completed in 1852. In 1809–14 the Market Stalls were built to provide space for 85 merchants.

The Market Stalls expanded the public presence of the market at a time when the grain trade and sugar industry also began to contribute to the growth of the city. In 1850, Bila Tserkva also built its first major factory and, over time, it "began to specialize in building machines for the production of feed for livestock), electrical capacitors, tires, rubber-asbestos products, shoes, clothing, furniture, and reinforced-concrete products." Finally, in 1929, the Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University was founded as a scientific research center specializing in academic research on everything from nature and environmental protection, to biosafety, the veterinary welfare of livestock, the rationalization of social development of rural areas; the legal sciences, and more.

The early 1900s also marked the beginning of the City's political awakening. In addition to an active Zionist movement, there was an active branch of the Decembrist movement and a Society of United Slavs involved in "plans to assassinate Tsar Alexander I by Sergei Muravev-Apostol and his co-conspirators." A cultural awakening soon followed: Bila Tserka has been the home to many artists and writers, including Sholem Aleichem and Shaye Shkarovsky writing in Yiddish and Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky writing in Ukrainian; artists like Luka Dolinski and Halyna Nevinchana; and theater and film directors Eugene Deslaw and Les Kurbas.

History

Founded in 1032, it was originally named Yuriiv by Yaroslav the Wise, whose Christian name was Yuri. The contemporary name of the city, literally translated, is "White Church" and may refer to the white-painted cathedral (no longer extant) of medieval Yuriiv. In its long history, Bila Tserkva spent its first few hundred years privately owned, later, though the owner was typically a citizen of the ruling empire, it was organized as a fiefdom.

From 1363, it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and from 1569 to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, administratively in the Powiat of Kyiv, part of Lesser Poland. It was crown property, but in recognition of his great service, it was granted to the Castellan of Kraków, Janusz Ostrogski. The next owner was Stanisław Lubomirski (1583–1649) and during his time the town was granted Magdeburg Rights by Sigismund III Vasa in 1620.

After subduing the rebellious Cossacks in the 1626 Battle of Bila Tserkva, the next owner of the estate was Prince Jerzy Dymitr Wiśniowiecki. The castle was successfully taken by Bohdan Khmelnytsky in 1648. The Battle of Bila Tserkva (1651) led to the signing of a peace accord with the Cossacks. The Treaty of Bila Tserkva between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Ukrainian Cossack rebels under Bohdan Khmelnytsky was signed here in 1651.[16] In 1666, six-thousand Muscovite troops laid siege to Bila Tserkva. The standoff lasted until the following year when Polish reinforcements led by Jan Stachurski with the aid of allied Cossacks and Iwan Brzuchowiecki smashed Petro Doroshenko's stranglehold.

The next owner was Great Crown Hetman Stanislaw Jan Jabłonowski. In 1702, the castle was taken by the Cossack leader, Semen Paliy who made it his domain. In 1708, the town was overrun by prince Golitsyn's Russian army. The next owner of the town was Jan Stanislaw Jabłonowski, then Stanisław Wincenty Jabłonowski who erected a catholic church. After him ownership passed to Jerzy August Mniszech. The town was substantially refortified.

In 1774, Bila Tserkva (Biała Cerkiew), then the seat of the sub-prefecture (starostwo), came into the possession of Stanisław August Poniatowski who that same year granted the property to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, Poland's Grand Hetman who then built his urban residence, the Winter Palace complex and a country residence with the "Oleksandriia" Arboretum (named after his wife Aleksandra Branicka). He founded the Catholic Church of John the Baptist, and started construction of the Orthodox church, which was completed by his successor, his son Count Władysław Grzegorz Branicki. The latter also built the gymnasium-school complex in Bila Tserkva. Aleksander Branicki, the youngest grandson of the hetman, renovated and finished Mazepa's Orthodox church. Under the rule of count Władysław Michał Branicki, Bila Tserkva developed into a regional commercial and manufacturing centre.

Bila Tserkva was annexed into the Russian Empire as a result of the Second Partition of Poland in 1793.

After 1861, the Czarist authorities converted Roman Catholic churches into an Orthodox Church. During Soviet times, Bila Tserkva became a large industrial hub (machine building and construction industry).

During World War II, Bila Tserkva was occupied by the German Army from 16 July 1941 to 4 January 1944. In August 1941 it was the site of the Bila Tserkva massacre.

During the Cold War, the town was host to the 72nd Guards Krasnograd Motor Rifle Division and the 251st Instructor Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment of Long Range Aviation.

Demographics

Up to the 20th century, the majority of the population of Bila Tserkva were Jews: by the end of the 19th century, 18,720 Jews lived in the city (52.9% of the city's total population).

Evolution of Bila Tserkva's population (source: Ukrainian Wikipedia)

1926 1939 1959 1989 2001

Jews 36.4 % 19.6 % 7.8 % 2.0 % 0.1 %

Russians 3.4 % 7.6 % 18.6 % 17.5 % 10.3 %

Ukrainians 57.0 % 68.9 % 71.0 % 78.6 % 87.4 %

Belarusians 0.3 % 1.0 % 0.8 % 0.6 %

Poles 2.4 % 2.2 % 0.2 % 0.2 % 0.1 %

The destruction of the Jewish population, first by the Cossacks, Stalin's purges, and then during the Holocaust, partly as a result of the Bila Tserkva massacre, caused a major demographic shift and as a result, the city is now mostly inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians.

Government

Administratively, Bila Tserkva is a town of oblast significance. It also serves as the administrative center of Bila Tserkva Raion (district), though administratively it does not belong to the raion.

Economy

Industry in the city includes Railway Brake product manufacturers "Tribo Rail", Tribo plant and a major automobile tire manufacturer "Rosava".

Education

Education in Bila Tserkva is provided by many private and public institutions. Its best known is the Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University was founded in 1929 as a scientific research center publishing academic studies on modern agrobiotechnology, nature and environmental protection; the latest technologies for processing livestock products; biosafety, the veterinary welfare of livestock; regulation of bioresources and sustainable nature management; rationalization of social development of rural areas; economics of agro-industrial complex, legal sciences, linguistics and translation. They partner with institutions of higher learning worldwide, and participate in programs with Erasmus+, the British Council, NATO and Fulbright, among several others.

Culture and contemporary life

Sports

The city is home to football team FC Ros Bila Tserkva. Ros is a team in the lower levels of the Football Federation of Ukraine: Kyiv Oblast Football Championship.

The city is home to hockey club Bilyi Bars, that plays on Bilyi Bars Ice Arena, built by Kostyantyn Efymenko Charitable Foundation.

Sights

A historical landscape park Arboretum Oleksandriya of 400 acres is situated in Bila Tserkva. It was founded in 1793 by the wife of Polish Hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki.

Notable buildings include the Merchant Court (1809–1814) and the Post Yard (1825–31).

There are also Palladian wooden buildings of the Branicki "Winter Palace" and the District Nobility Assembly (now it is gone because of a conflagration).

St. Nicholas Church was started in 1706 by Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa, but not completed until 1852.

The Orthodox Saviour's Transfiguration Cathedral was constructed in 1833–1839.

The Roman Catholic St. John the Baptist Church dates to 1812.

The St. Mary Magdalene Church was completed in 1846 by Count Branicki.

The building of the mid-19th century Great Choral Synagogue is preserved. Today it is the Technology and Economic College of Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University.

The Shukhov Water Tower, a tower that supports a water tank was built according to a project of Vladimir Shukhov, a Russian engineer-polymath, scientist and architect.

Transportation

Airports

Domestic transport and private flights provide services via Bila Tserkva Airport (UKBC), which is located southwest of the city in Hayok district.

Rail

Ukrzaliznytsia provides railway transit to surrounding areas in Kyiv Oblast and the rest of Ukraine.

There are two railway stations in Bila Tserkva:

-Bila Tserkva railway station

-Rotok railway station

Public transit

Bila Tserkva has six trolleybus lines.

Bridges

Bila Tserkva is the location of a few large bridges, two of which cross the Ros River.

This is a first-person shooter whose main task is to win by eliminating the enemy team.

Counter-Strike (also known as Half-Life: Counter-Strike or Counter-Strike 1.6) is a first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was initially developed and released as a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe in 1999, before Le and Cliffe were hired and the game's intellectual property acquired. Counter-Strike was released by Valve for Microsoft Windows in 2000, and is the first installment in the Counter-Strike series. Several remakes and ports were released on Xbox, as well as OS X and Linux.

Set in various locations around the globe, players assume the roles of counter-terrorist forces and terrorist militants opposing them. During each round of gameplay, the two teams are tasked with defeating the other by the means of either achieving the map's objectives or eliminating all of the enemy combatants. Each player may customize their arsenal of weapons and accessories at the beginning of every match, with currency being earned after the end of each round.

Gameplay

Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter game in which players join either the terrorist team, the counter-terrorist team, or become spectators. Each team attempts to complete their mission objective and/or eliminate the opposing team. Each round starts with the two teams spawning simultaneously. All players have only one life by default and start with a pistol as well as a knife.

The objectives vary depending on the type of map, and these are the most usual ones:

Bomb defusal: To win, the terrorists must carry a bomb, plant it on one of the designated spots and protect it from being disarmed by the counter-terrorists before it explodes. The counter-terrorists win if the time runs out with no conclusion.

Hostage rescue: The counter-terrorists must rescue a group of hostages held by the terrorists to win. The terrorists win if the time runs out with no conclusion.

Assassination: One of the counter-terrorists is chosen to act as a VIP and the team must escort this player to a designated spot on the map to win the game. The terrorists win if the VIP is killed or if the time runs out with no conclusion.

A player can choose to play as one of eight different default character models (four for each side, although Counter-Strike: Condition Zero added two extra models, bringing the total to ten). Players are generally given a few seconds before the round begins (known as "freeze time") to prepare and buy equipment, during which they cannot attack or move. They can return to the buy area within a set amount of time to buy more equipment (some custom maps included neutral "buy zones" that could be used by both teams). Once the round has ended, surviving players retain their equipment for use in the next round; players who were killed begin the next round with the basic default starting equipment.

Standard monetary bonuses are awarded for winning a round, losing a round, killing an enemy, being the first to instruct a hostage to follow, rescuing a hostage, planting the bomb (Terrorist) or defusing the bomb (Counter-Terrorist).

The scoreboard displays team scores in addition to statistics for each player: name, kills, deaths, and ping (in milliseconds). The scoreboard also indicates whether a player is dead, carrying the bomb (on bomb maps), or is the VIP (on assassination maps), although information on players on the opposing team is hidden from a player until their death, as this information can be important.

Killed players become "spectators" for the duration of the round; they cannot change their names before their next spawn, text chat cannot be sent to or received from live players, and voice chat can only be received from live players and not sent to them. Spectators are generally able to watch the rest of the round from multiple selectable views, although some servers disable some of these views to prevent dead players from relaying information about living players to their teammates through alternative media (most notably voice in the case of Internet cafes and Voice over IP programs such as TeamSpeak or Ventrilo). This form of cheating is known as "ghosting."

Definition Of Pulse Width Modulation

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is a nifty current control technique that enables you to control the speed of motors, heat output of heaters, and much more in an energy-efficient (and usually quieter) manner. Existing applications for PWM include, but are not limited to:

-Variable speed fan controllers.

-VRF HVAC compressor drives.

-Hybrid and electric vehicle motor drive circuits.

-LED Dimmers.

Pulse width modulation has changed the world by slashing the power consumption of appliances utilizing motors such as inverter air conditioners , inverter refrigerators, inverter washing machines, among many others. For example, inverter air conditioners can consume less than half the energy that their non-inverter counterparts do in some cases.

In this day and age, if a device is advertised as having a variable speed compressor or variable speed fan (this doesn’t include two or three-speed fans), there is a significant chance that it is utilizing PWM!

Why Use PWM?

Aspiring electrical engineers may want to know why they should use pulse width modulation to control devices, and homeowners have similar question which has the same answer: Why use inverter air conditioners, or other variable speed appliances?

The answer to both questions is: PWM varies the speed of the appliances’ motors so they only consume as much power as they need, but without the usual consequence of burning off unused current as heat. An example of an older alternative is a simple transistor circuit that varies the current passing through it by varying its resistance.

The same efficiency rule that applies to resistors also applies to transistors — Their resistance results in wasted energy because they burn off some of it as heat. They act like heaters in that regard.

Fortunately, these circuits were never mainstream. Appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators just ran at full speed all the time, making lots of noise, and wasting lots of energy because they had to cycle on and off frequently.

PWM does make use of transistors, but in a different way, as explained below.

How Does PWM Work?

PWM works by pulsating DC current, and varying the amount of time that each pulse stays ‘on’ to control the amount of current that flows to a device such as an LED. PWM is digital, which means that it has two states: on and off (which correspond to 1 and 0 in the binary context, which will become more relevant to you if using microcontrollers).

The longer each pulse is on, the brighter the LED will be. Due to the fact that the interval between pulses is so brief, the LED doesn’t actually turn off. In other words, the LED’s power source switches on and off so fast (thousands of times per second) that the LED actually stays on without flickering. This is called PWM dimming, and such as circuit is just called a PWM LED dimmer circuit.

The squares in the PWM illustration below are the pulses which represent ‘on’ time, and the depressed areas represent the time that the power is ‘off’. Both the squares and depressed areas are the same ‘width’, therefore the duty cycle is 50%. PWM signals are typically square waves, like the one in the illustration below.

A PWM signal (square wave) with a 50% duty cycle.

If the duty cycle of a PWM power supply is set to 70%, then the pulse is on for 70% of the time, and it is off 30% of the time. Duty cycle refers the amount of time it is on. At a 70% duty cycle, an LED’s brightness should be near 70%. The correlation between duty cycle and brightness is not 100% linear, as the efficiency of LEDs varies with the amount of current supplied.

If the duty cycle was 0%, the entire signal would be flat, as shown below. A PWM duty cycle of 0% means that the power is off. In such a state, an LED would not be operational. It would simply be off.

PWM signal (square wave) with a duty cycle of 0%. This means the power is off.

The key reason that PWM circuits are so efficient is that they don’t try to partially restrict the flow of current using resistance. They turn the current fully on and fully off. They just vary the amount of time that it is on instead.

The old-fashioned transistor circuit I mentioned above in the ‘Why Use PWM’ section may be 50% on for example, and easily waste a huge chunk of the other 50% that it is blocking.

The additional heat generated by traditional transistor circuits is another consideration, as it may increase the amount of time that cooling fans have to stay on to reduce the temperature of said devices.

PWM Signal

To break things down further, PWM circuits [PDF] typically involve a very tiny power source, and a large one. The tiny power source controls the large one with the help of power transistors.

The tiny one generates the signal, and the ‘power‘ which is the large current and voltage that actually power on the LED is controlled by the aforementioned transistors. That tiny power source could be a microcontroller GPIO pin such as an Arduino I/O pin, a 555 timer’s output pin, among others.

Setting the duty cycle of the signal to 30% will also result in a duty cycle of 30% for the power, as the large current is just an amplified replica of the tiny current (which is the signal).

This concept is what enables highly sophisticated microcontrollers (often called MCUs) and other computers to control very large currents at a reasonable cost. The microcontroller/MCU generates the signal, then that signal controls a power transistor.

Alexandra Anna Daddario (born March 16, 1986) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough portraying Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson film series (2010–2013). She has since starred as Paige in Hall Pass (2011), Heather Miller in Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), Blake Gaines in San Andreas (2015), Summer Quinn in Baywatch (2017), and Alexis Butler in We Summon the Darkness (2019). She has also guest starred in television series such as White Collar, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, True Detective, New Girl, and American Horror Story: Hotel. In 2021, she starred in the first season of the HBO series The White Lotus, for which she received widespread critical acclaim.

Early life and education

Alexandra Anna Daddario was born in New York City on March 16, 1986, the eldest child of Christina, a lawyer, and Richard Daddario, a prosecutor and former head of the New York City Police Department counterterrorism unit. She is of Italian, Irish, English, and Czechoslovak descent. She has a younger brother, Matthew Daddario, and a younger sister, Catharine Daddario, who are both actors as well.Her paternal grandfather was Emilio Q. Daddario, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Connecticut from 1959 to 1971.

Daddario was raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side. She attended Brearley School and the Professional Children's School. Daddario said she decided to be an actress at the age of 11. "I always loved storytelling," she stated in 2019. "It was just something I genuinely wanted to do – and I could've done anything, really. I did have every opportunity on the planet." She attended Marymount Manhattan College before dropping out to pursue acting full-time. She has studied the Meisner acting technique for years.

Acting career

Daddario made her television debut at the age of 16, when she played victimized teen Laurie Lewis in the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children. Her first major role was as Annabeth Chase in the fantasy adventure film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010). She also had a recurring role as Neal Caffrey's love interest, Kate Moreau, in the USA Network procedural drama series White Collar. In 2011, she appeared in the comedy film Hall Pass and had a recurring role as Rachel in NBC's comedy-drama series Parenthood.

In 2012, Daddario starred in the music video for Imagine Dragons' song "Radioactive", which surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube. She appeared as a guest in an episode of the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in which she portrayed Ruby Taft. Her first starring role after Percy Jackson was as lead character Heather Miller in the slasher film Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013). In August 2013, Daddario reprised her role as Annabeth Chase in the film sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. She then appeared in the romantic horror comedy Burying the Ex. Burying the Ex premiered out of competition as the Venice Film Festival in 2014.

Daddario at Austin Film Festival in October 2016

In January 2013, Daddario was cast in the first season of the HBO anthology series True Detective. She appeared in a four-episode arc as Lisa Tragnetti, a court reporter having an extramarital affair with one of the main characters. Her nude scenes in the series attracted much attention. The following year, she had a lead role as Blake Gaines in the disaster film San Andreas and made a cameo appearance in the pilot of the Fox comedy series The Last Man on Earth. That same year, she made a guest appearance on American Horror Story: Hotel, portraying a fictionalized version of designer Natacha Rambova.

In 2016, Daddario had a supporting role in the Nicholas Sparks romantic drama film The Choice, directed by Ross Katz. Daddario subsequently starred as one of the leads in the film adaptation of Baywatch (2017). She played Summer Quinn, who was portrayed by Nicole Eggert in the original television series. That same year, Daddario portrayed Kate Jeffries in the road trip comedy The Layover (2017), directed by William H. Macy.

In 2018, Daddario appeared in the music video "Wait" by Maroon 5 and starred as Avery Martin in the romantic comedy When We First Met, opposite the film's co-writer Adam DeVine. Daddario made a cameo appearance as a scuba diver in Rampage, directed by San Andreas filmmaker Brad Peyton, but her scenes were cut from the final film. Daddario starred as Constance Blackwood in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's mystery thriller novel of the same name. Daddario also starred in the psychological thriller Night Hunter, which premiered at the LA Film Festival on September 28, 2018. In 2019, Daddario starred in and produced two films, the romantic comedy Can You Keep a Secret?, based on the novel of the same name by Sophie Kinsella, and the horror thriller We Summon the Darkness, directed by Marc Meyers.

In 2020, Daddario provided the voice of Lois Lane in the superhero animated film Superman: Man of Tomorrow and starred in the noir film Lost Girls & Love Hotels. She also appeared in Songbird, the first film shot in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 she appeared in the HBO social satire series The White Lotus and the film Die in a Gunfight.

Personal life

Since 2021, she has been in a relationship with producer Andrew Form. On December 2, 2021, they announced their engagement.

Boris E. Paton (27.11.1918, Kyiv - 19.08.2020, Kyiv) - an outstanding scientist in the field of welding, metallurgy and metal technology, the organizer of science, state and public figure. President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (since 1962), Director of the Institute of Electric Welding EO Paton of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (since 1953). Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (1958), a foreign member of the academies of sciences of several countries. Winner of the Lenin (1957) and Stalin Prize (1950), State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology (2004), Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Ukrainian SSR (1968), twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1969, 1978), Hero of Ukraine (1998). Student of the Kyiv Industrial (Polytechnic) Institute from 1936-1941.

For someone who has come to Kyiv from the other city it is not difficult to find the Electric Welding Institute: to do this they just have to ask any of the passersby. Almost each of them will ask: “To Paton Institute?” and then tell in detail how and by what to get there. At the same time, few of them will probably be even nearly related to welding or to technics in general. Some will even not know why the institution is named after Paton – in honour to the founder, Evgeny Oscarovich Paton, or to Borys Evgenovich Paton, who has been the constant director of the institute for 55 years. That very Borys Paton, who, simultaneously, has been the head of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for 6 years now. For most of the citizens of Kyiv today the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Electric Welding Institute, in other words Paton Institute, is, to some extent, an embodiment of a real scientific institution. In the meanwhile, for many of them its director and the president of the Academy of Sciences is an example of a true scientist and a science coordinator.

It is significant, that even his birthday coincides with the day and the year of the foundation of the Academy. So, this year, on the 27th of October all Ukrainian scientific community will celebrate the double anniversary – ninety’s birthday of the National Academy and its president, Borys Evgenovich Paton.

In fact, Borys Paton spent his childhood within the precincts of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, as he was born in the family of one of its the most famous lecturers, worldwide known scientist and engineer, professor Evgeny Oscarovich Paton. They lived in the house for teaching staff. However, the very first months of the future Academy president’s life fell on very troubling times for our country. At that time Ukraine burned in flames of a civil war. But its long-awaited ending did not bring any stability to the country anyway. The way of living changed itself. So, naturally, the Institute also changed substantially. Besides, the changes were not only in the way of new students’ enrolment, the studying process organisation or institute management methods, but also in the mode of life. Paton family experienced common for those times “compression”, and a neighbour was lodged to the professor’s flat. That neighbour was the KPI lecturer, future academician, outstanding Ukrainian mathematician Mykhailo Kravchuk. He returned to Kyiv from a little village Savarka, Boguslav district, where he had been brought to by the winds of the war, and plunged into beloved science. So this is how they had lived together until the day when they moved in one of the first Kyiv housing cooperatives, situated at the corner of Liuteranska and Bankova streets. There they received separate flats.

Surely, from his first years on Borys Paton lived in the atmosphere of a specific creativity, the technical one, which requires some special discipline and commitment from those devoted to it. This atmosphere defined his circle of interests in advance. Of course, after finishing school there occurred no particular doubts where to study. The only variant was Kyiv Industrial Institute (this was the name of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute from 1934 to 1944). During the studying the circle of interests of the future academician was defined once and for all. They were connected to the research of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences Electric Welding Laboratory, founded and headed by Evgeny Paton. In 1934 on the basis of this laboratory an institute was established, now known as the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Electric Welding Institute named after Evgeny Paton. Eventually the institute has become Borys Paton’s second home.

The graduation from the institute coincided in time with the beginning of the war. According to the distribution Borys Paton left for the city of Gorkiy, where he worked as an engineer at an electrotechnical laboratory at the plant “Krasnoe Coromovo”. But in 1942 he was transferred to Nizhny Tagil, where the Electric Welding Institute was evacuated to. The institute was made responsible for technological supply of the armored fighting vehicles production, particularly well-known T-34, the best of the tanks of Great Patriotic War. Borys Paton took an active part in designing and introduction of the automatic submerged-arc welding, a technological innovation, which was destined to changed cardinally all the technological cycle.

Borys Paton was charged to design an electrical circuit for new automatic welding heads. Within it there should have been realized the phenomenon of self-regulation of electrode melting in submerged-arc welding, discovered in 1942. The young engineer finished the task brilliantly. He proposed a convenient and safe construction, which not only made it possible to produce such heads under conditions of ordinary machine shops, but also required no special personnel trainings for its operation. The thing is, these devices played a paramount role in increasing the volume of tanks production. There were automatic welding machines developed, due to which the tanks production started proceeding on the conveyor system. It is significant, that the Soviet Union was the only country which made use of automatic submerged-arc welding in tank industry. Only during the last years of the war this method started being mastered while producing tank hulls and self-propelled artillery mounting in the USA. And in 1943 Borys Paton was decorated with his first order, the Order of the Badge of Honor.

After returning to Kyiv in 1945 Borys Paton defended the dissertation for the academic degree of candidate of technical sciences on the thesis “The analysis of the work of welding heads and the methods of their feeding while submerged arc welding”. Our city and the entire country began reviving, so every scientific research found its application in practice. Borys Evgenovich headed one of the Institute’s departments and continued his work on the use of welding processes, the peaceful one by then. Then started the research related to half-automatic and automatic submerged-arc welding, development of theoretical bases of arc welding automated and half-automated machines and welding power supplies creation, conditions of arc duration and its regulation, problems of welding processes control etc. In 1950 he became the assistant director of the Electric Welding Institute; in 1952 he successfully defended his Doctor of Philosophy on the thesis “The research of the conditions of welding arc stability and its regulation”. In 1953, after Evgen Paton’s death, he was entrusted to head the Institute, founded by his father.

In the early 50th the scientific and technological revolution grew faster in Ukraine, but the most important thing was, that the authorities were paying close attention to the problems of science and technology development. Under those new conditions the possibilities for their development were rather quickly found by research organizations and groups which had already had particular groundwork about their works’ implementation into real economy.

In Ukraine E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute came to the fore. Some of its developments had literary changed industrial workers’ attitude to the welding potentialities. Technological innovations introduced by the Institute were extremely appreciated in industry. Furthermore, in the second half of the 50th the Institute started producing more and more new progressive items which were adopted into industries straight from the workshops. Under the leadership of Borys Paton and with his direct participation there started wide fundamental research, that has then become the basis for developing and adopting of many of the welding methods, including half-automatic, gas-shielded, electroslag, plasma ones etc. Within the briefest period of time new welding methods were elaborated, operating practices were studied, numerous prototypes of the new generation of the industrial welding machinery were developed. There were studied the phenomena and the processes which occur when the current flows through different surroundings and under different circumstances. Significant results of the study were the formation of a new prospective branch of metallurgy, special electrometallurgy, which is the combination of such methods of fine metals obtaining as electroslag, electron-beam and arc-plasmous remelting. Due to this getting especially clear special-property alloys and steels has become possible. There were offered the challenges for developing up-to-date structural and functional materials, which were in great demand at the end of the 20th and at the beginning of 21st century. The Institute grew into a powerful scientific and technical complex. Its structure included research institute itself, engineering and design departments and departments for experimental research, research plants, and also later, during the last decades, innovation organizations, centers for science and engineering, for study and attestation. Moreover, the obligations of the USSR main science and research institution on welding and special metallurgy were imposed on the Institute.

In 1962 a 43-years-old academician Paton was elected to be the president of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. That was the start of the new period in its history, which later brought Ukrainian science to the foreground of the world science. Moreover, with the lapse of time the Academy has become kind of a visiting card of Ukraine. The Academy headed for the extensive cooperation of the academic institutions with the national economy and military-defense enterprises. This boosted the economy, what, in turn, favoured the development of science. Without any hesitation Ukrainian scientists were solving problems, which hindered the development of entire branches, in solely scientific, comprehensive way. And consequently, the practitioners got not just practical recommendations, but absolutely new concepts, inventions and technologies. During those years there were significant deepening ties between academic institutions and institutes of higher education, the KPI and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in the first place.

In this, one of the leaders still remained the Electric Welding Institute, where with its director’s direct participation and on the basis of fundamental research there were developed the technologies of industrial methods of header pipeline welding, large-size tanks for oil storage, blast-furnace jackets, high-rise tower-shaped constructions, sea crafts, power equipment etc. Academicians B.E. Paton and S.P. Korolyov suggested a bold idea of welding use in the Space, which was later successfully realized in the Institute’s developments. The equipment constructed in the Institute made it possible for the spacemen V. Kubasov and G. Shonin to conduct an orbital flight welding experiment for the first time in the world. This was the start of space technology. Some time later academician B.E. Paton headed the pioneer research of electronic beam, arc plasma and laser usage for metal welding and special metallurgy.

That was impossible to overestimate the role of the Academy and its president in the life of the state and society, in science and education progress, in strengthening defence capacity and the republic’s national economy, and this fact was clearly understood by its leaders. The striking example of that is an incident which is still retold with a smile in academic circles. Borys Evgenovich was capable of solving problems with authorities with no worry, but once there has arisen a dispute between him and one of the secretaries of the Central Committee of CPU. Once the first secretary of the CC, who was in fact the first person in the republic at that time, got to know about it, he said: “I am able to find a new secretary, but where will I find another Paton?” And that was the closed issue.

Incidentally, even these days someone has accused him of this very capability of negotiating with authorities, convincing them of the reasonability of making decision he and, what is more important, the Academy needed. But most of his colleagues believed then and still do, that in such a policy there has always been well considered tactics which was far from short-termed political and, all the more, personal motives; and that only due to his ability to find wise compromises it became possible later on to save the Academy while the most difficult periods for the state and the society. In addition, if an issue was connected to the things of principle, Paton made no concessions. Let us just think of the fact, that in summer 1981 he sent to the bodies of power a scientific analytical note “About the activities concerning further increase in work on evaluation and prediction of environment pollution genetic consequences in the Ukrainian SSR”, and in autumn of the same year on the Ukrainian Government meeting he made a report about possible negative ecological and socio-economic consequences of building and operation of the nuclear power plants, and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the first place, on the territory of Ukraine. Such opinion denied absolutely the official point of view on nuclear power engineering and its prospective. They could cause troubles to those who follow them openly. Nevertheless Paton did not keep silent, though no one wanted to listen to him. In several years, unfortunately, the correctness of his words was tragically confirmed…

The last decades have become a strength test for Ukrainian science. And the country stood it. And mostly because of organizational innovations, suggested and approved by B. Paton and headed by his team. He was the first to understand, that under modern conditions science can live and efficiently work only if it learns to sell its projects to those who need it. That is why he suggested setting up academic institutes departments which would be able to provide advancing the results of the research from the fundamental concept to engineering development, and further to the research example and up to suggesting it to the industry. As expected, headed by B. Paton the National Academy of Sciences scientific and technical complex “E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute” was one of the first institutions to work according to the scheme.

Passing to the innovational economics development scheme favoured the activization of the scientific activity and commercial realization of its results. On B. Paton’s initiative started the development of new innovative structures like scientific-engineering centres and industrial parks.

And even during the last decade academician B.E. Paton proceeds with active creative search. In particular, he suggested and headed large-scale research of welding technology usage in medical surgical practice. Under his guidance the staff of the Institute and medical scientists invented together a new method of joining human and animal soft tissues using welding. Nowadays this technology is becoming more and more widespread in surgery. Due to the many of successful operations performed using welding, the number is becoming close to thousand.

The president of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine B.E. Paton always takes care of scientific engineering youth, works on attraction of young boys and girls to science, and does not forget about their financial support and living conditions improvement. For this purpose the Academy promotes targeted youth projects, builds and rebuilds hostels for the postgraduate students.

It should be mentioned, the ting that helps Borys Evgenovich stand the great load of scientific, organizational and social work is his good shape. During the years of his life he seriously went into badminton, tennis, water skiing and swimming. Even today he regularly goes to the pool, where he swims rather long distance twice a week.

Borys Evgenovich Paton is an author and co-author of more than 720 inventions (500 foreign patents), more than 1200 various published works, 20 scientific monographs… He is an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine today), the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (the Russian Academy of Sciences today), the European Academy, the International Academy of Sciences, Industry, Education and Arts of California (the USA), the National Academy of Applied Sciences of RF, Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky, the Petrovska Academy of Arts and Sciences… a foreign member on the National Academies of Sciences of Bulgary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belorussia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences… twice the Hero of Socialist Labour, Hero of Ukraine (by the way, the first man to receive the title), the laureate of numerous prizes. It is also worth mentioning, he is an honorary doctor of NTUU “KPI”.

However, the full list of Borys Paton’s merits, titles and prizes will take far more than a page. But his main one is most probably the people’s acknowledgment. According to the social study, held in January 2007 by the consortium “Management consulting group”, our compatriots consider Borys Paton to be the most famous Ukrainian scientist and, in fact, the symbol of Ukrainian science.