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Android (robot) | China | China
On April 19, 2025, 21 humanoid robots participated along with 12,000 human runners in a half-marathon in Beijing. While almost every robot fell down and had overheating problems, and the robots were continuously being controlled by human handlers accompanying them, six of the robots did reach the finish line. Two of them, Tiangong Ultra by Chinese robotics company UBTech, and N2 by Chinese company Noetix Robotics, which took first and second place respectively among robots in the race, stood out for their consistent (albeit slow) pace. |
Android (robot) | Use in fiction | Use in fiction
Androids are a staple of science fiction. Isaac Asimov pioneered the fictionalization of the science of robotics and artificial intelligence, notably in his 1950s series I, Robot. One thing common to most fictional androids is that the real-life technological challenges associated with creating thoroughly human-like robots — such as the creation of strong artificial intelligence—are assumed to have been solved.Van Riper, op.cit., p. 11. Fictional androids are often depicted as mentally and physically equal or superior to humans—moving, thinking and speaking as fluidly as them.
The tension between the nonhuman substance and the human appearance—or even human ambitions—of androids is the dramatic impetus behind most of their fictional depictions. Some android heroes seek, like Pinocchio, to become human, as in the film Bicentennial Man, or Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Others, as in the film Westworld, rebel against abuse by careless humans. Android hunter Deckard in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and its film adaptation Blade Runner discovers that his targets appear to be, in some ways, more "human" than he is. The sequel Blade Runner 2049 involves android hunter K, himself an android, discovering the same thing. Android stories, therefore, are not essentially stories "about" androids; they are stories about the human condition and what it means to be human.
One aspect of writing about the meaning of humanity is to use discrimination against androids as a mechanism for exploring racism in society, as in Blade Runner. Perhaps the clearest example of this is John Brunner's 1968 novel Into the Slave Nebula, where the blue-skinned android slaves are explicitly shown to be fully human. More recently, the androids Bishop and Annalee Call in the films Aliens and Alien Resurrection are used as vehicles for exploring how humans deal with the presence of an "Other". The 2018 video game Detroit: Become Human also explores how androids are treated as second class citizens in a near future society.
Female androids, or "gynoids", are often seen in science fiction, and can be viewed as a continuation of the long tradition of men attempting to create the stereotypical "perfect woman". Examples include the Greek myth of Pygmalion and the female robot Maria in Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Some gynoids, like Pris in Blade Runner, are designed as sex-objects, with the intent of "pleasing men's violent sexual desires",Melzer, p. 204 or as submissive, servile companions, such as in The Stepford Wives. Fiction about gynoids has therefore been described as reinforcing "essentialist ideas of femininity", although others have suggested that the treatment of androids is a way of exploring racism and misogyny in society.Dinello, op. cit., p 77.
The 2015 Japanese film Sayonara, starring Geminoid F, was promoted as "the first movie to feature an android performing opposite a human actor".
The 2023 Dutch film I'm Not a Robot won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2025. |
Android (robot) | See also | See also |
Android (robot) | References | References |
Android (robot) | Further reading | Further reading
Kerman, Judith B. (1991). Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. .
Perkowitz, Sidney (2004). Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids. Joseph Henry Press. .
Shelde, Per (1993). Androids, Humanoids, and Other Science Fiction Monsters: Science and Soul in Science Fiction Films. New York: New York University Press. .
Ishiguro, Hiroshi. "Android science." Cognitive Science Society. 2005.
Glaser, Horst Albert and Rossbach, Sabine: The Artificial Human, Frankfurt/M., Bern, New York 2011 "The Artificial Human"
TechCast Article Series, Jason Rupinski and Richard Mix, "Public Attitudes to Androids: Robot Gender, Tasks, & Pricing"
Carpenter, J. (2009). Why send the Terminator to do R2D2s job?: Designing androids as rhetorical phenomena. Proceedings of HCI 2009: Beyond Gray Droids: Domestic Robot Design for the 21st Century. Cambridge, UK. 1 September.
Telotte, J.P. Replications: A Robotic History of the Science Fiction Film. University of Illinois Press, 1995. |
Android (robot) | External links | External links
Category:Japanese inventions
Category:South Korean inventions
Category:Osaka University research
Category:Science fiction themes
Category:Human–machine interaction
Category:Robots |
Android (robot) | Table of Content | Short description, Terminology, Projects, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, United States, China, Use in fiction, See also, References, Further reading, External links |
Alberta | Short description | Alberta is a province of Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. state of Montana to its south. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two landlocked Canadian provinces. The eastern part of the province is occupied by the Great Plains, while the western part borders the Rocky Mountains. The province has a predominantly continental climate, but seasonal temperatures tend to swing rapidly because it is so arid. Those swings are less pronounced in western Alberta because of its occasional Chinook winds.
Alberta is the fourth largest province by area, at , and the fourth most populous, with 4,262,635 residents. Alberta's capital is Edmonton; its largest city is Calgary. The two cities are Alberta's largest census metropolitan areas. More than half of Albertans live in Edmonton or Calgary, which encourages a continuing rivalry between the two cities. English is the province’s official language. In 2016, 76.0% of Albertans were anglophone, 1.8% were francophone and 22.2% were allophone."Census 2016 Language of Albertans" (consulted April 2021)
Alberta's economy is advanced, open, market-based, and characterized by a highly educated workforce, strong institutions and property rights, and sophisticated financial markets. The service sector employs 80% of Albertans, in fields like healthcare, education, professional services, retail, tourism and financial services. The industrial base includes manufacturing, construction, and agriculture (10%, 5%, and 2% of employment respectively), while the knowledge economy includes about 3000 tech companies employing an estimated 60,000 people, mainly in Calgary and Edmonton. The energy sector employs 5% of Albertans but significantly impacts exports and GDP. Alberta's exports, primarily US-bound, consist of 70% oil and gas, 13% food products, and 12% industrial products. Oil and gas are culturally influential, having shaped politics, generated "striking it rich" narratives, and created boom-and-bust cycles. In 2023, Alberta's output was $350 billion, 15% of Canada's GDP.
Until the 1930s, Alberta's political landscape consisted of two major parties: the centre-left Liberals and the agrarian United Farmers of Alberta. Today, Alberta is generally perceived as a conservative province. The right-wing Social Credit Party held office continually from 1935 to 1971 before the centre-right Progressive Conservatives held office continually from 1971 to 2015, the latter being the longest unbroken run in government at the provincial or federal level in Canadian history.
Since before it became part of Canada, Alberta has been home to several First Nations, such as Plains Indians and Woodland Cree. It was historically also a territory used by fur traders of the rival companies Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company. The Dominion of Canada bought the lands that would become Alberta as part of the NWT in 1870. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, many immigrants arrived in an effort to prevent the prairies from being annexed by the United States. Growing wheat and cattle ranching became very profitable during this period. In 1905, the Alberta Act was passed, creating the province of Alberta. Massive oil reserves were discovered in 1947. The exploitation of oil sands began in 1967.
Alberta is renowned for its natural beauty and is home to important nature reserves. It is also well known as a rich source of fossils. It is home to six UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Wood Buffalo National Park and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. Other popular sites include Banff National Park, Elk Island National Park, Jasper National Park, Waterton Lakes National Park, and Drumheller. |
Alberta | Etymology | Etymology
Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise was the wife of John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada (1878–83). Lake Louise and Mount Alberta were also named in her honour.
The name "Alberta" is a feminine Latinized form of Albert, the name of Princess Louise's father, the Prince Consort ( , masculine) and its Germanic cognates, ultimately derived from the Proto-Germanic language *Aþalaberhtaz (compound of "noble" + "bright/famous"). |
Alberta | Geography | Geography
thumb|400px|A topographic map of Alberta, showing cities, towns, municipal district (county) and rural municipality borders, and natural features
Alberta, with an area of , is the fourth-largest province after Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia.
Alberta's southern border is the 49th parallel north, which separates it from the U.S. state of Montana. The 60th parallel north divides Alberta from the Northwest Territories. The 110th meridian west separates it from the province of Saskatchewan; while on the west its boundary with British Columbia follows the 120th meridian west south from the Northwest Territories at 60°N until it reaches the Continental Divide at the Rocky Mountains, and from that point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a generally southeasterly direction until it reaches the Montana border at 49°N.
The province extends north to south and east to west at its maximum width. Its highest point is at the summit of Mount Columbia in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border while its lowest point is on the Slave River in Wood Buffalo National Park in the northeast.
With the exception of the semi-arid climate of the steppe in the south-eastern section, the province has adequate water resources. There are numerous rivers and lakes in Alberta used for swimming, fishing and a range of water sports. There are three large lakes, Lake Claire () in Wood Buffalo National Park, Lesser Slave Lake (), and Lake Athabasca (), which lies in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. The longest river in the province is the Athabasca River, which travels from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca.
The largest river is the Peace River with an average flow of . The Peace River originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows through northern Alberta and into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River.
Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, is at about the geographic centre of the province. It is the most northerly major city in Canada and serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in northern Canada. With its proximity to Canada's largest oil fields, the region has most of western Canada's oil refinery capacity. Calgary is about south of Edmonton and north of Montana, surrounded by extensive ranching country. Almost 75% of the province's population lives in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The land grant policy to the railways served as a means to populate the province in its early years.
thumb|Moraine Lake at Banff National Park. The Alberta Mountain forests makes up the southwestern boundary of Alberta.
Most of the northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern boundary are largely temperate coniferous forests of the Alberta Mountain forests and Alberta–British Columbia foothills forests. The southern quarter of the province is prairie, ranging from shortgrass prairie in the southeastern corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of it. The central aspen parkland region extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from Calgary, north to Edmonton, and then east to Lloydminster, contains the most fertile soil in the province and most of the population. Much of the unforested part of Alberta is given over either to grain farming or cattle ranching, with mixed farming more common in the north and centre, while ranching and irrigated agriculture predominate in the south.
The Alberta badlands are in southeastern Alberta, where the Red Deer River crosses the flat prairie and farmland, and features deep canyons and striking landforms. Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks, showcases the badlands terrain, desert flora, and remnants from Alberta's past when dinosaurs roamed the then lush landscape. |
Alberta | Climate | Climate
thumb|300px|Köppen climate types in Alberta
Alberta extends for over from north to south; its climate, therefore, varies considerably. Average high temperatures in January range from in the southwest to in the far north. The presence of the Rocky Mountains also influences the climate to the southwest, which disrupts the flow of the prevailing westerly winds and causes them to drop most of their moisture on the western slopes of the mountain ranges before reaching the province, casting a rain shadow over much of Alberta. The northerly location and isolation from the weather systems of the Pacific Ocean cause Alberta to have a dry climate with little moderation from the ocean. Annual precipitation ranges from in the southeast to in the north, except in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where total precipitation including snowfall can reach annually.
thumb|Southeastern Alberta features a semi-arid steppe climate.
Northern Alberta is mostly covered by boreal forest and has a subarctic climate. The agricultural area of southern Alberta has a semi-arid steppe climate because the annual precipitation is less than the water that evaporates or is used by plants. The southeastern corner of Alberta, part of the Palliser Triangle, experiences greater summer heat and lower rainfall than the rest of the province, and as a result, suffers frequent crop yield problems and occasional severe droughts. Western Alberta is protected by the mountains and enjoys the mild temperatures brought by winter Chinook winds. Central and parts of northwestern Alberta in the Peace River region are largely aspen parkland, a biome transitional between prairie to the south and boreal forest to the north.
Alberta has a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. The province is open to cold Arctic weather systems from the north, which often produce cold winter conditions. As the fronts between the air masses shift north and south across Alberta, the temperature can change rapidly. Arctic air masses in the winter produce extreme minimum temperatures varying from in northern Alberta to in southern Alberta, although temperatures at these extremes are rare.
In the summer, continental air masses have produced record maximum temperatures from in the mountains to over in southeastern Alberta. Alberta is a sunny province. Annual bright sunshine totals range between 1,900 up to just under 2,600 hours per year. Northern Alberta gets about 18 hours of daylight in the summer. The average daytime temperatures range from around in the Rocky Mountain valleys and far north, up to around in the dry prairie of the southeast. The northern and western parts of the province experience higher rainfall and lower evaporation rates caused by cooler summer temperatures. The south and east-central portions are prone to drought-like conditions sometimes persisting for several years, although even these areas can receive heavy precipitation, sometimes resulting in flooding.
In the winter, the Alberta clipper, a type of intense, fast-moving winter storm that generally forms over or near the province and, pushed with great speed by the continental polar jetstream, descends over the rest of southern Canada and the northern tier of the United States. In southwestern Alberta, the cold winters are frequently interrupted by warm, dry Chinook winds blowing from the mountains, which can propel temperatures upward from frigid conditions to well above the freezing point in a very short period. During one Chinook recorded at Pincher Creek, temperatures soared from in just one hour. The region around Lethbridge has the most Chinooks, averaging 30 to 35 Chinook days per year. Calgary has a 56% chance of a white Christmas, while Edmonton has an 86% chance.
After Saskatchewan, Alberta experiences the most tornadoes in Canada with an average of 15 verified per year. Thunderstorms, some of them severe, are frequent in the summer, especially in central and southern Alberta. The region surrounding the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor is notable for having the highest frequency of hail in Canada, which is caused by orographic lifting from the nearby Rocky Mountains, enhancing the updraft/downdraft cycle necessary for the formation of hail.
+Climate averages for communities in AlbertaCommunityRegionJuly dailymaximumJanuary dailymaximumAnnualprecipitationPlanthardinesszoneMedicine Hat Southern Alberta 4bBrooks Southern Alberta 4aLethbridge Southern Alberta 4bFort McMurray Northern Alberta 3aWetaskiwin Central Alberta 3bEdmonton Edmonton Metropolitan Region 4aCold Lake Northern Alberta 3aCamrose Central Alberta 3bFort Saskatchewan Edmonton Metropolitan Region 3bLloydminster Central Alberta 3aRed Deer Central Alberta 4aGrande Prairie Northern Alberta 3bLeduc Edmonton Metropolitan Region 3bCalgary Calgary Metropolitan Region 4aChestermere Calgary Metropolitan Region 3bSt. Albert Edmonton Metropolitan Region 4aLacombe Central Alberta 3b |
Alberta | Ecology | Ecology |
Alberta | Flora | Flora
thumb|The wild rose is the provincial flower of Alberta.
In central and northern Alberta the arrival of spring is marked by the early flowering of the prairie crocus (Pulsatilla nuttalliana) anemone; this member of the buttercup family has been recorded flowering as early as March, though April is the usual month for the general population.Prairie Crocus Information Alberta Plant Watch. Author Annora Brown. Published: no date given. Retrieved August 28, 2013. Other prairie flora known to flower early are the golden bean (Thermopsis rhombifolia) and wild rose (Rosa acicularis). Members of the sunflower (Helianthus) family blossom on the prairie in the summer months between July and September. The southern and east central parts of Alberta are covered by short prairie grass, which dries up as summer lengthens, to be replaced by hardy perennials such as the prairie coneflower (Ratibida), fleabane, and sage (Artemisia). Both yellow and white sweet clover (Melilotus) can be found throughout the southern and central areas of the province.
The trees in the parkland region of the province grow in clumps and belts on the hillsides. These are largely deciduous, typically aspen, poplar, and willow. Many species of willow and other shrubs grow in virtually any terrain. North of the North Saskatchewan River, evergreen forests prevail for thousands of square kilometres. Aspen poplar, balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) or in some parts cottonwood (Populus deltoides), and paper birch (Betula papyrifera) are the primary large deciduous species. Conifers include jack pine (Pinus banksiana), Rocky Mountain pine, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), both white and black spruce, and the deciduous conifer tamarack (Larix laricina). |
Alberta | Fauna | Fauna
thumb|left|A bighorn sheep in Kananaskis Country. The bighorn sheep is the provincial mammal of Alberta.
The four climatic regions (alpine, boreal forest, parkland, and prairie) of Alberta are home to many different species of animals. The south and central prairie was the homeland of the American bison, also known as buffalo, with its grasses providing pasture and breeding ground for millions of buffalo. The buffalo population was decimated during early settlement, but since then, buffalo have made a comeback, living on farms and in parks all over Alberta.
Herbivores are found throughout the province. Moose, mule deer, elk, and white-tailed deer are found in the wooded regions, and pronghorn can be found in the prairies of southern Alberta. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats live in the Rocky Mountains. Rabbits, porcupines, skunks, squirrels, and many species of rodents and reptiles live in every corner of the province. Alberta is home to only one venomous snake species, the prairie rattlesnake.
Alberta is home to many large carnivores such as wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, and mountain lions, which are found in the mountains and wooded regions. Smaller carnivores of the canine and feline families include coyotes, red foxes, Canada lynx, and bobcats. Wolverines can also be found in the northwestern areas of the province.
thumb|Alberta Department of Public Health rat poster (1948)
Central and northern Alberta and the region farther north are the nesting ground of many migratory birds. Vast numbers of ducks, geese, swans and pelicans arrive in Alberta every spring and nest on or near one of the hundreds of small lakes that dot northern Alberta. Eagles, hawks, owls, and crows are plentiful, and a huge variety of smaller seed and insect-eating birds can be found. Alberta, like other temperate regions, is home to mosquitoes, flies, wasps, and bees. Rivers and lakes are populated with pike, walleye, whitefish, rainbow, speckled, brown trout, and sturgeon. Native to the province, the bull trout, is the provincial fish and an official symbol of Alberta. Turtles are found in some water bodies in the southern part of the province. Frogs and salamanders are a few of the amphibians that make their homes in Alberta.
Alberta is the only province in Canada — as well as one of the few places in the world — that is free from Norwegian rats. Since the early 1950s, the Government of Alberta has operated a rat-control program, which has been so successful that only isolated instances of wild rat sightings are reported, usually of rats arriving in the province aboard trucks or by rail. In 2006, Alberta Agriculture reported zero findings of wild rats; the only rat interceptions have been domesticated rats that have been seized from their owners. It is illegal for individual Albertans to own or keep Norwegian rats of any description; the animals can only be kept in the province by zoos, universities and colleges, and recognized research institutions. In 2009, several rats were
found and captured, in small pockets in southern Alberta, putting Alberta's rat-free status in jeopardy. A colony of rats was subsequently found in a landfill near Medicine Hat in 2012 and again in 2014. |
Alberta | Paleontology | Paleontology
thumb|upright=1.7|Specimens at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation at Dinosaur Provincial Park. Some of the specimens, from left to right, are Hypacrosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Gorgosaurus (both in the background), Tyrannosaurus, and Triceratops.
Alberta has one of the greatest diversities and abundances of Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossils worldwide. Taxa are represented by complete fossil skeletons, isolated material, microvertebrate remains, and even mass graves. At least 38 dinosaur type specimens were collected in the province. The Foremost Formation, Oldman Formation and Dinosaur Park Formations collectively comprise the Judith River Group and are the most thoroughly studied dinosaur-bearing strata in Alberta.
Dinosaur-bearing strata are distributed widely throughout Alberta. The Dinosaur Provincial Park area contains outcrops of the Dinosaur Park Formation and Oldman Formation. In Alberta's central and southern regions are intermittent Scollard Formation outcrops. In the Drumheller Valley and Edmonton regions there are exposed Horseshoe Canyon facies. Other formations have been recorded as well, like the Milk River and Foremost Formations. The latter two have a lower diversity of documented dinosaurs, primarily due to their lower total fossil quantity and neglect from collectors who are hindered by the isolation and scarcity of exposed outcrops. Their dinosaur fossils are primarily teeth recovered from microvertebrate fossil sites. Additional geologic formations that have produced only a few fossils are the Belly River Group and St. Mary River Formations of the southwest and the northwestern Wapiti Formation, which contains two Pachyrhinosaurus bone beds. The Bearpaw Formation represents strata deposited during a marine transgression. Dinosaurs are known from this formation, but represent specimens washed out to sea or reworked from older sediments.Ryan, M. J., and Russell, A. P., 2001. Dinosaurs of Alberta (exclusive of Aves): In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 279–297. |
Alberta | History | History
thumb|Blackfoot Confederacy warriors in Macleod in 1907
Paleo-Indians arrived in what would later be Alberta at least 10,000 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age. They are thought to have migrated from Siberia to Alaska on a land bridge across the Bering Strait and then possibly moved south along the east side of the Rocky Mountains through Alberta, settling along the way or moving on to settle other parts of the Americas. Others may have travelled south along the west coast and then moved inland. Over time they differentiated into various First Nations peoples, including the Plains Indians of southern Alberta such as those of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Plains Cree, who generally lived by hunting buffalo, and the more northerly tribes such as the Woodland Cree and Chipewyan who hunted and trapped other types of animals, and fished for a living.
The first Europeans to visit Alberta were French Canadian fur traders in the early 18th century. The first British subject to visit Alberta was Anthony Henday, in 1754. French Canadians integrated with local First Nations creating the Metis nation, with elements across the Prairies. French was the predominant European language in Alberta and was used in some early fur trading forts in the region, such as the first Fort Edmonton (in present-day Fort Saskatchewan), operated by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). After the British arrival in Canada, approximately half of Alberta's current territory, south of the Athabasca River drainage, became part of Rupert's Land, which consisted of all land drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay. This area was granted by King Charles II of England to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670, and rival fur trading companies were not allowed to trade in it.
The Athabasca River and the rivers north of it were not in HBC territory, because they drained into the Arctic Ocean instead of Hudson Bay. The north part of Alberta was a prime habitat for fur-bearing animals and was targeted by the HBC and other fur trading companies.
The first European explorer of the Athabasca region was fur trader Peter Pond, who learned of the Methye Portage, a convenient route to travel from rivers in the Hudson Bay watershed to rivers north of Rupert's Land. He and other Canadian fur traders formed the North West Company (NWC) of Montreal in 1779, to compete with the HBC. The NWC built posts at many points across the northern part of Alberta territory. Peter Pond built Fort Athabasca on Lac la Biche in 1778. Roderick Mackenzie built Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca ten years later in 1788. His cousin, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, followed the North Saskatchewan River to its northernmost point near Edmonton, then trekked on foot to the Athabasca River, which he followed downstream to Lake Athabasca. It was there he discovered the mighty outflow river that bears his name the Mackenzie River which he followed to its outlet in the Arctic Ocean. Returning to Lake Athabasca, he followed the Peace River upstream and crossed the Rockies, eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean, and so he became the first European to cross the North American continent north of Mexico.
The extreme southernmost portion of Alberta was part of the French (and Spanish) territory of Louisiana, which was sold to the United States in 1803. In the Treaty of 1818, the portion of the Louisiana territory north of the Forty-Ninth Parallel was ceded to the United Kingdom. The area was grouped with Rupert's Land to make the North-Western Territory.
thumb|Fort Chipewyan, a trading post and regional headquarters for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1820
Fur trade expanded in the north, but there was intense friction and competition between the rival HBC and NWC. In 1821 the British government forced them to merge to stop the hostilities. After amalgamation, the Hudson's Bay Company dominated the economy of Alberta until 1870, when HBC control of Rupert's Land was ended and the territory was transferred to the newly federated Canada. Southern Alberta, Northern Alberta, other parts of the Northland and Rupert's land became Canada's North-West Territories.
thumb|left|Downtown Calgary was one of several areas afflicted during the 2013 Alberta floods.
First Nations and representatives of the Crown negotiated the Numbered Treaties, in which the Crown gained title to the land that would later become Alberta, and the Crown committed to the ongoing support of the First Nations and guaranteed their hunting and fishing rights. The most significant treaties for Alberta are Treaty 6 (1876), Treaty 7 (1877) and Treaty 8 (1899).
The District of Alberta was created as part of the North-West Territories on 8 May, 1882. As settlement increased, local representatives to the North-West Legislative Assembly and the House of Commons were elected, and senators appointed, to represent Alberta. After a long campaign for autonomy, on 1 September, 1905, the District of Alberta was enlarged and given provincial status, with the election of a Liberal majority with Alexander Cameron Rutherford as the first premier. At first the economy was very active, then around 1912, Alberta suffered a recession. The First World War presented special challenges to the new province as an extraordinary number of working-age men volunteered for active service, leaving relatively few workers to maintain services and production. Over 50% of Alberta's doctors volunteered for service overseas.
In 1918 Albertans experienced the 1918 flu epidemic.
Alberta voters sought innovation, electing a Farmers government in 1921, then the world's first Social Credit government in 1935.
Alberta's economy stayed sluggish, especially during the Depression. But discovery of oil at Leduc in 1946 opened a new era of prosperity and wealth for the province.
On June 21, 2013, during the 2013 Alberta floods Alberta experienced heavy rainfall that triggered catastrophic flooding throughout much of the southern half of the province along the Bow, Elbow, Highwood and Oldman rivers and tributaries. A dozen municipalities in Southern Alberta declared local states of emergency on June 21 as water levels rose and numerous communities were placed under evacuation orders.
In 2016, the Fort McMurray wildfire resulted in the largest fire evacuation of residents in Alberta's history, as more than 80,000 people were ordered to evacuate.
Like the rest of the world, Alberta was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020. The last restrictions were lifted in 2022. |
Alberta | Demographics | Demographics
thumb|upright=1.3|Population density of Alberta
The 2021 Canadian census reported Alberta had a population of 4,262,635 living in 1,633,220 of its 1,772,670 total dwellings, an 4.8% change from its 2016 population of 4,067,175. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Statistics Canada estimated the province to have a population of 4,931,601 in Q4 of 2024.
Since 2000, Alberta's population has experienced a relatively high rate of growth, mainly because of its burgeoning economy. Between 2003 and 2004, the province had high birthrates (on par with some larger provinces such as British Columbia), relatively high immigration, and a high rate of interprovincial migration compared to other provinces.
In 2016, Alberta continued to have the youngest population among the provinces with a median age of 36.7 years, compared with the national median of 41.2 years. Also in 2016, Alberta had the smallest proportion of seniors (12.3%) among the provinces and one of the highest population shares of children (19.2%), further contributing to Alberta's young and growing population.
About 81% of the population lives in urban areas and only about 19% in rural areas. The Calgary–Edmonton Corridor is the most urbanized area in the province and is one of the most densely populated areas of Canada. Many of Alberta's cities and towns have experienced very high rates of growth in recent history. Alberta's population rose from 73,022 in 1901 to 3,290,350 according to the 2006 census.
According to the 2016 census Alberta has 779,155 residents (19.2%) between the ages of 0–14, 2,787,805 residents (68.5%) between the ages of 15–64, and 500,215 residents (12.3%) aged 65 and over.
Additionally, as per the 2016 census, 1,769,500 residents hold a postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree, 895,885 residents have obtained a secondary (high) school diploma or equivalency certificate, and 540,665 residents do not have any certificate, diploma or degree. |
Alberta | Municipalities | Municipalities
+ Largest metro areas and municipalities by population as of 2016 Census metropolitan areas: 2016 2011 2006 2001 1996 Calgary CMA1,392,609 1,214,839 1,079,310 951,395 821,628 Edmonton CMA1,321,426 1,159,869 1,034,945 937,845 862,597Lethbridge CMA117,394105,99995,19687,38882,025 Urban municipalities (10 largest): 2016 2011 2006 2001 1996 Calgary1,239,220 1,096,833 988,193 878,866 768,082 Edmonton932,546 812,201 730,372 666,104 616,306 Red Deer100,418 90,564 82,772 67,707 60,080 Lethbridge92,729 83,517 78,713 68,712 64,938 St. Albert (included in Edmonton CMA)65,589 61,466 57,719 53,081 46,888 Medicine Hat63,260 60,005 56,997 51,249 46,783 Grande Prairie63,166 55,032 47,076 36,983 31,353 Airdrie (included in Calgary CMA)61,581 42,564 28,927 20,382 15,946 Spruce Grove (included in Edmonton CMA)34,066 26,171 19,496 15,983 14,271 Leduc (included in Edmonton CMA)29,993 24,304 16,967 15,032 14,346 Specialized/rural municipalities (5 largest): 2016 2011 2006 2001 1996 Strathcona County (included in Edmonton CMA)98,044 92,490 82,511 71,986 64,176 Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (includes Fort McMurray)71,589 65,565 51,496 42,581 35,213 Rocky View County (included in Calgary CMA)39,407 36,461 34,171 29,925 23,326 Parkland County (included in Edmonton CMA)32,097 30,568 29,265 27,252 24,769 Municipal District of Foothills No. 3122,766 21,258 19,736 16,764 13,714 |
Alberta | Language | Language
As of the 2021 Canadian Census, the ten most spoken languages in the province included English (4,109,720 or 98.37%), French (260,415 or 6.23%), Tagalog (172,625 or 4.13%), Punjabi (126,385 or 3.03%), Spanish (116,070 or 2.78%), Hindi (94,015 or 2.25%), Mandarin (82,095 or 1.97%), Arabic (76,760 or 1.84%), Cantonese (74,960 or 1.79%), and German (65,370 or 1.56%). The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses.
As of the 2016 census, English is the most common mother tongue, with 2,991,485 native speakers. This is followed by Tagalog, with 99,035 speakers, German, with 80,050 speakers, French, with 72,150 native speakers, and Punjabi, with 68,695 speakers.
The 2006 census found that English, with 2,576,670 native speakers, was the most common mother tongue of Albertans, representing 79.99% of the population. The next most common mother tongues were Chinese with 97,275 native speakers (3.02%), followed by German with 84,505 native speakers (2.62%) and French with 61,225 (1.90%). Other mother tongues include: Punjabi, with 36,320 native speakers (1.13%); Tagalog, with 29,740 (0.92%); Ukrainian, with 29,455 (0.91%); Spanish, with 29,125 (0.90%); Polish, with 21,990 (0.68%); Arabic, with 20,495 (0.64%); Dutch, with 19,980 (0.62%); and Vietnamese, with 19,350 (0.60%). The most common aboriginal language is Cree 17,215 (0.53%). Other common mother tongues include Italian with 13,095 speakers (0.41%); Urdu with 11,275 (0.35%); and Korean with 10,845 (0.33%); then Hindi 8,985 (0.28%); Persian 7,700 (0.24%); Portuguese 7,205 (0.22%); and Hungarian 6,770 (0.21%).
According to Statistics Canada, Alberta is home to the second-highest proportion (2%) of Francophones in western Canada (after Manitoba). Despite this, relatively few Albertans claim French as their mother tongue. Many of Alberta's French-speaking residents live in the central and northwestern regions of the province, after migration from other areas of Canada or descending from Métis. |
Alberta | Ethnicity | Ethnicity
Alberta has considerable ethnic diversity. In line with the rest of Canada, many Albertans are descended from immigrants of Western European nations, notably England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France, but large numbers later came from other regions of Europe, notably Germany, Ukraine and Scandinavia. More recently, Africans, Asians and South Americans in larger numbers have also contributed to Alberta's mosaic.
Many Alberta families today can trace their ethnicity in many directions. In the 2006 Canadian census, the most commonly reported ethnic origins among Albertans were: 885,825 English (27.2%); 679,705 German (20.9%); 667,405 Canadian (20.5%); 661,265 Scottish (20.3%); 539,160 Irish (16.6%); 388,210 French (11.9%); 332,180 Ukrainian (10.2%); 172,910 Dutch (5.3%); 170,935 Polish (5.2%); 169,355 North American Indian (5.2%); 144,585 Norwegian (4.4%); and 137,600 Chinese (4.2%). (Each person could choose as many ethnicities as were applicable so the percentages add up to much more than 100.)
Amongst those of British heritage, the Scots have had a particularly strong influence on place-names. Many cities and towns have names of Scottish origins, such as Calgary, Airdrie, Canmore, and Banff.
Both Edmonton and Calgary have historic Chinatowns, and Calgary has Canada's third-largest Chinese community. The Chinese presence began with workers employed in the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s.
In 2021, 27.8% of the population consisted of visible minorities and 6.8% of the population was Indigenous, mostly of First Nations and Métis descent. A small number of Inuit live in the province. The Indigenous population has been growing at a faster rate than the population of Alberta as a whole. Some of this increase is due to Albertans who are only now embracing their Metis lineage. |
Alberta | Religion | Religion
thumb|St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Edmonton
According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Alberta included:
Christianity (2,009,820 persons or 48.1%)
Irreligion (1,676,045 persons or 40.1%)
Islam (202,535 persons or 4.8%)
Sikhism (103,600 persons or 2.5%)
Hinduism (78,520 persons or 1.9%)
Buddhism (42,830 persons or 1.0%)
Indigenous Spirituality (19,755 persons or 0.5%)
Judaism (11,390 persons or 0.3%)
Other (33,220 persons or 0.8%)
As of the 2011 National Household Survey, the largest religious group was Roman Catholic, representing 24.3% of the population. Alberta had the second-highest percentage of non-religious residents among the provinces (after British Columbia) at 31.6% of the population. Of the remainder, 7.5% of the population identified themselves as belonging to the United Church of Canada, while 3.9% were Anglican. Lutherans made up 3.3% of the population while Baptists comprised 1.9%.
Members of LDS Church are mostly concentrated in the extreme south of the province. Alberta has a population of Hutterites, a communal Anabaptist sect similar to the Mennonites, and has a significant population of Seventh-day Adventists. Alberta is home to several Byzantine Rite Churches as part of the legacy of Eastern European immigration, including the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada's Western Diocese which is based in Edmonton. Muslims made up 3.2% of the population, Sikhs 1.5%, Buddhists 1.2%, and Hindus 1.0%. Many of these are immigrants, but others have roots that go back to the first settlers of the prairies. Canada's oldest mosque, the Al-Rashid Mosque, is in Edmonton, whereas Calgary is home to Canada's largest mosque, the Baitun Nur Mosque. Alberta is also home to a growing Jewish population of about 15,400 people who constituted 0.3% of Alberta's population. Most of Alberta's Jews live in the metropolitan areas of Calgary (8,200) and Edmonton (5,500). |
Alberta | Economy | Economy
thumb|upright=1.3|Petroleum resources in Alberta
Alberta's economy, historically weak during the early period of Confederation, experienced a postwar boom supported by the burgeoning petroleum industry and to a lesser extent, agriculture and technology. In 2013, Alberta's per capita GDP exceeded that of the United States, Norway, or Switzerland, and was the highest of any province in Canada at $84,390. This was 56% higher than the national average of $53,870 and more than twice that of some of the Atlantic provinces. In 2006, the deviation from the national average was the largest for any province in Canadian history. According to the 2006 census, the median annual family income after taxes was $70,986 in Alberta (compared to $60,270 in Canada as a whole). In 2014, Alberta had the second-largest economy in Canada after Ontario, with a GDP exceeding $376 billion. The GDP of the province calculated at basic prices rose by 4.6% in 2017 to $327.4 billion, which was the largest increase recorded in Canada, and it ended two consecutive years of decreases.
Alberta's debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to peak at 12.1% in fiscal year 2021–2022, falling to 11.3% the following year.
The Calgary-Edmonton Corridor is the most urbanized region in the province and one of the densest in Canada. The region covers a distance of roughly north to south. In 2001, the population of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor was 2.15 million (72% of Alberta's population). It is also one of the fastest-growing regions in the country by population. A 2003 study by TD Bank Financial Group found the corridor to be the only Canadian urban centre to amass a United States level of wealth while maintaining a Canadian style quality of life, offering universal health care benefits. The report found that GDP per capita in the corridor was 10% above average United States metropolitan areas and 40% above other Canadian cities at that time.
The Fraser Institute states that Alberta also has very high levels of economic freedom and rates Alberta as the freest economy in Canada, and second-freest economy amongst U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
In 2014, merchandise exports totalled US$121.4 billion. Energy revenues totalled $111.7 billion and Energy resource exports totalled $90.8 billion. Farm Cash receipts from agricultural products totalled $12.9 billion. Shipments of forest products totalled $5.4 billion while exports were $2.7 billion. Manufacturing sales totalled $79.4 billion, and Alberta's information and communications technology (ICT) industries generated over $13 billion in revenue. In total, Alberta's 2014 GDP amassed $364.5 billion in 2007 dollars, or $414.3 billion in 2015 dollars. In 2015, Alberta's GDP grew unstably despite low oil prices, with growth rates as high 4.4% and as low as 0.2%. |
Alberta | Agriculture and forestry | Agriculture and forestry
thumb|Cows in Rocky View. Nearly one-half of Canadian beef is produced here.
Agriculture has a significant position in the province's economy. The province has over three million head of cattle, and Alberta beef has a healthy worldwide market. Forty percent of all Canadian beef is produced in Alberta. The province also produces the most bison meat in Canada. Sheep for wool and mutton are also raised.
Wheat and canola are primary farm crops, with Alberta leading the provinces in spring wheat production; other grains are also prominent. Much of the farming is dryland farming, often with fallow seasons interspersed with cultivation. Continuous cropping (in which there is no fallow season) is gradually becoming a more common mode of production because of increased profits and a reduction of soil erosion. Across the province, the once common grain elevator is slowly being lost as rail lines are decreasing; farmers typically truck the grain to central points.
Alberta is the leading beekeeping province of Canada, with some beekeepers wintering hives indoors in specially designed barns in southern Alberta, then migrating north during the summer into the Peace River valley where the season is short but the working days are long for honeybees to produce honey from clover and fireweed. Hybrid canola also requires bee pollination, and some beekeepers service this need.
thumb|Canola field, Edmonton
Forestry plays a vital role in Alberta's economy, providing over 15,000 jobs and contributing billions of dollars annually. Uses for harvested timber include pulpwood, hardwood, engineered wood and bioproducts such as chemicals and biofuels. |
Alberta | Industry | Industry
Alberta is the largest producer of conventional crude oil, synthetic crude, natural gas and gas products in Canada. Alberta is the world's second-largest exporter of natural gas and the fourth-largest producer. Two of the largest producers of petrochemicals in North America are in central and north-central Alberta. In both Red Deer and Edmonton, polyethylene and vinyl manufacturers produce products that are shipped all over the world. Edmonton's oil refineries provide the raw materials for a large petrochemical industry to the east of Edmonton.
The Athabasca oil sands surrounding Fort McMurray have estimated unconventional oil reserves approximately equal to the conventional oil reserves of the rest of the world, estimated to be . Many companies employ both conventional strip mining and non-conventional in situ methods to extract the bitumen from the oil sands. As of late 2006, there were over $100 billion in oil sands projects under construction or in the planning stages in northeastern Alberta.
Another factor determining the viability of oil extraction from the oil sands is the price of oil. The oil price increases since 2003 have made it profitable to extract this oil, which in the past would give little profit or even a loss. By mid-2014, rising costs and stabilizing oil prices threatened the economic viability of some projects. An example of this was the shelving of the Joslyn North project in the Athabasca region in May 2014.
With concerted effort and support from the provincial government, several high-tech industries have found their birth in Alberta, notably patents related to interactive liquid-crystal display systems.Interactive display system—US Patent U.S. Patent No. 5,448,263; —SMART Technologies With a growing economy, Alberta has several financial institutions dealing with civil and private funds. |
Alberta | Tourism | Tourism
alt=|left|thumb|The Three Sisters at Bow Valley Provincial Park in Canmore
Alberta has been a tourist destination from the early days of the 20th century, with attractions including outdoor locales for skiing, hiking, and camping, shopping locales such as West Edmonton Mall, Calgary Stampede, outdoor festivals, professional athletic events, international sporting competitions such as the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, as well as more eclectic attractions. According to Alberta Economic Development, Calgary and Edmonton both host over four million visitors annually. Banff, Jasper and the Rocky Mountains are visited by about three million people per year. Alberta tourism relies heavily on Southern Ontario tourists, as well as tourists from other parts of Canada, the United States, and many other countries.
There are also natural attractions like Elk Island National Park, Wood Buffalo National Park, and the Columbia Icefield. Alberta's Rockies include well-known tourist destinations Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. The two mountain parks are connected by the scenic Icefields Parkway. Banff is located west of Calgary on Highway 1, and Jasper is located west of Edmonton on the Yellowhead Highway. Five of Canada's fourteen UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located within the province: Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Wood Buffalo National Park, Dinosaur Provincial Park and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. A number of these areas hold ski resorts, most notably Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise, Marmot Basin, Norquay and Nakiska.
thumb|Bronco riding at the Calgary Stampede. The event is one of the world's largest rodeos.
About 1.2 million people visit the Calgary Stampede, a celebration of Canada's own Wild West and the cattle ranching industry. About 700,000 people enjoy Edmonton's K-Days (formerly Klondike Days and Capital EX). Edmonton was the gateway to the only all-Canadian route to the Yukon gold fields, and the only route which did not require gold-seekers to travel the exhausting and dangerous Chilkoot Pass.
Another tourist destination that draws more than 650,000 visitors each year is the Drumheller Valley, located northeast of Calgary. Drumheller, known as the "Dinosaur Capital of The World", offers the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Drumheller also had a rich mining history being one of Western Canada's largest coal producers during the war years. Another attraction in east-central Alberta is Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions, a popular tourist attraction operated out of Stettler, that offers train excursions into the prairie and caters to tens of thousands of visitors every year. |
Alberta | Government and politics | Government and politics
thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Locations of Alberta's specialized and rural municipalities|Distribution of Alberta's 6 specialized municipalities (red) and 74 rural municipalities, which include municipal districts (often named as counties) (orange), improvement districts (dark green) and special areas (light green) (2020)
The Government of Alberta is organized as a parliamentary democracy with a unicameral legislature. Its unicameral legislature—the Legislative Assembly—consists of 87 members elected first past the post (FPTP) from single-member constituencies. Locally municipal governments and school boards are elected and operate separately. Their boundaries do not necessarily coincide.
As King of Canada, Charles III is the head of state of Alberta. His duties concerning the Government of Alberta are carried out by Lieutenant Governor Salma Lakhani. The King and lieutenant governor are figureheads whose actions are highly restricted by custom and constitutional convention. The lieutenant governor handles numerous honorific duties in the name of the King. The government is headed by the premier. The premier is normally a member of the Legislative Assembly, and draws all the members of the Cabinet from among the members of the Legislative Assembly. The City of Edmonton is the seat of the provincial government—the capital of Alberta. The current premier is Danielle Smith, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022.
thumb|left|The Alberta Legislative Building is the meeting place for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Alberta's elections have tended to yield much more conservative outcomes than those of other Canadian provinces. From the 1980s to the 2010s, Alberta had three main political parties, the Progressive Conservatives ("Conservatives" or "Tories"), the Liberals, and the social democratic New Democrats. The Wildrose Party, a more libertarian party formed in early 2008, gained much support in the 2012 election and became the official opposition, a role it held until 2017 when it was dissolved and succeeded by the new United Conservative Party created by the merger of Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives. The strongly conservative Social Credit Party was a power in Alberta for many decades, but fell from the political map after the Progressive Conservatives came to power in 1971.
For 44 years the Progressive Conservatives governed Alberta. They lost the 2015 election to the NDP (which formed their own government for the first time in provincial history, breaking almost 80 consecutive years of right-wing rule), suggesting at the time a possible shift to the left in the province, also indicated by the election of progressive mayors in both of Alberta's major cities. Since becoming a province in 1905, Alberta has seen only five changes of government—only six parties have governed Alberta: the Liberals, from 1905 to 1921; the United Farmers of Alberta, from 1921 to 1935; the Social Credit Party, from 1935 to 1971; the Progressive Conservative Party, from 1971 to 2015; from 2015 to 2019, the Alberta New Democratic Party; and from 2019, the United Conservative Party, with the most recent transfer of power being the first time in provincial history that an incumbent government was not returned to a second term. |
Alberta | Administrative divisions | Administrative divisions
The province is divided into ten types of local governments – urban municipalities (including cities, towns, villages and summer villages), specialized municipalities, rural municipalities (including municipal districts (often named as counties), improvement districts, and special areas), Métis settlements, and Indian reserves. All types of municipalities are governed by local residents and were incorporated under various provincial acts, with the exception of improvement districts (governed by either the provincial or federal government), and Indian reserves (governed by local band governments under federal jurisdiction). |
Alberta | Law enforcement | Law enforcement
thumb|left|Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in St. Albert. The RCMP provides municipal policing throughout most of Alberta.
Policing in the province of Alberta upon its creation was the responsibility of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. In 1917, due to pressures of the First World War, the Alberta Provincial Police was created. This organization policed the province until it was disbanded as a Great Depression-era cost-cutting measure in 1932. It was at that time the, now renamed, Royal Canadian Mounted Police resumed policing of the province, specifically RCMP "K" Division. With the advent of the Alberta Sheriffs Branch, the distribution of duties of law enforcement in Alberta has been evolving as certain aspects, such as traffic enforcement, mobile surveillance and the close protection of the Premier of Alberta have been transferred to the Sheriffs. In 2006, Alberta formed the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) to combat organized crime and the serious offences that accompany it. ALERT is made up of members of the RCMP, Sheriffs Branch, and various major municipal police forces in Alberta. |
Alberta | Military | Military
Military bases in Alberta include Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Cold Lake, CFB Edmonton, CFB Suffield and CFB Wainwright. Air force units stationed at CFB Cold Lake have access to the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range. CFB Edmonton is the headquarters for the 3rd Canadian Division. CFB Suffield hosts British troops and is the largest training facility in Canada. |
Alberta | Taxation | Taxation
According to Alberta's 2009 budget, government revenue in that year came mainly from royalties on non-renewable natural resources (30.4%), personal income taxes (22.3%), corporate and other taxes (19.6%), and grants from the federal government primarily for infrastructure projects (9.8%). In 2014, Alberta received $6.1 billion in bitumen royalties. With the drop in the price of oil in 2015 it was down to $1.4 billion. In 2016, Alberta received "about $837 million in royalty payments from oil sands Royalty Projects". According to the 2018–2021 fiscal plan, the two top sources of revenue in 2016 were personal income tax at $10,763 million and federal transfers of $7,976 million with total resource revenue at $3,097 million. Alberta is the only province in Canada without a provincial sales tax. Alberta residents are subject to the federal sales tax, the Goods and Services Tax of 5%.
+ 2018–2021 fiscal plan Revenue source in millions of dollarspersonal income tax 10,763federal transfers 7,976Other tax revenue 5,649Corporate income tax 3,769Premiums, fees and licenses 3,701Investment income 3,698Resource revenue – other 1,614Resource revenue – Bitumen royalties1,483Net income from business enterprises 543Total revenue 42,293
From 2001 to 2016, Alberta was the only Canadian province to have a flat tax of 10% of taxable income, which was introduced by Premier, Ralph Klein, as part of the Alberta Tax Advantage, which also included a zero-percent tax on income below a "generous personal exemption".
In 2016, under Premier Rachel Notley, while most Albertans continued to pay the 10% income tax rate, new tax brackets 12%, 14%, and 15% for those with higher incomes ($128,145 annually or more) were introduced. Alberta's personal income tax system maintained a progressive character by continuing to grant residents personal tax exemptions of $18,451, in addition to a variety of tax deductions for persons with disabilities, students, and the aged. Alberta's municipalities and school jurisdictions have their own governments who usually work in co-operation with the provincial government. By 2018, most Albertans continued to pay the 10% income tax rate.
According to a March 2015 Statistics Canada report, the median household income in Alberta in 2014 was about $100,000, which is 23% higher than the Canadian national average.
Based on Statistic Canada reports, low-income Albertans, who earn less than $25,000 and those in the high-income bracket earning $150,000 or more, are the lowest-taxed people in Canada. Those in the middle income brackets representing those that earn about $25,000 to $75,000According to a 2018 CBC article, Albertans whose annual income is less than $25,000 pay the least income tax in Canada; those that earn about $50,000 "pay more than both Ontarians and British Columbians". Residents of British Columbia who earn about $75,000 pay $1,200 less in provincial taxes than those in Alberta. Albertans who earn about $100,000, "pay less than Ontarians but still more than people in B.C." Alberta taxpayers who earn $250,000 a year or more, pay $4,000 less in provincial taxes than someone with a similar income in B.C. and "about $18,000 less than in Quebec." pay more in provincial taxes than residents in British Columbia and Ontario. In terms of income tax, Alberta is the "best province" for those with a low income because there is no provincial income tax for those who earn $18,915 or less. Even with the 2016 progressive tax brackets up to 15%, Albertans who have the highest incomes, those with a $150,000 annual income or more—about 178,000 people in 2015, pay the least in taxes in Canada. — About 1.9 million Albertans earned between $25,000 and $150,000 in 2015.
Alberta also privatized alcohol distribution. By 2010, privatization had increased outlets from 304 stores to 1,726; 1,300 jobs to 4,000 jobs; and 3,325 products to 16,495 products. Tax revenue also increased from $400 million to $700 million.
In 2017/18 Alberta collected about $2.4 billion in education property taxes from municipalities. Alberta municipalities raise a significant portion of their income through levying property taxes. The value of assessed property in Alberta was approximately $727 billion in 2011. Most real property is assessed according to its market value. The exceptions to market value assessment are farmland, railways, machinery and equipment and linear property, all of which is assessed by regulated rates. Depending on the property type, property owners may appeal a property assessment to their municipal 'Local Assessment Review Board', 'Composite Assessment Review Board,' or the Alberta Municipal Government Board. |
Alberta | Culture | Culture
thumb|Highland dancers performing at the CSIO Spruce Meadows 'Masters' Tournament
Calgary is famous for its Stampede, dubbed "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth". The Stampede is Canada's biggest rodeo festival and features various races and competitions, such as calf roping and bull riding. In line with the western tradition of rodeo are the cultural artisans that reside and create unique Alberta western heritage crafts.
Summer brings many festivals to Alberta, especially in Edmonton. The Edmonton Fringe Festival is the world's second-largest after the Edinburgh Festival. Both Calgary and Edmonton host many annual festivals and events, including folk music festivals. The city's "heritage days" festival sees the participation of over 70 ethnic groups. Edmonton's Churchill Square is home to a large number of the festivals, including A Taste of Edmonton and The Works Art & Design Festival throughout the summer months.
In 2019, Minister of Culture and Tourism Ricardo Miranda announced the Alberta Artist in Residence program in conjunction with the province's first Month of the Artist to celebrate the arts and the value they bring to the province, both socially and economically, The artist is selected each year via a public and competitive process is expected to do community outreach and attend events to promote the arts throughout the province. The award comes with $60,000 funding which includes travel and materials costs. On January 31, 2019, Lauren Crazybull was named Alberta's first artist in residence. Alberta is the first province to launch an artist in residence program in Canada. |
Alberta | Sports | Sports
+ Sports teams in Alberta Team City LeagueStadium/arenaCapacity Edmonton Oilers Edmonton National Hockey LeagueRogers Place 18 347 Calgary Flames Calgary National Hockey LeagueScotiabank Saddledome 19 289 Edmonton Elks Edmonton Canadian Football LeagueCommonwealth Stadium 60 081 Calgary Stampeders Calgary Canadian Football LeagueMcMahon Stadium 40 000Calgary WranglersCalgaryAmerican Hockey LeagueScotiabank Saddledome 19 289Calgary HitmenCalgaryCanadian Hockey LeagueScotiabank Saddledome 19 289Edmonton Oil KingsEdmontonCanadian Hockey LeagueRogers Place 18 347 Lethbridge Hurricanes Lethbridge Canadian Hockey LeagueEnmax Centre 5 479 Medicine Hat Tigers Medicine Hat Canadian Hockey LeagueCanalta Centre 7 100Red Deer RebelsRed DeerCanadian Hockey LeaguePeavey Mart Centrium 7 111Cavalry FCCalgaryCanadian Premier LeagueATCO Field 6 000Calgary SurgeCalgaryCanadian Elite Basketball LeagueWinsport Event Centre 2 900Edmonton StingersEdmontonCanadian Elite Basketball LeagueEdmonton Expo Centre 4 000Calgary RoughnecksCalgaryNational Lacrosse LeagueScotiabank Saddledome 19 289Edmonton StormEdmontonWestern Women's Canadian Football LeagueClarke Stadium 5 100Calgary RageCalgaryWestern Women's Canadian Football LeagueShouldice Athletic Park 1 000Lethbridge SteelLethbridgeWestern Women's Canadian Football LeagueUniversity of Lethbridge Community Stadium 2 000Edmonton RiverhawksEdmontonWest Coast LeagueRE/MAX Field 9 200 |
Alberta | Education | Education
As with any Canadian province, the Alberta Legislature has (almost) exclusive authority to make laws respecting education. Since 1905, the Legislature has used this capacity to continue the model of locally elected public and separate school boards which originated prior to 1905, as well as to create and regulate universities, colleges, technical institutions, and other educational forms and institutions (public charter schools, private schools, homeschooling). |
Alberta | Elementary and secondary | Elementary and secondary
There are forty-two public school jurisdictions in Alberta, and seventeen operating separate school jurisdictions. Sixteen of the operating separate school jurisdictions have a Catholic electorate, and one (St. Albert) has a Protestant electorate. In addition, one Protestant separate school district, Glen Avon, survives as a ward of the St. Paul Education Region. The City of Lloydminster straddles the Albertan/Saskatchewan border, and both the public and separate school systems in that city are counted in the above numbers: both of them operate according to Saskatchewan law.
For many years, the provincial government has funded the greater part of the cost of providing K–12 education. Prior to 1994, public and separate school boards in Alberta had the legislative authority to levy a local tax on property as supplementary support for local education. In 1994, the government of the province eliminated this right for public school boards, but not for separate school boards. Since 1994, there has continued to be a tax on property in support of K–12 education; the difference is that the provincial government now sets the mill rate, the money is collected by the local municipal authority and remitted to the provincial government. The relevant legislation requires that all the money raised by this property tax must go to support K–12 education provided by school boards. The provincial government pools the property tax funds from across the province and distributes them, according to a formula, to public and separate school jurisdictions and Francophone authorities.
Public and separate school boards, charter schools, and private schools all follow the Program of Studies and the curriculum approved by the provincial department of education (Alberta Education). Homeschool tutors may choose to follow the Program of Studies or develop their own Program of Studies. Public and separate schools, charter schools, and approved private schools all employ teachers who are certificated by Alberta Education, they administer Provincial Achievement Tests and Diploma Examinations set by Alberta Education, and they may grant high school graduation certificates endorsed by Alberta Education. |
Alberta | Post-secondary | Post-secondary
thumb|The University of Alberta in 2005. The institution is the oldest, and largest university in Alberta.
Several publicly funded post-secondary institutions are governed under the province's Post-secondary Learning Act. This includes four comprehensive research universities that provides undergraduate and graduate degrees, Athabasca University, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge; and three undergraduate universities that primarily provide bachelor's degrees, the Alberta University of the Arts, Grant MacEwan University, and Mount Royal University.
Nine comprehensive community colleges offer primarily offer diploma and certificate programs, Bow Valley College, Keyano College, Lakeland College, Lethbridge College, Medicine Hat College, NorQuest College, Northern Lakes College, Olds College, and Portage College. In addition, there are also four polytechnic institutes that provide specific career training and provides apprenticeships and diplomas, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Northwestern Polytechnic, and Red Deer Polytechnic. The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a specialized arts and cultural institution that is also empowered to provide diploma programs under the Post-secondary Learning Act.
Alberta is also home to five independent postsecondary institutions that provide diplomas/degrees for approved programming, Ambrose University, Burman University, Concordia University of Edmonton, The King's University, and St. Mary's University. Although the five institutions operate under their own legislation, they remain partly governed by the province's Post-secondary Learning Act. In addition to these institutions, there are also 190 private career colleges in Alberta.
There was some controversy in 2005 over the rising cost of post-secondary education for students (as opposed to taxpayers). In 2005, Premier Ralph Klein made a promise that he would freeze tuition and look into ways of reducing schooling costs. |
Alberta | Health care | Health care
Alberta provides a publicly funded, fully integrated health system, through Alberta Health Services (AHS)—a quasi-independent agency that delivers health care on behalf of the Government of Alberta's Ministry of Health. The Alberta government provides health services for all its residents as set out by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984. Alberta became Canada's second province (after Saskatchewan) to adopt a Tommy Douglas-style program in 1950, a precursor to the modern medicare system.
Alberta's health care budget was $22.5 billion during the 2018–2019 fiscal year (approximately 45% of all government spending), making it the best-funded health-care system per-capita in Canada. Every hour the province spends more than $2.5 million, (or $60 million per day), to maintain and improve health care in the province.
Notable health, education, research, and resources facilities in Alberta, all of which are located within Calgary or Edmonton. Health centres in Calgary include:
thumb|Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary is the largest hospital in Alberta.
Alberta Children's Hospital
Foothills Medical Centre
Grace Women's Health Centre
Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta
Peter Lougheed Centre
Rockyview General Hospital
South Health Campus
Tom Baker Cancer Centre
University of Calgary Medical Centre (UCMC)
Health centres in Edmonton include:
Alberta Diabetes Institute
Cross Cancer Institute
Edmonton Clinic
Grey Nuns Community Hospital
Lois Hole Hospital for Women
Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute
Misericordia Community Hospital
Rexall Centre for Pharmacy and Health Research
Royal Alexandra Hospital
Stollery Children's Hospital
University of Alberta Hospital
The Edmonton Clinic complex, completed in 2012, provides a similar research, education, and care environment as the Mayo Clinic in the United States.
All public health care services funded by the Government of Alberta are delivered operationally by Alberta Health Services. AHS is the province's single health authority, established on July 1, 2008, which replaced nine regional health authorities. AHS also funds all ground ambulance services in the province, as well as the province-wide Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) air ambulance service. |
Alberta | Transportation | Transportation |
Alberta | Air | Air
alt=|thumb|Calgary International Airport, the province's largest airport by passenger traffic.
Alberta is well-connected by air, with international airports in both Calgary and Edmonton. Calgary International Airport and Edmonton International Airport are the fourth- and fifth-busiest in Canada, respectively. Calgary's airport is a hub for WestJet Airlines and a regional hub for Air Canada, primarily serving the prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) for connecting flights to British Columbia, eastern Canada, fifteen major United States centres, nine European airports, one Asian airport and four destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean. Edmonton's airport acts as a hub for the Canadian north and has connections to all major Canadian airports as well as airports in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and the Caribbean . |
Alberta | Public transit | Public transit
Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge have substantial public transit systems. In addition to buses, Calgary and Edmonton operate light rail transit (LRT) systems. Edmonton LRT, which is underground in the downtown core and on the surface outside the downtown core was the first of the modern generation of light rail systems to be built in North America, while the Calgary CTrain has one of the highest numbers of daily riders of any LRT system in North America. |
Alberta | Rail | Rail
thumb|A Via Rail passenger train passing by freight trains in the background, at Jasper station
There are more than of operating mainline railway in Alberta. The vast majority of this trackage is owned by the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and Canadian National Railway (CN) companies, which operate freight transport across the province. Additional railfreight service in the province is provided by two shortline railways: the Battle River Railway and Forty Mile Rail.
Passenger trains include Via Rail's Canadian (Toronto–Vancouver) and Jasper–Prince Rupert trains, which use the CN mainline and pass through Jasper National Park and parallel the Yellowhead Highway during at least part of their routes. The Rocky Mountaineer operates two sections: one from Vancouver to Banff over CP tracks, and a section that travels over CN tracks to Jasper.
In 2024 Alberta's premier, Danielle Smith, announced a 15-year master plan to expand passenger rail in Alberta. This plan envisions rail services to Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Banff, Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray, and most importantly an intercity rail service between Edmonton and Calgary, as well as a commuter rail systems in the respective cities. Ground-breaking was planned for 2027, according to Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen. |
Alberta | Road | Road
Alberta has over of highways and roads in its road network. The main north–south corridor is Highway 2, which begins south of Cardston at the Carway border crossing and is part of the CANAMEX Corridor. Beginning at the Coutts border crossing and ending at Lethbridge, Highway 4, effectively extends Interstate 15 into Alberta and is the busiest United States gateway to the province. Highway 3 joins Lethbridge to Fort Macleod and links Highway 2 to Highway 4. Highway 2 travels north through Fort Macleod, Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton.
alt=|left|thumb|Highway 1 (the Trans-Canada Highway) at Alberta Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail).
North of Edmonton, the highway continues to Athabasca, then northwesterly along the south shore of Lesser Slave Lake into High Prairie, north to Peace River, west to Fairview and finally south to Grande Prairie, where it ends at an interchange with Highway 43. The section of Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton has been named the Queen Elizabeth II Highway to commemorate the visit of the monarch in 2005. Highway 2 is supplemented by two more highways that run parallel to it: Highway 22, west of Highway 2, known as Cowboy Trail, and Highway 21, east of Highway 2. Highway 43 travels northwest into Grande Prairie and the Peace River Country. Travelling northeast from Edmonton, the Highway 63 connects to Fort McMurrayand the Athabasca oil sands.
Alberta has two main east–west corridors. The southern corridor, part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, enters the province near Medicine Hat, runs westward through Calgary, and leaves Alberta through Banff National Park. The northern corridor, also part of the Trans-Canada network and known as the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16), runs west from Lloydminster in eastern Alberta, through Edmonton and Jasper National Park into British Columbia. One of the most scenic drives is along the Icefields Parkway, which runs for between Jasper and Lake Louise, with mountain ranges and glaciers on either side of its entire length. A third corridor stretches across southern Alberta; Highway 3 runs between Crowsnest Pass and Medicine Hat through Lethbridge and forms the eastern portion of the Crowsnest Highway. Another major corridor through central Alberta is Highway 11 (also known as the David Thompson Highway), which runs east from the Saskatchewan River Crossing in Banff National Park through Rocky Mountain House and Red Deer, connecting with Highway 12, west of Stettler. The highway connects many of the smaller towns in central Alberta with Calgary and Edmonton, as it crosses Highway 2 just west of Red Deer.
Urban stretches of Alberta's major highways and freeways are often called trails. For example, Highway 2, the main north–south highway in the province, is called Deerfoot Trail as it passes through Calgary but becomes Calgary Trail (southbound) and Gateway Boulevard (northbound) as it enters Edmonton and then turns into St. Albert Trail as it leaves Edmonton for the City of St. Albert. Calgary, in particular, has a tradition of calling its largest urban expressways trails and naming many of them after prominent First Nations individuals and tribes, such as Crowchild Trail, Deerfoot Trail, and Stoney Trail. |
Alberta | Friendship partners | Friendship partners
Alberta has relationships with many provinces, states, and other entities worldwide.
Gangwon-do, South Korea (1974)
Hokkaido, Japan (1980)
Heilongjiang, China (1981)
Montana, United States (1985)
Tyumen, Russia (1992)
Khanty–Mansi, Russia (1995)
Yamalo-Nenets, Russia (1997)
Jalisco, Mexico (1999)
Alaska, United States (2002)
Saxony, Germany (2002)
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (2004)
Lviv, Ukraine (2005)
California, United States (1997)
Guangdong, China (2017) |
Alberta | See also | See also
Index of Alberta-related articles
Outline of Alberta
Royal eponyms in Canada
Edmonton
Calgary
Banff National Park |
Alberta | Notes | Notes |
Alberta | References | References |
Alberta | Further reading | Further reading
|
Alberta | External links | External links
Alberta Encyclopedia
List of streets in Alberta with maps
Category:1905 establishments in Canada
Category:Canadian Prairies
Category:Provinces and territories of Canada
Category:States and territories established in 1905 |
Alberta | Table of Content | Short description, Etymology, Geography, Climate, Ecology, Flora, Fauna, Paleontology, History, Demographics, Municipalities, Language, Ethnicity, Religion, Economy, Agriculture and forestry, Industry, Tourism, Government and politics, Administrative divisions, Law enforcement, Military, Taxation, Culture, Sports, Education, Elementary and secondary, Post-secondary, Health care, Transportation, Air, Public transit, Rail, Road, Friendship partners, See also, Notes, References, Further reading, External links |
List of anthropologists | Short description | Anthropologist |
List of anthropologists | A | A
John Adair
B. R. Ambedkar
Giulio Angioni
Jon Altman
Arjun Appadurai
Talal Asad
Timothy Asch
Scott Atran
Marc Augé |
List of anthropologists | B | B
Nigel Barley
Fredrik Barth
Vasily Bartold
Keith H. Basso
Daisy Bates
Gregory Bateson
Mary Catherine Bateson
Richard Bauman
Ruth Behar
Ruth Benedict
Dorothy A. Bennett
Carl H. Berendt
Lee Berger
Brent Berlin
Catherine Helen Webb Berndt
Catherine L. Besteman
Theodore C. Bestor
Lewis Binford
Evelyn Blackwood
Wilhelm Bleek
Maurice Bloch
Anton Blok
Franz Boas
Tom Boellstorff
Paul Bohannan
Dmitri Bondarenko
Pere Bosch-Gimpera
Pierre Bourdieu
Philippe Bourgois
Charles L. Briggs
Paul Broca
Christian Bromberger
Kari Bruwelheide
Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hīroa) |
List of anthropologists | C | C
Julio Caro Baroja
Edmund Carpenter
Napoleon Chagnon
Pierre Clastres
Mabel Cook Cole
Malcolm Carr Collier
Harold C. Conklin
Carleton S. Coon
Frank Hamilton Cushing |
List of anthropologists | D | D
Regna Darnell
Raymond Dart
Emma Lou Davis
Wade Davis
Ernesto de Martino
Ella Cara Deloria
Raymond J. DeMallie
Philippe Descola
Stanley Diamond
Mary Douglas
Cora Du Bois
Eugene Dubois
Robin Dunbar
Ann Dunham
Katherine Dunham
Elizabeth Cullen Dunn
Émile Durkheim |
List of anthropologists | E | E
Mary Lindsay Elmendolf
Verrier Elwin
Matthew Engelke
Friedrich Engels
Arturo Escobar
E. E. Evans-Pritchard |
List of anthropologists | F | F
James Ferguson
Raymond Firth
Raymond D. Fogelson
Meyer Fortes
Gregory Forth
Dian Fossey
Kate Fox
Robin Fox
James Frazer
Lina Fruzzetti |
List of anthropologists | G | G
Clifford Geertz
Alfred Gell
Ernest Gellner
Herb Di Gioia
Max Gluckman
Maurice Godelier
Jane Goodall
Marjorie Harness Goodwin
Igor Gorevich
Harold A. Gould
David Graeber
Hilma Granqvist
J. Patrick Gray
Marcel Griaule
Jacob Grimm
Wilhelm Grimm |
List of anthropologists | H | H
Abdellah Hammoudi
Michael Harkin
Michael Harner
John P. Harrington
Marvin Harris
K. David Harrison
Kirsten Hastrup
Jacquetta Hawkes
Brian Douglas Hayden
Rose Oldfield Hayes
Stephen C. Headley
Thor Heyerdahl
Arthur Maurice Hocart
Ian Hodder
E. Adamson Hoebel
Earnest Hooton
Robin W.G. Horton
Aleš Hrdlička
Eva Verbitsky Hunt
Dell Hymes |
List of anthropologists | I | I
Miyako Inoue
Bill Irons |
List of anthropologists | J | J
Ira Jacknis
John M. Janzen
Thomas Des Jean
F. Landa Jocano
Alfred E. Johnson
William Jones
Michal Josephy
Jeffrey S. Juris |
List of anthropologists | K | K
Sergei Kan
Jomo Kenyatta
David Kertzer
Alice Beck Kehoe
Anatoly Khazanov
Dolly Kikon
Richard G. Klein
Chris Knight
Eduardo Kohn
Dorinne K. Kondo
Andrey Korotayev
Conrad Kottak
Charles H. Kraft
Grover Krantz
Alfred L. Kroeber
Theodora Kroeber
Lars Krutak
Adam Kuper |
List of anthropologists | L | L
William Labov
George Lakoff
Harold E. Lambert
Edmund Leach
Eleanor Leacock
Murray Leaf
Louis Leakey
Mary Leakey
Richard Leakey
Richard Borshay Lee
Charles Miller Leslie
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Ellen Lewin
C. Scott Littleton
Albert Buell Lewis
Oscar Lewis
Phillip Harold Lewis
Roland Littlewood
Robert Lowie
Nancy Lurie |
List of anthropologists | M | M
Alan Macfarlane
Saba Mahmood
Bronisław Malinowski
George Marcus
Jonathan M. Marks
Karl Marx
John Alden Mason
Michael Atwood Mason
Marcel Mauss
Phillip McArthur
Irma McClaurin
Charles Harrison McNutt
Margaret Mead
Mervyn Meggitt
Josef Mengele
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay
Emily Martin
Horace Mitchell Miner
Sidney Mintz
Louis Molet
Ashley Montagu
James Mooney
Henrietta L. Moore
John H. Moore
Lewis H. Morgan
Desmond Morris
George Murdock
Yolanda Murphy |
List of anthropologists | N | N
Laura Nader
Moni Nag
Jeremy Narby
Raoul Naroll
Josiah Nott
Erland Nordenskiöld |
List of anthropologists | O | O
Gananath Obeyesekere
Kaori O'Connor
Aihwa Ong
Marvin Opler
Morris Opler
Sherry Ortner
Keith F. Otterbein
Evelia Edith Oyhenart |
List of anthropologists | P | P
Elsie Clews Parsons
Bronisław Piłsudski
Thomas J. Pluckhahn
Hortense Powdermaker
A.H.J. Prins
Harald E.L. Prins |
List of anthropologists | Q | Q
Buell Quain
James Quesada |
List of anthropologists | R | R
Paul Rabinow
Wilhelm Radloff
Laurence Ralph
Lucinda Ramberg
Roy Rappaport
Hans Ras
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown
Margaret Read
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
Kathy Reichs
Audrey Richards
W. H. R. Rivers
Paul Rivet
Uzma Z. Rizvi
Joel Robbins
Renato Rosaldo
Gayle Rubin
Robert A. Rubinstein |
List of anthropologists | S | S
Marshall Sahlins
Noel B. Salazar
Roger Sandall
Edward Sapir
Patricia Sawin
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Wilhelm Schmidt
Tobias Schneebaum
James C. Scott
Thayer Scudder
Elman Service
Afanasy Shchapov
Gerald F. Schroedl
Florence Connolly Shipek
Sydel Silverman
Audra Simpson
Cathy Small
Christen A. Smith
Jacques Soustelle
Melford Spiro
James Spradley
Julian Steward
Herbert Spencer
Marilyn Strathern
William Sturtevant
Niara Sudarkasa |
List of anthropologists | T | T
Michael Taussig
Sharika Thiranagama
Edward Burnett Tylor
Colin Turnbull
Victor Turner
Bruce Trigger |
List of anthropologists | V | V
Karl Verner
L. P. Vidyarthi
Eduardo Viveiros de Castro
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf |
List of anthropologists | W | W
Anthony F. C. Wallace
Lee Henderson Watkins
Camilla Wedgwood
Hank Wesselman
Kath Weston
Douglas R. White
Isobel Mary White
Leslie White
Tim White
Benjamin Whorf
Unni Wikan
Clark Wissler
Eric Wolf
Alvin Wolfe
Sol Worth |
List of anthropologists | Y | Y
Nur Yalman
Kim Yeshi |
List of anthropologists | Z | Z
Jarrett Zigon
R. Tom Zuidema |
List of anthropologists | Fictional anthropologists | Fictional anthropologists
Mary Albright (Jane Curtin) in the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun
Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) in the television series Bones
Temperance Brennan in the novel series Temperance Brennan by Kathy Reichs
Chakotay (Robert Beltran) in the television series Star Trek: Voyager
Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in the television series Star Trek: Discovery
Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks, James Spader) in the television series and film Stargate SG-1
Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) in the television series Lost
Korekiyo Shinguji |
List of anthropologists | See also | See also
List of female anthropologists
List of Black Anthropologists
List of Chinese sociologists and anthropologists |
List of anthropologists | References | References
Anthropologists
|
List of anthropologists | Table of Content | Short description, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, Y, Z, Fictional anthropologists, See also, References |
Actinopterygii | Short description | Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of skin supported by radially extended thin bony spines called lepidotrichia, as opposed to the bulkier, fleshy lobed fins of the sister clade Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish). Resembling folding fans, the actinopterygian fins can easily change shape and wetted area, providing superior thrust-to-weight ratios per movement compared to sarcopterygian and chondrichthyian fins. The fin rays attach directly to the proximal or basal skeletal elements, the radials, which represent the articulation between these fins and the internal skeleton (e.g., pelvic and pectoral girdles).
The vast majority of actinopterygians are teleosts. By species count, they dominate the subphylum Vertebrata, and constitute nearly 99% of the over 30,000 extant species of fish.(Davis, Brian 2010). They are the most abundant nektonic aquatic animals and are ubiquitous throughout freshwater and marine environments from the deep sea to subterranean waters to the highest mountain streams. Extant species can range in size from Paedocypris, at ; to the massive ocean sunfish, at ; and to the giant oarfish, at . The largest ever known ray-finned fish, the extinct Leedsichthys from the Jurassic, has been estimated to have grown to . |
Actinopterygii | Characteristics | Characteristics
thumb|300px|left|
A: dorsal fin, B: fin rays, C: lateral line, D: kidney, E: swim bladder, F: Weberian apparatus, G: inner ear, H: brain, I: nostrils, L: eye, M: gills, N: heart, O: stomach, P: gall bladder, Q: spleen, R: internal sex organs (ovaries or testes), S: ventral fins, T: spine, U: anal fin, V: tail (caudal fin). Possible other parts not shown: barbels, adipose fin, external genitalia (gonopodium)
Ray-finned fishes occur in many variant forms. The main features of typical ray-finned fish are shown in the adjacent diagram.
The swim bladder is a more derived structure and used for buoyancy. Except from the bichirs, which just like the lungs of lobe-finned fish have retained the ancestral condition of ventral budding from the foregut, the swim bladder in ray-finned fishes derives from a dorsal bud above the foregut. In early forms the swim bladder could still be used for breathing, a trait still present in Holostei (bowfins and gars). In some fish like the arapaima, the swim bladder has been modified for breathing air again, and in other lineages it has been completely lost.
The teleosts have urinary and reproductive tracts that are fully separated, while the Chondrostei have common urogenital ducts, and partially connected ducts are found in Cladistia and Holostei.Post-testicular sperm maturation in ancient holostean species
Ray-finned fishes have many different types of scales; but all teleosts have leptoid scales. The outer part of these scales fan out with bony ridges, while the inner part is crossed with fibrous connective tissue. Leptoid scales are thinner and more transparent than other types of scales, and lack the hardened enamel- or dentine-like layers found in the scales of many other fish. Unlike ganoid scales, which are found in non-teleost actinopterygians, new scales are added in concentric layers as the fish grows.
Teleosts and chondrosteans (sturgeons and paddlefish) also differ from the bichirs and holosteans (bowfin and gars) in having gone through a whole-genome duplication (paleopolyploidy). The WGD is estimated to have happened about 320 million years ago in the teleosts, which on average has retained about 17% of the gene duplicates, and around 180 (124–225) million years ago in the chondrosteans. It has since happened again in some teleost lineages, like Salmonidae (80–100 million years ago) and several times independently within the Cyprinidae (in goldfish and common carp as recently as 14 million years ago). |
Actinopterygii | Body shapes and fin arrangements | Body shapes and fin arrangements
Ray-finned fish vary in size and shape, in their feeding specializations, and in the number and arrangement of their ray-fins. |
Actinopterygii | Reproduction | Reproduction
thumb|left|Three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) males (red belly) build nests and compete to attract females to lay eggs in them. Males then defend and fan the eggs. Painting by Alexander Francis Lydon, 1879
In nearly all ray-finned fish, the sexes are separate, and in most species the females spawn eggs that are fertilized externally, typically with the male inseminating the eggs after they are laid. Development then proceeds with a free-swimming larval stage. However other patterns of ontogeny exist, with one of the commonest being sequential hermaphroditism. In most cases this involves protogyny, fish starting life as females and converting to males at some stage, triggered by some internal or external factor. Protandry, where a fish converts from male to female, is much less common than protogyny.
Most families use external rather than internal fertilization. Of the oviparous teleosts, most (79%) do not provide parental care. Viviparity, ovoviviparity, or some form of parental care for eggs, whether by the male, the female, or both parents is seen in a significant fraction (21%) of the 422 teleost families; no care is likely the ancestral condition. The oldest case of viviparity in ray-finned fish is found in Middle Triassic species of Saurichthys. Viviparity is relatively rare and is found in about 6% of living teleost species; male care is far more common than female care. Male territoriality "preadapts" a species for evolving male parental care.
There are a few examples of fish that self-fertilise. The mangrove rivulus is an amphibious, simultaneous hermaphrodite, producing both eggs and spawn and having internal fertilisation. This mode of reproduction may be related to the fish's habit of spending long periods out of water in the mangrove forests it inhabits. Males are occasionally produced at temperatures below and can fertilise eggs that are then spawned by the female. This maintains genetic variability in a species that is otherwise highly inbred. |
Actinopterygii | Classification and fossil record | Classification and fossil record
thumb|500px|right
Actinopterygii is divided into the subclasses Cladistia, Chondrostei and Neopterygii. The Neopterygii, in turn, is divided into the infraclasses Holostei and Teleostei. During the Mesozoic (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous) and Cenozoic the teleosts in particular diversified widely. As a result, 96% of living fish species are teleosts (40% of all fish species belong to the teleost subgroup Acanthomorpha), while all other groups of actinopterygians represent depauperate lineages.
The classification of ray-finned fishes can be summarized as follows:
Cladistia, which include bichirs and reedfish
Actinopteri, which include:
Chondrostei, which include Acipenseriformes (paddlefishes and sturgeons)
Neopterygii, which include:
Teleostei (most living fishes)
Holostei, which include:
Lepisosteiformes (gars)
Amiiformes (bowfin)
The cladogram below shows the main clades of living actinopterygians and their evolutionary relationships to other extant groups of fishes and the four-limbed vertebrates (tetrapods). The latter include mostly terrestrial species but also groups that became secondarily aquatic (e.g. whales and dolphins). Tetrapods evolved from a group of bony fish during the Devonian period. Approximate divergence dates for the different actinopterygian clades (in millions of years, mya) are from Near et al., 2012.
The polypterids (bichirs and reedfish) are the sister lineage of all other actinopterygians, the Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefishes) are the sister lineage of Neopterygii, and Holostei (bowfin and gars) are the sister lineage of teleosts. The Elopomorpha (eels and tarpons) appear to be the most basal teleosts.
The earliest known fossil actinopterygian is Andreolepis hedei, dating back 420 million years (Late Silurian), remains of which have been found in Russia, Sweden, and Estonia. Crown group actinopterygians most likely originated near the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary. The earliest fossil relatives of modern teleosts are from the Triassic period (Prohalecites, Pholidophorus), although it is suspected that teleosts originated already during the Paleozoic Era.
Chondrostei140pxChondrostei (cartilage bone) is a subclass of primarily cartilaginous fish showing some ossification. Earlier definitions of Chondrostei are now known to be paraphyletic, meaning that this subclass does not contain all the descendants of their common ancestor. There used to be 52 species divided among two orders, the Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefishes) and the Polypteriformes (reedfishes and bichirs). Reedfish and birchirs are now separated from the Chondrostei into their own sister lineage, the Cladistia. It is thought that the chondrosteans evolved from bony fish but lost the bony hardening of their cartilaginous skeletons, resulting in a lightening of the frame. Elderly chondrosteans show beginnings of ossification of the skeleton, suggesting that this process is delayed rather than lost in these fish. This group had once been classified with the sharks: the similarities are obvious, as not only do the chondrosteans mostly lack bone, but the structure of the jaw is more akin to that of sharks than other bony fish, and both lack scales (excluding the Polypteriforms). Additional shared features include spiracles and, in sturgeons, a heterocercal tail (the vertebrae extend into the larger lobe of the caudal fin). However the fossil record suggests that these fish have more in common with the Teleostei than their external appearance might suggest. Neopterygii140pxNeopterygii (new fins) is a subclass of ray-finned fish that appeared somewhere in the Late Permian. There were only few changes during its evolution from the earlier actinopterygians. Neopterygians are a very successful group of fishes because they can move more rapidly than their ancestors. Their scales and skeletons began to lighten during their evolution, and their jaws became more powerful and efficient. While electroreception and the ampullae of Lorenzini is present in all other groups of fish, with the exception of hagfish, neopterygians have lost this sense, though it later re-evolved within Gymnotiformes and catfishes, who possess nonhomologous teleost ampullae.
thumb|Fossil of the Devonian cheirolepidiform Cheirolepis canadensis
thumb|Fossil of the Carboniferous elonichthyiform Elonichthys peltigerus
thumb|Fossil of the Permian aeduelliform Aeduella blainvillei
thumb|Fossil of the Permian palaeonisciform Palaeoniscum freieslebeni
thumb|Fossil of the Triassic bobasatraniiform Bobasatrania canadensis
thumb|Fossil of the Triassic perleidiform Thoracopterus magnificus
thumb|Fossils of the Triassic prohaleciteiform Prohalecites sp., the earliest teleosteomorph
thumb|Fossil of the Jurassic aspidorhynchiform Aspidorhynchus sp.
thumb|Fossil of the Jurassic pachycormiform Pachycormus curtus
thumb|Fossil of the Cretaceous acipenseriform Yanosteus longidorsalis
thumb|Fossil of the Cretaceous aulopiform Nematonotus longispinus
thumb|Fossil of the Cretaceous ichthyodectiform Thrissops formosus
thumb|Fossil of the Eocene carangiform Mene oblonga
thumb|Fossil of the Eocene pleuronectiform Amphistium paradoxum
thumb|right|Fossil of a ray-finned perch (Priscacara serrata) from the Lower Eocene about 50 million years ago
thumb|Fossil of the Miocene syngnathiform Nerophis zapfei
thumb|Skeleton of the angler fish, Lophius piscatorius. The first spine of the dorsal fin of the anglerfish is modified so it functions like a fishing rod with a lure
thumb|right|Skeleton of another ray-finned fish, the lingcod
thumb| |
Actinopterygii | Taxonomy | Taxonomy
The listing below is a summary of all extinct (indicated by a dagger, †) and living groups of Actinopterygii with their respective taxonomic rank. The taxonomy follows Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and Phylogenetic Classification of Bony Fishes with notes when this differs from Nelson, ITIS and FishBase and extinct groups from Van der Laan 2016 and Xu 2021.
Order †?Asarotiformes Schaeffer 1968
Order †?Discordichthyiformes Minikh 1998
Order †?Paphosisciformes Grogan & Lund 2015
Order †?Scanilepiformes Selezneya 1985
Order †Cheirolepidiformes Kazantseva-Selezneva 1977
Order †Paramblypteriformes Heyler 1969
Order †Rhadinichthyiformes
Order †Palaeonisciformes Hay 1902
Order †Tarrasiiformes sensu Lund & Poplin 2002
Order †Ptycholepiformes Andrews et al. 1967
Order †Haplolepidiformes Westoll 1944
Order †Aeduelliformes Heyler 1969
Order †Platysomiformes Aldinger 1937
Order †Dorypteriformes Cope 1871
Order †Eurynotiformes Sallan & Coates 2013
Subclass Cladistia Pander 1860
Order †Guildayichthyiformes Lund 2000
Order Polypteriformes Bleeker 1859 (bichirs and reedfishes)In Nelson, Polypteriformes is placed in its own subclass Cladistia.
Subclass Actinopteri Cope 1972 s.s.
Order †Elonichthyiformes Kazantseva-Selezneva 1977
Order †Phanerorhynchiformes
Order †Bobasatraniiformes Berg 1940
Order †Saurichthyiformes Aldinger 1937
Subclass Chondrostei Müller, 1844
Order †Birgeriiformes Heyler 1969
Order †Chondrosteiformes Aldinger, 1937
Order Acipenseriformes Berg 1940 (includes sturgeons and paddlefishes)
Subclass Neopterygii Regan 1923 sensu Xu & Wu 2012
Order †Pholidopleuriformes Berg 1937
Order †Redfieldiiformes Berg 1940
Order †Platysiagiformes Brough 1939
Order †Polzbergiiformes Griffith 1977
Order †Perleidiformes Berg 1937
Order †Louwoichthyiformes Xu 2021
Order †Peltopleuriformes Lehman 1966
Order †Luganoiiformes Lehman 1958
Order †Pycnodontiformes Berg 1937
Infraclass Holostei Müller 1844
Division Halecomorphi Cope 1872 sensu Grande & Bemis 1998
Order †Parasemionotiformes Lehman 1966
Order †Ionoscopiformes Grande & Bemis 1998
Order Amiiformes Huxley 1861 sensu Grande & Bemis 1998 (bowfins)
Division Ginglymodi Cope 1871
Order †Dapediiformes Thies & Waschkewitz 2015
Order †Semionotiformes Arambourg & Bertin 1958
Order Lepisosteiformes Hay 1929 (gars)
Clade Teleosteomorpha Arratia 2000 sensu Arratia 2013
Order †Prohaleciteiformes Arratia 2017
Division Aspidorhynchei Nelson, Grand & Wilson 2016
Order †Aspidorhynchiformes Bleeker 1859
Order †Pachycormiformes Berg 1937
Infraclass Teleostei Müller 1844 sensu Arratia 2013
Order †?Araripichthyiformes
Order †?Ligulelliiformes Taverne 2011
Order †?Tselfatiiformes Nelson 1994
Order †Pholidophoriformes Berg 1940
Order †Dorsetichthyiformes Nelson, Grand & Wilson 2016
Order †Leptolepidiformes
Order †Crossognathiformes Taverne 1989
Order †Ichthyodectiformes Bardeck & Sprinkle 1969
Teleocephala de Pinna 1996 s.s.
Megacohort Elopocephalai Patterson 1977 sensu Arratia 1999 (Elopomorpha Greenwood et al. 1966)
Order Elopiformes Gosline 1960 (ladyfishes and tarpon)
Order Albuliformes Greenwood et al. 1966 sensu Forey et al. 1996 (bonefishes)
Order Notacanthiformes Goodrich 1909 (halosaurs and spiny eels)
Order Anguilliformes Jarocki 1822 sensu Goodrich 1909 (true eels)
Megacohort Osteoglossocephalai sensu Arratia 1999
Supercohort Osteoglossocephala sensu Arratia 1999 (Osteoglossomorpha Greenwood et al. 1966)
Order †Lycopteriformes Chang & Chou 1977
Order Hiodontiformes McAllister 1968 sensu Taverne 1979 (mooneye and goldeye)
Order Osteoglossiformes Regan 1909 sensu Zhang 2004 (bony-tongued fishes)
Supercohort Clupeocephala Patterson & Rosen 1977 sensu Arratia 2010
Cohort Otomorpha Wiley & Johnson 2010 (Otocephala; Ostarioclupeomorpha)
Subcohort Clupei Wiley & Johnson 2010 (Clupeomorpha Greenwood et al. 1966)
Order †Ellimmichthyiformes Grande 1982
Order Clupeiformes Bleeker 1859 (herrings and anchovies)
Subcohort Alepocephali
Order Alepocephaliformes Marshall 1962
Subcohort Ostariophysi Sagemehl 1885
Section Anotophysa (Rosen & Greenwood 1970) Sagemehl 1885
Order †Sorbininardiformes Taverne 1999
Order Gonorynchiformes Regan 1909 (milkfishes)
Section Otophysa Garstang 1931
Order Cypriniformes Bleeker 1859 sensu Goodrich 1909 (barbs, carp, danios, goldfishes, loaches, minnows, rasboras)
Order Characiformes Goodrich 1909 (characins, pencilfishes, hatchetfishes, piranhas, tetras, dourado / golden (genus Salminus) and pacu)
Order Gymnotiformes Berg 1940 (electric eels and knifefishes)
Order Siluriformes Cuvier 1817 sensu Hay 1929 (catfishes)
Cohort Euteleosteomorpha (Greenwood et al. 1966) (Euteleostei Greenwood 1967 sensu Johnson & Patterson 1996)
Subcohort Lepidogalaxii
Order Lepidogalaxiiformes Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013 (salamanderfish)
Subcohort Protacanthopterygii Greenwood et al. 1966 sensu Johnson & Patterson 1996
Order Argentiniformes (barreleyes and slickheads) (formerly in Osmeriformes)
Order Galaxiiformes
Order Salmoniformes Bleeker 1859 sensu Nelson 1994 (salmon, trout and pike)
Subcohort Stomiati
Order Osmeriformes (smelts)
Order Stomiiformes Regan 1909 (bristlemouths and marine hatchetfishes)
Subcohort Neoteleostei Nelson 1969
Infracohort Ateleopodia
Order Ateleopodiformes (jellynose fish)
Infracohort Eurypterygia Rosen 1973
Section Aulopa [Cyclosquamata Rosen 1973]
Order Aulopiformes Rosen 1973 (Bombay duck and lancetfishes)
Section Ctenosquamata Rosen 1973
Subsection Myctophata [Scopelomorpha]
Order Myctophiformes Regan 1911 (lanternfishes)
Subsection Acanthomorpha Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013
Division Lampridacea Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013 [Lampridomorpha; Lampripterygii]
Order Lampriformes Regan 1909 (oarfish, opah and ribbonfishes)
Division Paracanthomorphacea sensu Grande et al. 2013 (Paracanthopterygii Greenwood 1937)
Order Percopsiformes Berg 1937 (cavefishes and trout-perches)
Order †Sphenocephaliformes Rosen & Patterson 1969
Order Zeiformes Regan 1909 (dories)
Order Gadiformes Goodrich 1909 (cods)
Division Polymixiacea Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013 (Polymyxiomorpha; Polymixiipterygii)
Order †Pattersonichthyiformes Gaudant 1976
Order †Ctenothrissiformes Berg 1937
Order Polymixiiformes Lowe 1838 (beardfishes)
Division Euacanthomorphacea Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013 (Euacanthomorpha sensu Johnson & Patterson 1993; Acanthopterygii Gouan 1770 sensu])
Order Trachichthyiformes (fangtooths and pineconefishes)
Subdivision Berycimorphaceae Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013
Order Beryciformes (alfonsinos and holocentrids) (incl. Holocentriformes,Stephanoberyciformes; Cetomimiformes)
Subdivision Percomorphaceae Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013 (Percomorpha sensu Miya et al. 2003; Acanthopteri)
Series Ophidiimopharia Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013
Order Ophidiiformes (pearlfishes)
Series Batrachoidimopharia Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013
Order Batrachoidiformes (toadfishes)
Series Gobiomopharia Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013
Order Gobiiformes (cardinalfishes, sleepers and gobies)
Series Scombrimopharia Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013
Order Syngnathiformes (seahorses, pipefishes, sea moths, cornetfishes and flying gurnardsIn Nelson and ITIS, Syngnathiformes is placed as the suborder Syngnathoidei of the order Gasterosteiformes.)
Order Scombriformes (Tunas and (mackerels)
Series Carangimopharia Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013
Subseries Anabantaria Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2014
Order Synbranchiformes (swamp eels)
Order Anabantiformes (Labyrinthici) (gouramies, snakeheads, )
Subseries Carangaria Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2014
Order Carangiformes (Jack mackerels, pompanos, flatfishes, billfishes)
Subseries Ovalentaria Smith & Near 2012 (Stiassnyiformes sensu Li et al. 2009)
Order Atheriniformes Rosen 1964 (silversides and rainbowfishes)
Order Cyprinodontiformes Berg 1940 (livebearers, killifishes)
Order Beloniformes Berg 1940 (flyingfishes and ricefishes)
Order Cichliformes Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013 (Cichlids, Convict blenny, leaf fishes)
Order Mugiliformes Berg 1940 (mullets)
Order Blenniiformes Springer 1993 (Blennies, damselfish,Clingfishes)
Series Eupercaria Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2014 (Percomorpharia Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2013)
Order Perciformes Bleeker 1859
Order Centrarchiformes Bleeker 1859 (Sunfishes and mandarin fishes)
Order Labriformes (Wrasses and Parrotfishes)
Order Acropomatiformes
Order Acanthuriformes
Order Lophiiformes Garman 1899 (Anglerfishes)
Order Tetraodontiformes Regan 1929 (Filefishes and pufferfish) |
Actinopterygii | References | References |
Actinopterygii | External links | External links
Category:Fish classes
Category:Extant Silurian first appearances |
Actinopterygii | Table of Content | Short description, Characteristics, Body shapes and fin arrangements, Reproduction, Classification and fossil record, Taxonomy, References, External links |
Albert Einstein | Short description | Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence formula , which arises from special relativity, has been called "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for .
Born in the German Empire, Einstein moved to Switzerland in 1895, forsaking his German citizenship (as a subject of the Kingdom of Württemberg) the following year. In 1897, at the age of seventeen, he enrolled in the mathematics and physics teaching diploma program at the Swiss federal polytechnic school in Zurich, graduating in 1900. He acquired Swiss citizenship a year later, which he kept for the rest of his life, and afterwards secured a permanent position at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. In 1905, he submitted a successful PhD dissertation to the University of Zurich. In 1914, he moved to Berlin to join the Prussian Academy of Sciences and the Humboldt University of Berlin, becoming director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in 1917; he also became a German citizen again, this time as a subject of the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1933, while Einstein was visiting the United States, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. Horrified by the Nazi persecution of his fellow Jews, he decided to remain in the US, and was granted American citizenship in 1940. On the eve of World War II, he endorsed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to the potential German nuclear weapons program and recommending that the US begin similar research.
In 1905, sometimes described as his annus mirabilis (miracle year), he published four groundbreaking papers. In them, he outlined a theory of the photoelectric effect, explained Brownian motion, introduced his special theory of relativity, and demonstrated that if the special theory is correct, mass and energy are equivalent to each other. In 1915, he proposed a general theory of relativity that extended his system of mechanics to incorporate gravitation. A cosmological paper that he published the following year laid out the implications of general relativity for the modeling of the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole. In 1917, Einstein wrote a paper which introduced the concepts of spontaneous emission and stimulated emission, the latter of which is the core mechanism behind the laser and maser, and which contained a trove of information that would be beneficial to developments in physics later on, such as quantum electrodynamics and quantum optics.
In the middle part of his career, Einstein made important contributions to statistical mechanics and quantum theory. Especially notable was his work on the quantum physics of radiation, in which light consists of particles, subsequently called photons. With physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, he laid the groundwork for Bose–Einstein statistics. For much of the last phase of his academic life, Einstein worked on two endeavors that ultimately proved unsuccessful. First, he advocated against quantum theory's introduction of fundamental randomness into science's picture of the world, objecting that . Second, he attempted to devise a unified field theory by generalizing his geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism. As a result, he became increasingly isolated from mainstream modern physics. |
Albert Einstein | Life and career | Life and career |
Albert Einstein | Childhood, youth and education | Childhood, youth and education
thumb|upright|left|alt=A young boy with short hair and a round face, wearing a white collar and large bow, with vest, coat, skirt, and high boots. He is leaning against an ornate chair.|Einstein in 1882, age3
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire, on 14 March 1879. His parents, secular Ashkenazi Jews, were Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer, and Pauline Koch. In 1880, the family moved to Munich's borough of Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt, where Einstein's father and his uncle Jakob founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a company that manufactured electrical equipment based on direct current. He often related a formative event from his youth, when he was sick in bed and his father brought him a compass. This sparked his lifelong fascination with electromagnetism. He realized that "Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."
Albert attended St. Peter's Catholic elementary school in Munich from the age of five. When he was eight, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium, where he received advanced primary and then secondary school education.
In 1894, Hermann and Jakob's company tendered for a contract to install electric lighting in Munich, but without success—they lacked the capital that would have been required to update their technology from direct current to the more efficient, alternating current alternative. The failure of their bid forced them to sell their Munich factory and search for new opportunities elsewhere. The Einstein family moved to Italy, first to Milan and a few months later to Pavia, where they settled in Palazzo Cornazzani. Einstein, then fifteen, stayed behind in Munich in order to finish his schooling. His father wanted him to study electrical engineering, but he was a fractious pupil who found the Gymnasium's regimen and teaching methods far from congenial. He later wrote that the school's policy of strict rote learning was harmful to creativity. At the end of December 1894, a letter from a doctor persuaded the Luitpold's authorities to release him from its care, and he joined his family in Pavia. While in Italy as a teenager, he wrote an essay entitled "On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field".Stachel, et al (2008). Vol. 1 (1987), doc. 5.
Einstein excelled at physics and mathematics from an early age, and soon acquired the mathematical expertise normally only found in a child several years his senior. He began teaching himself algebra, calculus and Euclidean geometry when he was twelve; he made such rapid progress that he discovered an original proof of the Pythagorean theorem before his thirteenth birthday. A family tutor, Max Talmud, said that only a short time after he had given the twelve year old Einstein a geometry textbook, the boy Einstein recorded that he had "mastered integral and differential calculus" while still just fourteen. His love of algebra and geometry was so great that at twelve, he was already confident that nature could be understood as a "mathematical structure".
thumb|upright=.9|left|alt=Studio photo of a boy seated in a relaxed posture and wearing a suit, posed in front of a backdrop of scenery.|Einstein in 1893, age14
At thirteen, when his range of enthusiasms had broadened to include music and philosophy, Talmud introduced Einstein to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Kant became his favorite philosopher; according to Talmud,
In 1895, at the age of sixteen, Einstein sat the entrance examination for the federal polytechnic school (later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He failed to reach the required standard in the general part of the test,Stachel, et al (2008). Vol. 1 (1987), p. 11. but performed with distinction in physics and mathematics. On the advice of the polytechnic's principal, he completed his secondary education at the Argovian cantonal school (a gymnasium) in Aarau, Switzerland, graduating in 1896. ref for: Old Cantonal School Aarau While lodging in Aarau with the family of Jost Winteler, he fell in love with Winteler's daughter, Marie. (His sister, Maja, later married Winteler's son Paul.)
thumb|upright|alt=Einstein's matriculation certificate at the age of 17. The heading translates as "The Education Committee of the Canton of Aargau". His scores were German 5, French 3, Italian 5, History 6, Geography 4, Algebra 6, Geometry 6, Descriptive Geometry 6, Physics 6, Chemistry 5, Natural History 5, Art Drawing 4, Technical Drawing 4. 6 = very good, 5 = good, 4 = sufficient, 3 = insufficient, 2 = poor, 1 = very poor.|Einstein's Matura certificate from canton Aargau, 1896
In January 1896, with his father's approval, Einstein renounced his citizenship of the German Kingdom of Württemberg in order to avoid conscription into military service. The Matura (graduation for the successful completion of higher secondary schooling), awarded to him in September 1896, acknowledged him to have performed well across most of the curriculum, allotting him a top grade of 6 for history, physics, algebra, geometry, and descriptive geometry.Stachel, et al (2008). Vol. 1 (1987), docs. 21–27. At seventeen, he enrolled in the four-year mathematics and physics teaching diploma program at the federal polytechnic school. Marie Winteler, a year older than him, took up a teaching post in Olsberg, Switzerland.
The five other polytechnic school freshmen following the same course as Einstein included just one woman, a twenty year old Serbian, Mileva Marić. Over the next few years, the pair spent many hours discussing their shared interests and learning about topics in physics that the polytechnic school's lectures did not cover. In his letters to Marić, Einstein confessed that exploring science with her by his side was much more enjoyable than reading a textbook in solitude. Eventually the two students became not only friends but also lovers.
Historians of physics are divided on the question of the extent to which Marić contributed to the insights of Einstein's annus mirabilis publications. There is at least some evidence that he was influenced by her scientific ideas, but there are scholars who doubt whether her impact on his thought was of any great significance at all. |
Albert Einstein | Marriages, relationships and children | Marriages, relationships and children
thumb|Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić Einstein, 1912
Correspondence between Einstein and Marić, discovered and published in 1987, revealed that in early 1902, while Marić was visiting her parents in Novi Sad, she gave birth to a daughter, Lieserl. When Marić returned to Switzerland it was without the child, whose fate is uncertain. A letter of Einstein's that he wrote in September 1903 suggests that the girl was either given up for adoption or died of scarlet fever in infancy.
Einstein and Marić married in January 1903. In May 1904, their son Hans Albert was born in Bern, Switzerland. Their son Eduard was born in Zurich in July 1910. In letters that Einstein wrote to Marie Winteler in the months before Eduard's arrival, he described his love for his wife as "misguided" and mourned the "missed life" that he imagined he would have enjoyed if he had married Winteler instead: "I think of you in heartfelt love every spare minute and am so unhappy as only a man can be."
alt=Einstein, looking relaxed and holding a pipe, stands next to a smiling, well-dressed Elsa who is wearing a fancy hat and fur wrap. She is looking at him.|left|thumb|Albert and Elsa Einstein arriving in New York, 1921
In 1912, Einstein entered into a relationship with Elsa Löwenthal, who was both his first cousin on his mother's side and his second cousin on his father's. When Marić learned of his infidelity soon after moving to Berlin with him in April 1914, she returned to Zurich, taking Hans Albert and Eduard with her. Einstein and Marić were granted a divorce on 14 February 1919 on the grounds of having lived apart for five years. As part of the divorce settlement, Einstein agreed that if he were to win a Nobel Prize, he would give the money that he received to Marić; he won the prize two years later.
Einstein married Löwenthal in 1919. In 1923, he began a relationship with a secretary named Betty Neumann, the niece of his close friend Hans Mühsam. Löwenthal nevertheless remained loyal to him, accompanying him when he emigrated to the United States in 1933. In 1935, she was diagnosed with heart and kidney problems. She died in December 1936.
thumb|Albert and Elsa Einstein, 1930
A volume of Einstein's letters released by Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2006 added some other women with whom he was romantically involved. They included Margarete Lebach (a married Austrian), Estella Katzenellenbogen (the rich owner of a florist business), Toni Mendel (a wealthy Jewish widow) and Ethel Michanowski (a Berlin socialite), with whom he spent time and from whom he accepted gifts while married to Löwenthal. After being widowed, Einstein was briefly in a relationship with Margarita Konenkova, thought by some to be a Russian spy; her husband, the Russian sculptor Sergei Konenkov, created the bronze bust of Einstein at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
Following an episode of acute mental illness at about the age of twenty, Einstein's son Eduard was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent the remainder of his life either in the care of his mother or in temporary confinement in an asylum. After her death, he was committed permanently to Burghölzli, the Psychiatric University Hospital in Zurich. |
Albert Einstein | Assistant at the Swiss Patent Office (1902–1909) | Assistant at the Swiss Patent Office (1902–1909)
alt=Head and shoulders shot of a young, mustached man with dark, curly hair wearing a plaid suit and vest, striped shirt, and a dark tie.|thumb|upright=1|Einstein at the Swiss patent office, 1904Einstein graduated from the federal polytechnic school in 1900, duly certified as competent to teach mathematics and physics.Stachel, et al (2008). Vol. 1 (1987), doc. 67. His successful acquisition of Swiss citizenship in February 1901 was not followed by the usual sequel of conscription; the Swiss authorities deemed him medically unfit for military service. He found that Swiss schools too appeared to have no use for him, failing to offer him a teaching position despite the almost two years that he spent applying for one. Eventually it was with the help of Marcel Grossmann's father that he secured a post in Bern at the Swiss Patent Office, as an assistant examiner – level III.
Patent applications that landed on Einstein's desk for his evaluation included ideas for a gravel sorter and an electric typewriter. His employers were pleased enough with his work to make his position permanent in 1903, although they did not think that he should be promoted until he had "fully mastered machine technology". It is conceivable that his labors at the patent office had a bearing on his development of his special theory of relativity. He arrived at his revolutionary ideas about space, time and light through thought experiments about the transmission of signals and the synchronization of clocks, matters which also figured in some of the inventions submitted to him for assessment.
In 1902, Einstein and some friends whom he had met in Bern formed a group that held regular meetings to discuss science and philosophy. Their choice of a name for their club, the Olympia Academy, was an ironic comment upon its far from Olympian status. Sometimes they were joined by Marić, who limited her participation in their proceedings to careful listening. The thinkers whose works they reflected upon included Henri Poincaré, Ernst Mach and David Hume, all of whom significantly influenced Einstein's own subsequent ideas and beliefs. |
Albert Einstein | First scientific papers (1900–1905) | First scientific papers (1900–1905)
thumb|upright|alt=Cover image of the PhD dissertation of Albert Einstein|Einstein's 1905 dissertation,
Einstein's first paper, "Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen" ("Conclusions drawn from the phenomena of capillarity"), in which he proposed a model of intermolecular attraction that he afterwards disavowed as worthless, was published in the journal Annalen der Physik in 1901.Einstein (1901). His 24-page doctoral dissertation also addressed a topic in molecular physics. Titled "Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen" ("A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions") and dedicated "Meinem Freunde Herr Dr. Marcel Grossmann gewidmet" (to his friend Marcel Grossman), it was completed on 30 April 1905Einstein (1905b). and approved by Professor Alfred Kleiner of the University of Zurich three months later. (Einstein was formally awarded his PhD on 15 January 1906.)Einstein (1926b). A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions. Four other pieces of work that Einstein completed in 1905—his famous papers on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, his special theory of relativity and the equivalence of mass and energy—have led to the year being celebrated as an annus mirabilis for physics akin to 1666 (the year in which Isaac Newton experienced his greatest epiphanies). The publications deeply impressed Einstein's contemporaries. |
Albert Einstein | Academic career in Europe (1908–1933) | Academic career in Europe (1908–1933)
Einstein's sabbatical as a civil servant approached its end in 1908, when he secured a junior teaching position at the University of Bern. In 1909, a lecture on relativistic electrodynamics that he gave at the University of Zurich, much admired by Alfred Kleiner, led to Zurich's luring him away from Bern with a newly created associate professorship. Promotion to a full professorship followed in April 1911, when he accepted a chair at the German Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, a move which required him to become an Austrian citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was not completed. His time in Prague saw him producing eleven research papers.
thumb|Einstein with colleagues at the ETH in Zurich, 1913|upright=1.1
In July 1912, he returned to his alma mater, the ETH Zurich, to take up a chair in theoretical physics. His teaching activities there centered on thermodynamics and analytical mechanics, and his research interests included the molecular theory of heat, continuum mechanics and the development of a relativistic theory of gravitation. In his work on the latter topic, he was assisted by his friend Marcel Grossmann, whose knowledge of the kind of mathematics required was greater than his own.
In the spring of 1913, two German visitors, Max Planck and Walther Nernst, called upon Einstein in Zurich in the hope of persuading him to relocate to Berlin. They offered him membership of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, the directorship of the planned Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics and a chair at the Humboldt University of Berlin that would allow him to pursue his research supported by a professorial salary but with no teaching duties to burden him. Their invitation was all the more appealing to him because Berlin happened to be the home of his latest girlfriend, Elsa Löwenthal. He duly joined the Academy on 24 July 1913, and moved into an apartment in the Berlin district of Dahlem on 1 April 1914. He was installed in his Humboldt University position shortly thereafter.
thumb|right|upright=1.1|Einstein with other physicists and chemists in Berlin, 1920
The outbreak of the First World War in July 1914 marked the beginning of Einstein's gradual estrangement from the nation of his birth. When the "Manifesto of the Ninety-Three" was published in October 1914—a document signed by a host of prominent German thinkers that justified Germany's belligerence—Einstein was one of the few German intellectuals to distance himself from it and sign the alternative, eirenic "Manifesto to the Europeans" instead. However, this expression of his doubts about German policy did not prevent him from being elected to a two-year term as president of the German Physical Society in 1916. When the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics opened its doors the following year—its foundation delayed because of the war—Einstein was appointed its first director, just as Planck and Nernst had promised.
Einstein was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1920, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1921. In 1922, he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". At this point some physicists still regarded the general theory of relativity skeptically, and the Nobel citation displayed a degree of doubt even about the work on photoelectricity that it acknowledged: it did not assent to Einstein's notion of the particulate nature of light, which only won over the entire scientific community when S. N. Bose derived the Planck spectrum in 1924. That same year, Einstein was elected an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Britain's closest equivalent of the Nobel award, the Royal Society's Copley Medal, was not hung around Einstein's neck until 1925. He was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1930.
Einstein resigned from the Prussian Academy in March 1933. His accomplishments in Berlin had included the completion of the general theory of relativity, proving the Einstein–de Haas effect, contributing to the quantum theory of radiation, and the development of Bose–Einstein statistics. |
Albert Einstein | Putting general relativity to the test (1919) | Putting general relativity to the test (1919)
thumb|right| The New York Times reported confirmation of the bending of light by gravitation after observations (made in Príncipe and Sobral) of the 29 May 1919 eclipse were presented to a joint meeting in London of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society on 6 November 1919.
In 1907, Einstein reached a milestone on his long journey from his special theory of relativity to a new idea of gravitation with the formulation of his equivalence principle, which asserts that an observer in a box falling freely in a gravitational field would be unable to find any evidence that the field exists. In 1911, he used the principle to estimate the amount by which a ray of light from a distant star would be bent by the gravitational pull of the Sun as it passed close to the Sun's photosphere (that is, the Sun's apparent surface). He reworked his calculation in 1913, having now found a way to model gravitation with the Riemann curvature tensor of a non-Euclidean four-dimensional spacetime. By the fall of 1915, his reimagining of the mathematics of gravitation in terms of Riemannian geometry was complete, and he applied his new theory not just to the behavior of the Sun as a gravitational lens but also to another astronomical phenomenon, the precession of the perihelion of Mercury (a slow drift in the point in Mercury's elliptical orbit at which it approaches the Sun most closely). A total eclipse of the Sun that took place on 29 May 1919 provided an opportunity to put his theory of gravitational lensing to the test, and observations performed by Sir Arthur Eddington yielded results that were consistent with his calculations. Eddington's work was reported at length in newspapers around the world. On 7 November 1919, for example, the leading British newspaper, The Times, printed a banner headline that read: . |
Albert Einstein | Coming to terms with fame (1921–1923) | Coming to terms with fame (1921–1923)
thumb|upright|left|Einstein's official portrait after receiving the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics
With Eddington's eclipse observations widely reported not just in academic journals but by the popular press as well, Einstein became , a genius who had shattered a paradigm that had been basic to physicists' understanding of the universe since the seventeenth century.
Einstein began his new life as an intellectual icon in America, where he arrived on 2 April 1921. He was welcomed to New York City by Mayor John Francis Hylan, and then spent three weeks giving lectures and attending receptions. He spoke several times at Columbia University and Princeton, and in Washington, he visited the White House with representatives of the National Academy of Sciences. He returned to Europe via London, where he was the guest of the philosopher and statesman Viscount Haldane. He used his time in the British capital to meet several people prominent in British scientific, political or intellectual life, and to deliver a lecture at King's College. In July 1921, he published an essay, "My First Impression of the U.S.A.", in which he sought to sketch the American character, much as had Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America (1835). He wrote of his transatlantic hosts in highly approving terms:
In 1922, Einstein's travels were to the old world rather than the new. He devoted six months to a tour of Asia that saw him speaking in Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). After his first public lecture in Tokyo, he met Emperor Yoshihito and his wife at the Imperial Palace, with thousands of spectators thronging the streets in the hope of catching a glimpse of him. (In a letter to his sons, he wrote that Japanese people seemed to him to be generally modest, intelligent and considerate, and to have a true appreciation of art. But his picture of them in his diary was less flattering: His journal also contains views of China and India which were uncomplimentary. Of Chinese people, he wrote that .) He was greeted with even greater enthusiasm on the last leg of his tour, in which he spent twelve days in Mandatory Palestine, newly entrusted to British rule by the League of Nations in the aftermath of the First World War. Sir Herbert Samuel, the British High Commissioner, welcomed him with a degree of ceremony normally only accorded to a visiting head of state, including a cannon salute. One reception held in his honor was stormed by people determined to hear him speak: he told them that he was happy that Jews were beginning to be recognized as a force in the world.
Einstein's decision to tour the eastern hemisphere in 1922 meant that he was unable to go to Stockholm in the December of that year to participate in the Nobel prize ceremony. His place at the traditional Nobel banquet was taken by a German diplomat, who gave a speech praising him not only as a physicist but also as a campaigner for peace. A two-week visit to Spain that he undertook in 1923 saw him collecting another award, a membership of the Spanish Academy of Sciences signified by a diploma handed to him by King Alfonso XIII. (His Spanish trip also gave him a chance to meet a fellow Nobel laureate, the neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal.) |
Albert Einstein | Serving the League of Nations (1922–1932) | Serving the League of Nations (1922–1932)
thumb|Einstein at a session of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (League of Nations) of which he was a member from 1922 to 1932
From 1922 until 1932, with the exception of a few months in 1923 and 1924, Einstein was a member of the Geneva-based International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations, a group set up by the League to encourage scientists, artists, scholars, teachers and other people engaged in the life of the mind to work more closely with their counterparts in other countries. He was appointed as a German delegate rather than as a representative of Switzerland because of the machinations of two Catholic activists, Oskar Halecki and Giuseppe Motta. By persuading Secretary General Eric Drummond to deny Einstein the place on the committee reserved for a Swiss thinker, they created an opening for Gonzague de Reynold, who used his League of Nations position as a platform from which to promote traditional Catholic doctrine. Einstein's former physics professor Hendrik Lorentz and the Polish chemist Marie Curie were also members of the committee. |
Albert Einstein | Touring South America (1925) | Touring South America (1925)
In March and April 1925, Einstein and his wife visited South America, where they spent about a week in Brazil, a week in Uruguay and a month in Argentina. Their tour was suggested by Jorge Duclout (1856–1927) and Mauricio Nirenstein (1877–1935) with the support of several Argentine scholars, including Julio Rey Pastor, Jakob Laub, and Leopoldo Lugones. and was financed primarily by the Council of the University of Buenos Aires and the Asociación Hebraica Argentina (Argentine Hebraic Association) with a smaller contribution from the Argentine-Germanic Cultural Institution. |
Albert Einstein | Touring the US (1930–1931) | Touring the US (1930–1931)
thumb|upright=.8|Einstein in Pasadena, California, 1931
In December 1930, Einstein began another significant sojourn in the United States, drawn back to the US by the offer of a two month research fellowship at the California Institute of Technology. Caltech supported him in his wish that he should not be exposed to quite as much attention from the media as he had experienced when visiting the US in 1921, and he therefore declined all the invitations to receive prizes or make speeches that his admirers poured down upon him. But he remained willing to allow his fans at least some of the time with him that they requested.
After arriving in New York City, Einstein was taken to various places and events, including Chinatown, a lunch with the editors of The New York Times, and a performance of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera, where he was cheered by the audience on his arrival. During the days following, he was given the keys to the city by Mayor Jimmy Walker and met Nicholas Murray Butler, the president of Columbia University, who described Einstein as "the ruling monarch of the mind". Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor at New York's Riverside Church, gave Einstein a tour of the church and showed him a full-size statue that the church made of Einstein, standing at the entrance. Also during his stay in New York, he joined a crowd of 15,000 people at Madison Square Garden during a Hanukkah celebration.
thumb|upright=.9|left|Einstein with Charlie Chaplin at the Hollywood premiere of Chaplin's City Lights, January 1931
Einstein next traveled to California, where he met Caltech president and Nobel laureate Robert A. Millikan. His friendship with Millikan was , as Millikan , where Einstein was a pronounced pacifist. During an address to Caltech's students, Einstein noted that science was often inclined to do more harm than good.
This aversion to war also led Einstein to befriend author Upton Sinclair and film star Charlie Chaplin, both noted for their pacifism. Carl Laemmle, head of Universal Studios, gave Einstein a tour of his studio and introduced him to Chaplin. They had an instant rapport, with Chaplin inviting Einstein and his wife, Elsa, to his home for dinner. Chaplin said Einstein's outward persona, calm and gentle, seemed to conceal a "highly emotional temperament", from which came his "extraordinary intellectual energy".
Chaplin's film City Lights was to premiere a few days later in Hollywood, and Chaplin invited Einstein and Elsa to join him as his special guests. Walter Isaacson, Einstein's biographer, described this as . Chaplin visited Einstein at his home on a later trip to Berlin and recalled his "modest little flat" and the piano at which he had begun writing his theory. Chaplin speculated that it was . Einstein and Chaplin were cheered at the premiere of the film. Chaplin said to Einstein, "They cheer me because they understand me, and they cheer you because no one understands you." |
Albert Einstein | Emigration to the US (1933) | Emigration to the US (1933)
thumb|upright|alt=Cartoon of Einstein, who has shed his "Pacifism" wings, standing next to a pillar labeled "World Peace". He is rolling up his sleeves and holding a sword labeled "Preparedness".|Cartoon of Einstein after shedding his "pacifism" wings (Charles R. Macauley, )
In February 1933, while on a visit to the United States, Einstein knew he could not return to Germany with the rise to power of the Nazis under Germany's new chancellor, Adolf Hitler.
While at American universities in early 1933, he undertook his third two-month visiting professorship at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In February and March 1933, the Gestapo repeatedly raided his family's apartment in Berlin. He and his wife Elsa returned to Europe in March, and during the trip, they learned that the German Reichstag had passed the Enabling Act on 23 March, transforming Hitler's government into a de facto legal dictatorship, and that they would not be able to proceed to Berlin. Later on, they heard that their cottage had been raided by the Nazis and Einstein's personal sailboat confiscated. Upon landing in Antwerp, Belgium on 28 March, Einstein immediately went to the German consulate and surrendered his passport, formally renouncing his German citizenship. The Nazis later sold his boat and converted his cottage into a Hitler Youth camp. |
Albert Einstein | Refugee status | Refugee status
thumb|Landing card for Einstein's 26 May 1933 arrival in Dover, England from Ostend, Belgium, enroute to Oxford
In April 1933, Einstein discovered that the new German government had passed laws barring Jews from holding any official positions, including teaching at universities. Historian Gerald Holton describes how, with , thousands of Jewish scientists were suddenly forced to give up their university positions and their names were removed from the rolls of institutions where they were employed.
A month later, Einstein's works were among those targeted by the German Student Union in the Nazi book burnings, with Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels proclaiming, "Jewish intellectualism is dead." One German magazine included him in a list of enemies of the German regime with the phrase, "not yet hanged", offering a $5,000 bounty on his head. In a subsequent letter to physicist and friend Max Born, who had already emigrated from Germany to England, Einstein wrote, After moving to the US, he described the book burnings as a by those who , and .Einstein (1954), p. 197.
Einstein was now without a permanent home, unsure where he would live and work, and equally worried about the fate of countless other scientists still in Germany. Aided by the Academic Assistance Council, founded in April 1933 by British Liberal politician William Beveridge to help academics escape Nazi persecution, Einstein was able to leave Germany. He rented a house in De Haan, Belgium, where he lived for a few months. In late July 1933, he visited England for about six weeks at the invitation of the British Member of Parliament Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson, who had become friends with him in the preceding years. Locker-Lampson invited him to stay near his Cromer home in a secluded wooden cabin on Roughton Heath in the Parish of Roughton, Norfolk. To protect Einstein, Locker-Lampson had two bodyguards watch over him; a photo of them carrying shotguns and guarding Einstein was published in the Daily Herald on 24 July 1933.
thumb|Winston Churchill and Einstein at Chartwell House, 31 May 1933
Locker-Lampson took Einstein to meet Winston Churchill at his home, and later, Austen Chamberlain and former Prime Minister Lloyd George. Einstein asked them to help bring Jewish scientists out of Germany. British historian Martin Gilbert notes that Churchill responded immediately, and sent his friend physicist Frederick Lindemann to Germany to seek out Jewish scientists and place them in British universities. Churchill later observed that as a result of Germany having driven the Jews out, they had lowered their "technical standards" and put the Allies' technology ahead of theirs.
Einstein later contacted leaders of other nations, including Turkey's Prime Minister, İsmet İnönü, to whom he wrote in September 1933, requesting placement of unemployed German-Jewish scientists. As a result of Einstein's letter, Jewish invitees to Turkey eventually totaled over "1,000 saved individuals".
Locker-Lampson also submitted a bill to parliament to extend British citizenship to Einstein, during which period Einstein made a number of public appearances describing the crisis brewing in Europe. In one of his speeches he denounced Germany's treatment of Jews, while at the same time he introduced a bill promoting Jewish citizenship in Palestine, as they were being denied citizenship elsewhere. In his speech he described Einstein as a "citizen of the world" who should be offered a temporary shelter in the UK. Both bills failed, however, and Einstein then accepted an earlier offer from the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, US, to become a resident scholar. |
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