title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: The selection process differs by country, but it often consists of a series of tests which admit fewer students at each progressing test. Awards are given to approximately the top-scoring 50% of the individual contestants. Teams are not officially recognized—all scores are given only to individual contestants, but team scoring is unofficially compared more than individual scores. Contestants must be under the age of 20 and must not be registered at any tertiary institution. Subject to these conditions, an individual may participate any number of times in the IMO.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: The International Mathematical Olympiad is one of the most prestigious mathematical competitions in the world. In January 2011, Google sponsored €1 million to the International Mathematical Olympiad organization.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. Since then it has been held every year except in 1980. That year, it was cancelled due to internal strife in Mongolia . It was initially founded for eastern European member countries of the Warsaw Pact, under the USSR bloc of influence, but later other countries participated as well. Because of this eastern origin, the IMOs were first hosted only in eastern European countries, and gradually spread to other nations.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: Sources differ about the cities hosting some of the early IMOs. This may be partly because leaders are generally housed well away from the students, and partly because after the competition the students did not always stay based in one city for the rest of the IMO. The exact dates cited may also differ, because of leaders arriving before the students, and at more recent IMOs the IMO Advisory Board arriving before the leaders.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: Several students, such as Lisa Sauermann, Reid W. Barton, Nicușor Dan and Ciprian Manolescu have performed exceptionally well in the IMO, winning multiple gold medals. Others, such as Terence Tao, Grigori Perelman, Ngô Bảo Châu and Maryam Mirzakhani have gone on to become notable mathematicians. Several former participants have won awards such as the Fields Medal.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: The competition consists of six problems. Each problem is worth seven points for a maximum total score of 42 points. No calculators are allowed. The competition is held over two consecutive days; each day the contestants have four-and-a-half hours to solve three problems. The problems chosen are from various areas of secondary school mathematics, broadly classifiable as geometry, number theory, algebra, and combinatorics. They require no knowledge of higher mathematics such as calculus and analysis, and solutions are often elementary. However, they are usually disguised so as to make the solutions difficult. The problems given in the IMO are largely designed to require creativity and the ability to solve problems quickly. Thus, the prominently featured problems are algebraic inequalities, complex numbers, and construction-oriented geometrical problems, though in recent years, the latter has not been as popular as before because of the algorithmic use of theorems like Muirhead's Inequality, and Complex/Analytic Bash to solve problems.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: Each participating country, other than the host country, may submit suggested problems to a Problem Selection Committee provided by the host country, which reduces the submitted problems to a shortlist. The team leaders arrive at the IMO a few days in advance of the contestants and form the IMO Jury which is responsible for all the formal decisions relating to the contest, starting with selecting the six problems from the shortlist. The Jury aims to order the problems so that the order in increasing difficulty is Q1, Q4, Q2, Q5, Q3 and Q6, where the First day problems Q1, Q2, and Q3 are in increasing difficulty, and the Second day problems Q4, Q5, Q6 are in increasing difficulty. The Team Leaders of all countries are given the problems in advance of the contestants, and thus, are kept strictly separated and observed.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: Each country's marks are agreed between that country's leader and deputy leader and coordinators provided by the host country (the leader of the team whose country submitted the problem in the case of the marks of the host country), subject to the decisions of the chief coordinator and ultimately a jury if any disputes cannot be resolved.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: The selection process for the IMO varies greatly by country. In some countries, especially those in East Asia, the selection process involves several tests of a difficulty comparable to the IMO itself. The Chinese contestants go through a camp. In others, such as the United States, possible participants go through a series of easier standalone competitions that gradually increase in difficulty. In the United States, the tests include the American Mathematics Competitions, the American Invitational Mathematics Examination, and the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad, each of which is a competition in its own right. For high scorers in the final competition for the team selection, there also is a summer camp, like that of China.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: In countries of the former Soviet Union and other eastern European countries, a team has in the past been chosen several years beforehand, and they are given special training specifically for the event. However, such methods have been discontinued in some countries.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: The participants are ranked based on their individual scores. Medals are awarded to the highest ranked participants; slightly fewer than half of them receive a medal. The cutoffs (minimum scores required to receive a gold, silver or bronze medal respectively) are then chosen so that the numbers of gold, silver and bronze medals awarded are approximately in the ratios 1:2:3. Participants who do not win a medal but who score seven points on at least one problem receive an honorable mention.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: Special prizes may be awarded for solutions of outstanding elegance or involving good generalisations of a problem. This last happened in 1995 (Nikolay Nikolov, Bulgaria) and 2005 (Iurie Boreico), but was more frequent up to the early 1980s. The special prize in 2005 was awarded to Iurie Boreico, a student from Moldova, for his solution to Problem 3, a three variable inequality.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: The rule that at most half the contestants win a medal is sometimes broken if it would cause the total number of medals to deviate too much from half the number of contestants. This last happened in 2010 (when the choice was to give either 226 (43.71%) or 266 (51.45%) of the 517 contestants (excluding the 6 from North Korea — see below) a medal), 2012 (when the choice was to give either 226 (41.24%) or 277 (50.55%) of the 548 contestants a medal), and 2013, when the choice was to give either 249 (47.16%) or 278 (52.65%) of the 528 contestants a medal. In these cases, slightly more than half the contestants were awarded a medal.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: North Korea was disqualified twice for cheating, once at the 32nd IMO in 1991 and again at the 51st IMO in 2010. It is the only country to have been accused of cheating.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: The only countries to have their entire team score perfectly in the IMO were the United States in 1994 (they were coached by Paul Zeitz), China in 2022, and Luxembourg, whose 1-member team had a perfect score in 1981. The US's success earned a mention in "TIME Magazine". Hungary won IMO 1975 in an unorthodox way when none of the eight team members received a gold medal (five silver, three bronze). Second place team East Germany also did not have a single gold medal winner (four silver, four bronze).


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: Several individuals have consistently scored highly and/or earned medals on the IMO: Zhuo Qun Song (Canada) is the most highly decorated participant with five gold medals (including one perfect score in 2015) and one bronze medal. Reid Barton (United States) was the first participant to win a gold medal four times (1998–2001). Barton is also one of only eight four-time Putnam Fellows (2001–04). Christian Reiher (Germany), Lisa Sauermann (Germany), Teodor von Burg (Serbia), Nipun Pitimanaaree (Thailand) and Luke Robitaille (United States) are the only other participants to have won four gold medals (2000–03, 2008–11, 2009–12, 2010–13, 2011–14, and 2019-22 respectively); Reiher also received a bronze medal (1999), Sauermann a silver medal (2007), von Burg a silver medal (2008) and a bronze medal (2007), and Pitimanaaree a silver medal (2009). Wolfgang Burmeister (East Germany), Martin Härterich (West Germany), Iurie Boreico (Moldova), and Lim Jeck (Singapore) are the only other participants besides Reiher, Sauermann, von Burg, and Pitimanaaree to win five medals with at least three of them gold. Ciprian Manolescu (Romania) managed to write a perfect paper (42 points) for gold medal more times than anybody else in the history of the competition, doing it all three times he participated in the IMO (1995, 1996, 1997). Manolescu is also a three-time Putnam Fellow (1997, 1998, 2000). Eugenia Malinnikova (Soviet Union) is the highest-scoring female contestant in IMO history. She has 3 gold medals in IMO 1989 (41 points), IMO 1990 (42) and IMO 1991 (42), missing only 1 point in 1989 to precede Manolescu's achievement.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: Terence Tao (Australia) participated in IMO 1986, 1987 and 1988, winning bronze, silver and gold medals respectively. He won a gold medal when he just turned thirteen in IMO 1988, becoming the youngest person to receive a gold medal (Zhuo Qun Song of Canada also won a gold medal at age 13, in 2011, though he was older than Tao). Tao also holds the distinction of being the youngest medalist with his 1986 bronze medal, followed by 2009 bronze medalist Raúl Chávez Sarmiento (Peru), at the age of 10 and 11 respectively. Representing the United States, Noam Elkies won a gold medal with a perfect paper at the age of 14 in 1981. Both Elkies and Tao could have participated in the IMO multiple times following their success, but entered university and therefore became ineligible.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: Over the years, since its inception to present, the IMO has attracted far more male contestants than female contestants. During the period 2000–2021, there were only 1,102 female contestants (9.2%) out of a total of 11,950 contestants. The gap is even more significant in terms of IMO gold medallists; from 1959 to 2021, there were 43 female and 1295 male gold medal winners.


title: International Mathematical Olympiad

text: This gender gap in participation and in performance at the IMO level led to the establishment of the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO).


title: Alphabetical order

text: Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is one of the methods of collation. In mathematics, a lexicographical order is the generalization of the alphabetical order to other data types, such as sequences of numbers or other ordered mathematical objects.


title: Alphabetical order

text: When applied to strings or sequences that may contain digits, numbers or more elaborate types of elements, in addition to alphabetical characters, the alphabetical order is generally called a lexicographical order.


title: Alphabetical order

text: To determine which of two strings of characters comes first when arranging in alphabetical order, their first letters are compared. If they differ, then the string whose first letter comes earlier in the alphabet comes before the other string. If the first letters are the same, then the second letters are compared, and so on. If a position is reached where one string has no more letters to compare while the other does, then the first (shorter) string is deemed to come first in alphabetical order.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Capital letters (upper case) are generally considered to be identical to their corresponding lower case letters for the purposes of alphabetical ordering, although conventions may be adopted to handle situations where two strings differ "only" in capitalization. Various conventions also exist for the handling of strings containing spaces, modified letters (such as those with diacritics), and non-letter characters such as marks of punctuation.


title: Alphabetical order

text: The result of placing a set of words or strings in alphabetical order is that all of the strings beginning with the same letter are grouped together; within that grouping all words beginning with the same two-letter sequence are grouped together; and so on. The system thus tends to maximize the number of common initial letters between adjacent words.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Alphabetical order was first used in the 1st millennium BCE by Northwest Semitic scribes using the abjad system. However, a range of other methods of classifying and ordering material, including geographical, chronological, hierarchical and by category, were preferred over alphabetical order for centuries.


title: Alphabetical order

text: The Bible is dated to the 6th–7th centuries BCE. In the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet utilizes the Atbash substitution cipher, based on alphabetical order. Similarly, biblical authors used acrostics based on the (ordered) Hebrew alphabet.


title: Alphabetical order

text: The first effective use of alphabetical order as a cataloging device among scholars may have been in ancient Alexandria, in the Great Library of Alexandria, which was founded around 300 BCE. The poet and scholar Callimachus, who worked there, is thought to have created the world's first library catalog, known as the Pinakes, with scrolls shelved in alphabetical order of the first letter of authors' names.


title: Alphabetical order

text: In the 1st century BC, Roman writer Varro compiled alphabetic lists of authors and titles. In the 2nd century CE, Sextus Pompeius Festus wrote an encyclopedic epitome of the works of Verrius Flaccus, "De verborum significatu", with entries in alphabetic order. In the 3rd century CE, Harpocration wrote a Homeric lexicon alphabetized by all letters. In the 10th century, the author of the "Suda" used alphabetic order with phonetic variations.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Alphabetical order as an aid to consultation started to enter the mainstream of Western European intellectual life in the second half of the 12th century, when alphabetical tools were developed to help preachers analyse biblical vocabulary. This led to the compilation of alphabetical concordances of the Bible by the Dominican friars in Paris in the 13th century, under Hugh of Saint Cher. Older reference works such as St. Jerome's "Interpretations of Hebrew Names" were alphabetized for ease of consultation. The use of alphabetical order was initially resisted by scholars, who expected their students to master their area of study according to its own rational structures; its success was driven by such tools as Robert Kilwardby's index to the works of St. Augustine, which helped readers access the full original text instead of depending on the compilations of excerpts which had become prominent in 12th century scholasticism. The adoption of alphabetical order was part of the transition from the primacy of memory to that of written works. The idea of ordering information by the order of the alphabet also met resistance from the compilers of encyclopaedias in the 12th and 13th centuries, who were all devout churchmen. They preferred to organise their material theologically – in the order of God's creation, starting with "Deus" (meaning God).


title: Alphabetical order

text: In 1604 Robert Cawdrey had to explain in "Table Alphabeticall", the first monolingual English dictionary, "Nowe if the word, which thou art desirous to finde, begin with (a) then looke in the beginning of this Table, but if with (v) looke towards the end". Although as late as 1803 Samuel Taylor Coleridge condemned encyclopedias with "an arrangement determined by the accident of initial letters", many lists are today based on this principle.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Arrangement in alphabetical order can be seen as a force for democratising access to information, as it does not require extensive prior knowledge to find what was needed.


title: Alphabetical order

text: The above words are ordered alphabetically. "As" comes before "Aster" because they begin with the same two letters and "As" has no more letters after that whereas "Aster" does. The next three words come after "Aster" because their fourth letter (the first one that differs) is "r", which comes after "e" (the fourth letter of "Aster") in the alphabet. Those words themselves are ordered based on their sixth letters ("l", "n" and "p" respectively). Then comes "At", which differs from the preceding words in the second letter ("t" comes after "s"). "Ataman" comes after "At" for the same reason that "Aster" came after "As". "Attack" follows "Ataman" based on comparison of their third letters, and "Baa" comes after all of the others because it has a different first letter.


title: Alphabetical order

text: When some of the strings being ordered consist of more than one word, i.e., they contain spaces or other separators such as hyphens, then two basic approaches may be taken. In the first approach, all strings are ordered initially according to their first word, as in the sequence:


title: Alphabetical order

text: The second approach is the one usually taken in dictionaries, and it is thus often called "dictionary order" by publishers. The first approach has often been used in book indexes, although each publisher traditionally set its own standards for which approach to use therein; there was no ISO standard for book indexes (ISO 999) before 1975.


title: Alphabetical order

text: In French, modified letters (such as those with diacritics) are treated the same as the base letter for alphabetical ordering purposes. For example, "rôle" comes between "rock" and "rose", as if it were written "role". However, languages that use such letters systematically generally have their own ordering rules. See below.


title: Alphabetical order

text: In most cultures where family names are written after given names, it is still desired to sort lists of names (as in telephone directories) by family name first. In this case, names need to be reordered to be sorted correctly. For example, Juan Hernandes and Brian O'Leary should be sorted as "Hernandes, Juan" and "O'Leary, Brian" even if they are not written this way. Capturing this rule in a computer collation algorithm is complex, and simple attempts will fail. For example, unless the algorithm has at its disposal an extensive list of family names, there is no way to decide if "Gillian Lucille van der Waal" is "van der Waal, Gillian Lucille", "Waal, Gillian Lucille van der", or even "Lucille van der Waal, Gillian".


title: Alphabetical order

text: Ordering by surname is frequently encountered in academic contexts. Within a single multi-author paper, ordering the authors alphabetically by surname, rather than by other methods such as reverse seniority or subjective degree of contribution to the paper, is seen as a way of "acknowledg[ing] similar contributions" or "avoid[ing] disharmony in collaborating groups". The practice in certain fields of ordering citations in bibliographies by the surnames of their authors has been found to create bias in favour of authors with surnames which appear earlier in the alphabet, while this effect does not appear in fields in which bibliographies are ordered chronologically.


title: Alphabetical order

text: If a phrase begins with a very common word (such as "the", "a" or "an", called articles in grammar), that word is sometimes ignored or moved to the end of the phrase, but this is not always the case. For example, the book "The Shining" might be treated as "Shining", or "Shining, The" and therefore before the book title "Summer of Sam". However, it may also be treated as simply "The Shining" and after "Summer of Sam". Similarly, "A Wrinkle in Time" might be treated as "Wrinkle in Time", "Wrinkle in Time, A", or "A Wrinkle in Time". All three alphabetization methods are fairly easy to create by algorithm, but many programs rely on simple lexicographic ordering instead.


title: Alphabetical order

text: The prefixes "M" and "Mc" in Irish and Scottish surnames are abbreviations for "Mac" and are sometimes alphabetized as if the spelling is "Mac" in full. Thus "McKinley" might be listed before "Mackintosh" (as it would be if it had been spelled out as "MacKinley"). Since the advent of computer-sorted lists, this type of alphabetization is less frequently encountered, though it is still used in British telephone directories.


title: Alphabetical order

text: The prefix "St" or "St." is an abbreviation of "Saint", and is traditionally alphabetized as if the spelling is "Saint" in full. Thus in a gazetteer "St John's" might be listed before "Salem" (as if it would be if it had been spelled out as "Saint John's"). Since the advent of computer-sorted lists, this type of alphabetization is less frequently encountered, though it is still sometimes used.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Ligatures (two or more letters merged into one symbol) which are not considered distinct letters, such as Æ and Œ in English, are typically collated as if the letters were separate—"æther" and "aether" would be ordered the same relative to all other words. This is true even when the ligature is not purely stylistic, such as in loanwords and brand names.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Special rules may need to be adopted to sort strings which vary only by whether two letters are joined by a ligature.


title: Alphabetical order

text: When some of the strings contain numerals (or other non-letter characters), various approaches are possible. Sometimes such characters are treated as if they came before or after all the letters of the alphabet. Another method is for numbers to be sorted alphabetically as they would be spelled: for example "1776" would be sorted as if spelled out "seventeen seventy-six", and "24 heures du Mans" as if spelled "vingt-quatre..." (French for "twenty-four"). When numerals or other symbols are used as special graphical forms of letters, as "1337" for leet or the movie "Seven" (which was stylised as "Se7en"), they may be sorted as if they were those letters. Natural sort order orders strings alphabetically, except that multi-digit numbers are treated as a single character and ordered by the value of the number encoded by the digits.


title: Alphabetical order

text: In the case of monarchs and popes, although their numbers are in Roman numerals and resemble letters, they are normally arranged in numerical order: so, for example, even though V comes after I, the Danish king Christian IX comes after his predecessor Christian VIII.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Languages which use an extended Latin alphabet generally have their own conventions for treatment of the extra letters. Also in some languages certain digraphs are treated as single letters for collation purposes. For example, the 29-letter alphabet of Spanish treats "ñ" as a basic letter following "n", and formerly treated the digraphs "ch" and "ll" as basic letters following "c" and "l", respectively. "Ch" and "ll" are still considered letters, but are now alphabetized as two-letter combinations. (The new alphabetization rule was issued by the Royal Spanish Academy in 1994.) On the other hand, the digraph "rr" follows "rqu" as expected, and did so even before the 1994 alphabetization rule.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Collation algorithms (in combination with sorting algorithms) are used in computer programming to place strings in alphabetical order. A standard example is the Unicode Collation Algorithm, which can be used to put strings containing any Unicode symbols into (an extension of) alphabetical order. It can be made to conform to most of the language-specific conventions described above by tailoring its default collation table. Several such tailorings are collected in Common Locale Data Repository.


title: Alphabetical order

text: The principle behind alphabetical ordering can still be applied in languages that do not strictly speaking use an alphabet – for example, they may be written using a syllabary or abugida – provided the symbols used have an established ordering.


title: Alphabetical order

text: For logographic writing systems, such as Chinese hanzi or Japanese kanji, the method of radical-and-stroke sorting is frequently used as a way of defining an ordering on the symbols. Japanese sometimes uses pronunciation order, most commonly with the Gojūon order but sometimes with the older Iroha ordering.


title: Alphabetical order

text: In mathematics, lexicographical order is a means of ordering sequences in a manner analogous to that used to produce alphabetical order.


title: Alphabetical order

text: Some computer applications use a version of alphabetical order that can be achieved using a very simple algorithm, based purely on the ASCII or Unicode codes for characters. This may have non-standard effects such as placing all capital letters before lower-case ones. See ASCIIbetical order.


title: Alphabetical order

text: A rhyming dictionary is based on sorting words in alphabetical order starting from the last to the first letter of the word.


title: Deacon

text: A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Scandinavian Lutheran Churches, the Methodist Churches, the Anglican Communion, and the Free Church of England, view the diaconate as an order of ministry.


title: Deacon

text: The word "deacon" is derived from the Greek word (), which is a standard ancient Greek word meaning "servant", "waiting-man", "minister", or "messenger".


title: Deacon

text: It is generally assumed that the office of deacon originated in the selection of seven men by the apostles, among them Stephen, to assist with the charitable work of the early church as recorded in Acts of the Apostles chapter 6.


title: Deacon

text: The title "deaconess" (), with the meaning of deacon's wife, is not found in the Bible. However, one woman, Phoebe, is mentioned at Romans 16:1–2 in some translations as a deaconess () of the church in Cenchreae. Nothing more specific is said about her duties or authority, although it is assumed she carried Paul's Letter to the Romans.


title: Deacon

text: Female deacons are mentioned by the Roman author Pliny the Younger in a letter to the Roman emperor Trajan dated :


title: Deacon

text: This is the earliest Latin text that appears to refer to female deacons as a distinct category of Christian minister.


title: Deacon

text: Prominent historical figures who played major roles as deacons and went on to higher office include Athanasius of Alexandria, Thomas Becket, and Reginald Pole. On June 8, 536, a serving Roman deacon was raised to Pope, Silverius.


title: Deacon

text: The diaconate has been retained as a separate vocation in Eastern Christianity, while in Western Christianity it was largely used in cathedrals and as a temporary step along the path toward priestly ordination. In the 20th century, the diaconate was restored as a vocational order in many Western churches, most notably in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and the United Methodist Church.


title: Deacon

text: In the Catholic, Scandinavian Lutheran, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches, the diaconate is one of the major orders—the others being bishop, presbyter (priest), and, historically, subdeacon. Deacons assist priests in their pastoral and administrative duties, but often report directly to the bishops of their diocese. They have a distinctive role in the liturgy of the Eastern and Western Churches.


title: Deacon

text: Beginning around the fifth century, there was a gradual decline in the diaconate as a permanent state of life in the Latin Church. The development of a "cursus honorum" (sequence of offices) found men entering the clerical state through tonsure, then ordination to the minor orders of lector, porter, exorcist, acolyte before ordination to the major orders of sub-deacon and deacon, all stages on the path to priesthood. Only men destined for priesthood were permitted to be ordained deacons. As seminaries developed, following the Council of Trent, to contemporary times, the only men ordained as deacons were seminarians who were completing the last year or so of graduate theological training, so-called "transitional deacons."


title: Deacon

text: Following the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council ("Lumen gentium" 29) and the instigation of the Josephites (whose work with African Americans necessitated increased vocational opportunity for married men), in 1967 Pope Paul VI issued the motu proprio "Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem", reviving the practice of ordaining to the diaconate men who were not candidates for priestly ordination. These men are known as "permanent deacons", in contrast to those continuing their formation, who were then called "transitional deacons". There is no sacramental or canonical difference between the two, however, as there is only one order of deacons.


title: Deacon

text: The period of formation to the permanent diaconate varies from diocese to diocese as determined by the local ordinary, but it usually entails a period of prayerful preparation and several years of study. Diaconal candidates receive instruction in philosophy, theology, study of the Bible, homiletics, sacramental studies, evangelization, ecclesiology, counseling, and pastoral care and ministry before ordination.


title: Deacon

text: They may be assigned to work in a parish by the diocesan bishop, where they are under the supervision of the parish pastors, or in diocesan ministries. Unlike most clerics, permanent deacons who also have a secular profession have no right to receive a salary for their ministry, but many dioceses opt to remunerate them anyway.


title: Deacon

text: During the mass, the deacon's responsibilities include assisting the priest, proclaiming the Gospel, announcing the General Intercessions, and distributing Communion. They may also preach the homily. As clerics, deacons are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Deacons, like priests and bishops, are ordinary ministers of the sacrament of Baptism and may witness at the sacrament of holy matrimony outside of mass. Deacons may lead funeral rites outside mass such as the final commendation at the gravesite or the reception of the body at a service in the funeral home, and may assist the priest at the requiem mass. They can also preside over various services such as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and they may give certain blessings. While in ancient history their tasks and competencies varied, today deacons cannot hear confession and give absolution, anoint the sick, or celebrate mass.


title: Deacon

text: The vestments most particularly associated with the Western Rite Catholic deacon are the alb, stole and dalmatic. Deacons, like priests and bishops, must wear their albs and stoles; deacons place the stole over their left shoulder and it hangs across to their right side, while priests and bishops wear it around their necks. The dalmatic, a vestment especially associated with the deacon, is worn during the celebration of the mass and other liturgical functions; its use is more liberally applied than the corresponding vestment of the priest, the chasuble. At certain major celebrations, such as ordinations, the diocesan bishop wears a dalmatic under his chasuble, to signify that he enjoys the fullness of the three degrees of holy orders—deacon, priest, and bishop.The diaconate is conferred on seminarians continuing to the priesthood no sooner than 23 years of age (canon 1031 of the Code of Canon Law). As a permanent state, the diaconate can be conferred on single men 25 or older, and on married men 35 or older, but an older age can be required by the episcopal conference. If a married deacon is widowed, he must maintain the celibate state. Under some very rare circumstances, however, deacons who have been widowed can receive permission to remarry. This is most commonly done when the deacon is left as a single father. In some cases, a widowed deacon will seek priestly ordination, especially if his children are grown.


title: Deacon

text: A deacon is not styled "Father" as a priest would be, but as "Deacon", abbreviated variously as "Dn." or "Dcn." This preferred method of address is stated in the 2005 document of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "National Directory for the Formation, Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States".


title: Deacon

text: The proper address in written correspondence for all deacons of the Latin (Roman Rite) Catholic Church in the United States is "Deacon "Name"", although it is not uncommon to see "Rev. Mr." sometimes used. "Rev. Mr.", however, is more often used to indicate a transitional deacon (i.e., preparing for ordination to the priesthood) or one who belongs to a religious institute, while Rev. Deacon is used as the honorific for permanent deacons in many dioceses (e.g., Rev. Deacon John Smith, or Deacon John Smith). The decision as to whether deacons wear the Roman collar as street attire is left to the discretion of each bishop for his own diocese. Where clerical garb is approved by the bishop, the deacon can choose to wear or not wear the "collar".


title: Deacon

text: Deacons, like seminarians, religious, and the two other orders, bishops and priests, pray the Liturgy of the Hours; however, deacons are usually only required to pray morning and evening prayer.


title: Deacon

text: In addition to proclaiming the Gospel and assisting in the distribution of holy communion, the deacon censes the icons and people, calls the people to prayer, leads the litanies, and has a role in the dialogue of the anaphora. In keeping with Eastern tradition, he is not permitted to perform any sacred mysteries (sacraments) on his own, except for Baptism "in extremis" (in danger of death), conditions under which anyone, including the laity, may baptize. When assisting at a normal baptism, it is often the deacon who goes down into the water with the one being baptized (). In contrast to the Roman Catholic Church, deacons in the Eastern Churches may not preside at the celebration of marriages, as in Eastern theology the sacrament is conferred by the nuptial blessing of a priest.


title: Deacon

text: Diaconal vestments are the sticharion (dalmatic), the orarion (deacon's stole), and the epimanikia (cuffs). The last are worn under his sticharion, not over it as does a priest or bishop. The deacon usually wears a simple orarion which is only draped over the left shoulder but, if elevated to the rank of archdeacon, he wears the "doubled-orarion", meaning it is passed over the left shoulder, under the right arm, and then crossed over the left shoulder (see photograph, right). In modern Greek practice, a deacon wears this doubled orarion from the time of his ordination. Also, in the Greek practice, he wears the clerical kamilavka (cylindrical head covering) with a rim at the top. In Slavic practice, a hierodeacon (monastic deacon) wears the simple black kamilavka of a monk (without the rim), but he removes the monastic veil (see klobuk) when he is vested; a married deacon would not wear a kamilavka unless it is given to him by the bishop as an ecclesiastical award; the honorary kamilavka is purple in colour, and may be awarded to either married or monastic clergy.


title: Deacon

text: As far as street clothing is concerned, immediately following his ordination the deacon receives a blessing to wear the "exorasson" (Arabic: "Jib'be", Slavonic: r"iassa"), an outer cassock with wide sleeves, in addition to the "anterion" (Slavonic: p"odraznik"), the inner cassock worn by all orders of clergy. In the Slavic practice, married clergy may wear any of a number of colours, but most often grey, while monastic clergy always wear black. In certain jurisdictions in North America and Western Europe, a Roman collar is often worn, although this is not a traditional or widespread practice.


title: Deacon

text: A "protodeacon" (Greek: πρωτοδιάκονος: "protodiakonos", "first deacon") is a distinction of honor awarded to senior deacons, usually serving on the staff of the diocesan bishop. An "archdeacon" is similar, but is among the monastic clergy. Protodeacons and archdeacons use a double-length orarion even if it is not the local tradition for all deacons to use it. In the Slavic tradition a deacon may be awarded the doubled-orarion even if he is not a protodeacon or archdeacon.


title: Deacon

text: According to the practice of the Greek Orthodox Church of America, in keeping with the tradition of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the most common way to address a deacon is "Father". Depending on local tradition, deacons are addressed as either "Father", "Father Deacon", "Deacon Father", or if addressed by a bishop, simply as "Deacon".


title: Deacon

text: The tradition of kissing the hands of ordained clergy extends to the diaconate as well. This practice is rooted in the holy eucharist and is in acknowledgement and respect of the eucharistic role members of the clergy play in preparing, handling and disbursing the sacrament during the Divine Liturgy, and in building and serving the church as the Body of Christ.


title: Deacon

text: Anciently, the Eastern churches ordained women as deaconesses. This practice fell into desuetude in the second millennium, but has been revived in some Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. Nectarios of Aegina ordained a number of nuns as deaconesses in convents. Deaconesses would assist in anointing and baptising women, and in ministering to the spiritual needs of the women of the community. As churches discontinued ordaining women as deacons, these duties largely fell to the nuns and to the priests' wives.


title: Deacon

text: In the Lutheran Churches of the Scandinavian tradition, there is a threefold ministry of "bishops, priests, and deacons". Until the 1960s, deacons in the Church of Sweden were required to be celibate. For deacons, "vows made at ordination involve seeking and helping anyone in bodily or spiritual need, defending the rights of all, standing beside the oppressed, and exhorting God's people to all good works so that the love of God is made visible in the world." An ordained deacon's charism includes "visits, helps, and supports those in bodily or spiritual need; gives Christian nurture and teaching in the faith; is a sign of merciful kindness in the parish and society at large, and in all things serves Christ in the neighbour".


title: Deacon

text: In Anglican churches, including the Free Church of England, deacons are permitted to marry freely before or after ordination, as are Anglican priests. Most deacons are "transitional", that is, preparing for the priesthood and they are usually ordained priests about a year after their diaconal ordination. However, there are some deacons who do not go on to receive priestly ordination, recognising a vocation to remain in the diaconate. A permanent deacon is also known as a "distinctive deacon", or a "vocational deacon".


title: Deacon

text: Many provinces of the Anglican Communion ordain both women and men as deacons. Many of those provinces that ordain women to the priesthood previously allowed them to be ordained only to the diaconate. The effect of this was the creation of a large and overwhelmingly female diaconate for a time, as most men proceeded to be ordained priests after a short time as a deacon.


title: Deacon

text: Anglican deacons may baptize and in some dioceses are granted licences to solemnize matrimony, usually under the instruction of their parish priest and bishop. Deacons are not able to preside at the eucharist (but can lead worship with the distribution of already-consecrated communion elements where this is permitted), nor can they pronounce God's absolution of sin or pronounce the Trinitarian blessing. In most cases, deacons minister alongside other clergy.


title: Deacon

text: An Anglican deacon wears an identical choir dress to an Anglican priest: cassock, surplice, tippet and academic hood. However, liturgically, deacons usually wear a stole over their left shoulder and fastened on the right side of their waist. This is worn both over the surplice and the alb. A deacon might also wear a dalmatic. Church of England deacons are supported through the CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons (CENDD). Bishop James Newcome of Carlisle is the Distinctive Deacons’ Champion in the House of Bishops.


title: Deacon

text: In Methodism, deacons began as a transitional order before ordination as elders (presbyters). In 1996, the United Methodist Church ended the transitional deacon and established a new Order of Deacons to be equal in status with the Order of Elders. Both men and women may be ordained as deacons. Deacons serve in a variety of specialized ministries including, but not limited to, Christian education, music, communications and ministries of justice and advocacy. Unlike United Methodist elders, deacons must find their own place of service. Nevertheless, the bishop does officially approve and appoint deacons to their selected ministry. Deacons may assist the elder in the administration of Sacraments, but must receive special approval from a bishop before presiding over Baptism and holy communion. United Methodist deacons are present in North America, Europe and Africa.


title: Deacon

text: The Methodist Church of Great Britain also has a permanent diaconate—based on an understanding of the New Testament that deacons have an equal, but distinct ministry from presbyters. Deacons are called to a ministry of service and witness, and "to hold before them the needs and concerns of the world". The Methodist Diaconal Order is both an Order of Ministry and a Religious Order within the Methodist Church in the UK. It was formed in 1989 as a successor to the Wesley Deaconess Order and is open to both women and men. Diaconal ministry is one of two ordained ministries within the Methodist Church. Deacons and Presbyters, Equal but Different. The original Wesleyan Deaconess Order was founded by Thomas Bowman Stephenson in 1890, following observation of new ministries in urban areas in the previous years. The order continued as the Wesley Deaconess Order following Methodist Union in 1932, but, following the admission of women to "The Ministry" (as presbyteral ministry is commonly termed in the Methodist Church), a number of deaconesses transferred and recruitment for the WDO ceased from 1978. The 1986 Methodist Conference re-opened the order to both men and women and the first ordinations to the renewed order occurred during the 1990 Conference in Cardiff, which coincided with celebrations of 100 years of diaconal service in British Methodism; deaconesses had previously been ordained at their annual convocation.


title: Deacon

text: The Methodist Church of Southern Africa ordains deacons who constitute a diaconal order, similar to that in the British church.


title: Deacon

text: There are two distinct offices of deacon in the Church of Scotland. The best-known form of diaconate are trained and paid pastoral workers. The permanent diaconate was formerly exclusively female, and it was in 1988, the centenary year of the diaconate, that men were admitted to the office of deacon. The offices of deacon and minister are now both open to both women and men; deacons are now ordained (they were previously "commissioned").


title: Deacon

text: The other office of deacon can be found in congregations formerly belonging to the pre-1900 Free Church of Scotland, with a "Deacons' Court" having responsibility for financial and administrative oversight of congregations. Only a few congregations still retain this constitutional model, with most having since adopted the Church of Scotland's "Model Constitution" (with a Kirk Session and Congregational Board) or "Unitary Congregation" (with just a Kirk Session). Most of the Free Church congregations united with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1900 creating the United Free Church of Scotland, which itself united with the Church of Scotland in 1929.


title: Deacon

text: The congregations of the post-1900 Free Church of Scotland which did not join the UF Church in 1900 continue to have Deacons.


title: Deacon

text: One of John Calvin's legacies was to restore the diaconate as a servant ministry. Individual congregations of the various Presbyterian denominations, such as the Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Church in America and Orthodox Presbyterian Church, also elect deacons, along with elders. However, in some churches the property-functions of the diaconate and session of elders is commended to an independent board of trustees.


title: Deacon

text: In many Dutch Reformed churches deacons are charged with ministries of mercy. As such, the deacons are also members of the local church council. A special feature of the Dutch Reformed churches is the fact that the diaconate of each local church is its own legal entity with its own financial means, separated from the church itself, and governed by the deacons.


title: Deacon

text: In the Uniting Church in Australia, the diaconate is one of two offices of ordained ministry. The other is Minister of the Word.


title: Deacon

text: Deacons in the Uniting Church are called to minister to those on the fringes of the church and be involved in ministry in the community. Deacons offer leadership in a ministry of service to the world. The primary focus of the ministry of deacons is on care and compassion for the poor and oppressed and in seeking social justice for all people. They take both an active role in leadership in such actions themselves, but are also play a key role in encouraging other Uniting Church members in similar action.


title: Deacon

text: Some examples of service that deacons may take include: prison chaplaincy, acting as youth or community workers, in community service agencies, in schools and hospitals, or in mission placements in Australia or overseas. Although the primary responsibility for worship in congregations lies with the Ministers of the Word, deacons have a liturgical role appropriate to their distinctive ministry, including ministries where their main leadership is within a congregation.


title: Deacon

text: The Uniting Church has recognised deacons since union, but it was not until the 6th Assembly in 1991 that the Uniting Church began ordaining deacons. This was partly because the historical, theological and sociological roles of deaconesses and deacons was being widely discussed in Churches throughout the world at the time that the Basis of Union was being drafted


title: Deacon

text: Deacons are also appointed or elected in other denominations, though this is less commonly seen as a step towards the clerical ministry. The role of deacon in these denominations varies greatly from denomination to denomination; often, there will be more emphasis on administrative duties than on pastoral or liturgical duties. In some denominations, deacons' duties are only financial management and practical aid and relief. Elders handle pastoral and other administrative duties.


title: Deacon

text: The Church of the Brethren also have deacons, as do other Brethren denominations. They are elected by the congregation to serve in ministries of compassion. They are elected for life in some congregations.


title: Deacon

text: Baptists traditionally recognize two ordained positions in the church: elders (pastors) and deacons, as per 1 Timothy 3. Some Baptist churches in the Reformed tradition recognize elder and pastor as separate offices.


title: Deacon

text: Baptists have traditionally practised congregationalism, giving each church the ability to discern for themselves the interpretation of scripture. Thus, Baptist churches hold a wide variety of views on the qualifications and activities of deacons: some Baptist churches have the deacons decide many of the church affairs, while others have deacons in serving roles only.


title: Deacon

text: The predominant view among Baptist churches (especially theologically conservative ones, including the majority of Southern Baptist and Independent Baptist churches) is that a deacon must be a male, and married (or a widower) and not divorced previously. If a deacon subsequently divorces, he must relinquish his office (but if his wife dies he may continue to serve). However, there are Baptist churches where women are allowed to be deacons or deaconesses (primarily in the United Kingdom and in the United States among African-American and theologically moderate churches). In the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, deacons can be any adult male member of the congregation who is in good standing.


title: Deacon

text: In some African American Missionary Baptist churches and in churches affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. male and female deacons serve as one board. Other churches may have two separate boards of deacons and deaconesses. Most often the deacon or deacon candidate is a long-standing member of the church, being middle aged, but younger deacons may be selected from among members of a family that has had several generations in the same church. They are elected by quorum vote annually. Their roles are semi-pastoral in that they fill in for the pastor on occasion, or support the pastor vocally during his sermon. They may also lead a special prayer service, generally known as "The deacon's Prayer." Their other roles are to accompany the pastor during Communion by handing out the remembrances of bread and wine (or grape juice) and to set a good example for others to follow. Their administrative duties sometimes include oversight of the treasury, Sunday school curriculum, transportation, and various outreach ministries.


title: Deacon

text: See Baptist Distinctives for a more detailed treatment of deacons in churches in other associations, particularly the UK.


title: Deacon

text: The office of deacon is generally open to all 12- and 13-year-old male members of the LDS church; all are encouraged to become deacons. Duties include:


title: Deacon

text: In accordance with Church of Christ doctrine and practice, only males may serve as deacons (deaconesses are not recognized), and must meet Biblical qualifications (generally I Timothy 3:8-13 is the Biblical text used to determine if a male is qualified to serve as deacon). A deacon may also be qualified to serve as an elder (and, in fact, may move into that role after a period of time if his service as deacon is considered acceptable).


title: Deacon

text: The role of the deacon varies, depending on the local congregation. Generally a deacon will have responsibility for a specific non-spiritual function (e.g. finance, building and grounds, benevolence); however, the deacons (like the rest of the congregation) are under the subjection of the elders, who have spiritual and administrative authority over the deacon's function.


title: Deacon

text: In congregations which lack qualified elders (where, in their absence, the men of the congregation handle leadership duties), often there also are no deacons, as they are usually appointed by the elders of the church.


title: Deacon

text: In the New Apostolic Church, the deacon ministry is a local ministry. A deacon mostly works in his home congregation to support the priests. If a priest is unavailable, a deacon will hold a divine service, without the act of communion (Only priests and up can consecrate holy communion).


title: Deacon

text: Iglesia ni Cristo's deacons serve as worship service's strict etiquette checkers in male's seatings, deaconesses are their female counterparts. They also serve as offering collectors and other church duties during worship services. Deacons are required to be married people of strong faith and good example. There is also a head deacon, who leads the congregation in prayer before the sermon and the prayer for voluntary offerings. They were also can be promoted to Bishops, if they are faithful to the rules.


title: Deacon

text: Deacons among Jehovah's Witnesses are referred to as ministerial servants, claiming it preferable to translate the descriptive Greek term used in the Bible rather than merely transliterate it as though it were a title. Appointed ministerial servants aid elders in congregational duties. Like the elders, they are adult baptized males and serve voluntarily.


title: Deacon

text: Deacons in the structure of most meetings of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) are called overseers. This is not an ordained role but rather a temporary ministry that is discerned every three years. They are responsible for coordinating pastoral care within a community while elders (the equivalent of the Biblical presbyterate) take care of the spiritual concerns of the meeting. Other names include "pastoral care" or "care and counsel".


title: Deacon

text: The title "woman deacon" or "deaconess" appears in many documents from the early church period, particularly in the East. Their duties were often different from that of male deacons; women deacons prepared adult women for baptism and they had a general apostolate to female Christians and catechumens (typically for the sake of modesty). Women appear to have been ordained as deacons to serve the larger community until about the 6th century in the West. Liturgies for the ordination of women deacons had similarities with as well as differences from those for male deacons. Opinions on the sacramental nature of the ordination vary: some scholars argue that the ordination of women deacons would have been equally sacramental to that of male deacons, while others say that women deacons of history were not sacramentally ordained in the full sense, as determined in the Catholic Church by Canons 1008 and 1009 of the Code of Canon Law.


title: Deacon

text: The Catholic Church presently does not recognise the validity of female ordinations, be it to the diaconate or any other clerical order. In August 2016, the Catholic Church established a Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate to study the history of female deacons and to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons. Until today, the Armenian Apostolic Church is still ordaining religious sisters as deaconesses, the last monastic deaconess was Sister Hripsime Sasounian (died in 2007) and on 25 September 2017, Ani-Kristi Manvelian a twenty-four-year-old woman was ordained in Tehran's St. Sarkis Mother Church as the first lay deaconess after many centuries. The Russian Orthodox Church had a female subdiaconate into the 20th century. The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece restored a monastic female subdiaconate in 2004. And on 16 November 2016, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate of Alexandria also restored the female diaconate, actually for subdeaconesses only.


title: Deacon

text: The Greek word "diakonos" (διάκονος) gave rise to the following terms from the history of Russia, not to be confused with each other: ""dyak"", ""podyachy"", ""dyachok"", in addition to "deacon" and "protodeacon".


title: Deacon

text: In Scots, the title "deacon" is used for a head-workman, a master or chairman of a trade guild, or one who is adept, expert and proficient. The term "deaconry" refers to the office of a "deacon" or the trade guild under a "deacon".


title: Deacon

text: The most famous holder of this title was Deacon Brodie, who was a cabinet-maker and president of the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons as well as being a Burgh councillor of Edinburgh but at night led a double life as a burglar. He is thought to have inspired the story of "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".


title: Petroleum industry

text: The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline (petrol). Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, synthetic fragrances, and plastics. The industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream, midstream, and downstream. Upstream regards exploration and extraction of crude oil, midstream encompasses transportation and storage of crude, and downstream concerns refining crude oil into various end products.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Petroleum is vital to many industries, and is necessary for the maintenance of industrial civilization in its current configuration, making it a critical concern for many nations. Oil accounts for a large percentage of the world’s energy consumption, ranging from a low of 32% for Europe and Asia, to a high of 53% for the Middle East.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Other geographic regions' consumption patterns are as follows: South and Central America (44%), Africa (41%), and North America (40%). The world consumes 36 billion barrels (5.8 km³) of oil per year, with developed nations being the largest consumers. The United States consumed 18% of the oil produced in 2015. The production, distribution, refining, and retailing of petroleum taken as a whole represents the world's largest industry in terms of dollar value.


title: Petroleum industry

text: The oil and gas industry spends only 0,4% of its net sales for Research & Development which is in comparison with a range of other industries the lowest share.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Governments such as the United States government provide a heavy public subsidy to petroleum companies, with major tax breaks at various stages of oil exploration and extraction, including the costs of oil field leases and drilling equipment.


title: Petroleum industry

text: In recent years, enhanced oil recovery techniques — most notably multi-stage drilling and hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") — have moved to the forefront of the industry as this new technology plays a crucial and controversial role in new methods of oil extraction.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid found in rock formations. It consists of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds. It is generally accepted that oil is formed mostly from the carbon rich remains of ancient plankton after exposure to heat and pressure in Earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. Over time, the decayed residue was covered by layers of mud and silt, sinking further down into Earth’s crust and preserved there between hot and pressured layers, gradually transforming into oil reservoirs.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Petroleum in an unrefined state has been utilized by humans for over 5000 years. Oil in general has been used since early human history to keep fires ablaze and in warfare.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Its importance to the world economy however, evolved slowly, with whale oil being used for lighting in the 19th century and wood and coal used for heating and cooking well into the 20th century. Even though the Industrial Revolution generated an increasing need for energy, this was initially met mainly by coal, and from other sources including whale oil. However, when it was discovered that kerosene could be extracted from crude oil and used as a lighting and heating fuel, the demand for petroleum increased greatly, and by the early twentieth century had become the most valuable commodity traded on world markets.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Imperial Russia produced 3,500 tons of oil in 1825 and doubled its output by mid-century. After oil drilling began in the region of present-day Azerbaijan in 1846, in Baku, the Russian Empire built two large pipelines: the 833 km long pipeline to transport oil from the Caspian to the Black Sea port of Batum (Baku-Batum pipeline), completed in 1906, and the 162 km long pipeline to carry oil from Chechnya to the Caspian. The first drilled oil wells in Baku were built in 1871-1872 by Ivan Mirzoev, an Armenian businessman who is referred to as one of the 'founding fathers' of Baku's oil industry.


title: Petroleum industry

text: At the turn of the 20th century, Imperial Russia's output of oil, almost entirely from the Apsheron Peninsula, accounted for half of the world's production and dominated international markets. Nearly 200 small refineries operated in the suburbs of Baku by 1884. As a side effect of these early developments, the Apsheron Peninsula emerged as the world's "oldest legacy of oil pollution and environmental negligence". In 1846 Baku (Bibi-Heybat settlement) featured the first ever well drilled with percussion tools to a depth of 21 meters for oil exploration. In 1878 Ludvig Nobel and his Branobel company "revolutionized oil transport" by commissioning the first oil tanker and launching it on the Caspian Sea.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Samuel Kier established America's first oil refinery in Pittsburgh on Seventh avenue near Grant Street in 1853. Ignacy Łukasiewicz built one of the first modern oil-refineries near Jasło (then in the Austrian dependent Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in Central European Galicia), present-day Poland, in 1854–56. Galician refineries were initially small, as demand for refined fuel was limited. The refined products were used in artificial asphalt, machine oil and lubricants, in addition to Łukasiewicz's kerosene lamp. As kerosene lamps gained popularity, the refining industry grew in the area.


title: Petroleum industry

text: The first commercial oil-well in Canada became operational in 1858 at Oil Springs, Ontario (then Canada West). Businessman James Miller Williams dug several wells between 1855 and 1858 before discovering a rich reserve of oil four metres below ground. Williams extracted 1.5 million litres of crude oil by 1860, refining much of it into kerosene-lamp oil. Some historians challenge Canada's claim to North America's first oil field, arguing that Pennsylvania's famous Drake Well was the continent's first. But there is evidence to support Williams, not least of which is that the Drake well did not come into production until August 28, 1859. The controversial point might be that Williams found oil above bedrock while Edwin Drake’s well located oil within a bedrock reservoir. The discovery at Oil Springs touched off an oil boom which brought hundreds of speculators and workers to the area. Canada's first gusher (flowing well) erupted on January 16, 1862, when local oil-man John Shaw struck oil at 158 feet (48 m). For a week the oil gushed unchecked at levels reported as high as 3,000 barrels per day.


title: Petroleum industry

text: The first modern oil-drilling in the United States began in West Virginia and Pennsylvania in the 1850s. Edwin Drake's 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, typically considered the first true modern oil well, touched off a major boom. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the United States overtook Russia as the world's largest oil producer. By the 1920s, oil fields had been established in many countries including Canada, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, the United States, Peru and Venezuela.


title: Petroleum industry

text: The first successful oil tanker, the "Zoroaster", was built in 1878 in Sweden, designed by Ludvig Nobel. It operated from Baku to Astrakhan. A number of new tanker designs developed in the 1880s.


title: Petroleum industry

text: In the early 1930s the Texas Company developed the first mobile steel barges for drilling in the brackish coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico. In 1937 Pure Oil Company (now part of Chevron Corporation) and its partner Superior Oil Company (now part of ExxonMobil Corporation) used a fixed platform to develop a field in of water, one mile (1.6 km) offshore of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. In early 1947 Superior Oil erected a drilling/production oil-platform in of water some 18 miles off Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. Kerr-McGee Oil Industries, as operator for partners Phillips Petroleum (ConocoPhillips) and Stanolind Oil & Gas (BP), completed its historic Ship Shoal Block 32 well in November 1947, months before Superior actually drilled a discovery from their Vermilion platform farther offshore. In any case, that made Kerr-McGee's Gulf of Mexico well, Kermac No. 16, the first oil discovery drilled out of sight of land. Forty-four Gulf of Mexico exploratory wells discovered 11 oil and natural gas fields by the end of 1949.


title: Petroleum industry

text: During World War II (1939–1945) control of oil supply from Romania, Baku, the Middle East and the Dutch East Indies played a huge role in the events of the war and the ultimate victory of the Allies. The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran (1941) secured Allied control of oil-production in the Middle East. The expansion of Imperial Japan to the south aimed largely at accessing the oil-fields of the Dutch East Indies. Germany, cut off from sea-borne oil supplies by Allied blockade, failed in Operation Edelweiss to secure the Caucasus oil-fields for the Axis military in 1942, while Romania deprived the Wehrmacht of access to Ploesti oilfields - the largest in Europe - from August 1944. Cutting off the East Indies oil-supply (especially via submarine campaigns) considerably weakened Japan in the latter part of the war. After World War II ended in 1945, the countries of the Middle East took the lead in oil production from the United States. Important developments since World War II include deep-water drilling, the introduction of the drillship, and the growth of a global shipping network for petroleum - relying upon oil tankers and pipelines. In 1949 the first offshore oil-drilling at Oil Rocks (Neft Dashlari) in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan eventually resulted in a city built on pylons. In the 1960s and 1970s, multi-governmental organizations of oil–producing nations - OPEC and OAPEC - played a major role in setting petroleum prices and policy. Oil spills and their cleanup have become an issue of increasing political, environmental, and economic importance. New fields of hydrocarbon production developed in places such as Siberia, Sakhalin, Venezuela and North and West Africa.


title: Petroleum industry

text: With the advent of hydraulic fracturing and other horizontal drilling techniques, shale play has seen an enormous uptick in production. Areas of shale such as the Permian Basin and Eagle-Ford have become huge hotbeds of production for the largest oil corporations in the United States.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Oil companies used to be classified by sales as ""supermajors"" (BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Eni and TotalEnergies), ""majors"," and ""independents" or "jobbers"." In recent years however, National Oil Companies (NOC, as opposed to IOC, International Oil Companies) have come to control the rights over the largest oil reserves; by this measure the top ten companies all are NOC. The following table shows the ten largest national oil companies ranked by reserves and by production in 2012.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Most upstream work in the oil field or on an oil well is contracted out to drilling contractors and oil field service companies.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Aside from the NOCs which dominate the Upstream sector, there are many international companies that have a market share. For example:


title: Petroleum industry

text: Midstream operations are sometimes classified within the downstream sector, but these operations compose a separate and discrete sector of the petroleum industry. Midstream operations and processes include the following:


title: Petroleum industry

text: While some upstream companies carry out certain midstream operations, the midstream sector is dominated by a number of companies that specialize in these services. Midstream companies include:


title: Petroleum industry

text: Some petroleum industry operations have been responsible for water pollution through by-products of refining and oil spills. Though hydraulic fracturing has significantly increased natural gas extraction, there is some belief and evidence to support that consumable water has seen increased in methane contamination due to this gas extraction. Leaks from underground tanks and abandoned refineries may also contaminate groundwater in surrounding areas. Hydrocarbons that comprise refined petroleum are resistant to biodegradation and have been found to remain present in contaminated soils for years. To hasten this process, bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants is often employed by means of aerobic degradation. More recently, other bioremediative methods have been explored such as phytoremediation and thermal remediation.


title: Petroleum industry

text: The industry is the largest industrial source of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a group of chemicals that contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone (smog). The combustion of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases and other air pollutants as by-products. Pollutants include nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals.


title: Petroleum industry

text: Researchers have discovered that the petrochemical industry can produce ground-level ozone pollution at higher amounts in winter than in summer.


title: Petroleum industry

text: The greenhouse gases due to fossil fuels drive climate change. Already in 1959, at a symposium organised by the American Petroleum Institute for the centennial of the American oil industry, the physicist Edward Teller warned then of the danger of global climate change. Edward Teller explained that carbon dioxide "in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect" and that burning more fossil fuels could "melt the icecap and submerge New York".


title: Petroleum industry

text: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, founded by the United Nations in 1988, concludes that human-sourced greenhouse gases are responsible for most of the observed temperature increase since the middle of the twentieth century.


title: Petroleum industry

text: As a result of climate change concerns, many alternative energy enthusiasts have begun using other methods of energy such as solar and wind, among others. This recent view has some petroleum enthusiasts skeptical about the true future of the industry.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Dennis Edward Skinner (born 11 February 1932) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolsover for 49 years, from 1970 to 2019. He is a member of the Labour Party.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Known for his left-wing views and acerbic wit, Skinner belonged to the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs. He was a member of Labour's National Executive Committee, with brief breaks, for thirty years, and was the chairman of the Committee in 1988–89. He was one of the longest serving members of the House of Commons and the longest continuously-serving Labour MP. He is a lifelong Eurosceptic.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Born in Clay Cross, Derbyshire, Skinner is the third of nine children. His father Edward Skinner was a coal miner who was sacked after the 1926 general strike, and his mother Lucy was a cleaner. In June 1942, at the age of 10, Skinner won a scholarship to attend Tupton Hall Grammar School after passing the eleven-plus a year early. In 1949, he went on to work as a coal miner at Parkhouse colliery, working there until its closure in 1962. He then worked at Glapwell colliery near Bolsover. In 1956 Skinner entered the Sheffield Star Walk, an amateur walking race, and finished second.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In 1964, at the age of 32, he became the youngest-ever president of the Derbyshire region of the National Union of Mineworkers. After working for 20 years as a miner, he became a member of Derbyshire County Council and a Clay Cross councillor in the 1960s. In 1967, he attended Ruskin College, after completing a course run by the National Union of Mineworkers at the University of Sheffield.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In 1956, Skinner joined the Labour Party. He was chosen as Parliamentary Prospective candidate for Bolsover on 5 June 1969. Skinner was elected as MP for the-then safe Labour seat of Bolsover at the 1970 general election and retained it until he lost it at the 2019 general election to Mark Fletcher of the Conservative Party.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Due to his aggressive rhetoric, Skinner became known as the "Beast of Bolsover". Skinner recalls that he earned the nickname for his behaviour in a tribute debate in the Commons following the death of former Conservative Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden in 1977: "They were making speeches about the wonder of Anthony Eden, so I got up and talked about miners and people seriously injured and dead in the pits and the £200 given to the widow. There was booing and then all the Tories left and the papers had a go, some serious ones".


title: Dennis Skinner

text: During his tenure in the Commons, Skinner would usually sit on the first seat of the front bench below the gangway in the Commons (known as the 'Awkward Squad Bench' because it is where rebel Labour Party MPs have traditionally sat) in a tweed jacket (whilst most other MPs wear suits) and signature red tie. In 2016, he stated that he had never sent an email and did not have a Twitter account.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Skinner was a strong supporter of the National Union of Mineworkers and their leader Arthur Scargill in the 1984–85 miners' strike. Skinner refused to accept a parliamentary salary in excess of miners' wages, and during the miners' strike he donated his wages to the NUM.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Skinner has voted for equalisation of the age of consent, civil partnerships, adoption rights for same-sex couples, to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and for same-sex couples to marry, and has a strongly pro-choice stance on abortion. On 20 January 1989, he talked out a move to reduce the number of weeks at which an abortion can be legally performed in Britain by moving the writ for the Richmond by-election. On 7 June 1985, he talked out a bill by UUP backbencher Enoch Powell which would have banned stem cell research by moving the writ for the by-election in Brecon and Radnor. Skinner later described this as his proudest political moment.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In 1979, Skinner played a role in publicly exposing Anthony Blunt as a spy for the Soviet Union. On Thursday 15 November 1979, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revealed Blunt's wartime role in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in reply to questions put to her by Ted Leadbitter, MP for Hartlepool, and Skinner:


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Mr. Leadbitter and Mr. Skinner: Asked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on recent evidence concerning the actions of an individual, whose name has been supplied to her, in relation to the security of the United Kingdom.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: The Prime Minister: "The name which the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Leadbitter) has given me is that of Sir Anthony Blunt."


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In 2000, Skinner denounced former ally Ken Livingstone, then serving as a Labour MP. Livingstone had failed to win the party's nomination to be a candidate for Mayor of London, and had then decided to run as an independent candidate instead, urging his supporters to help Green Party candidates get elected. Skinner said that Livingstone had betrayed Labour Party activists in his Brent East constituency, whom he described as having fought for him "like tigers" when his majority had been small: "He tells them he's going to be the Labour candidate, then he lies to them. To me that's as low as you can get". He contrasted Livingstone with the official Labour candidate, Frank Dobson, saying that Dobson was "a bloke and a half... not a prima donna ... not someone with an ego as big as a house". Skinner said Livingstone would "hit the headlines, but you'll never be able to trust him because he's broken his pledge and his loyalty to his party. The personality cult of the ego does not work down a coal mine and it does not work in the Labour Party".


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Conversely, despite his renowned left-wing views, Skinner for a long time had a positive relationship with Prime Minister Tony Blair, a leading figure on the right-wing of the party, stemming from advice that Skinner gave Blair regarding public speaking. As recently as February 2018, he described the Blair and Brown ministries as a "golden period" for the NHS. However, Skinner strongly criticised Blair in May 2019, after the former Prime Minister had advised pro-Remain Labour supporters who felt that the party's line on Brexit was too ambiguous to vote for explicitly pro-Remain parties in the 2019 European Parliament election; in the "Morning Star", Skinner described Blair as a "destructive force" who was "try(ing) to destroy the Labour Party so people keep talking about his reign" and stating that he "went into Iraq and destroyed himself. He helped David Cameron and Theresa May into power. You're talking about a man who made a mess of it."


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In 2003, Skinner was among the quarter of Labour MPs who voted against the Iraq War; he later rebelled against the party line when he voted against government policy to allow terror suspects to be detained without trial for up to 90 days. In 2007, Skinner and 88 other Labour MPs voted against the Labour Government's policy of renewing the Trident Nuclear Missile System.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Skinner supported David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election, which was won by his brother Ed Miliband. In March 2011, he was one of 15 MPs who voted against British participation in NATO's Libya intervention.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In May 2014, Skinner was the principal guest speaker at the Kent Miners Rally at the Aylesham & District Social Club to commemorate 30 years since the Miners Strike 1984/1985.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Skinner was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015. Shortly after Corbyn was elected as leader, Skinner was elected to Labour's National Executive Committee, on which he remained until October 2016. Skinner supported Corbyn, alongside the majority of Labour MPs, in voting against the extension of RAF airstrikes against ISIS in Syria in December 2015. Skinner voted for Britain to leave the European Union in June 2016 and favours outright abolition of the House of Lords.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Following the retirement of Peter Tapsell in 2015, Skinner was one of the four longest-serving MPs, but did not become Father of the House, as two other MPs, who were also first elected in 1970, had been sworn in earlier on the same day and consecutively both held that position: Gerald Kaufman (2015–2017) and Kenneth Clarke (2017–2019). Skinner, the oldest sitting MP since 2017, stated that in any case he would not accept the honorific title. In 2019, with Clarke's impending retirement, the issue of Skinner becoming Father of the House resurfaced but was rendered moot, when Skinner lost his seat at the 2019 general election.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Skinner was suspended from Parliament on at least ten occasions, usually for unparliamentary language when attacking opponents. Notable infractions included:


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Known for his republican sentiments, Skinner regularly heckled during the annual Queen's Speech ceremony. He did this upon the arrival of Black Rod (the symbol of royal authority in the House of Lords) to summon MPs to hear the Queen's speech in the Lords' chamber. The best known, according to the "New Statesman" and other sources, are listed as follows:


title: Dennis Skinner

text: A documentary about Skinner sanctioned by him, "Nature of the Beast", was completed in 2017 by production company Shut Out The Light. The documentary traces Skinner's rise to political icon status and covers his working-class upbringing, his family influences and his hobbies away from "The Palace of Varieties". Skinner's four surviving brothers and several of his Bolsover constituents were interviewed for the documentary.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Derby Theatre commissioned Kevin Fegan to write a play inspired by Skinner, entitled "The Palace of Varieties – life and times of Dennis Skinner", to be performed at Derby Theatre in early 2022.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In September 2020, Robb Johnson's song about Skinner, "Tony Skinner's Lad", topped the Amazon download chart.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In 1960, Skinner married Mary Parker, from whom he separated in 1989. He has three children and four grandchildren. Since 2017, his partner has been former researcher Lois Blasenheim.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: In 1999, Skinner was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer and subsequently had surgery to remove a malignant tumour. In 2003, he underwent a double heart bypass operation. He underwent hip surgery in 2019. He was too ill to campaign in the 2019 General Election after he was hospitalised with a dangerous infection following the hip operation. He was not present at the count when he lost his seat.


title: Dennis Skinner

text: Skinner's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease prior to her death in the 1980s. Skinner sang to his late mother when she was diagnosed with the disease and was inspired by her ability to recall old songs. Since 2008, he has visited care homes in Derbyshire to sing to elderly patients with dementia.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1985 season. The Bears defeated the Patriots by the score of 46–10, capturing their first NFL championship since 1963, three years prior to the birth of the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XX was played on January 26, 1986 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: This was the fourth Super Bowl and, to date, the last time in which both teams made their Super Bowl debuts. The Bears entered the game after becoming the second team in NFL history to win 15 regular season games. With their then-revolutionary 46 defense, Chicago led the league in several defensive categories, outscored their opponents with a staggering margin of 456–198, and recorded two postseason shutouts. The Patriots were considered a Cinderella team during the 1985 season, and posted an 11–5 regular season record, but entered the playoffs as a wild card because of tiebreakers. But defying the odds, New England posted three road playoff wins to advance to Super Bowl XX.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: In their victory over the Patriots, the Bears set or tied Super Bowl records for sacks (seven), fewest rushing yards allowed (seven), and margin of victory (36 points). At the time, New England broke the record for the quickest lead in Super Bowl history, with Tony Franklin's 36-yard field goal 1:19 into the first quarter after a Chicago fumble. But the Patriots were eventually held to negative yardage (−19) throughout the entire first half, and finished with just 123 total yards from scrimmage, the second lowest total yards in Super Bowl history, behind the Minnesota Vikings (119 total yards) in Super Bowl IX. Bears defensive end Richard Dent, who had 1.5 quarterback sacks, forced two fumbles, and blocked a pass, was named the game's Most Valuable Player (MVP). Although he posted relatively mediocre game statistics and failed to score a touchdown himself, star running back Walter Payton was also later credited as being a major factor in the Bears' victory on account of the Patriots' heavy coverage of him giving other members of the team more and better opportunities to score.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: The telecast of the game on NBC was watched by an estimated 92.57 million viewers. To commemorate the 20th Super Bowl, all previous Super Bowl MVPs were honored during the pregame ceremonies.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: NFL owners awarded the hosting of Super Bowl XX to New Orleans, Louisiana at an owners meeting held in Dallas on December 14, 1982. This was the sixth time that New Orleans hosted the Super Bowl. Tulane Stadium was the site of Super Bowls IV, VI, and IX; while the Louisiana Superdome previously hosted XII and XV.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: As of 2021, Super Bowl XX remains the last Super Bowl to feature two teams both making their first appearance in the game. It was the fourth overall following Super Bowl I, Super Bowl III, and Super Bowl XVI. Absent further expansion of the NFL, any future Super Bowl that would have such a combination would have to have the Detroit Lions playing either the Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, or Jacksonville Jaguars in the game. All 16 NFC teams have played in an NFL championship game (Detroit last made an NFL championship game in the pre-merger era); only the three AFC franchises that began play since 1995 (the technicalities of the Browns franchise relocating means this version began in 1999) have yet to reach a league championship game.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: The nation's recognition of the Bears' accomplishment was overshadowed by the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger's STS 51-L mission two days later, an event which caused the cancellation of the Bears' post-Super Bowl White House visit. Jim McMahon drew controversy after Super Bowl XXXI by wearing a Bears jersey to the Green Bay Packers' visit following their championship, owing to his first official visit never having happened at the time. Twenty-five years after the championship, the surviving members of the team would be invited to the White House in 2011 by President Barack Obama, a Chicago native and Bears fan.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Under head coach Mike Ditka, who won the 1985 NFL Coach of the Year Award, the Bears went 15–1 in the regular season, becoming the second NFL team to win 15 regular season games, while outscoring their opponents with a staggering margin of 456–198.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: The Bears' defense, the "46 defense", allowed the fewest points (198), fewest total yards (4,135), and fewest rushing of any team during the regular season (1,319). They also led the league in interceptions (34) and ranked third in sacks (64).


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Pro Bowl quarterback Jim McMahon provided the team with a solid passing attack, throwing for 2,392 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also rushing for 252 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Walter Payton, who was then the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 14,860 yards, rushed for 1,551 yards. He also caught 49 passes for 500 yards, and scored 11 touchdowns. Linebacker Mike Singletary won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award by recording three sacks, three fumble recoveries, and one interception.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: One of the most distinguishable players on defense was rookie lineman William "The Refrigerator" Perry, who came into training camp before the season weighing over 380 pounds. However, after Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan told the press that the team "wasted" their first round draft pick on him, Perry lost some weight and ended up being an effective defensive tackle, finishing the season with five sacks. He got even more attention when Ditka started putting him in the game at the fullback position during offensive plays near the opponent's goal line. During the regular season, Perry rushed for two touchdowns, caught a pass for another touchdown, and was frequently a lead blocker for Payton during goal line plays.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: The Bears' "46 defense" also had the following impact players: on the defensive line, Pro Bowler and future Hall of Famer Richard Dent led the NFL in sacks (17), while Pro Bowler and future Hall of Famer Dan Hampton recorded 6.5 sacks, and nose tackle Steve McMichael compiled eight. In addition to Singletary, linebacker Otis Wilson had 10.5 sacks and three interceptions, while Wilber Marshall recorded four interceptions. In the secondary, defensive back Leslie Frazier had six interceptions, Mike Richardson recorded four interceptions, Dave Duerson had five interceptions, and Gary Fencik recorded five interceptions and 118 tackles.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Chicago's main offensive weapon was Payton and the running game. A big reason for Payton's success was fullback Matt Suhey as the primary lead blocker. Suhey was also a good ball carrier, rushing for 471 yards and catching 33 passes for 295 yards. The team's rushing was also aided by Pro Bowlers Jim Covert and Jay Hilgenberg and the rest of the Bears' offensive line including Mark Bortz, Keith Van Horne, and Tom Thayer.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: In their passing game, the Bears' primary deep threat was wide receiver Willie Gault, who caught 33 passes for 704 yards, an average of 21.3 yards per catch, and returned 22 kickoffs for 557 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Emery Moorehead was another key contributor, catching 35 passes for 481 yards. Wide receiver Dennis McKinnon was another passing weapon, recording 31 receptions, 555 yards, and seven touchdowns. On special teams, Kevin Butler set a rookie scoring record with 144 points, making 31 of 37 field goals (83%) and 51 of 51 extra points.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Meanwhile, the players brought their characterizations to the national stage with "The Super Bowl Shuffle", a rap song the Bears recorded for which they filmed a music video during the 1985 season. Although it was in essence a novelty song, it peaked at number 41 on the "Billboard" charts and even received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1987.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: The Patriots were a Cinderella team during the 1985 season because many sports writers and fans thought they were lucky to make the playoffs at all. New England began the season losing three of their first five games, but won six consecutive games to finish with an 11–5 record. However, the 11–5 mark only earned them third place in the AFC East behind the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Quarterback Tony Eason, in his third year in the NFL, was inconsistent during the regular season, completing 168 out of 299 passes for 2,156 yards and 11 touchdowns, but also 17 interceptions. His backup, Steve Grogan, was considered one of the best reserve quarterbacks in the league. Grogan was the starter in six of the Patriots' games, and finished the regular season with 85 out of 156 completions for 1,311 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Wide receiver Stanley Morgan provided the team with a good deep threat, catching 39 passes for 760 yards and 5 touchdowns. On the other side of the field, multi-talented wide receiver Irving Fryar was equally effective, catching 39 passes for 670 yards, while also rushing for 27 yards, gaining another 559 yards returning punts and kickoffs, and scoring 10 touchdowns. But like the Bears, the Patriots' main strength on offense was their rushing attack. Halfback Craig James rushed for 1,227 yards, caught 27 passes for 370 yards, and scored 7 touchdowns. Fullback Tony Collins rushed for 657 yards, recorded a team-leading 52 receptions for 549 yards, and scored 5 touchdowns. The Patriots also had an outstanding offensive line, led by Pro Bowl tackle Brian Holloway and future Hall of Fame guard John Hannah.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: New England's defense ranked 5th in the league in fewest yards allowed (5,048). Pro Bowl linebacker Andre Tippett led the AFC with 16.5 sacks and recovered 3 fumbles. Pro Bowl linebacker Steve Nelson was also a big defensive weapon, excelling at pass coverage and run stopping. Also, the Patriots' secondary only gave up 14 touchdown passes during the season, second fewest in the league. Pro Bowl defensive back Raymond Clayborn recorded 6 interceptions for 80 return yards and 1 touchdown, while Pro Bowler Fred Marion had 7 interceptions for 189 return yards.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: But the Patriots, under head coach Raymond Berry, defied the odds, beating the New York Jets 26–14, Los Angeles Raiders 27–20, and the Dolphins 31–14 – all on the road – to make it to the Super Bowl. The win against Miami had been especially surprising, not only because Miami was the only team to beat Chicago in the season, but also because New England had not won in the Orange Bowl (Miami's then-home field) since 1966, the Dolphins' first season (then in the AFL). The Patriots had lost to Miami there 18 consecutive times, including a 30–27 loss in their 15th game of the season. But New England dominated the Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game, recording two interceptions from quarterback Dan Marino and recovering 4 fumbles. New England remains the only team to finish third in their division and qualify for the Super Bowl in the same season.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Meanwhile, the Bears became the first and only team in NFL history to shut out both of their opponents in the playoffs, beating the New York Giants 21–0 and the Los Angeles Rams 24–0.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Much of the Super Bowl pregame hype centered on Bears quarterback Jim McMahon. First, he was fined by the NFL during the playoffs for a violation of the league's dress code, wearing a head band from Adidas. He then started to wear a head band where he hand-wrote "Rozelle", after then-league commissioner Pete Rozelle.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: McMahon suffered a strained glute as the result of a hit taken in the NFC Championship Game and flew his acupuncturist into New Orleans to get treatment. During practice four days before the Super Bowl, he wore a headband reading "Acupuncture". During a Bears practice before the Super Bowl, McMahon mooned a helicopter that was hovering over the practice.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Another anecdote involving McMahon during the Super Bowl anticipation involved WDSU sports anchor Buddy Diliberto reporting a quote attributed to McMahon, where he had allegedly referred to the women of New Orleans as "sluts" on a local morning sports talk show. This caused wide controversy among the women of New Orleans and McMahon began receiving calls from irate fans in his hotel. A groggy McMahon, who had not been able to sleep well because of all the calls he had gotten, was confronted by Mike Ditka later that morning and denied making the statement, saying he would not have even been awake to make the comment when he was said to have done so. He was supported in his claim by WLS reporter Les Grobstein, who was present when the alleged statements were made. WDSU would later retract the statement, have an on-air apology read by the station's general manager during the noon newscast on January 23, and suspended Diliberto.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: As the designated home team in the annual rotation between AFC and NFC teams, the Patriots wore their red jerseys with white pants, even though they wore white jerseys with red pants for all home games during the regular season. New England made the switch for the Super Bowl after winning vs. the Jets and Dolphins wearing red jerseys. The Bears donned their road white uniforms with navy pants.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: The NBC telecast of the game, with play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg and color commentators Merlin Olsen and Bob Griese (who was not in the booth with Enberg and Olsen), garnered the third highest Nielsen rating of any Super Bowl to date at 48.3, but it ended up being the first Super Bowl to garner over 90 million viewers, the highest ever at that time. While Dick Enberg, Merlin Olsen and Bob Griese called the game, Bob Costas and his "NFL '85" castmates, Ahmad Rashad and Pete Axthelm anchored the pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. Other contributors included Charlie Jones (recapping Super Bowl I), Larry King (interviewing Mike Ditka and Raymond Berry), and Bill Macatee (profiling Patriots owner Billy Sullivan and his family). Also, the pregame coverage included what became known as "the silent minute"; a 60-second countdown over a black screen (a concept devised by then-NBC Sports executive Michael Weisman); a skit featuring comedian Rodney Dangerfield and an interview by "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw of United States President Ronald Reagan at the White House (this would not become a regular Super Bowl pregame feature until Super Bowl XLIII, when "Today show" host Matt Lauer interviewed U.S. President Barack Obama).


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Super Bowl XX was simulcast in Canada on CTV and also broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, and Canal 5 in Mexico, with play-by-play announcers Toño de Valdés, Enrique Burak and color commentator Pepe Segarra.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: Super Bowl XX is featured on "NFL's Greatest Games" under the title "Super Bears" with narration by Don LaFontaine.


title: Super Bowl XX

text: The national radio broadcast was aired by NBC Radio, which outbid CBS Radio for the nationwide NFL contract in March 1985. Don Criqui was the play-by-play announcer, with Bob Trumpy as the color analyst. WGN-AM carried the game in the Chicago area (and thanks to WGN's 50,000-watt clear-channel signal, to much of the continental United States), with Wayne Larrivee on play-by-play, and Jim Hart and Dick Butkus providing commentary. WEEI carried the game in the Boston area, with John Carlson and Jon Morris on the call.