title: Introduction to evolution

text: Evolution is the process of change in all forms of life over generations, and evolutionary biology is the study of how evolution occurs. Biological populations evolve through genetic changes that correspond to changes in the organisms' observable traits. Genetic changes include mutations, which are caused by damage or replication errors in organisms' DNA. As the genetic variation of a population drifts randomly over generations, natural selection gradually leads traits to become more or less common based on the relative reproductive success of organisms with those traits.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The age of the Earth is about 4.5 billion years. The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates from at least 3.5 billion years ago. Evolution does not attempt to explain the origin of life (covered instead by abiogenesis), but it does explain how early lifeforms evolved into the complex ecosystem that we see today. Based on the similarities between all present-day organisms, all life on Earth is assumed to have originated through common descent from a last universal ancestor from which all known species have diverged through the process of evolution.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: All individuals have hereditary material in the form of genes received from their parents, which they pass on to any offspring. Among offspring there are variations of genes due to the introduction of new genes via random changes called mutations or via reshuffling of existing genes during sexual reproduction. The offspring differs from the parent in minor random ways. If those differences are helpful, the offspring is more likely to survive and reproduce. This means that more offspring in the next generation will have that helpful difference and individuals will not have equal chances of reproductive success. In this way, traits that result in organisms being better adapted to their living conditions become more common in descendant populations. These differences accumulate resulting in changes within the population. This process is responsible for the many diverse life forms in the world.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The modern understanding of evolution began with the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species". In addition, Gregor Mendel's work with plants helped to explain the hereditary patterns of genetics. Fossil discoveries in palaeontology, advances in population genetics and a global network of scientific research have provided further details into the mechanisms of evolution. Scientists now have a good understanding of the origin of new species (speciation) and have observed the speciation process in the laboratory and in the wild. Evolution is the principal scientific theory that biologists use to understand life and is used in many disciplines, including medicine, psychology, conservation biology, anthropology, forensics, agriculture and other social-cultural applications.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: In the 19th century, natural history collections and museums were popular. The European expansion and naval expeditions employed naturalists, while curators of grand museums showcased preserved and live specimens of the varieties of life. Charles Darwin was an English graduate educated and trained in the disciplines of natural history. Such natural historians would collect, catalogue, describe and study the vast collections of specimens stored and managed by curators at these museums. Darwin served as a ship's naturalist on board HMS "Beagle", assigned to a five-year research expedition around the world. During his voyage, he observed and collected an abundance of organisms, being very interested in the diverse forms of life along the coasts of South America and the neighbouring Galápagos Islands.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Darwin gained extensive experience as he collected and studied the natural history of life forms from distant places. Through his studies, he formulated the idea that each species had developed from ancestors with similar features. In 1838, he described how a process he called natural selection would make this happen.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The size of a population depends on how much and how many resources are able to support it. For the population to remain the same size year after year, there must be an equilibrium, or balance between the population size and available resources. Since organisms produce more offspring than their environment can support, not all individuals can survive out of each generation. There must be a competitive struggle for resources that aid in survival. As a result, Darwin realised that it was not chance alone that determined survival. Instead, survival of an organism depends on the differences of each individual organism, or "traits," that aid or hinder survival and reproduction. Well-adapted individuals are likely to leave more offspring than their less well-adapted competitors. Traits that hinder survival and reproduction would "disappear" over generations. Traits that help an organism survive and reproduce would "accumulate" over generations. Darwin realised that the unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce could cause gradual changes in the population and used the term "natural selection" to describe this process.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Observations of variations in animals and plants formed the basis of the theory of natural selection. For example, Darwin observed that orchids and insects have a close relationship that allows the pollination of the plants. He noted that orchids have a variety of structures that attract insects, so that pollen from the flowers gets stuck to the insects' bodies. In this way, insects transport the pollen from a male to a female orchid. In spite of the elaborate appearance of orchids, these specialised parts are made from the same basic structures that make up other flowers. In his book, "Fertilisation of Orchids" (1862), Darwin proposed that the orchid flowers were adapted from pre-existing parts, through natural selection.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Darwin was still researching and experimenting with his ideas on natural selection when he received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace describing a theory very similar to his own. This led to an immediate joint publication of both theories. Both Wallace and Darwin saw the history of life like a family tree, with each fork in the tree's limbs being a common ancestor. The tips of the limbs represented modern species and the branches represented the common ancestors that are shared amongst many different species. To explain these relationships, Darwin said that all living things were related, and this meant that all life must be descended from a few forms, or even from a single common ancestor. He called this process "descent with modification".


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Darwin published his theory of evolution by natural selection in "On the Origin of Species" in 1859. His theory means that all life, including humanity, is a product of continuing natural processes. The implication that all life on Earth has a common ancestor has met with objections from some religious groups. Their objections are in contrast to the level of support for the theory by more than 99 percent of those within the scientific community today.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Natural selection is commonly equated with "survival of the fittest", but this expression originated in Herbert Spencer's "Principles of Biology" in 1864, five years after Charles Darwin published his original works. "Survival of the fittest" describes the process of natural selection incorrectly, because natural selection is not only about survival and it is not always the fittest that survives.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Darwin's theory of natural selection laid the groundwork for modern evolutionary theory, and his experiments and observations showed that the organisms in populations varied from each other, that some of these variations were inherited, and that these differences could be acted on by natural selection. However, he could not explain the source of these variations. Like many of his predecessors, Darwin mistakenly thought that heritable traits were a product of use and disuse, and that features acquired during an organism's lifetime could be passed on to its offspring. He looked for examples, such as large ground feeding birds getting stronger legs through exercise, and weaker wings from not flying until, like the ostrich, they could not fly at all. This misunderstanding was called the inheritance of acquired characters and was part of the theory of transmutation of species put forward in 1809 by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. In the late 19th century this theory became known as Lamarckism. Darwin produced an unsuccessful theory he called pangenesis to try to explain how acquired characteristics could be inherited. In the 1880s August Weismann's experiments indicated that changes from use and disuse could not be inherited, and Lamarckism gradually fell from favour.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The missing information needed to help explain how new features could pass from a parent to its offspring was provided by the pioneering genetics work of Gregor Mendel. Mendel's experiments with several generations of pea plants demonstrated that inheritance works by separating and reshuffling hereditary information during the formation of sex cells and recombining that information during fertilisation. This is like mixing different hands of playing cards, with an organism getting a random mix of half of the cards from one parent, and half of the cards from the other. Mendel called the information "factors"; however, they later became known as genes. Genes are the basic units of heredity in living organisms. They contain the information that directs the physical development and behaviour of organisms.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Genes are made of DNA. DNA is a long molecule made up of individual molecules called nucleotides. Genetic information is encoded in the sequence of nucleotides, that make up the DNA, just as the sequence of the letters in words carries information on a page. The genes are like short instructions built up of the "letters" of the DNA alphabet. Put together, the entire set of these genes gives enough information to serve as an "instruction manual" of how to build and run an organism. The instructions spelled out by this DNA alphabet can be changed, however, by mutations, and this may alter the instructions carried within the genes. Within the cell, the genes are carried in chromosomes, which are packages for carrying the DNA. It is the reshuffling of the chromosomes that results in unique combinations of genes in offspring. Since genes interact with one another during the development of an organism, novel combinations of genes produced by sexual reproduction can increase the genetic variability of the population even without new mutations. The genetic variability of a population can also increase when members of that population interbreed with individuals from a different population causing gene flow between the populations. This can introduce genes into a population that were not present before.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Evolution is not a random process. Although mutations in DNA are random, natural selection is not a process of chance: the environment determines the probability of reproductive success. Evolution is an inevitable result of imperfectly copying, self-replicating organisms reproducing over billions of years under the selective pressure of the environment. The outcome of evolution is not a perfectly designed organism. The end products of natural selection are organisms that are adapted to their present environments. Natural selection does not involve progress towards an ultimate goal. Evolution does not strive for more advanced, more intelligent, or more sophisticated life forms. For example, fleas (wingless parasites) are descended from a winged, ancestral scorpionfly, and snakes are lizards that no longer require limbs—although pythons still grow tiny structures that are the remains of their ancestor's hind legs. Organisms are merely the outcome of variations that succeed or fail, dependent upon the environmental conditions at the time.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Rapid environmental changes typically cause extinctions. Of all species that have existed on Earth, 99.9 percent are now extinct. Since life began on Earth, five major mass extinctions have led to large and sudden drops in the variety of species. The most recent, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, occurred 66 million years ago.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Genetic drift is a cause of allelic frequency change within populations of a species. Alleles are different variations of specific genes. They determine things like hair colour, skin tone, eye colour and blood type; in other words, all the genetic traits that vary between individuals. Genetic drift does not introduce new alleles to a population, but it can reduce variation within a population by removing an allele from the gene pool. Genetic drift is caused by random sampling of alleles. A truly random sample is a sample in which no outside forces affect what is selected. It is like pulling marbles of the same size and weight but of different colours from a brown paper bag. In any offspring, the alleles present are samples of the previous generations alleles, and chance plays a role in whether an individual survives to reproduce and to pass a sample of their generation onward to the next. The allelic frequency of a population is the ratio of the copies of one specific allele that share the same form compared to the number of all forms of the allele present in the population.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The Hardy–Weinberg principle states that under certain idealised conditions, including the absence of selection pressures, a large population will have no change in the frequency of alleles as generations pass. A population that satisfies these conditions is said to be in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. In particular, Hardy and Weinberg showed that dominant and recessive alleles do not automatically tend to become more and less frequent respectively, as had been thought previously.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium include that there must be no mutations, immigration, or emigration, all of which can directly change allelic frequencies. Additionally, mating must be totally random, with all males (or females in some cases) being equally desirable mates. This ensures a true random mixing of alleles. A population that is in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium is analogous to a deck of cards; no matter how many times the deck is shuffled, no new cards are added and no old ones are taken away. Cards in the deck represent alleles in a population's gene pool.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: In practice, no population can be in perfect Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The population's finite size, combined with natural selection and many other effects, cause the allelic frequencies to change over time.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: A population bottleneck occurs when the population of a species is reduced drastically over a short period of time due to external forces. In a true population bottleneck, the reduction does not favour any combination of alleles; it is totally random chance which individuals survive. A bottleneck can reduce or eliminate genetic variation from a population. Further drift events after the bottleneck event can also reduce the population's genetic diversity. The lack of diversity created can make the population at risk to other selective pressures.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: A common example of a population bottleneck is the Northern elephant seal. Due to excessive hunting throughout the 19th century, the population of the northern elephant seal was reduced to 30 individuals or less. They have made a full recovery, with the total number of individuals at around 100,000 and growing. The effects of the bottleneck are visible, however. The seals are more likely to have serious problems with disease or genetic disorders, because there is almost no diversity in the population.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The founder effect occurs when a small group from one population splits off and forms a new population, often through geographic isolation. This new population's allelic frequency is probably different from the original population's, and will change how common certain alleles are in the populations. The founders of the population will determine the genetic makeup, and potentially the survival, of the new population for generations.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: One example of the founder effect is found in the Amish migration to Pennsylvania in 1744. Two of the founders of the colony in Pennsylvania carried the recessive allele for Ellis–van Creveld syndrome. Because the Amish tend to be religious isolates, they interbreed, and through generations of this practice the frequency of Ellis–van Creveld syndrome in the Amish people is much higher than the frequency in the general population.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The modern evolutionary synthesis is based on the concept that populations of organisms have significant genetic variation caused by mutation and by the recombination of genes during sexual reproduction. It defines evolution as the change in allelic frequencies within a population caused by genetic drift, gene flow between sub populations, and natural selection. Natural selection is emphasised as the most important mechanism of evolution; large changes are the result of the gradual accumulation of small changes over long periods of time.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The modern evolutionary synthesis is the outcome of a merger of several different scientific fields to produce a more cohesive understanding of evolutionary theory. In the 1920s, Ronald Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane and Sewall Wright combined Darwin's theory of natural selection with statistical models of Mendelian genetics, founding the discipline of population genetics. In the 1930s and 1940s, efforts were made to merge population genetics, the observations of field naturalists on the distribution of species and sub species, and analysis of the fossil record into a unified explanatory model. The application of the principles of genetics to naturally occurring populations, by scientists such as Theodosius Dobzhansky and Ernst Mayr, advanced the understanding of the processes of evolution. Dobzhansky's 1937 work "Genetics and the Origin of Species" helped bridge the gap between genetics and field biology by presenting the mathematical work of the population geneticists in a form more useful to field biologists, and by showing that wild populations had much more genetic variability with geographically isolated subspecies and reservoirs of genetic diversity in recessive genes than the models of the early population geneticists had allowed for. Mayr, on the basis of an understanding of genes and direct observations of evolutionary processes from field research, introduced the biological species concept, which defined a species as a group of interbreeding or potentially interbreeding populations that are reproductively isolated from all other populations. Both Dobzhansky and Mayr emphasised the importance of subspecies reproductively isolated by geographical barriers in the emergence of new species. The palaeontologist George Gaylord Simpson helped to incorporate palaeontology with a statistical analysis of the fossil record that showed a pattern consistent with the branching and non-directional pathway of evolution of organisms predicted by the modern synthesis.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Scientific evidence for evolution comes from many aspects of biology and includes fossils, homologous structures, and molecular similarities between species' DNA.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Research in the field of palaeontology, the study of fossils, supports the idea that all living organisms are related. Fossils provide evidence that accumulated changes in organisms over long periods of time have led to the diverse forms of life we see today. A fossil itself reveals the organism's structure and the relationships between present and extinct species, allowing palaeontologists to construct a family tree for all of the life forms on Earth.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Modern palaeontology began with the work of Georges Cuvier. Cuvier noted that, in sedimentary rock, each layer contained a specific group of fossils. The deeper layers, which he proposed to be older, contained simpler life forms. He noted that many forms of life from the past are no longer present today. One of Cuvier's successful contributions to the understanding of the fossil record was establishing extinction as a fact. In an attempt to explain extinction, Cuvier proposed the idea of "revolutions" or catastrophism in which he speculated that geological catastrophes had occurred throughout the Earth's history, wiping out large numbers of species. Cuvier's theory of revolutions was later replaced by uniformitarian theories, notably those of James Hutton and Charles Lyell who proposed that the Earth's geological changes were gradual and consistent. However, current evidence in the fossil record supports the concept of mass extinctions. As a result, the general idea of catastrophism has re-emerged as a valid hypothesis for at least some of the rapid changes in life forms that appear in the fossil records.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: A very large number of fossils have now been discovered and identified. These fossils serve as a chronological record of evolution. The fossil record provides examples of transitional species that demonstrate ancestral links between past and present life forms. One such transitional fossil is "Archaeopteryx", an ancient organism that had the distinct characteristics of a reptile (such as a long, bony tail and conical teeth) yet also had characteristics of birds (such as feathers and a wishbone). The implication from such a find is that modern reptiles and birds arose from a common ancestor.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The comparison of similarities between organisms of their form or appearance of parts, called their morphology, has long been a way to classify life into closely related groups. This can be done by comparing the structure of adult organisms in different species or by comparing the patterns of how cells grow, divide and even migrate during an organism's development.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Taxonomy is the branch of biology that names and classifies all living things. Scientists use morphological and genetic similarities to assist them in categorising life forms based on ancestral relationships. For example, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and humans all belong to the same taxonomic grouping referred to as a family—in this case the family called Hominidae. These animals are grouped together because of similarities in morphology that come from common ancestry (called "homology").


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Strong evidence for evolution comes from the analysis of homologous structures: structures in different species that no longer perform the same task but which share a similar structure. Such is the case of the forelimbs of mammals. The forelimbs of a human, cat, whale, and bat all have strikingly similar bone structures. However, each of these four species' forelimbs performs a different task. The same bones that construct a bat's wings, which are used for flight, also construct a whale's flippers, which are used for swimming. Such a "design" makes little sense if they are unrelated and uniquely constructed for their particular tasks. The theory of evolution explains these homologous structures: all four animals shared a common ancestor, and each has undergone change over many generations. These changes in structure have produced forelimbs adapted for different tasks.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: However, anatomical comparisons can be misleading, as not all anatomical similarities indicate a close relationship. Organisms that share similar environments will often develop similar physical features, a process known as "convergent evolution". Both sharks and dolphins have similar body forms, yet are only distantly related—sharks are fish and dolphins are mammals. Such similarities are a result of both populations being exposed to the same selective pressures. Within both groups, changes that aid swimming have been favoured. Thus, over time, they developed similar appearances (morphology), even though they are not closely related.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: In some cases, anatomical comparison of structures in the embryos of two or more species provides evidence for a shared ancestor that may not be obvious in the adult forms. As the embryo develops, these homologies can be lost to view, and the structures can take on different functions. Part of the basis of classifying the vertebrate group (which includes humans), is the presence of a tail (extending beyond the anus) and pharyngeal slits. Both structures appear during some stage of embryonic development but are not always obvious in the adult form.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Because of the morphological similarities present in embryos of different species during development, it was once assumed that organisms re-enact their evolutionary history as an embryo. It was thought that human embryos passed through an amphibian then a reptilian stage before completing their development as mammals. Such a re-enactment, often called "recapitulation theory", is not supported by scientific evidence. What does occur, however, is that the first stages of development are similar in broad groups of organisms. At very early stages, for instance, all vertebrates appear extremely similar, but do not exactly resemble any ancestral species. As development continues, specific features emerge from this basic pattern.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Homology includes a unique group of shared structures referred to as "vestigial structures". "Vestigial" refers to anatomical parts that are of minimal, if any, value to the organism that possesses them. These apparently illogical structures are remnants of organs that played an important role in ancestral forms. Such is the case in whales, which have small vestigial bones that appear to be remnants of the leg bones of their ancestors which walked on land. Humans also have vestigial structures, including the ear muscles, the wisdom teeth, the appendix, the tail bone, body hair (including goose bumps), and the semilunar fold in the corner of the eye.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Biogeography is the study of the geographical distribution of species. Evidence from biogeography, especially from the biogeography of oceanic islands, played a key role in convincing both Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace that species evolved with a branching pattern of common descent. Islands often contain endemic species, species not found anywhere else, but those species are often related to species found on the nearest continent. Furthermore, islands often contain clusters of closely related species that have very different ecological niches, that is have different ways of making a living in the environment. Such clusters form through a process of adaptive radiation where a single ancestral species colonises an island that has a variety of open ecological niches and then diversifies by evolving into different species adapted to fill those empty niches. Well-studied examples include Darwin's finches, a group of 13 finch species endemic to the Galápagos Islands, and the Hawaiian honeycreepers, a group of birds that once, before extinctions caused by humans, numbered 60 species filling diverse ecological roles, all descended from a single finch like ancestor that arrived on the Hawaiian Islands some 4 million years ago. Another example is the Silversword alliance, a group of perennial plant species, also endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, that inhabit a variety of habitats and come in a variety of shapes and sizes that include trees, shrubs, and ground hugging mats, but which can be hybridised with one another and with certain tarweed species found on the west coast of North America; it appears that one of those tarweeds colonised Hawaii in the past, and gave rise to the entire Silversword alliance.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Every living organism (with the possible exception of RNA viruses) contains molecules of DNA, which carries genetic information. Genes are the pieces of DNA that carry this information, and they influence the properties of an organism. Genes determine an individual's general appearance and to some extent their behaviour. If two organisms are closely related, their DNA will be very similar. On the other hand, the more distantly related two organisms are, the more differences they will have. For example, brothers are closely related and have very similar DNA, while cousins share a more distant relationship and have far more differences in their DNA. Similarities in DNA are used to determine the relationships between species in much the same manner as they are used to show relationships between individuals. For example, comparing chimpanzees with gorillas and humans shows that there is as much as a 96 percent similarity between the DNA of humans and chimps. Comparisons of DNA indicate that humans and chimpanzees are more closely related to each other than either species is to gorillas.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The field of molecular systematics focuses on measuring the similarities in these molecules and using this information to work out how different types of organisms are related through evolution. These comparisons have allowed biologists to build a "relationship tree" of the evolution of life on Earth. They have even allowed scientists to unravel the relationships between organisms whose common ancestors lived such a long time ago that no real similarities remain in the appearance of the organisms.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: "Artificial selection" is the controlled breeding of domestic plants and animals. Humans determine which animal or plant will reproduce and which of the offspring will survive; thus, they determine which genes will be passed on to future generations. The process of artificial selection has had a significant impact on the evolution of domestic animals. For example, people have produced different types of dogs by controlled breeding. The differences in size between the Chihuahua and the Great Dane are the result of artificial selection. Despite their dramatically different physical appearance, they and all other dogs evolved from a few wolves domesticated by humans in what is now China less than 15,000 years ago.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Artificial selection has produced a wide variety of plants. In the case of maize (corn), recent genetic evidence suggests that domestication occurred 10,000 years ago in central Mexico. Prior to domestication, the edible portion of the wild form was small and difficult to collect. Today "The Maize Genetics Cooperation • Stock Center" maintains a collection of more than 10,000 genetic variations of maize that have arisen by random mutations and chromosomal variations from the original wild type.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: In artificial selection the new breed or variety that emerges is the one with random mutations attractive to humans, while in natural selection the surviving species is the one with random mutations useful to it in its non-human environment. In both natural and artificial selection the variations are a result of random mutations, and the underlying genetic processes are essentially the same. Darwin carefully observed the outcomes of artificial selection in animals and plants to form many of his arguments in support of natural selection. Much of his book "On the Origin of Species" was based on these observations of the many varieties of domestic pigeons arising from artificial selection. Darwin proposed that if humans could achieve dramatic changes in domestic animals in short periods, then natural selection, given millions of years, could produce the differences seen in living things today.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Coevolution is a process in which two or more species influence the evolution of each other. All organisms are influenced by life around them; however, in coevolution there is evidence that genetically determined traits in each species directly resulted from the interaction between the two organisms.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: An extensively documented case of coevolution is the relationship between "Pseudomyrmex", a type of ant, and the "acacia", a plant that the ant uses for food and shelter. The relationship between the two is so intimate that it has led to the evolution of special structures and behaviours in both organisms. The ant defends the acacia against herbivores and clears the forest floor of the seeds from competing plants. In response, the plant has evolved swollen thorns that the ants use as shelter and special flower parts that the ants eat.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Such coevolution does not imply that the ants and the tree choose to behave in an altruistic manner. Rather, across a population small genetic changes in both ant and tree benefited each. The benefit gave a slightly higher chance of the characteristic being passed on to the next generation. Over time, successive mutations created the relationship we observe today.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Given the right circumstances, and enough time, evolution leads to the emergence of new species. Scientists have struggled to find a precise and all-inclusive definition of "species". Ernst Mayr defined a species as a population or group of populations whose members have the potential to interbreed naturally with one another to produce viable, fertile offspring. (The members of a species cannot produce viable, fertile offspring with members of "other" species). Mayr's definition has gained wide acceptance among biologists, but does not apply to organisms such as bacteria, which reproduce asexually.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Speciation is the lineage-splitting event that results in two separate species forming from a single common ancestral population. A widely accepted method of speciation is called "allopatric speciation". Allopatric speciation begins when a population becomes geographically separated. Geological processes, such as the emergence of mountain ranges, the formation of canyons, or the flooding of land bridges by changes in sea level may result in separate populations. For speciation to occur, separation must be substantial, so that genetic exchange between the two populations is completely disrupted. In their separate environments, the genetically isolated groups follow their own unique evolutionary pathways. Each group will accumulate different mutations as well as be subjected to different selective pressures. The accumulated genetic changes may result in separated populations that can no longer interbreed if they are reunited. Barriers that prevent interbreeding are either "prezygotic" (prevent mating or fertilisation) or "postzygotic" (barriers that occur after fertilisation). If interbreeding is no longer possible, then they will be considered different species. The result of four billion years of evolution is the diversity of life around us, with an estimated 1.75 million different species in existence today.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Usually the process of speciation is slow, occurring over very long time spans; thus direct observations within human life-spans are rare. However speciation has been observed in present-day organisms, and past speciation events are recorded in fossils. Scientists have documented the formation of five new species of cichlid fishes from a single common ancestor that was isolated fewer than 5,000 years ago from the parent stock in Lake Nagubago. The evidence for speciation in this case was morphology (physical appearance) and lack of natural interbreeding. These fish have complex mating rituals and a variety of colorations; the slight modifications introduced in the new species have changed the mate selection process and the five forms that arose could not be convinced to interbreed.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: The theory of evolution is widely accepted among the scientific community, serving to link the diverse speciality areas of biology. Evolution provides the field of biology with a solid scientific base. The significance of evolutionary theory is summarised by Theodosius Dobzhansky as "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." Nevertheless, the theory of evolution is not static. There is much discussion within the scientific community concerning the mechanisms behind the evolutionary process. For example, the rate at which evolution occurs is still under discussion. In addition, there are conflicting opinions as to which is the primary unit of evolutionary change—the organism or the gene.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Darwin and his contemporaries viewed evolution as a slow and gradual process. Evolutionary trees are based on the idea that profound differences in species are the result of many small changes that accumulate over long periods.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Gradualism had its basis in the works of the geologists James Hutton and Charles Lyell. Hutton's view suggests that profound geological change was the cumulative product of a relatively slow continuing operation of processes which can still be seen in operation today, as opposed to catastrophism which promoted the idea that sudden changes had causes which can no longer be seen at work. A uniformitarian perspective was adopted for biological changes. Such a view can seem to contradict the fossil record, which often shows evidence of new species appearing suddenly, then persisting in that form for long periods. In the 1970s palaeontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould developed a theoretical model that suggests that evolution, although a slow process in human terms, undergoes periods of relatively rapid change (ranging between 50,000 and 100,000 years) alternating with long periods of relative stability. Their theory is called "punctuated equilibrium" and explains the fossil record without contradicting Darwin's ideas.


title: Introduction to evolution

text: A common unit of selection in evolution is the organism. Natural selection occurs when the reproductive success of an individual is improved or reduced by an inherited characteristic, and reproductive success is measured by the number of an individual's surviving offspring. The organism view has been challenged by a variety of biologists as well as philosophers. Richard Dawkins proposes that much insight can be gained if we look at evolution from the gene's point of view; that is, that natural selection operates as an evolutionary mechanism on genes as well as organisms. In his 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene", he explains:


title: Introduction to evolution

text: Others view selection working on many levels, not just at a single level of organism or gene; for example, Stephen Jay Gould called for a hierarchical perspective on selection.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Michael John Conlan (born 19 November 1991) is an Irish professional boxer who challenged for the WBA (Regular) featherweight title in March 2022. As an amateur, he reached number one in the AIBA bantamweight world rankings, with achievements that include a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and gold at the 2015 World Championships. He has been one of Ireland's most successful amateur fighters of all time. He turned professional in 2016 after misgivings with the amateur sport, and had his first bout in 2017.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Conlan was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father and coach, John, hails from Drimnagh, County Dublin. His elder brother, Jamie, was also a professional boxer.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Conlan won his first Ulster novice title at the age of 11, and is a three-time Irish national flyweight champion.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: In his debut match at the 2012 Olympics, he defeated Ghanaian boxer Duke Micah, having received a bye in the first round. In the quarter final, he defeated French boxer Nordine Oubaali by 22–18, guaranteeing himself a bronze medal. Conlan lost his semi-final bout against Cuba's Robeisy Ramírez, who went on to win gold in the final.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: After the Olympics, Conlan would go on to win a silver medal at the 2013 European Championships in Minsk, losing to Welsh boxer Andrew Selby by 1:2.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Conlan moved up from flyweight to bantamweight and on 2 August 2014 he won the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, beating England's Qais Ashfaq. Conlan won despite only returning to training two weeks prior following an injury.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: 2015 started off with Conlan competing in the World Series of Boxing for Italia Thunder. Conlan and his teammate, fellow Irish boxer Paddy Barnes, would compete in seven fights over 14 weeks in an effort to try and secure qualification for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Conlan racked up five wins out of seven, which was just enough for him to finish second in the individual ranking and secure an Olympic berth in Rio.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: In August 2015 Conlan won the European Championships at bantamweight and scooped Boxer of the Tournament. He competed in four fights beating; French, Danish, Italian and Great Britain representatives. He only lost 3 rounds out of a possible 36 on individual judges' scorecards. His final was a repeat of the 2014 Commonwealth Games final against Great Britain's Qais Ashfaq. Conlan took the first in what was a very technical encounter, the Belfast man took the second on a split, by the third round the No.1 seed (Conlan) was in cruise control which saw him take the round and the fight unanimously to retain Ireland's hold on the European bantamweight title and the best boxer award (both of which John Joe Nevin won in 2013).


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: In October 2015, Conlan won the gold medal in the bantamweight division at the 2015 World Championships. It was Ireland's first ever male World Championship gold medal.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Following the 2016 Olympics and his disillusionment with amateur boxing, Conlan reaffirmed his intentions of turning professional. Despite interest from several big promotions and rumours of a deal being struck with Mayweather Promotions, it was Top Rank who secured Conlan's signature. On 23 September, Bob Arum confirmed that Conlan would be making his professional debut at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, on St. Patrick's Day.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: On 17 March 2017, Conlan won his first fight as a professional boxer, beating Tim Ibarra by a third round technical knockout (TKO) at the theatre at Madison Square Garden.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: On 3 August 2019, he fought Diego Alberto Ruiz. In front of a packed crowd in his hometown Belfast, Conlan continued his unbeaten streak in the pros and stopped his opponent in nine rounds.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: On 14 December, Conlan faced Vladimir Nikitin. It was a much anticipated bout, since Nikitin beat Conlan twice in the amateurs, including once at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Conlan won comfortably on all three scorecards, 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: In his next fight, Conlan squared off against Sofiane Takoucht. Conlan started the fight fast, and was dominant throughout most of the fight, assaulting Takoucht with numerous body shots. Some of Conlan's body shots were landing below the belt, for which he was deducted a point on two occasions. In the tenth round, Conlan was just too much for the Frenchman, and the referee stopped the fight, awarding Conlan the tenth-round TKO win.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Conlan won his first bout at the super-bantam weight level on 30 April 2021, beating Ionut Baluta by a majority decision.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Conlan returned to featherweight in his next bout, as he faced T. J. Doheny for the vacant WBA interim featherweight title on 6 August 2021. Conlan won the fight by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring the fight 116–111 in his favor, while the third judge scored it 119–108 for him. He scored the sole knockdown of the bout in the fifth round, dropping Doheny with a strike to the body.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Conlan remained in the featherweight level for his fight against Leigh Wood, the current WBA (Regular) featherweight title holder, on 12 March 2022. He started the fight brightly, scoring a knockdown on Wood in the first round and he continued to dominate until the later rounds when Wood came back into the contest more. Conlan went down in the 11th round, it was scored as a knockdown despite protests from Conlan's corner. In the 12th, with Conlan just being ahead on all the scorecards, Wood improved again and 1:25 into the round he knocked out Conlan, with Conlan falling through the ropes and reportedly being rendered unconscious for "a minute or two". He was quickly taken to hospital, Conlan since has said he is "all good" and his scans were "clear".


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: On August 6, 2022 Conlan made his ring return at SSE Arena Belfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He faced three-time world title challenger Miguel Marriaga of Colombia. He won the fight by unanimous decision, scoring three knockdowns in Round 7, 8 and 9.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: In the men's bantamweight quarterfinal stage of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Conlan was eliminated by a controversial call, in which Russia's Vladimir Nikitin was awarded the victory. Conlan reacted by raising his middle finger at the judges and delivering a strongly-worded live television interview to RTÉ, accusing officials in amateur boxing of corruption. That decision was one of a number that had fellow international boxers and commentators questioning the integrity of Olympic boxing and the scoring system used.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: Conlan was found placing bets on boxing events at the 2016 Summer Olympics, violating the IOC rules. Accordingly, he was sanctioned with a severe reprimand by the Disciplinary Commission of the IOC.


title: Michael Conlan (boxer)

text: In his eleventh professional bout, Conlan arrived in Madison Square Garden with the song "Celtic Symphony" playing and some of the crowd chanting ""Ooh ahh, up the 'Ra"". Some, including Northern Irish former world champion Dave McAuley, called for action from boxing regulatory bodies. The niece of an IRA bombing victim suggested that Conlan had "glorified terrorism" and criticised the boxer by suggesting he was the antithesis of other boxers like Barry McGuigan and Carl Frampton who had always strived to keep a cross-community spirit in boxing. Promoter Barney Eastwood echoed McAuley's sentiment, saying it "should never have been allowed to come about". Politicians and boxing coach John Breen also suggested that Conlan will have lost support because of it. Conlan subsequently apologised for his "misjudgement" in using Celtic Symphony as his ring-walk music.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The Rhodesian Security Forces were the military forces of the Rhodesian government. The Rhodesian Security Forces consisted of a ground force (the Rhodesian Army), the Rhodesian Air Force, the British South Africa Police, and various personnel affiliated to the Rhodesian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Despite the impact of economic and diplomatic sanctions, Rhodesia was able to develop and maintain a potent and professional military capability.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The Rhodesian Security Forces of 1964–80 traced their history back to the British South Africa Company armed forces, originally created during company rule in the 1890s. These became the armed forces of the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia on its formation in 1923, then part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland military in 1953. After the break-up of the Federation at the end of 1963, the security forces assumed the form they would keep until 1980.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: As the armed forces of Rhodesia (as Southern Rhodesia called itself from 1964), the Rhodesian Security Forces remained loyal to the Salisbury government after it unilaterally declared independence from Britain on 11 November 1965. Britain and the United Nations refused to recognise this, and regarded the breakaway state as a rebellious British colony throughout its existence.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The security forces fought on behalf of the unrecognised government against the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army—the military wings of the Marxist–Leninist black nationalist Zimbabwe African National Union and Zimbabwe African People's Union respectively—during the Rhodesian Bush War of the 1960s and 1970s.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The Lancaster House Agreement and the return of Rhodesia to de facto British control on 12 December 1979 changed the security forces' role altogether; during the five-month interim period, they helped the British governor and Commonwealth Monitoring Force to keep order in Rhodesia while the 1980 general election was organised and held. After the internationally recognised independence of Zimbabwe in April 1980, the Rhodesian security forces, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army were integrated to form the new Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Around 5,000 white Rhodesian military and intelligence personnel were recruited by South Africa in 1980 as part of Operation Winter.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The majority of the Southern Rhodesia Volunteers were disbanded in 1920 for reasons of cost, the last companies being disbanded in 1926. The Defence Act of 1927 created a Permanent Force (the Rhodesian Staff Corps) and a Territorial Force as well as national compulsory military training. With the Southern Rhodesia Volunteers disbanded in 1927, the Rhodesia Regiment was reformed in the same year as part of the nation's Territorial Force. The 1st Battalion was formed in Salisbury with a detached "B" company in Umtali and the 2nd Battalion in Bulawayo with a detached "B" Company in Gwelo. Between the World Wars, the Permanent Staff Corps of the Rhodesian Army consisted of only 47 men. The British South Africa Police were trained as both policemen and soldiers until 1954.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: About 10,000 white Southern Rhodesians (15% of the white population) mustered into the British forces during the Second World War, serving in units such as the Long Range Desert Group, the Rhodesian Armoured Corps, No. 237 Squadron RAF and the Special Air Service (SAS). "Pro rata" to population, this was the largest contribution of manpower by any territory in the British Empire, even outstripping that of Britain itself. Southern Rhodesia was in fact the first Commonwealth country to officially declare war on the Axis powers.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: Southern Rhodesia's own units, most prominently the Rhodesian African Rifles (made up of black rank-and-filers and warrant officers, led by white officers; abbreviated RAR), fought in the war's East African Campaign and in Burma. During the war, Southern Rhodesian pilots proportionally earned the highest number of decorations and ace appellations in the Empire. This resulted in the Royal Family paying an unusual state visit to the colony at the end of the war in thanks to the efforts of the Rhodesian people.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The Southern Rhodesia Air Force (SRAF) was re-established in 1947 and, two years later, Prime Minister Sir Godfrey Huggins appointed a 32-year-old South African-born Rhodesian Spitfire pilot, Ted Jacklin, as air officer commanding tasked to build an air force in the expectation that British African territories would begin moving towards independence, and air power would be vital for land-locked Southern Rhodesia. The threadbare SRAF bought, borrowed or salvaged a collection of vintage aircraft, including six Tiger Moths, six North American Harvard trainers, an Avro Anson freighter and a handful of De Havilland Rapide transport aircraft, before purchasing a squadron of 22 Mk. 22 war surplus Supermarine Spitfire from the Royal Air Force (RAF) which were then flown to Southern Rhodesia.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: In April 1951, the defence forces of Southern Rhodesia were completely reorganised. The Permanent Force included the British South Africa Police as well as the Southern Rhodesia Staff Corps, charged with training and administering the Territorial Force. The SRAF consisted of a communication squadron and trained members of the Territorial Force as pilots, particularly for artillery observation. During the Malayan Emergency of the 1950s, Southern Rhodesia contributed two units to the Commonwealth's counter-insurgency campaign: the newly formed Rhodesian SAS served a two-year tour of duty in Malaya starting in March 1951, then the Rhodesian African Rifles operated for two years from April 1956.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The colony also maintained women's auxiliary services (later to provide the inspiration for the Rhodesia Women's Service), and maintained a battalion of the RAR, officered by members of the Staff Corps. The Territorial Force remained entirely white and largely reproduced the Second World War pattern. It consisted of two battalions of the Royal Rhodesia Regiment, an Armoured Car Regiment, Artillery, Engineers, Signal Corps, Medical Corps, Auxiliary Air Force and Transport Corps. In wartime the country could also draw on the Territorial Force Reserve and General Reserve. Southern Rhodesia, in other words, reverted more or less to the organisation of the Second World War.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: Matters evolved greatly over twenty years. The regular army was always a relatively small force, but by 1978–79 it consisted of 10,800 regulars nominally supported by about 40,000 reservists. While the regular army consisted of a professional core drawn from the white population (and some units, such as the Rhodesian SAS and the Rhodesian Light Infantry, were all-white), by 1978–79 the majority of its complement was actually composed of black soldiers. The army reserves, in contrast, were largely white.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The Rhodesian Army HQ was in Salisbury and commanded over four infantry brigades and later an HQ Special Forces, with various training schools and supporting units. Numbers 1,2, and 3 Brigade were established in 1964 and 4 Brigade in 1978.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The Royal Rhodesian Air Force (RRAF), as it was named in 1954, was never a large air force. In 1965, it consisted of only 1,200 regular personnel. It was renamed as the Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) in 1970. At the peak of its strength during the Bush War, it had a maximum of 2,300 personnel of all races, but of these, only 150 were pilots actively involved in combat operations. These pilots, however, were rotated through the various squadrons partly to maintain their skills on all aircraft and partly to relieve fellow pilots flying more dangerous sorties.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The police force of Rhodesia was the British South Africa Police. They were the main first line of defense in both Southern Rhodesia and, later, Rhodesia, with the specific responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: While not a part of the Security Forces, Rhodesian Ministry of Internal Affairs officers were heavily involved in implementing such civic measures as the protected villages programme during the Bush War. The INTAF consisted by District Assistants and District Security Assistants, and led by District Commissioners.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The Rhodesia Prison Service was the branch of the Rhodesian Security Forces responsible for the administration of Rhodesian prisons.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: This was the fourth arm of the Rhodesian Security Forces. It consisted of both black and white troops whose initial role was to provide protection for villagers in the Protected Village system. During the latter stages of the Bush War they provided a role in the protection of white-owned farmland, tribal purchase lands and other strategic locations. They also raised three infantry Battalions and provided troops in every facet of the war in each of the Operational Areas. It was a large component of the Security Forces, with a strength of over 7,200 personnel. Its headquarters were in North Avenue, Salisbury. Its training establishment was based at Chikurubi in Salisbury.


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The guard force cap badge was a castle on top of a dagger, below the castle was a scroll reading 'Guard Force'


title: Rhodesian Security Forces

text: The Rhodesian Bush War required that each of the security forces work in a combined effort to combat the enemy. Therefore, it became essential to establish an organisation known as Combined Operations Headquarters (COMOPS) in Salisbury to co-ordinate the efforts of each service. The Rhodesian army took the senior role in Combined Operations and was responsible for the conduct of all operations both inside and outside Rhodesia. COMOPS had direct command over the Joint Operational Centres (JOCs) deployed throughout the country in each of the Operational Areas. There was a JOC per Operational Area.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: Andrei Sergeyevich Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky (; born 20 August 1937) is a Russian filmmaker. He has worked in Soviet, Hollywood, and contemporary Russian cinema. He is a laureate of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", a National Order of the Legion of Honour, an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, a Cavalier of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and a People's Artist of the RSFSR. He is the son of writer Sergey Mikhalkov, and the brother of filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: Konchalovsky's work has encompassed theatrical motion pictures, telefilms, documentaries, and stage productions. His film credits include "Uncle Vanya" (1970), "Siberiade" (1979), "Maria's Lovers" (1984), "Runaway Train" (1985), "Tango & Cash" (1989), "House of Fools" (2002), "The Postman's White Nights" (2014), "Paradise" (2016), and "Dear Comrades!" (2020). He also directed the 1997 miniseries adaptation of the ancient Greek narrative "The Odyssey". Earlier in his career, he was a collaborator of Andrei Tarkovsky. His films have won numerous accolades, including the Cannes Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, a FIPRESCI Award, two Silver Lions, three Golden Eagle Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: Konchalovsky was born Andrei Sergeyevich Mikhalkov in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, to an aristocratic family of Mikhalkovs, with centuries-old artistic and aristocratic heritage tracing their roots to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (in 2009 he testified that a great-grandfather resided in Lithuania). His father was writer Sergey Mikhalkov, and his mother was poet Natalia Konchalovskaya. His brother is filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov. He is frequently referred to as "Andron", but as he stated several times, Andron was just a diminutive used by his grandfather and never was his official name; he prefers the name Andrei.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: He studied for ten years at the Moscow Conservatory, preparing for a pianist's career. In 1960, however, he met Andrei Tarkovsky and co-scripted his movie "Andrei Rublev" (1966).


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: His first full-length feature, "The First Teacher" (1964), was favourably received in the Soviet Union and screened by numerous film festivals abroad. His second film, "Asya Klyachina's Story" (1967), was suppressed by Soviet authorities. When issued twenty years later, it was acclaimed as his masterpiece. Thereupon, Konchalovsky filmed adaptations of Ivan Turgenev's "A Nest of Gentle Folk" (1969) and Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" (1970), with Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the title role.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: In 1979 he was a member of the jury at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival. His epic "Siberiade" upon its 1979 release was favourably received at Cannes and made possible his move to the United States in 1980.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: His most popular Hollywood releases are "Maria's Lovers" (1984), "Runaway Train" (1985), based on a script by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and "Tango & Cash" (1989), starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell. In the 1990s, Konchalovsky returned to Russia, although he occasionally produced historical films for U.S. television, such as his adaption of "The Odyssey" (1997) and the award-winning remake, "The Lion in Winter" (2003).


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: Konchalovsky's full-length feature, "House of Fools" (2003), with a cameo role by Bryan Adams as himself, set in a Chechen psychiatric asylum during the war, won him a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: In 2010, Konchalovsky released a longtime passion project of his, "The Nutcracker in 3D", a musical adaptation of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet. A musical film, it mixed live action and 3D animation, and starred Elle Fanning, John Turturro, Nathan Lane, and Richard E. Grant. The film was scored with music from the ballet, with additional lyrics by Tim Rice.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: In the same year, Konchalovsky also featured in "Hitler in Hollywood", a bio-doc about Micheline Presle which evolves into a thrilling investigation of the long hidden truth behind European cinema. This mockumentary thriller uncovers Hollywood's unsuspected plot against the European motion picture industry. The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and was nominated for a Crystal Globe award in July 2010.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: In 2012, Konchalovsky wrote, directed and produced "The Battle for Ukraine", which provided an in depth analysis of how Ukraine to this day struggles to escape from the close embrace of its former big brother, Russia. This extensive study lasted for almost three years and involved an array of Ukrainian, Russian and American historians, politicians and journalists, as well as the ex-President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski, the ex-President of Slovakia Rudolf Schuster, the ex-President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, the ex-Prime Minister of Russia Viktor Chernomyrdin, and the businessman Boris Berezovsky.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: 2013 saw Konchalovsky co-produce a story previously untold on film. Film-maker Margy Kinmonth invited the Prince of Wales to make a journey through history to celebrate the artistic gene in his family and reveal an extraordinary treasure trove of work by royal hands past and present, many of whom were accomplished artists. Set against the spectacular landscapes of the Royal Estates and containing insights into works by members of The Royal Family down the centuries and The Prince of Wales's own watercolours, 'Royal Paintbox' explores a colourful palette of intimate family memory and observation.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: His film "The Postman's White Nights" won the Silver Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. The script is centered around the true story of Aleksey Tryaptisyn, a real life postman based in a remote Russian village surrounding the Kenozero lake.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: In 2016, "Paradise" directed by him won the Silver Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. It was selected as the Russian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 89th Academy Awards.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: In 2020, Konchalovsky directed "Dear Comrades!", a historical drama about the Novocherkassk massacre. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Anthony Lane, writing for "The New Yorker", called the film Konchalovsky's "masterpiece."


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: In 2012, Konchalovsky was one of 103 public figures to sign a petition in support of the band Pussy Riot during their 2012 trial.


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: Konchalovsky has been married five times. His first wife was Irina Kandat. His second wife was Russian actress Natalya Arinbasarova, with whom he has one son: Egor, born 15 January 1966. His third wife was Viviane Godet, with whom he has a daughter, Alexandra Mikhalkova, born 6 October 1971. His fourth wife was Irina Ivanova, with whom he has two daughters: Nathalia and Elena. His fifth wife is Russian actress Julia Vysotskaya; they have been married since 1998 and have two children: Maria (1999) and Petr (2003).


title: Andrei Konchalovsky

text: In October 2013, Konchalovsky and daughter Maria were involved in a vehicular collision in the south of France. Konchalovsky lost control of a rented Mercedes and swerved into oncoming traffic, where he crashed into another car. Maria suffered a traumatic brain injury and was placed into an induced coma. By 2018, Maria's condition had improved, and she returned to Russia with her parents.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: Daughter of the Deep is a middle grade fantasy-adventure novel by Rick Riordan. The book was published on October 26, 2021, by Disney-Hyperion. The book is a "New York Times" best seller. Unlike Riordan's earlier books which dealt with mythology, "Daughter of the Deep" is a Retrofuturism science fiction novel set in a contemporary timeline of the world of Jules Verne's books Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and The Mysterious Island. This is a derivative work, featuring machinery, tools and settings described in Verne's books, and characters who are descendants of Verne's characters. It combines both old and future technologies, melding together elements of both steampunk and artificial intelligence. The book incorporates the tropes of sibling rivalry and the recovery of lost ancient technologies. For example, Nemo's "Nautilus" – now under the control of his descendants – is described as having artificial intelligence and being capable of travel via supercavitation.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: The book follows Ana Dakkar, who is a student at Harding-Pencroft Academy. She learns that at the end of her freshman year, her class will be taken on a top secret weekend trial at sea. The book was inspired by Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Seas".


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: Ana Dakkar, the novel's protagonist and narrator, who turns 15 during the novel, is a student at Harding-Pencroft Academy, a fictional five-year boarding high school for marine sciences, situated on a remote bluff on the southern California coast.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: The book opens on a Friday morning just before the end of Ana's freshman year, when she goes for a swim near campus with her older brother Dev, a 17-year-old senior, who gives her their mother's pearl necklace as an early present for her fifteenth birthday. Ana and the 19 other ninth-graders at Harding-Pencroft then head to the docks at the nearby fictional city of San Alejandro for their end-of-year trials on board the school yacht the "Varuna" (named for Varuna, the Hindu god of the sea), which will determine their future at the school. The trials are supervised by Dr. Theodosius Hewett, their elderly Theoretical Marine Science teacher. However, shortly after leaving the campus, Ana and her classmates see torpedoes fired from a submarine at the base of the bluff on which their school sits, collapsing the buildings into the ocean. Dr. Hewitt, after launching drones to survey the wreckage, orders the freshmen back onto the bus, then onto the "Varuna" and out to sea, telling them that this is the work of a rival school, Land Institute, and that it is better for their own safety if the world believes them dead as well. He directs one of the boys, Gemini Twain, to act as Ana's bodyguard. Hewitt and the students then find themselves fighting off a commando raid at sea by Land Institute seniors who attempt to kidnap Ana; the abduction is foiled with the aid of a friendly bottlenose dolphin Ana named Socrates, who knocks her would-be abductor, Caleb South, out of the water. When interrogated, Caleb proudly admits that he and his classmates destroyed Harding-Pencroft and says that they were protecting the legacy of an outlaw and selfishly hoarding technology that could greatly benefit the world. Hewitt has him thrown overboard in his flotation vest and wet suit to join his classmates who have been set adrift in a pontoon with their hands bound.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: Hewett explains to Ana and her classmates that Jules Verne's novels "20,000 Leagues Under the Seas" and "The Mysterious Island" are actually somewhat fictionalized accounts of real events based on interviews Verne conducted with real people involved in these events, and that Ana is descended from Captain Nemo (Prince Dakkar of Bundelkhand). Hewett tells them that Nemo was a genius who developed technology far ahead of his time and Harding-Pencroft Academy and Land Institute have been battling over this technology ever since then, and their rivalry has now erupted into actual warfare. In Nemo's submarine the "Nautilus", he waged a guerrilla war on the colonial powers of the late 19th century, seeking their destruction as vengeance for the murder of his wife and eldest son by the British following his participation in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British rule.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: After Pierre Aronnax, Ned Land, and Aronnax's servant Conseil escaped Captain Nemo, they founded Land Institute in an attempt to save the world order from Nemo by acquiring or duplicating his inventions and technology. Cyrus Harding and Bonaventure Pencroft, whose encounter with Nemo was described in "The Mysterious Island", told their story to Verne in an attempt to change Nemo's image and protect his legacy, and founded Harding-Pencroft Academy in accordance with Nemo's last wish – that his inventions not be misused for greed and power by the world's governments and corporations or by Land Institute.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: The freshman trials were intended to be the ninth-graders' introduction to Nemo's technology, but Hewett feels that under the circumstances he must now tell them everything. Ana's friend and classmate Ester Harding, an orphan who is Cyrus Harding's fourth great-granddaughter, had been given the information months before but was sworn to secrecy by the Harding-Pencroft Academy board of trustees, under penalty of disinheritance. Long before the development of modern genetic science, Captain Nemo had learned how to biometrically link his greatest inventions to his own genes so that they might only be operated by himself or his direct descendants, which means that only Ana, who is Captain Nemo's fourth great-granddaughter and (it is believed) last surviving direct descendant, may now operate them.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: Unbeknownst to the students, Hewett is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer, and he is found comatose in his cabin on the morning of their second day at sea. Ana takes command of the "Varuna" and uses one of Nemo's inventions to determine their destination, a remote, uncharted Pacific atoll named Lincoln Island, where Cyrus Harding, Bonaventure Pencroft, and their companions were marooned and where Captain Nemo died aboard the "Nautilus". Along the way, they learn from data extracted from the drones Hewett launched after the school's destruction that Dev had broadcast a warning over its public-address system to evacuate. In order to approach Lincoln Island, which is heavily defended and concealed from detection by a cloaking device, they must decipher a code transmitted to them by Lincoln Island staff and send back a similarly coded message.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: Upon their arrival at Lincoln Island, they are greeted by the island's caretakers: a couple named Luca Barsanti (who is descended from the Italian inventor Eugenio Barsanti) and his wife Ophelia Artemesia, and Jupiter, an orangutan who has learned to cook by watching "The Great British Bake Off" (and quite well, the students discover). Dr. Hewett begins to receive treatment with Captain Nemo's medical technology. Luca and Ophelia introduce the students to the "Nautilus", which, save for some relatively minor internal water damage, is almost intact, after sitting dormant at the bottom of a nearby lagoon for approximately 150 years after Captain Nemo died in the command chair. Ana learns that the "Nautilus" is a specimen of artificial intelligence so advanced as to be sentient, and that Ana's parents, who died shortly before she entered eighth grade, discovered the "Nautilus" and were electrocuted in a rash attempt to board it. Ana successfully boards the "Nautilus" without incident by introducing herself and asking for permission to come aboard, speaking in her and Captain Nemo's ancestral language of Bundeli. She then awakens the ship's advanced functions by playing a pipe organ Captain Nemo had installed on the bridge.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: Ana and her classmates' exploration of the "Nautilus" are suddenly interrupted, however, by the discovery that the Land Institute seniors who attacked their school have followed them to Lincoln Island in their submarine the "Aronnax", and a battle ensues. During the battle, Ana and the others discover to their horror that her brother Dev has turned traitor and is collaborating with Land Institute, and is commanding the "Aronnax", from which he had broadcast the warning to evacuate after Harding-Pencroft Academy's defenses had been hacked and brought down. Ana discovers that Dev has hidden a tracking device in the necklace he gave her and immediately destroys it, then uses the Nautilus's advanced propulsion systems to flee. Two hours later, they find themselves in the western Pacific approximately 400 miles east of Davao City, Philippines, near the Palau Trench west of Koror City, Palau. There, while making repairs on the "Nautilus", they meet a giant octopus the crew names Romeo; Ana befriends him with the help of a keytar and the Nautilus' artificial intelligence. They speed back to Lincoln Island, where a battle with the "Aronnax" immediately ensues. The battle ends with the "Aronnax" broken to pieces by the giant octopus and its crew plucked from the ocean and locked up in improvised jail cells, and a brawl between Ana and Dev which ends with her knocking him unconscious by shooting him with rubber bullets.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: The novel ends with the Harding-Pencroft ninth-graders, Luca and Ophelia, and a recovering Dr. Hewett vowing to rebuild the school. Ana takes Dev, who was being groomed to take over the facility but has now forfeited practically everything, to see their parents' final resting place in the lagoon near the "Nautilus".


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: The book received a starred review from "Kirkus Reviews", as well as a positive review from "Publishers Weekly". It received a mixed review from "School Library Journal."


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: Riordan confirmed on March 7, 2021, that "Daughter of the Deep" was "crafted with screenwriting structure and development". He also said that there are talks of a possible future feature film adaptation for the book. He reaffirmed the plans for a film on October 24, 2021, whilst confirming that he would be co-writing the film with Aditi Brennan Kapil.


title: Daughter of the Deep

text: On April 4, 2022, Riordan revealed that the film rights were closed and that they would soon start writing the script.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The state funeral of John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. President, took place in Washington, D.C., during the three days that followed his assassination on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Kennedy's body was brought back to Washington after his assassination. Early on November 23, six military pallbearers carried the flag-draped coffin into the East Room of the White House, where he lay in repose for 24 hours. Then, his flag-draped coffin was carried on a horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol to lie in state. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket, with a quarter million passing through the rotunda during the 18 hours of lying in state.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Kennedy's funeral service was held on November 25, at St. Matthew's Cathedral. The Requiem Mass was led by Cardinal Richard Cushing. About 1,200 guests, including representatives from over 90 countries, attended. After the service, Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, his body was flown back to Washington, and taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital for the autopsy. At the same time, military authorities began making arrangements for a state funeral. Army Major General Philip C. Wehle, the commanding general of the Military District of Washington (MDW) (CG MDW), and retired Army Colonel Paul C. Miller, chief of ceremonies and special events at the MDW, planned the funeral.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: They headed to the White House and worked with the president's brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, also director of the Peace Corps, and Ralph Dungan, an aide to the president. Because President Kennedy had no funeral plan in place, much of the planning rested with the CG MDW. House Speaker John W. McCormack said that the president's body would be brought back to the White House to lie in the East Room the following day and then taken to the Capitol to lie in state in the rotunda all day Sunday.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The day after the assassination, the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, issued , declaring Monday to be a national day of mourning, and only essential emergency workers to be at their posts. He read the proclamation over a nationwide radio and television broadcast at 4:45 p.m. from the Fish Room (currently known as the Roosevelt Room) at the White House.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Several elements of the state funeral paid tribute to President Kennedy's service in the Navy during World War II. They included a member of the Navy bearing the presidential flag, the playing of the Navy Hymn, "Eternal Father, Strong to Save," and the Naval Academy Glee Club performing at the White House.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: After the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital, President Kennedy's body was prepared for burial by embalmers from Gawler's Funeral Home in Washington, who performed the embalming and cosmetic restoration procedures at Bethesda. Then, President Kennedy's body was put in a new mahogany casket in place of the bronze casket used to transport the body from Dallas. The bronze casket had been damaged in transit, and was later disposed of by the Air Force in the Atlantic Ocean so that it would not "fall into the hands of sensation seekers."


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: President Kennedy's body was returned to the White House at about 4:30 a.m. EST on Saturday, November 23. The motorcade bearing the remains was met at the White House gate by a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard, which escorted it to the North Portico. The pallbearers bore the casket to the East Room where, nearly one hundred years earlier, the body of Abraham Lincoln had lain. President Kennedy's casket was placed on a catafalque previously used for the funerals of the Unknown Soldiers from the Korean War and World War II at Arlington. Jacqueline Kennedy declared that the casket would be kept closed for the viewing and funeral. The shot to President Kennedy's head left a gaping wound, and religious leaders said that a closed casket minimized morbid concentration on the body.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Mrs. Kennedy, still wearing the blood-stained suit she wore in Dallas, had not left the side of her husband's body since he was shot. Only after the casket was placed in the East Room, draped with black crepe, did she retire to her private quarters.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: President Kennedy's body lay in repose in the East Room for 24 hours, attended by an honor guard including troops from the 3rd Infantry and from the Army's Special Forces (Green Berets). The Special Forces troops had been brought hurriedly from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, at the request of U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who was aware of his brother's particular interest in them.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Mrs. Kennedy requested two Catholic priests to remain with the body until the official funeral. A call was made to The Catholic University of America, and Msgr. Robert Paul Mohan and Fr. Gilbert Hartke, two prominent Washington, D.C., priests, were immediately dispatched for the task. A solemn Mass was celebrated for family in the East Room at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 23. Fr. M. Frank Ruppert of St. Matthew's Cathedral Parish would celebrate a mass in the East Room the following day. After the Mass, other family members, friends, and other government officials came at specified times to pay their respects to President Kennedy. This included former U.S. Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The other surviving former U.S. president at the time, Herbert Hoover, was too ill to attend the state funeral, and was represented by his sons, Herbert Jr. and Allan.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: In Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House, crowds stood in the rain, keeping a vigil and paying quiet respects. It rained all day in Washington, befitting the mood of the nation.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: On Sunday afternoon about 300,000 people watched a horse-drawn caisson, which had borne the body of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Unknown Soldier, carry President Kennedy's flag-covered casket down the White House drive, past parallel rows of soldiers bearing the flags of the 50 states of the Union, then along Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol Rotunda to lie in state. The only sounds on Pennsylvania Avenue as the cortège made its way to the Capitol were the sounds of the muffled drums and the clacking of horses' hooves, including the riderless (caparisoned) horse Black Jack. The journalists marched and were last in the cortège as it made its way to the Capitol.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The widow, holding her two children by the hand, led the public mourning for the country. In the rotunda, Mrs. Kennedy and her daughter Caroline knelt beside the casket, which rested on the Lincoln catafalque. Three-year-old John Jr. was briefly taken out of the rotunda so as not to disrupt the service. Mrs. Kennedy maintained her composure as her husband was taken to the Capitol to lie in state, as well as during the memorial service.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Brief eulogies were delivered inside the rotunda by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana, Chief Justice Earl Warren, and Speaker McCormack.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: President Kennedy was the first president in more than 30 years to lie in state in the rotunda, the last being William Howard Taft in 1930, and the first Democrat to lie in state at the Capitol. In fact, he was one of only two Democratic presidents to lie in state at the Capitol; the other being LBJ, in 1973.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: In the only public viewing, thousands lined up in near-freezing temperatures to view the casket. Over the span of 18 hours, 250,000 people, some waiting for as long as 10 hours in a line up to 10 wide that stretched 40 blocks, personally paid their respects as President Kennedy's body lay in state. United States Capitol Police officers politely reminded mourners to keep moving along in two lines that passed on either side of the casket and exited the building on the west side facing the National Mall.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The original plan was for the rotunda to close at 9:00 p.m. and reopen for an hour at 9:00 the next morning. Because of long lines police and military authorities decided to keep the doors open. At 9:00 p.m., when the rotunda was supposed to close, both Jacqueline Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy returned to the rotunda again. More than half the mourners came to the rotunda after 2:45 a.m., by which time 115,000 had already visited. Military officials doubled the lines, first to two abreast, then to four abreast.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: While anchoring the "Today" show from an NBC Washington studio the next day, Hugh Downs said that the numbers made it "the greatest and most solemn wake in history." CBS Washington correspondent Roger Mudd said of the numbers: "This outpouring of affection and sympathy for the late president is probably the most majestic and stately ceremony the American people can perform." Jersey Joe Walcott, a former heavyweight boxing champion, passed by the bier at 2:30 a.m. and agreed with Mudd, saying of President Kennedy, "He was a great man."


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: As people were viewing the casket, military authorities held meetings at the White House, at MDW headquarters, and at Arlington National Cemetery to plan Monday's events. First, they decided that the public viewing should end at 9:00 a.m. EST and that the ceremonies would begin at 10:30 a.m. EST.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Unlike Sunday's procession, which was led by only the muffled drum corps, Monday's was expanded to include other military units. Military officials also agreed to requests from Kennedy's widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. They agreed that the Marine Band should lead the funeral procession, which would include two foreign military units—10 pipers from the Scottish Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) marching from the White House to St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Cathedral, a group of 30 Irish Defence Forces cadets—at the request of Mrs. Kennedy—performing silent drill at the grave site, and placement of an eternal flame at the grave. The cadets came from the Curragh Camp, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. The cadets traveled with Irish President Éamon de Valera, and together they paid tribute to Kennedy's Irish ancestry. This is the only state funeral in the United States to feature foreign military forces.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Approximately one million people lined the route of the funeral procession, from the Capitol back to the White House, then to St. Matthew's Cathedral, and finally to Arlington National Cemetery.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The day's events began at 8:25 a.m., when the MPDC cut off the line of mourners waiting to get into the rotunda. They did so because a large group tried to break into the line and the MPDC were not able to sort out those who had already been in line, many of whom had waited for five hours. Thirty-five minutes, later, the doors closed, ending the lying in state; the last visitors passed through at 9:05 a.m. When the doors closed, 50,000 more were waiting outside.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: At 10:00 a.m., both houses of Congress met to pass resolutions expressing sorrow. In the Senate, Maine Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith laid a single rose on the desk Kennedy had occupied when in the Senate.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: After Jacqueline Kennedy and her brothers-in-laws, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, visited the rotunda, the coffin was carried out onto the caisson. At 10:50, the caisson left the Capitol. Ten minutes later, the procession began, making its way back to the White House. As the procession reached the White House, all the military units except for the Marine company turned right off Pennsylvania Avenue and onto 17th Street. A platoon of the Marine company turned in the northeast gate and led the cortege into the North Portico.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: At the White House, the procession resumed on foot for roughly to St. Matthew's Cathedral, led by Jacqueline Kennedy and the late president's brothers, Robert and Edward (Ted) Kennedy. They walked the same route that John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy often used when going to Mass at the cathedral. This also marked the first time that a first lady walked in her husband's funeral procession. The two Kennedy children rode in a limousine behind their mother and uncles. The rest of the Kennedy family, apart from the president's father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who was ill, waited at the cathedral. The elder Kennedy mourned alone in Hyannis Port.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The newly sworn in U.S President Lyndon B. Johnson, his wife Lady Bird, and their two daughters Luci and Lynda also marched in the procession. President Johnson had been advised not to do so because of the potential risk in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination. President Johnson recounted his experiences in his memoirs, saying, "I remember marching behind the caisson to St. Matthew's Cathedral. The muffled rumble of drums set up a heartbreaking echo." He told Merle Miller: "Walking in the procession was one of the most difficult decisions I made. The FBI...and the Secret Service felt...it would be injudicious and unwise for the American president to expose himself by walking along the avenue with all the buildings on each side...I...concluded...that it was something I wanted to do, should do, and would do, and did so." When he moved into the oval office the next day, there was a letter from Mrs. Kennedy on his desk, which began "Thank you for walking yesterday..." The foreign dignitaries followed, though most of passed unnoticed, following respectfully behind the former first lady and the Kennedy family during the relatively short walk to the cathedral along Connecticut Avenue.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: As the dignitaries marched, there was a heavy security presence because of concerns for the potential assassination of so many world leaders, the greatest being for French President Charles de Gaulle, who had specific threats against his life. Under Secretary of State George Ball manned the operations center at the State Department with the goal of ensuring that no incident occurred. He recounted in his memoirs, "The Past Has Another Pattern", that he "felt that it was imperative that a responsible official remain at the center of communications, ready to deal with such an emergency." He manned the operations center with his deputy for political affairs, U. Alexis Johnson. Rusk recounted that the biggest relief came when de Gaulle himself returned to Paris.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The widow, wearing a black veil, led the way up the steps of the cathedral holding the hands of her two children, with John Jr., whose third birthday fell on the day of his father's funeral, on her left, and Caroline on her right. Because of the funeral and the day of mourning, the widow postponed John Jr.'s birthday party until December 5, the last day the family was in the White House.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: About 1,200 invited guests attended the funeral Mass in the cathedral. The Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cardinal Cushing, celebrated the funeral Mass at the cathedral where Kennedy, a practicing Catholic, often worshipped. Cardinal Cushing was a close friend of the family who had witnessed and blessed the marriage of Senator Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953. He had also baptized two of their children, given the invocation at President Kennedy's inauguration, and officiated at the recent funeral of their infant son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: At the request of Mrs. Kennedy, the Requiem Mass was a Pontifical Requiem Low Mass—that is, a simplified version of the Mass, with the Mass recited or spoken and not sung.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: There was no formal eulogy at the funeral Mass (the first presidential funeral to feature a formal eulogy was that of LBJ.). However, the Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, the Most Reverend Philip M. Hannan, decided to read selections from Kennedy's writings and speeches. Bishop Hannan had been asked to speak by Mrs. Kennedy. The readings included a passage from the third chapter of "Ecclesiastes": "There is an appointed time for everything...a time to be born and a time to die...a time to love and a time to hate...a time of war and a time of peace." He then concluded his remarks by reading Kennedy's entire Inaugural Address.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Jacqueline Kennedy requested that Luigi Vena sing Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" as he did during the marriage. For a few moments, she lost her composure and sobbed as this music filled the cathedral.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The casket was borne again by caisson on the final leg to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. Moments after the casket was carried down the front steps of the cathedral, Jacqueline Kennedy whispered to her son, after which he saluted his father's coffin; the image, taken by photographer Stan Stearns, became an iconic representation of the 1960s.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The children were deemed to be too young to attend the final burial service, so this was the point where the children said goodbye to their father.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Virtually everyone else followed the caisson in a long line of black limousines passing by the Lincoln Memorial and crossing the Potomac River. Many of the military units did not participate in the burial service and left just after crossing the Potomac. Because the line of cars taking the foreign dignitaries was long, the last cars carrying the dignitaries left St. Matthew's as the procession entered the cemetery. The burial services had already begun when the last car arrived. Security guards walked beside the cars carrying the dignitaries, with the one carrying the French president having the most—10.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: A detachment of 30 cadets from the Irish Defense Forces, performed, at the request of Jackie Kennedy, a silent solemn graveside drill known as the Queen Anne Drill.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: The burial services ended at 3:15 p.m. EST, when the widow lit an eternal flame to burn continuously over his grave. At 3:34 p.m. EST, the casket containing his remains was lowered into the earth, as "Kennedy slipped out of mortal sight—out of sight but not out of heart and mind." Kennedy thus became only the second president to be buried at Arlington, after Taft, which meant that, at that time, the two most recent presidents to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda were buried at Arlington. Kennedy was buried at Arlington exactly two weeks to the day after he last visited there, when he came for Veterans Day observances.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: As President Kennedy lay in state, foreign dignitaries—including heads of state and government and members of royal families—started to arrive in Washington to attend the state funeral on Monday. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other State Department personnel went to both of Washington's commercial airports to personally greet foreign dignitaries.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: With so many foreign dignitaires attending the funeral, some law enforcement officials, including MPDC Chief Robert V. Murray, later said that it was the biggest security nightmare they ever faced.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Not since the funeral of Britain's King Edward VII, in 1910, had there been such a large gathering of presidents, prime ministers, and royalty at a state funeral. In all, 220 foreign dignitaries from 92 countries, five international agencies, and the papacy attended the funeral. The dignitaries including 19 heads of state and government and members of royal families. This was the largest gathering of foreign statesmen in the history of the United States.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: NBC Producer Reuven Frank recounted in his autobiography that everybody in the NBC Control room gasped when seeing the heads of state marching on foot, as many of them had just read Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August", which opened with the funeral of the British king, "with the massed crowned European heads following the caisson on foot, the last time European monarchy would ensemble en masse before the cataclysm that oblierated it." Kennedy himself had read the book.


title: State funeral of John F. Kennedy

text: Among the dignitaries that attended the funeral were French President Charles de Gaulle, Belgian King Baudouin, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, Irish President Éamon de Valera, Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal, and West German President Heinrich Lübke. The Soviet Union was represented by First Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan.