At the "Mannheim convention" in 1995, Lafontaine was elected chairman of the SPD, replacing Rudolf Scharping. He was mainly responsible for bringing the whole of the SPD against Helmut Kohl and his CDU party, instead of cooperating with the CDU. Lafontaine said that any help given to Kohl would only help to keep the CDU in government.
This idea put the SPD ahead in the opinion polls in September 1998. He was appointed Federal Minister of Finance in the first government of Gerhard Schröder.
During his short time as Minister of Finance, Lafontaine was a figure of attack by UK Eurosceptics. This was especially because he wanted to make taxes the same in the European Union. This would have meant some UK taxes would increase.
On 11 March 1999, he resigned from all his official and party offices, saying that not getting any help from other members of the cabinet. Later he become known for his attacks against Angela Merkel's government in the tabloid Bild-Zeitung which is generally considered conservative.
On 24 May 2005 Lafontaine left the SPD. On 10 June, he said he would run as the lead candidate for The Left Party.PDS (Die Linkspartei), a coalition of the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG), which is based in western Germany, and the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which was the successor to the East German communist party
He joined the WASG on 18 June 2005 and was selected to head their list for the 2005 Federal Election in North Rhine-Westphalia on the same day. He also stood in the Saarbrücken constituency, but lost. Nevertheless, the result of the Linkspartei in the Saarland was the best in any of the federal states in the West of Germany.
An article by Lafontaine on Erich Honecker, state and party leader of the GDR and a Saarländer like him, in the magazine Der Spiegel was criticized by many people who said it concentrated on a few good things Honecker did, and ignored the bad things. In the late 80s and early 90s he lost some support from left-wing people because he seemed to want pro-business policies and he called for a reduction of the influx of Germans from Eastern Europe and asylum-seekers.
Oskar LaFontaine: "The Heart Beats on the Left" Polity,
Group (periodic table)
A group is any column on the periodic table. Elements in the same group usually have similar properties, because they have the same number of electrons in the outermost electron shell. There are eight main groups of elements, numbered 1, 2, and 13-18. The other ten groups are transition metals:
See Alkali metal
The most reactive metals consisting of Lithium (Li), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Rubidium (Rb), Cesium (Cs), and Francium (Fr)
See Alkaline earth metal. They consist of Beryllium (Be), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), Strontium (Sr), Barium (Ba), Radium (Ra)
See Transition metals. Transition Metals are the most number of elements in the periodic table. They consist of Iron (Fe), Cobalt (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Chromium (Cr), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Manganese (Mn), Mercury (Hg), Scandium (Sc), Titanium (Ti), Vanadium (V), Silver (Ag), Gold (Au), Cadmium (Cd), Tungsten (W), Platinum (Pt), Yttrium (Y), Molybdenum (Mo) and others.
The noble gases are the 18th group in the periodic table. They consist of Helium (He), Neon (Ne), Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), Xenon (Xe), and Radon (Rn). They were previously called Inert gases due to their inert properties.
Differential coefficient
In mathematics, differential coefficient is a term out of use now. The former "differential coefficient" of a function "f"("x") is now called its derivative "df"("x")/"dx". It is the (not necessarily constant) multiplicative factor or "coefficient" of the differential "dx" in the differential "df"("x").
The differential coefficient of "f" is a constant function only if "f" is a linear function.
Early editions of Silvanus P. Thompson's "Calculus Made Easy" use the older term. In his 1998 update of this text, Martin Gardner puts "derivative" instead of "differential coefficient". He speaks of it only in context with Thompson's criticism of the term.
Period (periodic table)
A period in the periodic table is any horizontal row of elements.
Each elements in the same period has one more proton than the one to its left. This means its atomic number is one number higher. The elements in the same period are very metallic on the left and nonmetallic on the right. The smaller atoms are on the left and the larger ones are on the right because the atoms have more protons and electrons.
The first period has 2 elements, hydrogen and helium. The second period and third period each have 8 elements. The fourth period and fifth period each have 18 elements. The sixth period and seventh period each have 32 elements. F-block elements are counted in the sixth and seventh periods. Hence, each one has 32 elements in it.
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Atomic orbital
Atomic orbitals are the places surrounding the nucleus of an atom where the electrons are most likely to be at any given time. It is a mathematical function that describes the wave-like behavior of either one electron or a pair of electrons in an atom.
The word 'orbital' is used because it was thought that electrons behaved similarly to the solar system, where the nucleus is like the sun and the electrons orbit like the planets.
The number of atomic orbitals in an element is defined by the period the element is in. Electrons move between orbitals depending on how fast they are moving and how many other electrons there are.
In atomic theory and quantum mechanics, an atomic orbital is a quantum number. Each such orbital can be occupied by one or two electrons. The way orbitals are arranged is related to the electron configurations of atoms. They were derived from descriptions provided by early spectroscopists of certain alkali metal spectroscopic lines as being sharp, principal, diffuse, and fundamental.
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is a borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by joining together the old boroughs of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf.
It has an area of and has, as of 2003, about 315,200 inhabitants.
Its current mayor is Monika Thiemen (SPD).
The Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin), the Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste), the opera (Deutsche Oper Berlin), the Charlottenburg Palace and the Olympic Stadium are located in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg is a borough of Berlin. It is a new borough, only made in 2001 by joining the old boroughs of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg.
It occupies and has a population of about 255,200 as of 2003.
Its current mayor is Franz Schulz (Green Party).
Lichtenberg-Hohenschönhausen
Lichtenberg is a borough of Berlin, Germany. In 2001 it took over the old borough of Hohenschönhausen. Lichtenberg now has an area of and a population (as of 2003) of about 260,200 inhabitants.
The present mayor of the borough is Christina Emmrich (Die Linke).
Lichtenberg contains the Tierpark Berlin, the larger of Berlin's two zoological parks. Lichtenberg was also the site of the headquarters of the Stasi, the East German intelligence service. The complex is now a museum.
The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial is on the site of the main prison of the Stasi.
Proteaceae
Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants. Mainly restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, it is a fairly large family, with around 80 genera but fewer than 2000 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales.
Traditionally divided in two subfamilies:Persoonioideae and Grevilleoideae. Recently, workers have recognized seven subfamilies:
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Marzahn-Hellersdorf is one of the 12 new boroughs of Berlin. It was created in 2001 when the old boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf were merged (joined together).