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Star Of Caledonia
The ''Star of Caledonia'', also called the Gretna Landmark, is a planned sculpture designed by Cecil Balmond, Charles Jencks and Andy Goldsworthy. It is to be located near Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, close to the England-Scotland border. The sculpture was approved on 27 February 2013. The project is being promoted by the Gretna Landmark Trust. Background The project was first instigated by local businesses and landowner Alasdair Houston. Other interested parties included both Gretna and Gretna Green and public art manager Jan Hogarth. It is hoped that the sculpture will attract visitors, boosting tourism, and result in social and economic benefits to the area. About 84% of all visitors to Scotland by road pass near Gretna. For the past seven years, meetings have been held with Scottish academics, cultural thinkers and the local community in a series of seminars and workshops run by the Gretna Landmark Project which resulted in the appointment of international ...
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Gretna, Scotland
Gretna ( gd, Greatna) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, originally part of the historic county of Dumfriesshire. It is located close to the A74(M) on the border of Scotland and England and near the mouth of the River Esk.1:50,000 OS map 85 It is the most southeasterly settlement in Scotland. The town is situated east-south-east of Dumfries, east of Annan, north-west of Carlisle, south-east of Glasgow and south of Edinburgh. History Etymology Gretna means "(place at the) gravelly hill", from Old English ''greot'' " grit" (in the dative form greoten (which is where the -n comes from) and ''hoh'' "hill-spur". The Lochmaben Stone is a megalith standing in a field, nearly west of the Sark mouth on the Solway Firth, three hundred yards or so above high water mark on the farm of Old Graitney. It was one of the traditionally recognised meeting places on the England / Scotland border. 17th century Prior to the Acts of Union 1707 of the Parliaments of Englan ...
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International Year Of Light
The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 or International Year of Light 2015 (IYL 2015) was a United Nations observance that aimed to raise awareness of the achievements of light science and its applications, and its importance to humankind. Under the leadership of UNESCO, the IYL 2015 brought together hundreds of national and international partners to organize more than 13,000 activities in 147 countries. The audience reached by the IYL 2015 is estimated to be over 100 million. History The first idea for an International Year of Light dates back to 2009 when John Dudley, IYL 2015 Steering Committee Chair, proposed the idea whilst representing the Quantum Electronics and Optics Division (QEOD) of the European Physical Society (EPS) at a meeting of the International Council of Quantum Electronics (ICQE) in Baltimore, USA. An item that was discussed at this meeting was how to follow up activities that were planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ...
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Dumfries & Galloway Standard
The ''Dumfries & Galloway Standard'' is a tabloid newspaper which primarily serves Dumfries and the surrounding towns and villages such as Thornhill, Sanquhar, Lockerbie and Annan. But it also covers Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright, Gretna and news in Wigtownshire such as in the town of Stranraer. Its sister paper is the ''Galloway News'' which covers the Galloway area more in depth with Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright and Dalbeattie Dalbeattie (, sco, Dawbeattie, gd, Dail Bheithe meaning 'haugh of the birch' or ''Dail'' ''bhàite'' 'drowned (''i.e.'' liable to flood) haugh') is a town in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Dalbe ... the three main towns in its patch. Both are part of Reach plc. ''The Standard'', as it is colloquially known, was established in 1853 and prints twice weekly on a Wednesday and a Friday. It was the 2003 regional newspaper of the year. It was named Weekly Newspaper of the Year in Scotland by the New ...
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Herald Scotland
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in 1992. Following the closure of the '' Sunday Herald'', the ''Herald on Sunday'' was launched as a Sunday edition on 9 September 2018. History Founding The newspaper was founded by an Edinburgh-born printer called John Mennons in January 1783 as a weekly publication called the ''Glasgow Advertiser''. Mennons' first edition had a global scoop: news of the treaties of Versailles reached Mennons via the Lord Provost of Glasgow just as he was putting the paper together. War had ended with the American colonies, he revealed. ''The Herald'', therefore, is as old as the United States of America, give or take an hour or two. The story was, however, only carried on the back page. Mennons, using the larger of two fonts available to him, put it in ...
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Ian Rankin
Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels. Early life Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a school canteen. He was educated at Beath High School, Cowdenbeath. His parents were horrified when he then chose to study literature at university, as they had expected him to study for a trade. Encouraged by his English teacher, he persisted and graduated in 1982 from the University of Edinburgh, where he also worked on a doctorate on Muriel Spark but did not complete it. He has taught at the university and retains an involvement with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He lived in Tottenham, London, for four years and then rural France for six while he developed his career as a novelist. Before becoming a full-time novelist, he worked as a grape picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk m ...
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Solway Firth
The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very near to the firth. The firth comprises part of the Irish Sea. The firth’s coastline is characterised by lowland hills and small mountains. It is a mainly rural area, with mostly small villages and settlements (such as Powfoot). Fishing, hill farming, and some arable farming play a large part in the local economy, although tourism is increasing. The northern part of the English coast of the Solway Firth was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, known as the Solway Coast, in 1964. Construction of the Robin Rigg Wind Farm in the firth began in 2007. Within the firth, there are some salt flats and mud flats that ...
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Galvanised Steel
Hot-dip galvanization is a form of galvanization. It is the process of coating iron and steel with zinc, which alloys with the surface of the base metal when immersing the metal in a bath of molten zinc at a temperature of around . When exposed to the atmosphere, the pure zinc (Zn) reacts with oxygen ( O2) to form zinc oxide ( ZnO), which further reacts with carbon dioxide ( CO2) to form zinc carbonate ( ZnCO3), a usually dull grey, fairly strong material that protects the steel underneath from further corrosion in many circumstances. Galvanized steel is widely used in applications where corrosion resistance is needed without the cost of stainless steel, and is considered superior in terms of cost and life-cycle. It can be identified by the crystallization patterning on the surface (often called a "spangle"). Galvanized steel can be welded; however, one must exercise caution around the resulting toxic zinc fumes. Galvanized fumes are released when the galvanized metal reaches ...
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Electromagnetic Theory
In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of atoms and molecules. Electromagnetism can be thought of as a combination of electricity and magnetism, two distinct but closely intertwined phenomena. In essence, electric forces occur between any two charged particles, causing an attraction between particles with opposite charges and repulsion between particles with the same charge, while magnetism is an interaction that occurs exclusively between ''moving'' charged particles. These two effects combine to create electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of charge particles, which can exert influence on other particles via the Lorentz force. At high energy, the weak force and electromagnetic force are unified as a single electroweak force. The electromagnetic force is responsible for many of t ...
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James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism have been called the " second great unification in physics" where the first one had been realised by Isaac Newton. With the publication of "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" in 1865, Maxwell demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space as waves moving at the speed of light. He proposed that light is an undulation in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena. (This article accompanied an 8 December 1864 presentation by Maxwell to the Royal Society. His statement that "light and magnetism are affections of the same substance" is at page 499.) The unification of light and elec ...
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Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate causes of phenomena, and usually frame their understanding in mathematical terms. Physicists work across a wide range of research fields, spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic and particle physics, through biological physics, to cosmological length scales encompassing the universe as a whole. The field generally includes two types of physicists: experimental physicists who specialize in the observation of natural phenomena and the development and analysis of experiments, and theoretical physicists who specialize in mathematical modeling of physical systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. Physicists can apply their knowledge towards solving practical problems or to developing new technologies (also known as app ...
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Angel Of The North
The ''Angel of the North'' is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world and is viewed by an estimated 33 million people every year due to its proximity to the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 and A167 road, A167 roads and the East Coast Main Line. The design of the Angel, like many of Gormley's works, is based on Gormley's own body. The Cor-Ten, COR-TEN weathering steel material gives the sculpture its distinctive rusty, oxidised colour. It stands tall with a wingspan of which is larger than a Boeing 757 aircraft. The vertical ribs on the body and wings of the Angel act as an external skeleton which direct oncoming wind to the sculpture's foundations, allowing it to withstand wind speeds of over . The sculpture was commissioned and delivered by Gateshead Council who approached Gormley to be the sculptor. Although initially reluctant, Gormley agr ...
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River Sark
The River Sark or Sark Water is a river best known for forming part of the western border between Scotland and England. Most of its short length, however, is entirely in Scotland. It flows into the estuary of the River Esk just to the south of Gretna. History The Scots defeated the English at the Battle of Sark in October 1448. It was a significant victory for the Scots, who had not defeated England since the Battle of Otterburn in 1388. The river has been made famous, partially by the Robert Burns' poem, '' Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation'', which in the first verse it says: :Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame, :Fareweel our ancient glory; :Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name, :Sae fam'd in martial story. :Now Sark rins over Solway sands, :An' Tweed rins to the ocean, :To mark where England's province stands- :Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!" The poem's subject was the alleged sale of Scotland in the Anglo-Scottish Treaty of Union. The most famous town on the Sa ...
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