Etymology.

In the 1960s, statisticians and economists used terms like "data fishing" or "data dredging" to refer to what they considered the bad practice of analyzing data without an a-priori hypothesis. The term "data mining" was used in a similarly critical way by economist Michael Lovell in an article published in the "Review of Economic Studies" in 1983. Lovell indicates that the practice "masquerades under a variety of aliases, ranging from "experimentation" (positive) to "fishing" or "snooping" (negative).  The term "data mining" appeared around 1990 in the database community, generally with positive connotations. For a short time in 1980s, a phrase "database mining"TM, was used, but since it was trademarked by HNC, a San Diego-based company, to pitch their Database Mining Workstation; researchers consequently turned to "data mining". Other terms used include "data archaeology", "information harvesting", "information discovery", "knowledge extraction", etc. Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro coined the term "knowledge discovery in databases" for the first workshop on the same topic (KDD-1989) and this term became more popular in AI and machine learning community. However, the term data mining became more popular in the business and press communities. Currently, the terms "data mining" and "knowledge discovery" are used interchangeably.  In the academic community, the major forums for research started in 1995 when the First International Conference on Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery (KDD-95) was started in Montreal under AAAI sponsorship. It was co-chaired by Usama Fayyad and Ramasamy Uthurusamy. A year later, in 1996, Usama Fayyad launched the journal by Kluwer called Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery as its founding editor-in-chief. Later he started the SIGKDD Newsletter SIGKDD Explorations. The KDD International conference became the primary highest quality conference in data mining with an acceptance rate of research paper submissions below 18%. The journal "Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery" is the primary research journal of the field.

Background.

The manual extraction of patterns from data has occurred for centuries. Early methods of identifying patterns in data include Bayes' theorem (1700s) and regression analysis (1800s). The proliferation, ubiquity and increasing power of computer technology have dramatically increased data collection, storage, and manipulation ability. As data sets have grown in size and complexity, direct "hands-on" data analysis has increasingly been augmented with indirect, automated data processing, aided by other discoveries in computer science, specially in the field of machine learning, such as neural networks, cluster analysis, genetic algorithms (1950s), decision trees and decision rules (1960s), and support vector machines (1990s). Data mining is the process of applying these methods with the intention of uncovering hidden patterns in large data sets. It bridges the gap from applied statistics and artificial intelligence (which usually provide the mathematical background) to database management by exploiting the way data is stored and indexed in databases to execute the actual learning and discovery algorithms more efficiently, allowing such methods to be applied to ever-larger data sets.

Process.

The "knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) process" is commonly defined with the stages:  It exists, however, in many variations on this theme, such as the Cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) which defines six phases:  or a simplified process such as (1) Pre-processing, (2) Data Mining, and (3) Results Validation.  Polls conducted in 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2014 show that the CRISP-DM methodology is the leading methodology used by data miners. The only other data mining standard named in these polls was SEMMA. However, 3–4 times as many people reported using CRISP-DM. Several teams of researchers have published reviews of data mining process models, and Azevedo and Santos conducted a comparison of CRISP-DM and SEMMA in 2008.

Pre-processing.

Before data mining algorithms can be used, a target data set must be assembled. As data mining can only uncover patterns actually present in the data, the target data set must be large enough to contain these patterns while remaining concise enough to be mined within an acceptable time limit. A common source for data is a data mart or data warehouse. Pre-processing is essential to analyze the multivariate data sets before data mining. The target set is then cleaned. Data cleaning removes the observations containing noise and those with missing data.

Data mining.

Data mining involves six common classes of tasks:

Results validation.

Data mining can unintentionally be misused, and can then produce results that appear to be significant; but which do not actually predict future behavior and cannot be reproduced on a new sample of data and bear little use. Often this results from investigating too many hypotheses and not performing proper statistical hypothesis testing. A simple version of this problem in machine learning is known as overfitting, but the same problem can arise at different phases of the process and thus a train/test split—when applicable at all—may not be sufficient to prevent this from happening. The final step of knowledge discovery from data is to verify that the patterns produced by the data mining algorithms occur in the wider data set. Not all patterns found by data mining algorithms are necessarily valid. It is common for data mining algorithms to find patterns in the training set which are not present in the general data set. This is called overfitting. To overcome this, the evaluation uses a test set of data on which the data mining algorithm was not trained. The learned patterns are applied to this test set, and the resulting output is compared to the desired output. For example, a data mining algorithm trying to distinguish "spam" from "legitimate" emails would be trained on a training set of sample e-mails. Once trained, the learned patterns would be applied to the test set of e-mails on which it had "not" been trained. The accuracy of the patterns can then be measured from how many e-mails they correctly classify. Several statistical methods may be used to evaluate the algorithm, such as ROC curves.  If the learned patterns do not meet the desired standards, subsequently it is necessary to re-evaluate and change the pre-processing and data mining steps. If the learned patterns do meet the desired standards, then the final step is to interpret the learned patterns and turn them into knowledge.

Research.

The premier professional body in the field is the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) Special Interest Group (SIG) on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (SIGKDD). Since 1989, this ACM SIG has hosted an annual international conference and published its proceedings, and since 1999 it has published a biannual academic journal titled "SIGKDD Explorations".  Computer science conferences on data mining include:  Data mining topics are also present on many data management/database conferences such as the ICDE Conference, SIGMOD Conference and International Conference on Very Large Data Bases

Standards.

There have been some efforts to define standards for the data mining process, for example, the 1999 European Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM 1.0) and the 2004 Java Data Mining standard (JDM 1.0). Development on successors to these processes (CRISP-DM 2.0 and JDM 2.0) was active in 2006 but has stalled since. JDM 2.0 was withdrawn without reaching a final draft.  For exchanging the extracted models – in particular for use in predictive analytics – the key standard is the Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML), which is an XML-based language developed by the Data Mining Group (DMG) and supported as exchange format by many data mining applications. As the name suggests, it only covers prediction models, a particular data mining task of high importance to business applications. However, extensions to cover (for example) subspace clustering have been proposed independently of the DMG.

Notable uses.

Data mining is used wherever there is digital data available today. Notable examples of data mining can be found throughout business, medicine, science, and surveillance.

Privacy concerns and ethics.

While the term "data mining" itself may have no ethical implications, it is often associated with the mining of information in relation to peoples' behavior (ethical and otherwise).  The ways in which data mining can be used can in some cases and contexts raise questions regarding privacy, legality, and ethics. In particular, data mining government or commercial data sets for national security or law enforcement purposes, such as in the Total Information Awareness Program or in ADVISE, has raised privacy concerns.  Data mining requires data preparation which uncovers information or patterns which compromise confidentiality and privacy obligations. A common way for this to occur is through data aggregation. Data aggregation involves combining data together (possibly from various sources) in a way that facilitates analysis (but that also might make identification of private, individual-level data deducible or otherwise apparent). This is not data mining "per se", but a result of the preparation of data before – and for the purposes of – the analysis. The threat to an individual's privacy comes into play when the data, once compiled, cause the data miner, or anyone who has access to the newly compiled data set, to be able to identify specific individuals, especially when the data were originally anonymous.  It is recommended to be aware of the following before data are collected:  Data may also be modified so as to "become" anonymous, so that individuals may not readily be identified. However, even ""anonymized" data sets can potentially contain enough information to allow identification of individuals, as occurred when journalists were able to find several individuals based on a set of search histories that were inadvertently released by AOL.  The inadvertent revelation of personally identifiable information leading to the provider violates Fair Information Practices. This indiscretion can cause financial, emotional, or bodily harm to the indicated individual. In one instance of privacy violation, the patrons of Walgreens filed a lawsuit against the company in 2011 for selling prescription information to data mining companies who in turn provided the data to pharmaceutical companies.

Situation in Europe.

Europe has rather strong privacy laws, and efforts are underway to further strengthen the rights of the consumers. However, the U.S.-E.U. Safe Harbor Principles, developed between 1998 and 2000, currently effectively expose European users to privacy exploitation by U.S. companies. As a consequence of Edward Snowden's global surveillance disclosure, there has been increased discussion to revoke this agreement, as in particular the data will be fully exposed to the National Security Agency, and attempts to reach an agreement with the United States have failed.

Situation in the United States.

In the United States, privacy concerns have been addressed by the US Congress via the passage of regulatory controls such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The HIPAA requires individuals to give their "informed consent" regarding information they provide and its intended present and future uses. According to an article in "Biotech Business Week", "'[i]n practice, HIPAA may not offer any greater protection than the longstanding regulations in the research arena,' says the AAHC. More importantly, the rule's goal of protection through informed consent is approach a level of incomprehensibility to average individuals." This underscores the necessity for data anonymity in data aggregation and mining practices.  U.S. information privacy legislation such as HIPAA and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) applies only to the specific areas that each such law addresses. The use of data mining by the majority of businesses in the U.S. is not controlled by any legislation.

Copyright law.

Situation in Europe.

Under European copyright and database laws, the mining of in-copyright works (such as by web mining) without the permission of the copyright owner is not legal. Where a database is pure data in Europe, it may be that there is no copyright but database rights may exist so data mining becomes subject to intellectual property owners' rights that are protected by the Database Directive. On the recommendation of the Hargreaves review, this led to the UK government to amend its copyright law in 2014 to allow content mining as a limitation and exception. The UK was the second country in the world to do so after Japan, which introduced an exception in 2009 for data mining. However, due to the restriction of the Information Society Directive (2001), the UK exception only allows content mining for non-commercial purposes. UK copyright law also does not allow this provision to be overridden by contractual terms and conditions.  The European Commission facilitated stakeholder discussion on text and data mining in 2013, under the title of Licences for Europe. The focus on the solution to this legal issue, such as licensing rather than limitations and exceptions, led to representatives of universities, researchers, libraries, civil society groups and open access publishers to leave the stakeholder dialogue in May 2013.

Situation in the United States.

US copyright law, and in particular its provision for fair use, upholds the legality of content mining in America, and other fair use countries such as Israel, Taiwan and South Korea. As content mining is transformative, that is it does not supplant the original work, it is viewed as being lawful under fair use. For example, as part of the Google Book settlement the presiding judge on the case ruled that Google's digitization project of in-copyright books was lawful, in part because of the transformative uses that the digitization project displayed - one being text and data mining.

Software.

Free open-source data mining software and applications.

The following applications are available under free/open-source licenses. Public access to application source code is also available.

Proprietary data-mining software and applications.

The following applications are available under proprietary licenses.

See also.

For more information about extracting information out of data (as opposed to "analyzing" data), see:

Data mining is a process of discovering patterns in large data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and statistics with an overall goal to extract information (with intelligent methods) from a data set and transform the information into a comprehensible structure for further use. Data mining is the analysis step of the "knowledge discovery in databases" process, or KDD. Aside from the raw analysis step, it also involves database and data management aspects, data pre-processing, model and inference considerations, interestingness metrics, complexity considerations, post-processing of discovered structures, visualization, and online updating.

L’exploration de données, connue aussi sous l'expression de fouille de données, forage de données, prospection de données,, ou encore extraction de connaissances à partir de données, a pour objet l’extraction d'un savoir ou d'une connaissance à partir de grandes quantités de données, par des méthodes automatiques ou semi-automatiques.


Background.

Stung by his defeat by the Swiss Confederation at Grandson in March 1476, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, reorganised his tangled but otherwise mainly intact army at Lausanne. By the end of May he once again felt ready to march against the Confederates to recover his territories and fortifications in the Pays de Vaud, then march on and attack the city of Berne, his greatest enemy among the Swiss cantons.  His first objective was the strategic lakeside town of Morat, set on the eastern shore of Lake Morat. On 11 June 1476, the Burgundians commenced the siege of the well-prepared town, whose forces were commanded by the Bernese general Adrian von Bubenberg. An initial assault was repulsed by a heavy barrage of fire from light guns mounted on the walls, but two great bombards used by the Burgundians were slowly reducing the walls to rubble. By 19 June the Confederate muster was near complete at their camp behind the Sarine (Saane) River. Only a contingent of some 4,000 men from Zürich had yet to arrive and these were not expected until 22 June.  Charles in the meantime had been kept reasonably well informed of the approach of the Confederate army, though he did nothing to hinder their approach. This is not to say that he was unprepared for the arrival of the Swiss; indeed in typical fashion Charles had prepared an elaborate plan to meet the enemy on ground of his choosing, some from Morat, dominating their anticipated line of approach. The terrain around the town is quite hilly and he had chosen to rest his left flank artillery on a steeply sloped gorge cut by the Burggraben stream. In the centre, behind an elaborate ditch and palisade entrenchment known as the Grunhag, stood the bulk of Charles' infantry and artillery that were not engaged in besieging Murten itself. These were to fight the Confederation pike and halberd blocks to a halt while on the right the massed gendarmes would then flank the frontally engaged Swiss, thus creating a killing ground from which there was no escape.  On 21 June 1476, Charles expected the Confederation forces to attack. He arranged his army and prepared for the coming assault. However, the Swiss commanders decided to wait an additional day for the troops from Zürich. After about six hours of waiting Charles ordered his troops to stand down and return to camp.

Battle.

On 22 June 1476, around mid-morning, Charles ordered his treasurer to pay the entire army, expecting the Confederate troops to continue delaying. The orderly lines of the Burgundian army dissolved into chaos as soldiers scattered throughout the camp collecting their pay, eating their midday meal, and seeking shelter from the rain. The skeleton force that remained at the Grunhag were surprised when the Swiss army, in battle order, emerged from the woods less than from their lines. The Confederate vanguard of some 6,000 skirmishers and all the 1,200 cavalry present erupted out of Birchenwald Woods to the west of Morat, exactly where Charles had predicted they would appear.  Behind the vanguard came the main body of pikemen, the "gewalthut" (centre). Some 10,000 to 12,000 strong, they formed a large wedge with the canton standards in the centre, flanked by halberdiers and an outer ring of pikemen. The rearguard of 6,000 to 8,000 more closely packed pikemen and halberdiers followed the "gewalthut" towards the now sparsely manned Grunhag.  As the Swiss charged downhill into the Burgundian position the artillery managed to fire a few salvoes, killing or maiming several hundred of the overeager Lorrainers. Against the odds the defenders in the Grunhag held the Swiss for some time before a contingent of Swiss found a way through the left flank of the defences near the Burggraben and turned the whole position. The Swiss formed up quickly beyond it and advanced towards Murten and the besieger's camp.  In the Burgundian camp, there was confusion after the Swiss were sighted, as men rushed to re-form ranks and prepare for battle. In the ducal tent on top of the Bois Du Domingue, a hill overlooking Morat, Charles was quickly armed by his retainers before rushing on horseback to try to coordinate the defence of the camp. But as fast as any unit was formed and moved forward against the Swiss, it was swept aside as various uncoordinated attacks were made against the still compact Confederate battle formations. There was some resistance from the squadrons of the ducal household who routed the Lorrainers, including René II, Duke of Lorraine, who was saved only by the arrival of the pikes, against which the gendarmes could only retire, unable to make any impression against them.  Charles managed to muster enough English archers to form a last line of defence before the camp, but these were routed before a bow could be bent, their commander shot by a Swiss skirmisher. Traditionally, the Duke of Somerset is identified as the commander of the English archers. However, the only Duke of Somerset, Edmund Beaufort who was known to have been in Burgundian service died in 1471 at Tewkesbury in England and therefore could not have been at Murten five years later. Then it was every man for himself as Charles ordered the army to fall back which was interpreted as a retreat, which in turn became a rout as all organized resistance ended.  For some three miles along the lakeside many Burgundians died that day in the rout. The Italian division of some 4,000–6,000 men besieging the southern part of Morat probably suffered the worst fate: cut off by the Swiss rearguard and attacked by a sally from the town, they were hunted down along the shore and driven into the lake. As promised, no quarter was granted.  More fortunate was the Savoyard division under Jacques of Savoy, Count of Romont which was posted in the northern half of the Morat siege works. Forming up and abandoning all their baggage they retreated east round the lake and eventually made good their escape to Romont.  Part of the war booty captured at this battle is still retained at the castle of Gruyères in Switzerland, and includes three capes of the Order of the Golden Fleece which belonged to Charles the Bold, including one with the emblem of his father, Philip the Good, which he had with him as he was marking the anniversary of the death of his father.

Aftermath.

The French poet and chronicler Jean Molinet reported that Charles' army lost about 6,000 to 7,000 men. Later writers have calculated a higher number, between 9,000 and 10,000.  Charles’ dream of revenge against the Confederates ended that day. Although he would doggedly struggle for another six months against his foes, his defeat at Morat really spelled the beginning of the end for the Burgundian State, much to the delight of the duke's enemies. Charles escaped to Morges, and then to Pontarlier, where he stayed for months, reportedly in a deep depression. He later returned to the battlefield at the Battle of Nancy, where he was killed.  Pockmarks from the Burgundian cannon can still be seen in the defensive towers of Morat.

Citation.

Lord Byron in Canto III of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" has these words on the battle:  63  64

The Battle of Morat (also known as the Battle of Murten) was a battle in the Burgundian Wars (1474–77) that was fought on 22 June 1476 between Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy, and a Swiss Confederate army at Morat/Murten, about 30 kilometres from Bern. The result was a crushing defeat for the Burgundians at the hands of the Swiss.

La bataille de Morat est une victoire remportée par les Confédérés suisses sur l'armée bourguignonne du duc Charles le Téméraire, le, dans le cadre des guerres de Bourgogne.


Early life.

The new Lords of Coucy that Thomas was descended from had not been landed nobles in the area for very long. In 1035, the first lord of Coucy, Dreux, Seigneur de Boves, seized the Castle of Coucy from Alberic, its original owner, and established himself as Lord of Coucy. This move seems to have set the tone for the behavior of the following Lords of Coucy, including his grandson Thomas who would become infamous for his ruthlessness in war.  In 1073, Thomas of Marle was born as the heir of Enguerrand I of Boves, the Lord of Coucy, and his wife the Dame of Marle, Adele. Enguerrand was known as a womanizer but his faults were overlooked by chroniclers due to his continued support of various religious institutions in the area. Although he supported the Catholic Church, Enguerrand I and the previous lords of Coucy were known to participate in a number of local wars in order to gain land and resources.  As the first born heir, Thomas would have been educated in the affairs of nobility which would have included the skills and virtues of a knight. As a knight, he was expected to uphold certain chivalric virtues that were used to control knightly and noble violence and disorder. Chivalry was nurtured in France and was used to influence and control the behavior of knights and nobility. It was used as a sustaining ethos of warrior groups who were identified on one hand by their martial skill as horsemen and by a combination of pride in ancestry, status, and traditions of service. Three themes are woven into the fabric of the ideals of knighthood: religious, social, and martial service to their lord. In Thomas' lifetime, the social status of knights and nobles in France was becoming parallel which culminated in the structured world of knighted nobility in the thirteenth century. Through this shift in the status of knights, the code of chivalry was becoming the basis for society's expectations of knightly behavior. When Thomas began his own military campaigns, it was for his continued abuse of knightly virtues and expected behaviors that he would be remembered.  Thomas and his father grew to become bitter rivals after Thomas' paternity was cast into doubt and his father openly toyed with the notion that Thomas was not his true son. It is possible that because of this uncertainty with whom his father truly was, Thomas would become more associated with the surname of his mother (Marle) instead of his father. Nevertheless, Thomas participated in the numerous private wars that were launched against his father and helped defend his father’s wealth and land. These private battles were fought primarily by household knights and taught Thomas how to use pillaging and destruction as a helpful tool for taking over new territories and crippling his enemies.  After the famous summons to crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095, Thomas and his father Enguerrand rode out with members of their house to participate in the First Crusade as part of the army of Emicho. According to familial legend, while they were travelling with a small party of their household Enguerrand and Thomas were set upon by a band of Muslim warriors. Moving quickly, the men of Coucy shredded their cloaks trimmed with squirrel fur (vair) into six pieces to use as banners for recognition and managed to defeat their attackers. The sources are unclear on whether it was Thomas or Enguerrand who created the makeshift banners but this event was commemorated permanently in their coat-of-arms which shows "barry of six, vair and gules".  Both Thomas and his father returned safely from the First Crusade to their holdings in France. By right of marriage, Thomas came into possession of the fortified castle of Montaigu in the district of Laon which he would use as a base for his early military movements. Because of the strength in his holdings, he was a threatening presence in the area to his neighbors who were unhappy with his growing confidence and ambition. According to Suger, Enguerrand was an honorable man and made more effort than anyone to drive Thomas from his castle ‘because of his seditious tyranny.’ With Enguerrand's support, several barons attempted to enclose Thomas into his castle with a palisade and starve him into submission.  Luckily for Thomas, he was able to slip away and assembled a host of seven hundred knights to retake the area. The barons learned of this oncoming force and begged Thomas to spare them the shame of lifting their siege and facing their lord-designate. They retreated and Thomas quickly destroyed the palisade and reinforced the castle of Montaigu which angered the retreating magnates.  The barons threatened on oath to honor him no longer and, when they saw him leaving with his army, they followed him as though they would engage in combat. The two forces were prevented from battle by a roaring stream that separated them. Eventually the men of the highest nobility, including Enguerrand, came together for deliberation. Deciding to consider Thomas' youth and valor, they chose to defer to him and pledge their allegiance to his cause. Not long after this, Thomas of Marle lost both the castle of Montaigu and his marriage caused by an annulment due to an incestuous relationship.  In 1116, he succeeded his father, Enguerrand I, as Lord of Coucy and added the lands of his mother to their domains. Following the tradition of his forefathers, Thomas of Marle began waging multiple private wars against his neighbors to expand his holdings.

Warfare and violence.

Thomas of Marle came into power during a period of unrest with the nobility of France. Abbot Suger of St. Denis' chronicles of the reign of Louis VI "the Fat" recorded his king constantly marching across his kingdom to bring his unruly lords and barons to heel. Each of these feudal lords were described as violent and disloyal to feudo-vassalic oaths and therefore were the epitome of brutality that would typify this period. As king of France, Louis had taken "vows to put down with his strong right arm insolent tyrants whensoever he sees them vex the state with endless wars, rejoice in rapine, oppress the poor, destroy the churches, give themselves over to lawlessness which, and it be not checked, would flame out into ever greater madness." As far as Suger and his king were concerned, Thomas of Marle was the worst kind of warmonger and represented a threat to France's people, church, and lands.  While Louis VI had been busy waging war against his enemies in England and his nobility within his kingdom, Thomas of Marle took advantage of the distraction and began waging war in the lands of Laon, Rheims, and Amiens, devouring them "like a raging wolf." As he laid waste to the countryside of France, he shocked the Roman Catholic Church leaders when he seized the abbey of the nuns of St. John of Laon.  Knights like Thomas of Marle were encouraged to avoid attacking or capturing Catholic churches in war due to their inhabitants being unable to defend themselves or bear arms. The Peace of God and Truce of God movement promised severe punishments, including excommunication, to any knight or noble who broke this spiritual law. European sovereigns like Louis VI recognized the need of presenting their own organizations and conduct as chivalrous which required an emphasis on the Christian vocation of knighthood. Thomas of Marle had openly ignored these spiritual laws when he initiated this attack and did not spare the members of the clergy from violence. As the medieval period progressed, especially during the Crusades, the chivalric code became more closely tied to the spiritual elements of the Catholic Church. A number of orders of knighthood became obsessed with crusading and had a number of statutes that outlined the religious observances that their knights must observe.  As a knight, Thomas of Marle should have been an example of virtues like wisdom, charity and loyalty, and honor above all while eschewing pride, idleness, false-swearing, lechery, and especially treason. Instead, Thomas became the example of every bad behavior a knight could be accused of.  The Abbot Guibert of Nogent, Sous, and Coucy added to the growing rumors of Thomas' atrocities by describing a struggle between the Lord of Coucy and an archbishop. After the archbishop was murdered, Thomas sheltered the murderers and protected them within the walls of his castle. Guibert described Thomas as a man who attained power by preying on the weak, the young, and pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. He described how Thomas captured prisoners and forced them to endure vicious tortures in order to receive ransoms from them. ""For when he was compelling prisoners to ransom themselves, he hung them up by their testicles, sometimes with his own hands, and those often breaking away through the weight of the body, there followed at the once the breaking out of their vital parts."" Guibert described Thomas as a savage brute who was responsible for countless atrocities and attacks on the innocent. His sins caused the people of the entire region to adopt his bad behavior as well making him a threat to the peace of France. By abandoning the chivalric virtues of mercy, loyalty, spirituality, and honor, Thomas became the antithesis of the medieval model for knighthood.  Scandalized by this knightly lord’s behavior, the Church of France met in a general synod at Beauvais and passed a sentence of condemnation upon their new enemy of the Church—Thomas of Marle. Cono, the bishop of Praeneste and papal legate to the holy Roman Church, led the council in their decision to punish Thomas of Marle to the extent of their spiritual ability. Using the spiritual powers given to the church through the sword of the apostle Peter, they condemned Thomas of Marle to be punished with general anathema or excommunication. Cono and the council of French religious officials also removed the sword belt of knighthood from him, although Thomas was not present, and declared him to be infamous, a scoundrel who was unworthy of the name Christian.  Thomas of Marle's behavior on the battlefield and his brutal treatment of prisoners garnered him the attention of many of France's leaders. As a Christian monarch, Louis VI was persuaded by the results of the general synod and gathered an army to march against Thomas of Marle quickly. He was able to quickly take the well-fortified castle of Crecy which his followers took to be a sign of God's favor on their mission. Louis VI's army cut down a number of Thomas of Marle's men without mercy and set fire to the castle.

Death.

After his victory at Crecy, Louis VI pressed his advantage and continued his march to the castle of Nogent. An anonymous man came to Louis VI as he approached and told the king that the castle was overrun with wicked and unfaithful men. More shocking was his story of the fate of the commune of Laon—the man claimed that Thomas' men had burned it, and several other holy places, to the ground when they burned the rest of the city. He claimed that nearly all of the noble men of the city had "suffered martyrdom because they were true to their faith and defended their lord the bishop." These faithless men had even gone so far as to put the Bishop Gaudin to death and left his naked body on the open road so that it would be fed on by the beasts. All of this, according to the man, had been orchestrated by Thomas of Marle in order to attack and hold this tower.  Furiously Louis VI attacked the castle of Nogent, releasing all of the subjects in prison and punishing the followers of Thomas. He commanded that any disloyal man he came upon would be fastened to a gibbet and left as food "for the greed of kites, crows, and vultures." Once Louis VI had taken these two castles, he returned the domains of the monastery of St. John and continued his campaign against disloyal knights and lords. To ensure that Thomas of Marle would gain nothing from his violent and faithless attacks, Louis decreed that none of the heirs of Thomas would ever hold lordship over these cities.  Louis VI continued to press his advantage against Thomas by leading a host of men directly to the center of Thomas' power at Coucy. This action was spurred on by a number of bishops and notable men of France, most prominently the distinguished Count Ralph of Vermandois. Encouraged by his religious fervor and the revenge he wished to bestow on behalf of the church, Louis VI ignored reports of ambushes and the strength of Thomas' holdings in Coucy.  On their way to the castle, Count Ralph moved ahead with a number of knights and came upon a small skirmish with Thomas of Marle present. Thomas had already been knocked from his mount and Count Ralph saw his opportunity. Moving quickly, Count Ralph struck Thomas with his sword and dealt him a mortal wound. Mortally wounded and taken captive, Thomas was brought before King Louis VI who commanded that he be returned to Laon.  The next day, Louis confiscated Thomas' estates and tore down the enclosures he had built in preparation for war before returning to Laon to deal with his disloyal vassal. Regardless of threats or force, Thomas refused to free the merchants that he had been holding captive despite their rite of safe conduct. Louis VI gave Thomas' wife, Melisende of Crecy, permission to come to her husband’s bedside but Thomas seemed more upset about the loss of the merchants than his approaching demise.  The wounds he had received in his final battle pained him greatly but he was still reluctant to make his final confession and receive the viaticum. When he finally conceded, Suger claims that the Lord himself did not want him to receive the holy sacrament. Just as Thomas raised his neck to speak to the priest, it twisted back and broke on the spot. Thus, bereft of the Eucharist, Thomas of Marle breathed his last in the year 1130.  After his death, Louis VI released all of Thomas' prisoners and relieved his wife and sons of a great portion of their wealth before returning to Paris. Thomas’ first born son, Enguerrand II, became the next Lord of Coucy and their remaining lands.

Family.

When Thomas returned home from the Crusades and he married his first wife Ida of Hainaut, the daughter of Baldwin II, Count of Hainaut, in 1102 at the age of 29.  Thomas and his first wife had two children: After Ida's death just a few years later, Thomas married again in 1108 to Melisende of Crecy, the daughter of Guy de Crécy. Their marriage produced four children, including his heir:

Thomas of Marle, Lord of Coucy and Boves, was born in 1073 to Enguerrand I of Boves, the Lord of Coucy and his wife Adele of Marle. After the death of his father, Enguerrand I, Thomas would become the Lord of Coucy and his family's other holdings. As the best-known of the Lords of Coucy, Thomas of Marle would become infamous for his aggressive and brutal tactics in war and his continued rebellion against the authority of Louis VI.

Thomas de Marle, dit Thomas Feriæ, de la Fère (vers 1073 - † 1130), fils d'Enguerrand de Boves et d'Ade (Adèle) de Marle et Coucy, était sire de Coucy, seigneur de La Fère et de Marle qui lui venaient de son grand-père maternel, Létard (ou Létaud) de Marle (ou de Roucy), frère puîné du comte Ebles de Roucy.


History.

Precursors to IQ testing.

Historically, even before IQ tests were devised, there were attempts to classify people into intelligence categories by observing their behavior in daily life. Those other forms of behavioral observation are still important for validating classifications based primarily on IQ test scores. Both intelligence classification by observation of behavior outside the testing room and classification by IQ testing depend on the definition of "intelligence" used in a particular case and on the reliability and error of estimation in the classification procedure.  The English statistician Francis Galton made the first attempt at creating a standardized test for rating a person's intelligence. A pioneer of psychometrics and the application of statistical methods to the study of human diversity and the study of inheritance of human traits, he believed that intelligence was largely a product of heredity (by which he did not mean genes, although he did develop several pre-Mendelian theories of particulate inheritance). He hypothesized that there should exist a correlation between intelligence and other observable traits such as reflexes, muscle grip, and

General factor ("g").

The many different kinds of IQ tests include a wide variety of item content. Some test items are visual, while many are verbal. Test items vary from being based on abstract-reasoning problems to concentrating on arithmetic, vocabulary, or general knowledge.  The British psychologist Charles Spearman in 1904 made the first formal factor analysis of correlations between the tests. He observed that children's school grades across seemingly unrelated school subjects were positively correlated, and reasoned that these correlations reflected the influence of an underlying general mental ability that entered into performance on all kinds of mental tests. He suggested that all mental performance could be conceptualized in terms of a single general ability factor

United States military selection in World War I.

During World War I, the Army needed a way to evaluate and assign recruits to appropriate tasks. This led to the development of several mental tests by Robert Yerkes, who worked with major hereditarians of American psychometrics—including Terman, Goddard—to write the test. The testing generated controversy and much public debate in the United States. Nonverbal or "performance" tests were developed for those who could not speak English or were suspected of malingering. Based on Goddard's translation of the Binet-Simon test, the tests had an impact in screening men for officer training:...the tests did have a strong impact in some areas, particularly in screening men for officer training. At the start of the war, the army and national guard maintained nine thousand officers. By the end, two hundred thousand officers presided, and two- thirds of them had started their careers in training camps where the tests were applied. In some camps, no man scoring below C could be considered for officer training.1.75 million men were tested in total, making the results the first mass-produced written tests of intelligence, though considered dubious and non-usable, for reasons including high variability of test implementation throughout different camps and

IQ testing and the Eugenics movement in the United States.

Eugenics, the set of beliefs and practices which aims at improving the genetic quality of the human population, played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States during the Progressive Era, from the late 19th century until US involvement in World War II.  The American eugenics movement was rooted in the biological determinist ideas of the British Scientist Sir Francis Galton. In 1883, Galton first used the word eugenics to describe the biological improvement of human genes and the concept of being "well-born". He believed that differences in a person's ability were acquired primarily through genetics and that eugenics could be implemented through selective breeding in order for the human race to improve in its overall quality, therefore allowing for humans to direct their own evolution.  Goddard was a eugenicist. In 1908, he published his own version, "The Binet and Simon Test of Intellectual Capacity", and cordially promoted the test. He quickly extended the use of the scale to the public schools (1913), to immigration (Ellis Island, 1914) and

Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory.

Raymond Cattell (1941) proposed two types of cognitive abilities in a revision of Spearman's concept of general intelligence. Fluid intelligence (Gf) was hypothesized as the ability to solve novel problems by using reasoning, and crystallized intelligence (Gc) was hypothesized as a knowledge-based ability that was very dependent on education and experience. In addition, fluid intelligence was hypothesized to decline with age, while crystallized intelligence was largely resistant to the effects of aging. The theory was almost forgotten, but was revived by his student John L. Horn (1966) who later argued Gf and Gc were only two among several factors, and who eventually identified nine or ten broad abilities. The theory continued to be called Gf-Gc theory.  John B. Carroll (1993), after a comprehensive reanalysis of earlier data, proposed the three stratum theory, which is a hierarchical model with three levels. The bottom stratum consists of narrow abilities that are highly

Other theories.

J.P. Guilford's Structure of Intellect (1967) model used three dimensions which when combined yielded a total of 120 types of intelligence. It was popular in the 1970s and early 1980s, but faded owing to both practical problems and theoretical criticisms.  Alexander Luria's earlier work on neuropsychological processes led to the PASS theory (1997). It argued that only looking at one general factor was inadequate for researchers and clinicians who worked with learning disabilities, attention disorders, intellectual disability, and interventions for such disabilities.

Current tests.

There are a variety of individually administered IQ tests in use in the English-speaking world. The most commonly used individual IQ test series is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale for adults and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children for school-age test-takers. Other commonly used individual IQ tests (some of which do not label their standard scores as "IQ" scores) include

Test bias or differential item functioning.

Differential item functioning (DIF), sometimes referred to as measurement bias, is a phenomenon when participants from different groups (e.g. gender, race, disability) with the same latent abilities give different answers to specific questions on the same IQ test. DIF analysis measures such specific items on a test alongside measuring participants' latent abilities on other similar questions. A consistent different group response to a specific question among similar type of questions

Reliability and validity.

Psychometricians generally regard IQ tests as having high statistical reliability. Reliability represents the measurement consistency of a test. A reliable test produces similar scores upon repetition. A high reliability implies that – although test-takers may have varying scores when taking the same test on differing occasions, and although they may have varying scores when taking different IQ tests at the same age – the scores generally agree with one another and across time. Like all statistical quantities, any particular estimate of IQ has an associated standard error that measures uncertainty about the estimate. For modern tests, the standard error of measurement is about three points. For individuals with very low scores, the 95% confidence interval may be greater than 40 points, potentially complicating the accuracy of diagnoses of intellectual

Flynn effect.

Since the early 20th century, raw scores on IQ tests have increased in most parts of the world. When a new version of an IQ test is normed, the standard scoring is set so performance at the population median results in a score of IQ 100. The phenomenon of rising raw score performance means if test-takers are scored by a constant standard scoring rule, IQ test scores have been rising at an average rate of around three IQ points per decade. This phenomenon was named the Flynn effect in the book "The Bell Curve" after James R. Flynn, the author who did the most to bring this phenomenon to the attention of psychologists.  Researchers have been exploring the issue of

Age.

IQ can change to some degree over the course of childhood. However, in one longitudinal study, the mean IQ scores of tests at ages 17 and 18 were correlated at r=0.86 with the mean scores of tests at ages five, six, and seven and at r=0.96 with the mean scores of tests at ages 11, 12, and 13.  For decades, practitioners' handbooks and textbooks on IQ testing have reported IQ declines with age after the beginning of adulthood. However, later researchers pointed out this phenomenon is related to the Flynn effect and is in part a cohort effect rather

Genetics and environment.

Environmental and genetic factors play a role in determining IQ. Their relative importance has been the subject of much research and debate.

Heritability.

The general figure for the heritability of IQ, according to an authoritative American Psychological Association report, is 0.45 for children, and rises to around 0.75 for late adolescents and adults.

Shared family environment.

Family members have aspects of environments in common (for example, characteristics of the home). This shared family environment accounts for 0.25–0.35 of the variation in IQ

Non-shared family environment and environment outside the family.

Although parents treat their children differently, such differential treatment explains only a small amount of nonshared environmental influence. One

Individual genes.

A very large proportion of the over 17,000 human genes are thought to have an effect on the development and functionality of the brain. While a number of individual genes have been reported to

Gene-environment interaction.

David Rowe reported an interaction of genetic effects with socioeconomic status, such that the heritability was high in high-SES families, but much lower in low-SES families. In the US, this has been replicated in infants, children, adolescents, and adults. Outside the US, studies show no link between heritability and SES. Some effects may even reverse sign outside the US.  Dickens and Flynn

Interventions.

In general, educational interventions, as those described below, have shown short-term effects on IQ, but long-term follow-up is often missing. For example, in the US, very large intervention programs such as the Head Start Program have not produced lasting gains in IQ scores. More intensive, but much smaller projects, such as the Abecedarian Project, have reported lasting effects, often on socioeconomic status variables, rather than IQ.  Recent studies have shown that training in using one's working memory may increase IQ.

Music.

Musical training in childhood correlates with higher than average IQ. However, a study of 10,500 twins found no effects on IQ, suggesting that the correlation was caused by genetic confounders. A meta-analysis concluded that "Music training does not reliably enhance

Brain anatomy.

Several neurophysiological factors have been correlated with intelligence in humans, including the ratio of brain weight to body weight and the size, shape, and activity level of different parts of the

Health.

Health is important in understanding differences in IQ test scores and other measures of cognitive ability. Several factors can lead to significant cognitive impairment, particularly if they occur during pregnancy and childhood when the brain is growing and the blood–brain barrier is less effective. Such impairment may sometimes be permanent, sometimes be partially or wholly compensated for by later growth.  Since about 2010, researchers such as Eppig, Hassel, and MacKenzie have found a very close and consistent link between IQ scores and infectious diseases, especially in the infant and preschool populations and the mothers of these children.

Social correlations.

School performance.

The American Psychological Association's report "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" states that wherever it has been studied, children with high scores on tests of intelligence tend to learn more of what is taught in school than their lower-scoring peers. The correlation between IQ scores and grades is about.50. This means that the explained variance is 25%. Achieving good grades depends on many factors other than IQ, such as "persistence, interest in school, and willingness to study" (p. 81).  It has been

Job performance.

According to Schmidt and Hunter, "for hiring employees without previous experience in the job the most valid predictor of future performance is general mental ability." The validity of IQ as a predictor of job performance is above zero for all work studied to date, but varies with the type of job and across different studies, ranging from 0.2 to 0.6. The correlations were higher when the unreliability of measurement methods was controlled for. While IQ is more strongly correlated with reasoning and less so with motor function, IQ-test scores predict performance ratings in all occupations. That said, for highly qualified activities (research, management) low IQ scores are more likely to be a barrier to adequate performance, whereas for minimally-skilled activities, athletic strength (manual strength, speed, stamina, and coordination) are more

Income.

It has been suggested that "in economic terms it appears that the IQ score measures something with decreasing marginal value" and it "is important to have enough of it, but having lots and lots does not buy you that much". However, large-scale longitudinal studies indicate an increase in IQ translates into an increase in performance at all levels of IQ: i.e. ability and job performance are monotonically linked at all IQ levels. Charles Murray, coauthor of "The Bell Curve," found that IQ has a substantial effect on income independent of family background.  The link from IQ to wealth is much less strong than that from IQ to job performance. Some studies indicate that IQ is unrelated to net worth.  The American Psychological Association's 1995 report "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" stated that IQ scores accounted for

Crime.

The American Psychological Association's 1996 report "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" stated that the correlation between IQ and crime was −0.2. It was −0.19 between IQ scores and number of juvenile offenses in a large Danish sample; with social class controlled, the correlation dropped to −0.17. A correlation of 0.20 means that the explained variance is 4%. The causal links between psychometric ability and social outcomes may be indirect. Children with poor scholastic performance may feel alienated. Consequently, they may be more likely to engage in delinquent behavior, compared to other children who do well.  In his book "" (1998), Arthur Jensen cited data which showed that, regardless of race, people

Health and mortality.

Multiple studies conducted in Scotland have found that higher IQs

Other accomplishments.

There is considerable variation within and overlap among these categories. People with high IQs are found at

Group-IQ or the collective intelligence factor c.

With operationalization and methodology derived from the general intelligence factor "g", a new scientific understanding of collective intelligence, defined as a group's general ability to perform a wide range of tasks, aims to explain intelligent behavior of groups. Goal is to detect and explain a general intelligence

Group differences.

Among the most controversial issues related to the study of intelligence is the observation that intelligence measures such as IQ scores vary between ethnic and racial groups and sexes. While there is little scholarly debate about the "existence" of some of these differences, their "causes" remain highly controversial both within academia and in the public sphere.

Sex.

Most IQ tests are constructed so that there are no overall score differences between females and males. Popular IQ batteries such as the WAIS and the WISC-R are also constructed in order to eliminate sex differences. In a paper presented at the International Society for Intelligence Research in 2002, it was pointed out that because

Race and intelligence.

Race and intelligence in United States of America.

The 1996 Task Force investigation on Intelligence sponsored by the American Psychological Association concluded that there are significant variations in IQ across races. The problem of determining the causes underlying this variation relates to the question of the contributions of "nature and nurture" to IQ. Psychologists such as Alan S. Kaufman and Nathan Brody and statisticians such as Bernie Devlin argue that there are insufficient data to conclude that this is because of genetic influences. A review article published in 2012 by leading scholars on human intelligence concluded, after reviewing the prior research literature, that group differences in IQ are best understood as environmental in origin.  In considering disparities between test results of different ethnic groups, one might investigate the effects of stereotype threat (a situational predicament in which a person feels at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about the group(s) he identifies with), as well as culture and acculturation. This phenomenon has been criticized as a fiction of publication bias.

Public policy.

In the United States, certain public policies and laws regarding military service, education, public benefits, capital punishment, and employment incorporate an individual's IQ into their decisions. However, in the case of Griggs v. Duke Power Co. in 1971, for the purpose of minimizing employment practices that disparately impacted racial minorities, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the use of IQ tests in employment, except when linked to job performance via a job analysis. Internationally, certain public policies,

Criticism and views.

Relationship to intelligence.

IQ is the most thoroughly researched means of measuring intelligence, and by far the most widely used in practical settings. However, while IQ strives to measure some concepts of intelligence, it may fail to serve as an accurate measure of broader definitions

Criticism of IQ.

Some scientists dispute the worthiness of IQ entirely. In "The Mismeasure of Man" (1996), paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould criticized IQ tests and argued that they were used for scientific racism. He argued that "g" was a mathematical artifact and criticized:  Arthur Jensen responded:  Jensen also argued that even if "g" were replaced by a model with several intelligences this would change the situation less than expected. He argues that all tests of cognitive ability would continue to be highly correlated with one another and there would still be

Systematic exclusion of threshold effects.

Cecil Reynolds and Paul Kline argue that the construction of IQ tests around the rule that they should show a bell curve distribution in the population leads to systematic exclusion of cognitive tests that display threshold effects and are not gradually variable, as well as biasing IQ tests towards questions that can be made to fit a bell curve model and against questions that show any non-bell distributions. They argue that just as swarms change their collective behavior at certain thresholds of animals in the swarm, it is possible that brains change their abilities at thresholds of number of connected neurons and/or level of

Test bias.

The American Psychological Association's report "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" stated that in the United States IQ tests as predictors of social achievement are not biased against African Americans since they predict future performance, such as school achievement, similarly to the way they predict future performance for Caucasians. While agreeing that IQ tests predict performance equally well for all racial groups, Nicholas Mackintosh also points out that there may still be a bias inherent in IQ testing if the education system is also systematically biased against African Americans, in which case educational performance may in fact also be an underestimation of African American children's cognitive abilities. Earl Hunt points out that while this may be the case that would not be a bias of the

Intermingling cultures and IQ classification fairness.

Barbara P. Uzzell and Harvey N. Switzky argue that defining IQ from an average at a period of time and putting different thresholds of what is considered retarded based on average IQ test performance in a culture faces issues of defining who belongs to what culture. They argue that since people are not actually in boxes of isolated cultures, essentialistic classification of culture that is said to make IQ tests "culturally fair" will show false "evidence" of underlying cognitive differences between individuals who are formally classified in the same culture but have faced different cultural non-shared environments due to the fluid intermingling of cultures in real life, making IQ tests a false measure of mental retardation. It is argued by Barbara P. Uzzell and Harvey N. Switzky that different social treatment depending on hereditary

Outdated methodology.

Psychologist Denny Borsboom says that contemporary psychological research

"Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns".

In response to the controversy surrounding "The Bell Curve", the American Psychological Association's Board of Scientific Affairs established a task force in 1995 to write a report on the state of intelligence research which could be used by all sides as a basis for discussion, "". The full text of the report is available through several websites.  In this paper, the representatives of the association regret that IQ-related works are frequently written with a view to their political consequences: "research findings were often assessed not so much on their merits or their scientific standing as on their

Dynamic assessment.

An alternative to standard IQ tests originated in the writings of psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) from his last two years of work. The notion of the zone of proximal development that he introduced in 1933, roughly a year before his death, served as the banner for his proposal to diagnose development as the level of actual development that can be measured by the child's independent problem solving and, at the same time, the level of proximal, or potential development that is measured in the situation of moderately assisted problem solving by the child. The maximum level of complexity and difficulty of the problem that the child is capable to solve under some guidance indicates the level of potential development. Then, the difference between the higher level of potential and the lower level of actual development indicates the zone of

Classification.

IQ classification is the practice used by IQ test publishers for designating IQ score ranges into various categories with labels such as "superior" or "average."

High IQ societies.

There are social organizations, some international, which limit membership to people who have scores as high as or higher than the 98th percentile (2 standard deviations above the mean) on some IQ test or equivalent. Mensa International is perhaps the best known of these. The largest 99.9th percentile (3 standard deviations above the mean) society is the Triple Nine Society.

An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term "Intelligenzquotient", his term for a scoring method for intelligence tests at University of Breslau he advocated in a 1912 book.

Le quotient intellectuel, ou QI, est le résultat d'un test psychométrique qui entend fournir une indication quantitative standardisée de l'intelligence humaine.


Early life.

Saburō Sakai was born on 25 August 1916 in Saga in Japan. Sakai was born into a family with immediate affiliation to samurai and their warrior legacies and whose ancestors (themselves samurai) had taken part in the Japanese invasions of Korea between 1592 to 1598, but who were later forced to take up a livelihood of farming following "haihan-chiken" in 1871. He is the third-born of four sons (his given name literally means "third son"), and had three sisters. Sakai was 11 when his father died, leaving his mother alone to raise seven children. With limited resources, Sakai was adopted by his maternal uncle, who financed his education in a Tokyo high school. However, Sakai failed to do well in his studies and was sent back to Saga after his second year.  On 31 May 1933 at the age of 16, Sakai enlisted in the Japanese Navy as a Sailor Fourth Class (Seaman Recruit) (四等水兵). Sakai described his experiences as a naval recruit:  After completing his training the following year, Sakai graduated as a Sailor Third Class (Ordinary Seaman) (三等水兵). He then served aboard the battleship for one year. In 1935, he successfully passed the competitive examinations for the Naval Gunners' School. Sakai was promoted to Sailor Second Class (Able Seaman) (二等水兵) in 1936, and served on the battleship as a turret gunner. He received successive promotions to Sailor First Class (Leading Seaman) (一等水兵) and to Petty Officer Third Class (三等兵曹). In early 1937, he applied for and was accepted into a pilot training school. He graduated first in his class at Tsuchiura in 1937 and earned a silver watch, presented to him by Emperor Hirohito himself. Sakai graduated as a carrier pilot, although he was never assigned to aircraft-carrier duty.  Promoted to Petty Officer Second Class (二等兵曹) in 1938, Sakai took part in aerial combat flying the Mitsubishi A5M at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938–1939 and was wounded in action. Later, Sakai was selected to fly the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter in combat over China.

Service in World War II.

Southeast Asia.

When Japan attacked the Western Allies in 1941, Sakai participated in the attack on the Philippines as a member of the Tainan Air Group. On 8 December 1941, Sakai flew one of 45 Zeros from the Tainan Kōkūtai (a Kōkūtai was an Air Group) that attacked Clark Air Base in the Philippines. In his first combat against Americans, shot down a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and destroyed two B-17 Flying Fortresses by strafing them on the ground. Sakai flew missions the next day during heavy weather.  On the third day of the battle, Sakai claimed to have shot down a B-17 flown by Captain Colin P. Kelly. Sakai, who has often been credited with the victory, was a Shotai leader engaged in this fight with the bomber, although he and his two wingmen do not appear to have been given official credit for it.  Early in 1942, Sakai was transferred to Tarakan Island in Borneo and fought in the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese high command instructed fighter patrols to down all enemy aircraft encountered, whether they were armed or not. On a patrol with his Zero over Java, just after shooting down an enemy aircraft, Sakai encountered a civilian Dutch Douglas DC-3 flying at low altitude over dense jungle. Sakai initially assumed it was transporting important people and signaled to its pilot to follow him; the pilot did not obey. Sakai descended and approached the DC-3. He then saw a blonde woman and a young child through a window, along with other passengers. The woman reminded him of Mrs. Martin, an American who occasionally had taught him as a child in middle school and had been kind to him. He ignored his orders and flew ahead of the pilot, signaling him to go ahead. The pilot and passengers saluted him. Sakai did not mention the encounter in the aerial combat report.  During the Borneo campaign, Sakai achieved 13 more victories before he was grounded by illness. When he recovered three months later in April, Petty Officer First Class Sakai joined a squadron ("chutai") of the Tainan Kōkūtai under Sub-Lieutenant Junichi Sasai at Lae, New Guinea. Over the next four months, he scored the majority of his victories, flying against American and Australian pilots based at Port Moresby.  On the night of 16 May, Sakai and his colleagues, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa and Toshio Ota, were listening to a broadcast of an Australian radio program, when Nishizawa recognized the eerie ""Danse Macabre"" of Camille Saint-Saëns. Inspired by this, Nishizawa came up with the idea of doing demonstration loops over the enemy airfield. The next day, his squadron included fellow aces Hiroyoshi Nishizawa and Toshio Ōta. At the end of an attack on Port Moresby that had involved 18 Zeros, the trio performed three tight loops in close formation over the allied air base. Nishizawa indicated he wanted to repeat the performance. Diving to, the three Zeros did three more loops, without receiving any AA fire from the ground. The following day, a lone Allied bomber flew over the Lae airfield and dropped a note attached to a long cloth ribbon. A soldier picked up the note and delivered to the squadron commander. It read (paraphrased): "Thank you for the wonderful display of aerobatics by three of your pilots. Please pass on our regards and inform them that we will have a warm reception ready for them, next time they fly over our airfield". The squadron commander was furious and reprimanded the three pilots for their stupidity, but the Tainan Kōkūtai's three leading aces felt Nishizawa's aerial choreography of the ""Danse Macabre"" had been worth it.

Pacific Theater.

On 3 August, Sakai's air group was relocated from Lae to the airfield at Rabaul. On 7 August, word arrived that U.S. Marines had landed that morning on Guadalcanal. The initial Allied landings captured an airfield, later named Henderson Field by the Allies, that had been under construction by the Japanese. The airfield soon became the focus of months of fighting during the Guadalcanal Campaign, as it enabled U.S. airpower to hinder the Japanese attempts at resupplying their troops. The Japanese made several attempts to retake Henderson Field, resulting in continuous, almost daily air battles for the Tainan Kōkūtai.  U.S. Marines flying Grumman F4F Wildcats from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal were using a new aerial combat tactic, the "Thach Weave", developed in 1941 by the U.S. Navy aviators John Thach and Edward O'Hare. The Japanese Zero pilots flying out of Rabaul were initially confounded by the tactic. Saburō Sakai described their reaction to the Thach Weave when they encountered Guadalcanal Wildcats using it:  On 7 August, Sakai and three pilots shot down an F4F Wildcat flown by James "Pug" Southerland, who by the end of the war became an ace with five victories. Sakai, who did not know Southerland's guns had jammed, recalled the duel in his autobiography:  They were soon engaged in a skillfully maneuvered dogfight. After an extended battle in which both pilots gained and lost the upper hand, Sakai shot down Southerland's Wildcat, striking it below the left wing root with his 20 mm cannon. Southerland parachuted to safety.  Sakai was amazed at the Wildcat's ruggedness: Not long after he downed Southerland, Sakai was attacked by a lone Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber flown by Lt. Dudley Adams of Scouting Squadron 71 (VS-71) from. Adams scored a near miss, sending a bullet through Sakai's canopy, but Sakai quickly gained the upper hand and succeeded in downing Adams. Adams bailed out and survived, but his gunner, R3/c Harry Elliot, was killed in the encounter. According to Saburō Sakai this was his 60th victory.

Serious wounds.

During the air group's first mission of the battle of Guadalcanal, having just shot down Southerland and Adams, Sakai was seriously wounded in a fight near Tulagi against eight SBD Dauntlesses, a mixed flight from Bombing Squadrons Five and Six (VB-5 and VB-6). Mistaking the SBDs for more F4F Wildcat fighters, Sakai approached from below and behind, targeting a VB-6 Dauntless. The dive bombers, with their rear-mounted twin.30 AN/M2 guns, destroyed the canopy of Sakai's Zero. Saburō Sakai's account of this battle is different. He spotted eight aircraft in two flights of four, and initially identified them as F4F Wildcat fighters. After he attacked with three other A6M2 Zero fighters, he discovered that the aircraft were actually Grumman TBF Avengers because he clearly distinguished the enclosed top turret. He shot down two of the TBF Avengers (his 61st and 62nd victories), which were verified by the other three Zero pilots. During this day, no Avengers were reported lost. As it was difficult to mistake a Dauntless for a Wildcat, and only the Avenger had a gun mounted on the underside facing to the rear. Sakai's version is the only one that is credible, as the Dauntless had no way to fire at enemies attacking from below.  Sakai sustained serious injuries from the return fire of the lower rear gunner. He was hit in the head by a.30 caliber bullet, injuring his skull and temporarily paralyzing the left side of his body. (The wound is described elsewhere as having destroyed the metal frame of his goggles, and having "creased" his skull, a glancing blow which broke the skin and made a furrow in, or even cracked the skull, but did not actually penetrate it). Shattered glass from the canopy temporarily blinded him in his right eye and reduced vision in his left eye severely. The Zero rolled inverted and descended toward the sea. Unable to see out of his left eye due to glass and blood from his serious head wound, Sakai's vision started to clear somewhat as tears cleared the blood from his eyes, and he was able to pull his plane out of the dive. He considered ramming an American warship: "If I must die, at least I could go out as a Samurai. My death would take several of the enemy with me. A ship. I needed a ship." Finally, the cold air blasting into the cockpit revived him enough to check his instruments, and he decided that leaning the fuel mixture he might be able to return to the airfield at Rabaul.  Although in agony from his injuries Sakai managed to fly his damaged Zero in a four-hour, 47-minute flight over back to his base on Rabaul, using familiar volcanic peaks as guides. When he attempted to land at the airfield he nearly crashed into a line of parked Zeros but, after circling four times, and with the fuel gauge reading empty, he put his Zero down on the runway on his second attempt. After landing, he insisted on making his mission report to his superior officer before collapsing. His squadron mate Hiroyoshi Nishizawa drove him to a surgeon. Sakai was evacuated to Japan on 12 August, where he endured a long surgery without anesthesia. The surgery repaired some of the damage to his head, but was unable to restore full vision to his right eye. Nishizawa visited Sakai while he recuperated in the Yokosuka hospital in Japan.

Recovery and return.

After his discharge from the hospital in January 1943, Sakai spent a year training new fighter pilots. With Japan clearly losing the air war, he prevailed upon his superiors to let him fly in combat again. In November 1943, Sakai was promoted to the rank of flying warrant officer (飛行兵曹長). In April 1944, he was transferred to Yokosuka Air Wing, which was deployed to Iwo Jima.  On 24 June 1944, Sakai approached a formation of 15 U.S. Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters which he had mistakenly assumed were friendly Japanese aircraft. William A. McCormick saw four Hellcats on the Zero's tail, but decided not to get involved. Sakai demonstrated his skill and experience. Despite facing superior enemy aircraft, Sakai eluded attacks by the Hellcats, returning to his airfield untouched.  Sakai claimed to have never lost a wingman in combat; however, he lost at least two over Iwo Jima.  Sakai said as follows: he was ordered to lead a "kamikaze" mission on 5 July, but he failed to find the U.S. task force. He was engaged by Hellcat fighters near the task force's reported position, and all but one of the Nakajima B6N2 "Jill" torpedo bombers in his flight were shot down. Sakai managed to shoot down one Hellcat, then escaped the umbrella of enemy aircraft by flying into a cloud. Rather than follow meaningless orders, in worsening weather and gathering darkness, Sakai led his small formation back to Iwo Jima. While, according to the aerial combat report, his mission was to escort bombers to and from their targets, and it was afternoon 24 June the day Sakai joined the attack on the U.S. task force.  In August 1944, Sakai was commissioned an ensign (少尉). After he was transferred to 343rd Air Group, he returned to the Yokosuka Air Wing again.  About the same time, Sakai married his cousin Hatsuyo, who asked him for a dagger so she could kill herself if he fell in battle. His autobiography, "Samurai!", ends happily with Hatsuyo throwing away the dagger after Japan's surrender, saying she no longer needed it.  Saburo Sakai participated in the IJNAS's last wartime mission, attacking two reconnaissance Consolidated B-32 Dominators on 18 August, which were conducting photo-reconnaissance and testing Japanese compliance with the cease-fire. He initially misidentified the planes as Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Both aircraft returned to their base at Yontan Airfield, Okinawa. His encounter with the B-32 Dominators in the IJNAS's final mission was not included in "Samurai!".  He was promoted to sub-lieutenant (中尉) after the war ended.

Back to civilian life.

After the war, Sakai retired from the Navy. He became a Buddhist acolyte - vowing to never again kill anything that lived, not even a mosquito.  Likewise, although Japan had been defeated in the Second World War with great loss of life, Sakai serenely accepted this outcome: "Had I been ordered to bomb Seattle or Los Angeles in order to end the war, I wouldn't have hesitated. So I perfectly understand why the Americans bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima."  Times were difficult for Sakai: he had trouble finding a job; Hatsuyo died in 1947. He remarried in 1952 and started a printing shop.  Sakai sent his daughter to college in the United States "to learn English and democracy."  Sakai visited the US and met many of his former adversaries, including Harold "Lew" Jones, the tail-gunner who had wounded him.  Following a US Navy formal dinner in 2000 at Atsugi Naval Air Station where he had been an honored guest, Sakai died of a heart attack at the age of 84.  Claims have been made that his autobiography "Samurai!" includes fictional stories, and that the number of kills specified in that work were increased to promote sales of the book by Martin Caidin. The book was not published in Japan and differs from his biographies there.  Saburo Sakai was survived by his second wife Haru, two daughters, and a son.

References.

Notes  Bibliography

Sub-Lieutenant was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace (""Gekitsui-O"", 撃墜王) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Sakai had 28-64 aerial victories (including shared) by official Japanese records, while his autobiography "Samurai!", co-written by Martin Caidin and Fred Saito, claims 64 aerial victories. Such discrepancies are common, and pilots' official scores are often lower than those claimed by the pilots themselves, due to difficulties in providing appropriate witnesses or verifying wreckage, and variations in military reports due to loss or destruction.

Saburō Sakai (en japonais 坂井 三郎, さかい さぶろう, "Sakai Saburō") (1916-2000) était un pilote de chasse de la marine impériale japonaise pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Il fut, au nombre de victoires, le quatrième plus grand as de l'aéronavale nippone et le deuxième à survivre au conflit (derrière Tetsuzō Iwamoto). Il fait partie du « Trio des nettoyeurs » avec Toshio Ōta et Hiroyoshi Nishizawa.


Biography.

Gillette A. Elvgren was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and attended University High School. After graduation, he began studying art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He subsequently moved to Chicago to study at the American Academy of Art. He graduated from the Academy during the depression at the age of twenty-two. Elvgren joined the stable of artists at Stevens and Gross, Chicago's most prestigious advertising agency. He became a protégé of the artist Haddon Sundblom.  In 1937, Gil began painting calendar pin-ups for Louis F. Dow, one of America's leading publishing companies, during which time he created about 60 works on 28′′ × 22′′ canvas and distinguished them by a printed signature. Many of his pin-ups were reproduced as nose art on military aircraft during World War II. Around 1944, Gil was approached by Brown and Bigelow, a firm that still dominates the field in producing calendars and advertising specialties. He was associated with Brown & Bigelow from 1945 to 1972. At Brown & Bigelow Elvgren began working with 30′′ × 24′′ canvases, a format that he would use for the next 30 years, and signed his work in cursive.  Elvgren was a commercial success. He lived in various locations, and was active from the 1930s to 1970s. In 1951 he began painting in a studio in his home, then in Winnetka, Illinois, using an assistant to set up lighting, build props and scenes, photograph sets, and prepare his paints. His clients ranged from Brown and Bigelow and Coca-Cola to General Electric and Sealy Mattress Company. In addition, during the 1940s and 1950s he illustrated stories for a host of magazines, such as "The Saturday Evening Post" and "Good Housekeeping". Among the models Elvgren painted were Myrna Hansen, Donna Reed, Barbara Hale, Arlene Dahl, Lola Albright and Kim Novak.

Gillette Elvgren (March 15, 1914 – February 29, 1980) was an American painter of pin-up girls, advertising and illustration. Best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow, Elvgren studied at the American Academy of Art. He was strongly influenced by the early "pretty girl" illustrators, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Andrew Loomis, and Howard Chandler Christy. Other influences included the Brandywine School founded by Howard Pyle.

Gil Elvgren ("Gillette Elvgren") est un peintre et illustrateur américain, né le à Saint Paul (Minnesota) et décédé le à Siesta Key (Floride).


The principles.

Principle IV.

This principle could be paraphrased as follows: "It is not an acceptable excuse to say 'I was just following my superior's orders'".  Previous to the time of the Nuremberg Trials, this excuse was known in common parlance as "superior orders". After the prominent, high-profile event of the Nuremberg Trials, that excuse is now referred to by many as the "Nuremberg Defense". In recent times, a third term, "lawful orders" has become common parlance for some people. All three terms are in use today, and they all have slightly different nuances of meaning, depending on the context in which they are used.  Nuremberg Principle IV is legally supported by the jurisprudence found in certain articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which deal indirectly with conscientious objection. It is also supported by the principles found in paragraph 171 of the Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status which was issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Those principles deal with the conditions under which conscientious objectors can apply for refugee status in another country if they face persecution in their own country for refusing to participate in an illegal war.

The Principles' power or lack of power.

In the period just prior to the June 26, 1945 signing of the Charter of the United Nations, the governments participating in its drafting were opposed to conferring on the United Nations legislative power to enact binding rules of international law. As a corollary, they also rejected proposals to confer on the General Assembly the power to impose certain general conventions on states by some form of majority vote. There was, however, strong support for conferring on the General Assembly the more limited powers of study and recommendation, which led to the adoption of Article 13 in Chapter IV of the Charter. It obliges the United Nations General Assembly to initiate studies and to make recommendations that encourage the progressive development of international law and its codification. The Nuremberg Principles were developed by UN organs under that limited mandate.  Unlike treaty law, customary international law is not written. To prove that a certain rule is customary one has to show that it is reflected in state practice and that there exists a conviction in the international community that such practice is required as a matter of law. (For example, the Nuremberg Trials were a "practice" of the "international law" of the Nuremberg Principles; and that "practice" was supported by the international community.) In this context, "practice" relates to official state practice and therefore includes formal statements by states. A contrary practice by some states is possible. If this contrary practice is condemned by other states then the rule is confirmed. (See also: Sources of international law)  In 1947, under UN General Assembly Resolution 177 (II), paragraph (a), the International Law Commission was directed to "formulate the principles of international law recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and in the judgment of the Tribunal." In the course of the consideration of this subject, the question arose as to whether or not the Commission should ascertain to what extent the principles contained in the Charter and judgment constituted principles of international law. The conclusion was that since the Nuremberg Principles had been affirmed by the General Assembly, the task entrusted to the Commission was not to express any appreciation of these principles as principles of international law but merely to formulate them. The text above was adopted by the Commission at its second session. The Report of the Commission also contains commentaries on the principles (see Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1950, Vol. II, pp. 374–378).

Examples of the principles supported and not supported.

The 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Concerning Nuremberg Principle IV, and its reference to an individual's responsibility, it could be argued that a version of the Superior Orders defense can be found as a defense to international crimes in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. (The Rome Statute was agreed upon in 1998 as the foundational document of the International Criminal Court, established to try those individuals accused of serious international crimes.) Article 33, titled "Superior Orders and prescription of law," states:  2. For the purposes of this article, orders to commit genocide or crimes against humanity are manifestly unlawful.  There are two interpretations of this Article:

Canada.

Nuremberg Principle IV, and its reference to an individual's responsibility, was also at issue in Canada in the case of "Hinzman v. Canada." Jeremy Hinzman was a U.S. Army deserter who claimed refugee status in Canada as a conscientious objector, one of many Iraq War resisters. Hinzman's lawyer, Jeffry House, had previously raised the issue of the legality of the Iraq War as having a bearing on their case. The Federal Court ruling was released on March 31, 2006, and denied the refugee status claim. In the decision, Justice Anne L. Mactavish addressed the issue of personal responsibility:  An individual must be involved at the policy-making level to be culpable for a crime against peace... the ordinary foot soldier is not expected to make his or her own personal assessment as to the legality of a conflict. Similarly, such an individual cannot be held criminally responsible for fighting in support of an illegal war, assuming that his or her personal war-time conduct is otherwise proper. On Nov 15, 2007, a quorum of the Supreme Court of Canada consisting of Justices Michel Bastarache, Rosalie Abella, and Louise Charron refused an application to have the Court hear the case on appeal, without giving reasons.

The Nuremberg principles are a set of guidelines for determining what constitutes a war crime. The document was created by the International Law Commission of the United Nations to codify the legal principles underlying the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi party members following World War II.

Les Principes de Nuremberg furent formulés en 1950 par la Commission de Droit International, sur demande de l'Assemblée générale des Nations unies, laquelle avait déjà confirmé les principes de droit international reconnus par le statut de la Cour de Nuremberg et par l'arrêt de cette Cour par sa résolution 95 (I) du.


True sandalwoods.

Sandalwoods are medium-sized hemiparasitic trees, and part of the same botanical family as European mistletoe. Notable members of this group are Indian sandalwood ("Santalum album") and Australian sandalwood ("Santalum spicatum"); others in the genus also have fragrant wood. These are found in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, Indonesia, Hawaii, and other Pacific Islands.  Various unrelated plants with similarly scented wood or oil include:

Production.

Producing commercially valuable sandalwood with high levels of fragrance oils requires "Santalum" trees to be a minimum of 15 years old ("S. album") the age at which they will be harvested in Western Australia – the yield, quality and volume are still to be clearly understood. Yield of oil tends to vary depending on the age and location of the tree; usually, the older trees yield the highest oil content and quality. Australia likely will be the largest producer of "S. album" by 2018, the majority grown around Kununurra, Western Australia. Western Australian sandalwood is also grown in plantations in its traditional growing area in the wheatbelt east of Perth, where more than are in plantations. Currently, Western Australian sandalwood is only wild harvested and can achieve upwards of AU$16,000 per tonne, which has sparked a growing illegal trade speculated to be worth AU$2.5 million in 2012.  Sandalwood is expensive compared to other types of woods, so to maximize profit, sandalwood is harvested by removing the entire tree instead of sawing it down at the trunk close to ground level. This way wood from the stump and root, which possesses high levels of sandalwood oil, can also be processed and sold.

Uses.

Fragrance.

Sandalwood oil has a distinctive soft, warm, smooth, creamy, and milky precious-wood scent. It imparts a long-lasting, woody base to perfumes from the oriental, woody, "fougère", and "chypre" families, as well as a fixative to floral and citrus fragrances. When used in smaller proportions in a perfume, it acts as a fixative, enhancing the longevity of other, more volatile, materials in the composite. Sandalwood is also a key ingredient in the "floriental" (floral-ambery) fragrance family – when combined with white florals such as jasmine, ylang ylang, gardenia, plumeria, orange blossom, tuberose, etc.  Sandalwood oil in India is widely used in the cosmetic industry. The main source of true sandalwood, "S. album", is a protected species, and demand for it cannot be met. Many species of plants are traded as "sandalwood". The genus "Santalum" has more than 19 species. Traders often accept oil from closely related species, as well as from unrelated plants such as West Indian sandalwood ("Amyris balsamifera") in the family Rutaceae or bastard sandalwood ("Myoporum sandwicense", Myoporaceae). However, most woods from these alternative sources lose their aroma within a few months or years.  Isobornyl cyclohexanol is a synthetic fragrance chemical produced as an alternative to the natural product.  Sandalwood's main components are the two isomers of santalol (about 75%). It is used in aromatherapy and to prepare soaps.

Technology.

Due to its low fluorescence and optimal refractive index, sandalwood oil is often employed as an immersion oil within ultraviolet and fluorescence microscopy.

Food.

Aboriginal Australians eat the seed kernels, nuts, and fruit of local sandalwoods, such as "quandong" ("S. acuminatum"). Early Europeans in Australia used "quandong" in cooking damper by infusing it with its leaves, and in making jams, pies, and chutneys from the fruit. In Scandinavia, pulverised bark from red sandalwood ("Pterocarpus soyauxii") is used - with other tropical spices - when marinating anchovies and some types of pickled herring such as "matjes", sprat, and certain types of traditional "spegesild", inducing a reddish colour and slightly perfumed flavour.  Present-day chefs have begun experimenting in using the nut as a substitute for macadamia nuts or a bush food substitute for almonds, hazelnuts, and others in Southeast Asian-styled cuisine. The oil is also used as a flavour component in different food items, including candy, ice cream, baked food, puddings, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and gelatin. The flavouring is used at levels below 10 ppm, the highest possible level for use in food products being 90 ppm.

Distillation.

Sandalwood must be distilled so that the oil can be extracted from within. Many different methods are used, including steam distillation, water distillation, CO extraction, and solvent extractions. Steam distillation is the most common method used by sandalwood companies. It occurs in a four-step process, incorporating boiling, steaming, condensation, and separation. Water is heated to high temperatures (140-212 °F) and is then passed through the wood. The oil is very tightly bound within the cellular structure of the wood, so the high heat of the steam causes the oil to be released. The mixture of steam and oil is then cooled and separated so that the essential oil can be collected. This process is much longer than any other essential oil's distillation, taking 14 to 36 hours to complete, but generally produces much higher quality oil. Water, or hydro, distillation is the more traditional method of sandalwood extraction which involves soaking the wood in water and then boiling it until the oil is released. This method is not used as much anymore because of the high costs and time associated with heating large quantities of water.

Religion.

Hinduism.

Indian sandalwood is very sacred in the Hindu Ayurveda and is known in Sanskrit as "chandana." The wood is used for worshipping the god Shiva, and it is believed that goddess Lakshmi lives in the sandalwood tree. The wood of the tree is made into a paste using sandalwood powder, and this paste is integral to rituals and ceremonies, to make religious utensils, to decorate the icons of the deities, and to calm the mind during meditation and prayer. It is also distributed to devotees, who apply it to their foreheads or necks and chests. Preparation of the paste is a duty fit only for the pure, so is entrusted only to priests when used in temples and during ceremonies.  The paste is prepared by grinding wood by hand with granite slabs shaped for this purpose. With the gradual addition of water, a thick paste forms (called "kalabham" "കളഭം" in Malayalam language and "gandha" ಗಂಧ in Kannada) and is mixed with saffron or other such pigments to make "chandanam". "Chandanam", further mixed with herbs, perfumes, pigments, and some other compounds, results in "javadhu". "Kalabham, chandanam," and "javadhu" are dried and used as "kalabham" powder, "chandanam" powder, and "javadhu" powder, respectively. "Chandanam" powder is very popular in India and is also used in Nepal. In Tirupati after religious tonsure, sandalwood paste is applied to protect the skin. In Hinduism and Ayurveda, sandalwood is thought to bring one closer to the divine. Thus, it is one of the most used holy elements in Hindu and Vedic societies.

Jainism.

Sandalwood use is integral part of daily practices of Jainism. Sandalwood paste mixed with saffron is used to worship "tirthankar" Jain deities. Sandalwood powder is showered as blessings by Jain monks and nuns ("sadhus" and "sadhvis") to their disciples and followers. Sandalwood garlands are used to dress the body during Jain cremation ceremonies. During the festival of Mahamastakabhisheka that is held once in every 12 years, the statue of Gommateshwara is then bathed and anointed with libations such as milk, sugarcane juice, and saffron paste, and sprinkled with powders of sandalwood, turmeric, and vermilion.

Buddhism.

Sandalwood is mentioned in various "suttas" of the Pāli Canon. In some Buddhist traditions, sandalwood is considered to be of the "padma" (lotus) group and attributed to Amitabha Buddha. Sandalwood scent is believed by some to transform one's desires and maintain a person's alertness while in meditation. It is also one of the most popular scents used when offering incense to the Buddha and the guru.

Sufism.

In "sufi" tradition, sandalwood paste is applied on the "sufi"’s grave by the disciples as a mark of devotion. It is practiced particularly among the Indian Subcontinent disciples. In the Tamil culture irrespective of religious identity, sandalwood paste or powder is applied to the graves of sufis as a mark of devotion and respect.

East Asian religions.

In East Asia, sandalwood (檀木), along with agarwood (沉香木), is the most commonly used incense material by the Chinese, Korean and Japanese in worship and various ceremonies. However, some sects of Taoists, following the Ming Dynasty Taoist Manual, do not use sandalwood (as well as benzoin resin, frankincense, foreign produced) incense and instead either use agarwood, or better still "Acronychia pedunculata", in worship. In Korean Shamanism, sandalwood is considered the Tree of Life.

Zoroastrianism.

Zoroastrians offer sandalwood twigs to the "afarganyu," the urn in which the fire is kept at the fire temple (called "agiyari" in Gujarati and "dar-e mehr" in Persian), to keep the fire burning during religious ceremonies. After the firekeeping priests complete the ceremony, attendees are allowed to come up to the "afarganyu" and place their own pieces of sandalwood into the fire. Fire has been a sacred symbol in the Zoroastrian religion since ancient times and it is considered very important to keep the fires in the temples constantly burning. Because of its high sensitivity to fire, sandalwood works very well for this. Also, the wood has been accepted by the Yasna and Yashts as an appropriate fuel for the fire. It is offered to all of the three grades of fire in the fire temple, including the Atash Dadgahs. Sandalwood is not offered to the "divo", a smaller lamp that is kept in the homes of Zoroastrians. Often, money is offered to the "mobad" (for religious expenditures) along with the sandalwood. Sandalwood is called "sukhad" in the Zoroastrian community. The sandalwood in the fire temple is often more expensive to buy than at a Zoroastrian store. It is often a source of income for the fire temple.

See also.

Sandalore

Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus "Santalum". The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for use. Sandalwood is the second-most expensive wood in the world, after African blackwood. Both the wood and the oil produce a distinctive fragrance that has been highly valued for centuries. Consequently, species of these slow-growing trees have suffered overharvesting in past centuries.

Santal est un nom vernaculaire ambigu désignant en français certains bois d'arbres appartenant principalement au genre "Santalum", de la famille des Santalacées. Les arbres des espèces produisant ce type de bois poussent naturellement en Inde, au Népal, en Australie, en Nouvelle-Calédonie, au Vanuatu et à Hawaii. Ce bois est utilisé comme encens, en aromathérapie et en parfumerie, plutôt que comme bois de construction ou de charpente, bien que des temples aient été construits en santal en Inde et conservent leur arôme depuis des siècles.