Process.

The term digitization is often used when diverse forms of information, such as an object, text, sound, image or voice, are converted into a single binary code. The core of the process is the compromise between the capturing device and the player device so that the rendered result represents the original source with the most possible fidelity, and the advantage of digitization is the speed and accuracy in which this form of information can be transmitted with no degradation compared with analog information.  Digital information exists as one of two digits, either 0 or 1. These are known as bits (a contraction of "binary digits") and the sequences of 0s and 1s that constitute information are called bytes.  Analog signals are continuously variable, both in the number of possible values of the signal "at" a given time, as well as in the number of points in the signal "in" a given period of time. However, digital signals are discrete in both of those respects – generally a finite sequence of integers – therefore a digitization can, in practical terms, only ever be an approximation of the signal it represents.  Digitization occurs in two parts: In general, these can occur at the same time, though they are conceptually distinct.  A series of digital integers can be transformed into an analog output that approximates the original analog signal. Such a transformation is called a DA conversion. The sampling rate and the number of bits used to represent the integers combine to determine how close such an approximation to the analog signal a digitization will be.

Examples.

The term is used to describe, for example, the scanning of analog sources (such as printed photos or taped videos) into computers for editing, 3D scanning that creates 3D modeling of an object's surface, and audio (where sampling rate is often measured in kilohertz) and texture map transformations. In this last case, as in normal photos, the sampling rate refers to the resolution of the image, often measured in pixels per inch.  Digitizing is the primary way of storing images in a form suitable for transmission and computer processing, whether scanned from two-dimensional analog originals or captured using an image sensor-equipped device such as a digital camera, tomographical instrument such as a CAT scanner, or acquiring precise dimensions from a real-world object, such as a car, using a 3D scanning device.  Digitizing is central to making digital representations of geographical features, using raster or vector images, in a geographic information system, i.e., the creation of electronic maps, either from various geographical and satellite imaging (raster) or by digitizing traditional paper maps or graphs (vector).  "Digitization" is also used to describe the process of populating databases with files or data. While this usage is technically inaccurate, it originates with the previously proper use of the term to describe that part of the process involving digitization of analog sources, such as printed pictures and brochures, before uploading to target databases.  Digitizing may also used in the field of apparel, where an image may be recreated with the help of embroidery digitizing software tools and saved as embroidery machine code. This machine code is fed into an embroidery machine and applied to the fabric. The most supported format is DST file. Apparel companies also digitize clothing patterns

Analog signals to digital.

Analog signals are continuous electrical signals; digital signals are non-continuous. Analog signals can be converted to digital signals by using an analog-to-digital converter.  Nearly all recorded music has been digitized. About 12 percent of the 500,000+ movies listed on the Internet Movie Database are digitized on DVD.  The handling of an analog signal becomes easy when it is digitized because the signal is digitized before modulation and transmission. The conversion process of analog to digital consists of two processes: sampling and quantizing.  Digitization of personal multimedia, such as home movies, slides, and photographs is a popular method of preserving and sharing older repositories. Slides and photographs may be scanned using an image scanner, but videos are more difficult. Slides can be digitized with different film scanner by Nikon such as the Nikon Coolscan 5000ED.  Another examples of digitization is VisualAudio process of the Swiss "Fonoteca Nazionale" in Lugano, that extract and reconstruct the sound from a high-resolution picture of a record.

Analog texts to digital.

At most 1 in 20 texts have been digitized as of 2006.  Older print books are being scanned and optical character recognition technologies have been applied by academic and public libraries, foundations, and private companies like Google.  Unpublished text documents on paper, which have some enduring historical or research value are being digitized by libraries and archives, though frequently at a much slower rate than for books (see digital libraries). In many cases, archives have replaced microfilming with digitization as a means of preserving and providing access to unique documents.

Implications.

This shift to digitization in the contemporary media world has created implications for traditional mass media products. However, these "limitations are still very unclear". The more technology advances, the more converged the realm of mass media will become with less need for traditional communication technologies. For example, the Internet has transformed many communication norms, creating more efficiency for not only individuals, but also for businesses. However, McQuail suggests traditional media have also benefited greatly from new media, allowing more effective and efficient resources available.

Library preservation.

In the context of libraries, archives, and museums, digitization is a means of creating digital surrogates of analog materials, such as books, newspapers, microfilm and videotapes, offers a variety of benefits, including increasing access, especially for patrons at a distance; contributing to collection development, through collaborative initiatives; enhancing the potential for research and education; and supporting preservation activities. Digitization can provide a means of preserving the content of the materials by creating an accessible facsimile of the object in order to put less strain on already fragile originals. For sounds, digitization of legacy analogue recordings is essential insurance against technological obsolescence. A fundamental aspect of planning digitization projects is to ensure that the digital files themselves are preserved and remain accessible; the term "digital preservation," in its most basic sense, refers to an array of activities undertaken to maintain access to digital materials over time.  The prevalent Brittle Books issue facing libraries across the world is being addressed with a digital solution for long term book preservation. Since the mid-1800s, books were printed on wood-pulp paper, which turns acidic as it decays. Deterioration may advance to a point where a book is completely unusable. In theory, if these widely circulated titles are not treated with de-acidification processes, the materials upon those acid pages will be lost. As digital technology evolves, it is increasingly preferred as a method of preserving these materials, mainly because it can provide easier access points and significantly reduce the need for physical storage space.  Cambridge University Library is working on the Cambridge Digital Library, which will initially contain digitised versions of many of its most important works relating to science and religion. These include examples such as Isaac Newton's personally annotated first edition of his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica as well as college notebooks and other papers, and some Islamic manuscripts such as a Quran from Tipu Sahib's library.  Google, Inc. has taken steps towards attempting to digitize every title with "Google Book Search". While some academic libraries have been contracted by the service, issues of copyright law violations threaten to derail the project. However, it does provide – at the very least – an online consortium for libraries to exchange information and for researchers to search for titles as well as review the materials.

Digitization versus digital preservation.

There is a common misconception that to digitize something is the same as digital preservation. To digitize something is to convert something from an analog into a digital format. An example would be scanning a photograph and having a digital copy on a computer. This is essentially the first step in digital preservation. To digitally preserve something is to maintain it over a long period of time.  Digital preservation is more complicated because technology changes so quickly that a format that was used to save something years ago may become obsolete, like a 5 1/4" floppy drive. Computers are no longer made with them, and obtaining the hardware to convert a file from an obsolete format to a newer one can be expensive. As a result, the upgrading process must take place every 2 to 5 years, or as newer technology becomes affordable, but before older technology becomes unobtainable. The Library of Congress provides numerous resources and tips for individuals looking to practice digitization and digital preservation for their personal collections.  Digital preservation can also apply to born-digital material. An example of something that is born-digital is a Microsoft Word document saved as a.docx file or a post to a social media site. In contrast, digitization only applies exclusively to analog materials. Born-digital materials present a unique challenge to digital preservation not only due to technological obsolescence but also because of the inherently unstable nature of digital storage and maintenance. Most websites last between 2.5 and 5 years, depending on the purpose for which they were designed.  Many libraries, archives, and museums, as well as other institutions struggle with catching up and staying current in regards to both digitization and digital preservation. Digitization is a time-consuming process, particularly depending on the condition of the holdings prior to being digitized. Some materials are so fragile that undergoing the process of digitization could damage them irreparably; light from a scanner can damage old photographs and documents. Despite potential damage, one reason for digitizing some materials is because they are so heavily used that digitization will help to preserve the original copy long past what its life would have been as a physical holding.  Digitization can also be quite expensive. Institutions want the best image quality in digital copies so that when they are converted from one format to another over time only a high-quality copy is maintained. Smaller institutions may not be able to afford such equipment. Manpower at many facilities also limits how much material can be digitized. Archivists and librarians must have an idea of what their patrons wish to see most and try to prioritize and meet those needs digitally.  Labour resources and funding also limit digital preservation in many institutions. The cost of upgrading hardware or software every few years can be prohibitively expensive. Training is another issue, since many librarians and archivists do not have a computer science background. Intellectual control of digital holdings presents yet another issue which sometimes occurs when the physical holdings have not yet been entirely processed. One suggested timeframe for completely transcribing digital holdings was every ten to twenty years, making the process an ongoing and time-consuming one.

Digital reformatting.

Digital reformatting is the process of converting analogue materials into a digital format as a surrogate of the original. The digital surrogates perform a preservation function by reducing or eliminating the use of the original. Digital reformatting is guided by established best practices to ensure that materials are being converted at the highest quality.

Digital reformatting at the Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress has been actively reformatting materials for its American Memory project and developed best standards and practices pertaining to book handling during the digitization process, scanning resolutions, and preferred file formats. Some of these standards are:  A list of archival standards for digital preservation can be found on the ARL website.  The Library of Congress has constituted a Preservation Digital Reformatting Program. The Three main components of the program include:

Audio digitization and reformatting.

Audio media offers a rich source of historic ethnographic information, with the earliest forms of recorded sound dating back to 1890. According to the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), these sources of audio data, as well as the aging technologies used to play them back, are in imminent danger of permanent loss due to degradation and obsolescence. These primary sources are called “carriers” and exist in a variety of formats, including wax cylinders, magnetic tape, and flat discs of grooved media, among others. Some formats are susceptible to more severe, or quicker, degradation than others. For instance, lacquer discs suffer from delamination. Analog tape may deteriorate due to sticky shed syndrome.  Archival workflow and file standardization have been developed to minimize loss of information from the original carrier to the resulting digital file as digitization is under way. For most at-risk formats (magnetic tape, grooved cylinders, etc), a similar workflow can be observed. Examination of the source carrier will help determine what, if any, steps need to be taken to repair material prior to transfer. Similar inspection must be undertaken for the playback machines. If satisfactory conditions are met for both carrier and playback machine, transfer can take place, moderated by an analog-to-digital converter. The digital signal is then represented visually for the transfer engineer by a digital audio workstation, like Audacity, WaveLab, or ProTools. Reference access copies can be made at smaller sample rates. For archival purposes, it is standard to transfer at a sample rate of 96 kHz and a bit depth of 24 bits per channel.

Lean philosophy.

The broad use of internet and the increasing popularity of lean philosophy has also increased the use and meaning of "digitizing" to describe improvements in the efficiency of organizational processes. Lean philosophy refers to the approach which considers any use of time and resources, which does not lead directly to creating a product, as waste and therefore a target for elimination. This will often involve some kind of Lean process in order to simplify process activities, with the aim of implementing new "lean and mean" processes by digitizing data and activities. Digitization can help to eliminate time waste by introducing wider access to data, or by implementation of enterprise resource planning systems.

Fiction.

Works of science-fiction often include the term digitize as the act of transforming people into digital signals and sending them into digital technology. When that happens, the people disappear from the real world and appear in a virtual world (as featured in the cult film "Tron", the animated series "", or the late 1980s live-action series "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future"). In the video game "Beyond Good & Evil", the protagonist's holographic friend digitizes the player's inventory items. One Super Friends cartoon episode showed Wonder Woman and Jayna freeing the world's men (including the male super heroes) onto computer tape by the female villainess Medula.

Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-readable) format, in which the information is organized into bits. The result is the representation of an object, image, sound, document or signal (usually an analog signal) by generating a series of numbers that describe a discrete set of points or samples. The result is called "digital representation" or, more specifically, a "digital image", for the object, and "digital form", for the signal. In modern practice, the digitized data is in the form of binary numbers, which facilitate computer processing and other operations, but, strictly speaking, digitizing simply means the conversion of analog source material into a numerical format; the decimal or any other number system that can be used instead.

La numérisation est la conversion des informations d'un support (texte, image, audio, vidéo) ou d'un signal électrique en données numériques que des dispositifs informatiques ou d'électronique numérique pourront traiter. Les données numériques se définissent comme une suite de caractères et de nombres qui représentent des informations. On utilise parfois le terme franglais "digitalisation" ("digit" signifiant chiffre en anglais).


Development history.

After disappointing results with the multi-turreted T-35 heavy tank, Soviet tank designers started drawing up replacements. The T-35 conformed to the 1920s notion of a "breakthrough tank" with very heavy firepower and armour protection, but suffered from poor mobility. The Spanish Civil War demonstrated the need for much heavier armour on tanks, and was the main influence on Soviet tank design just prior to World War II.  Several competing designs were offered, and even more were drawn up prior to reaching prototype stage. All had heavy armour, torsion-bar suspension, wide tracks, and were of welded and cast construction. One of the main competing designs was the SMK, which in its final form had two turrets, mounting one 76.2 mm and one 45 mm weapon. The designers of the SMK independently drew up a single-turreted variant and this received approval at the highest level. Two of these, named after the People's Defence Commissioner, were ordered alongside a single SMK. The smaller hull and single turret enabled the designer to install heavy frontal and turret armour while keeping the weight within manageable limits.  The KV was ordered right off the drawing board. When the Soviets entered the Winter War, the SMK, KV and a third design, the T-100, were sent to be tested in combat conditions. The KV outperformed the SMK and T-100 designs. The KV's heavy armour proved highly resistant to Finnish anti-tank weapons, making it more difficult to stop. In 1939, the production of 50 KVs was ordered. During the war, the Soviets found it difficult to deal with the concrete bunkers used by the Finns and a request was made for a tank with a large howitzer. One of the rush projects to meet the request put the howitzer in a new turret on one of the KV tanks. Initially known as 'Little turret KV' and 'Big turret KV', the 76-mm-armed tank was redesignated as the KV-1 Heavy Tank and the 152 mm howitzer one as KV-2 Heavy Artillery Tank.  KV tanks first faced the Germans in the Battle of Raseiniai, just after the start of Operation Barbarossa. On 23 June, over 200 German tanks advancing through Lithuania encountered Soviet armor, including KV-1 and KV-2 tanks. While their frontal armor was sufficient to deflect anti-tank fire, German troops were able to outflank them and destroy them with explosive charges or lure them to within point-blank range of direct-fire artillery. Of the more than 200 Soviet tanks lost at Raseiniai, 29 were KVs.  The KV's strengths included armour that was impenetrable by any tank-mounted weapon then in service except at point-blank range, that it had good firepower, and that it had good flotation on soft ground. It also had serious flaws: it was difficult to steer; the transmission (which was a twenty-year-old Holt Caterpillar design) "was the main stumbling block of the KV-1, and there was some truth to rumors of Soviet drivers having to shift gears with a hand sledge"; and the ergonomics were poor, with limited visibility. Furthermore, at 45 tons, it was simply too heavy. This severely impacted the maneuverability, not so much in terms of maximum speed, as through inability to cross many bridges medium tanks could cross. The KV outweighed most other tanks of the era, being about twice as heavy as the heaviest German tank at that time (before the Tiger). As appliqué armour and other improvements were added without increasing engine power, later models were less capable of keeping up to speed with medium tanks and had more trouble with difficult terrain. In addition, its firepower was no better than that of the T-34. It took field reports from senior commanders "and certified heroes", who could be honest without risk of punishment, to reveal "what a dog the KV-1 really was".

Further development.

By 1942, when the Germans were fielding large numbers of long-barrelled 50 mm and 75 mm guns, the KV's armour was no longer impenetrable, requiring the installation of additional appliqué armour. The KV-1's side (favourable approach: 30° at 300–500 m distance), top, and turret armour could also be penetrated by the high-velocity Mk 101 30 mm cannon carried by German ground attack aircraft, such as the Henschel Hs 129. The KV-1's 76.2 mm gun also came in for criticism. While adequate against all German tanks, it was the same gun as carried by smaller, faster, and cheaper T-34 medium tanks. In 1943, it was determined that this gun could not easily penetrate the frontal armour of the new Tiger, the first German heavy tank, one of which was captured near Leningrad. The KV-1 was also much more difficult to manufacture and thus more expensive than the T-34. In short, its advantages no longer outweighed its drawbacks.  Nonetheless, because of its initial superior performance, the KV-1 was chosen as one of the few tanks to continue being built following the Soviet reorganization of tank production. Due to the new standardization, it shared a similar engine and gun as the T-34 (the KV used a 600 hp V-2K modification of the T-34's V-2 diesel engine, and had a ZiS-5 main gun while the T-34 had a similar F-34 main gun), was built in large quantities, and received frequent upgrades.  When production shifted to the Ural Mountains "Tankograd" complex, the KV-2 was dropped. While impressive on paper, it had been designed as a slow-moving bunker-buster. It was less useful in the highly mobile, fluid warfare that developed in World War II. The turret was so heavy it was difficult to traverse on uneven terrain. Finally, it was expensive to produce. Only about 300 KV-2s were made, all in 1940-41, making it one of the rarest Soviet tanks. As the war continued, the KV-1 continued to get more armour to compensate for the increasing effectiveness of German weapons. This culminated in the KV-1 model 1942 (German designation KV-1C), which had very heavy armour, but lacked a corresponding improvement to the engine. Tankers complained that, although they were well-protected, their mobility was poor and they had no firepower advantage over the T-34 medium tank.

KV-1S.

In response to criticisms, the lighter KV-1S was developed, with thinner armour and a smaller, lower turret in order to reclaim some speed. The KV-1S had a commander's cupola with all-around vision blocks. It also had a sophisticated planetary transmission that significantly increased the reliability, and allowed use of more efficient regenerative geared steering, unlike the solely clutch and brake steering systems used by the Panzer III, IV and T-34 and previous KV tanks. Its reduced weight allowed it to achieve a top speed of 43.3 km/h. Over 1,300 were built before production ended in August 1943. Although the KV-1S was, according to some, the best of the KV tanks, overcoming its predecessors' problems (at a cost of losing the heavy armor that made the earlier tanks so valuable, making it more of slow medium tank than a heavy tank), more modern tanks were already in sight. Up-arming the regular turret of the KV-1S with an 85 mm S-31 resulted in the KV-1S-85. This was rejected as it came with the unacceptable loss of a dedicated commander, reducing the turret crew to two (unlike the 3-man turret fitted to the T-34/85). However, the thinning-out of the armour called into question why the tank was being produced at all, when the T-34 could seemingly do everything the KV could do and much more cheaply. The Soviet heavy tank program was close to cancellation in mid-1943.  The appearance of the German Panther tank in the summer of 1943 convinced the Red Army to make a serious upgrade of its tank force for the first time since 1941. Soviet tanks needed bigger guns to take on the growing numbers of Panthers and the few Tigers.

KV-85.

A stopgap upgrade to the KV series was the short-lived KV-85 or "Objekt" 239. This was a KV-1S with the new turret from the Object 237 (IS-85) still in development, mounting the same 85 mm D-5T gun as the SU-85 and early versions of the T-34-85 (not yet in production at the time). The 85 mm proved capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m and the demand for it slowed production of the KV-85 tremendously (only 148 were built in the end). The KV-85 appeared on the front beginning in September 1943 and its production ended by December 1943. Soviet industry was therefore able to produce a heavy tank as well armed as the Tiger I before the end of 1943. Although the KV-85 was an excellent opponent to the Tigers and Panthers, it was a stopgap and thus was built in small numbers. The complete Object 237 was accepted into service as the IS-85 and was produced in the autumn and winter of 1943-44; they were sent to the front as of October 1943 and production of the IS-85/IS-1 was stopped by the spring of 1944 once the IS-122/IS-2 entered full-scale production.

Successor.

A new heavy tank design entered production late in 1943 based on the work done on the KV-13. Because Voroshilov had fallen out of political favour, the new heavy tank series was named the Iosif Stalin tank, after the Soviet leader Stalin. The KV-13 program's IS-85 prototype was accepted for production as the IS-1 (or IS-85, "Object" 237) heavy tank. After testing with both the 100 mm D-10 and 122 mm guns, the D-25T 122 mm gun was selected as the main armament of the new tank, primarily because of its ready availability and the effect of its large high-explosive shell when attacking German fortifications. The 122 mm D-25T used a separate shell and powder charge, resulting in a lower rate of fire and reduced ammunition capacity. While the 122 mm armour-piercing shell had a lower muzzle velocity than similar late German 7.5 cm and 8.8 cm guns, proving-ground tests established that the 122 mm could penetrate the frontal armour of the German Panther tank at 2500 metres and the HE shell would easily blow off the drive sprocket and tread of the heaviest German tank or self-propelled gun. The IS-122 replaced the IS-85, and began mass production as the IS-2. The 85 mm gun saw service in the lighter SU-85 and T-34-85.

Models.

The Soviets did not recognize different production models of KV-1 during the war; designations like "model 1939" (M1939, Russian: "Obr. 1939") were introduced later in military publications. These designations, however, are not strict and describe leading changes, while other changes might be adapted earlier or later in specific production batches. Designations like "KV-1A" were applied by the Germans during the war. All tanks in the series were heavily based on the KV-1.

Combat history.

June 1941 Battle of Raseiniai.

A KV-1 or KV-2 tank (accounts vary) advanced far behind the German lines after attacking a column of German trucks. The tank stopped on a road across soft ground and was engaged by four 50 mm anti-tank guns of the 6th Panzer Division's anti-tank battalion. The tank was hit multiple times by it but fired back, disabling all four guns. A heavy 88 mm gun of the German division's anti-aircraft battalion was moved about behind the tank, but was knocked out by the tank before it could score a hit. During the night, German combat engineers attempted to destroy the tank with satchel charges, but were unable to, despite possibly damaging the tracks. Early on the morning of 25 June, German tanks fired on the KV from the woodland while an 88 mm targeted the tank from its rear. Of several shots fired, only two penetrated the tank. German infantry then advanced, with the KV opening machine-gun fire against them. The tank's resistance was finally ended by grenades thrown into the tank's hatches. According to some accounts, the crew was buried by the German soldiers with full military honours; in other accounts, the crew escaped during the night.  General Erhard Raus was Commander of the 6th Panzer Division's Kampfgruppe, the unit delayed by the lone vehicle. He described it as a KV-1, which was damaged by several 88mm anti-tank gun shots fired from behind the vehicle while it was distracted by Panzer 35(t) tanks from Panzer Battalion 65, and the KV-1 crew were killed by members of a pioneer unit who pushed grenades through two holes made by the gun while the turret began moving again, the other five or six shots having not fully penetrated. Apparently, the KV-1 crew had remarkably only been stunned by the shots which had entered the turret. Afterwards, they were buried nearby with military honours by the German unit.

Krasnogvardeysk.

On August 14, 1941, the vanguard of the German 8th Panzer Division approached Krasnogvardeysk (Gatchina) near Leningrad (St Petersburg), and the only Soviet force available at the time to attempt to stop the German advance consisted of five well-hidden KV-1 tanks, dug in within a grove at the edge of a swamp. KV-1 tank no. 864 was commanded by the leader of this small force, Lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov.  German forces attacked Krasnogvardeysk from three directions. Near Noviy Uchkhoz settlement the geography favoured the Soviet defenders as the only road in the region passed the swamp, and the defenders commanded this choke point from their hidden position. Lieutenant Kolobanov had carefully studied the situation and readied his detachment the day before. Each KV-1 tank carried twice the normal amount of ammunition, two-thirds being armour-piercing rounds. Kolobanov ordered his other commanders to hold their fire and await orders. He did not want to reveal the total force, so only one exposed tank at a time would engage the enemy.  On August 14, the German 8th Panzer Division's vanguard ventured directly into the well-prepared Soviet ambush, with Kolobanov's tank knocking out the lead German tank with its first shot. The Germans falsely assumed that their lead tank had hit an anti-tank mine, and failed to realize that they had been ambushed. The German column stopped, giving Kolobanov the opportunity to destroy the second tank. Only then did the Germans realize they were under attack, but they failed to find the source of the shots. While the German tanks were firing blindly, Kolobanov knocked out the trailing German tank, thus boxing in the entire column.  Although the Germans correctly guessed the direction of fire, they could only spot Lieutenant Kolobanov's tank, and now attempted to engage an unseen enemy. German tanks moving off the road bogged down in the surrounding soft ground, becoming easy targets. 22 German tanks and 2 towed artillery pieces fell victim to Kolobanov's No. 864 before it ran out of ammunition. Kolobanov ordered in another KV-1, and 21 more German tanks were destroyed before the half-hour battle ended. A total of 43 German tanks were destroyed by just five Soviet KV-1s (two more remained in reserve).  After the battle, the crew of No. 865 counted a total of 135 hits on their tank, none of which had penetrated the KV-1's armour. Lieutenant Kolobanov was awarded the Order of Lenin, while his driver Usov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Later on, former Captain Zinoviy Kolobanov was again decorated by Soviet authorities, despite having been convicted and downgraded after the Winter War for "fraternizing with the enemy." After the end of World War II, Lieutenant Kolobanov served in the Soviet occupation zone in East Germany, where he was convicted again when a subordinate escaped to the British occupation zone, and was transferred to the reserves.  The battle for Krasnogvardeysk was covered up by Soviet propaganda. A monument dedicated to this battle was installed in the village of Noviy Uchkhoz in 1980, at the place where Kolobanov's KV-1 was dug in, due solely to the demands of the villagers. Unfortunately it was impossible to find a KV-1 tank, so an IS-2 heavy tank was installed there instead.  The Soviet victory was the result of a well-planned ambush in advantageous ground and of technical superiority. Most of the German tanks in this battle were Panzer IIs, armed with 20 mm guns, and a few Panzer IIIs armed with 37 mm KwK 36 L/46.5 guns. The German tank guns had neither the range nor the power of the 76 mm main gun of a KV-1, and the narrower track width of the German tanks caused them to become trapped in the swampy ground.

WWII overview.

Some KVs remained in service right up to the end of the war, although in greatly diminishing numbers as they wore out or were knocked out.  The 260th Guards Heavy Breakthrough Tank Regiment, based on the Leningrad front, operated a number of vintage 1941 KV-1s at least as late as the summer of 1944 before re-equipping with IS-2s.  A few KV-85s were used in Crimea in the summer of 1944.  A regiment of KVs saw service in Manchuria in August 1945.  The Finnish forces had two KV-1s, nicknamed "Klimi", a Model 1940 and Model 1941, both of which received minor upgrades in their service, and both of which survived the war.  Romanian forces captured one KV-1 as of 1 November 1942 and one more in March 1944.

The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks, a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defence commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov, operated with the Red Army during World War II. The KV tanks were known for their heavy armour protection during the early stages of the war, especially during the first year of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In certain situations, even a single KV-1 or KV-2 supported by infantry could halt large German formations. The German Wehrmacht at that time rarely deployed its tanks against KVs, as their own armament was too poor to deal with the ""Russischer Koloss"" – "Russian Colossus".

La série de chars KV (initiales du ministre de la défense de l'URSS entre 1925 et 1940, le maréchal Kliment Vorochilov) est une série de chars de rupture soviétique qui a été produite de 1939 à 1943. Les chars sont conçus et fabriqués par le bureau SKB-2 de l’usine de chars Kirov à Léningrad. La série KV inclut divers prototypes et chars d'essais, dont les modèles KV-1 et KV-2 ont été fabriqués en série. Au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, l'usine de tracteurs de Tcheliabinsk a également produit des chars KV.


History.

In the early 12th century, Saint-Omer was an important port in western Flanders. Silting gradually cut it off from the North Sea, resulting in the construction of a canal to the new coast at what is now Gravelines. The name is derived from the Dutch "Gravenenga", meaning Count's Canal. The new town became heavily fortified as it guarded the western borders of Spanish territory in Flanders.  Gravelines was taken by Henry le Despenser's English forces during the Norwich Crusade of 1383 and was that year destroyed on his orders as the English retreated towards Calais.  There was a famous meeting at Gravelines in 1520, between the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Henry VIII of England. There were two battles fought nearby: the first was a land battle in 1558 resulting in a victory by Spanish forces of Lamoral, Count of Egmont over the French under Marshal Paul des Thermes, while the second was a naval attack using fire ships in 1588 launched by England's Royal Navy under Lord Howard against the Spanish Armada at anchor. Gravelines was also the setting for Sir Philip Sidney's failure to deliver the town from Spanish occupation in July 1586, which is described in the anonymous "A Discourse of the enterprise of Gravelines".  The town was captured and recaptured several times by the French and Spanish between 1639 and 1658. It was finally annexed to France in the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659.  Only in the 19th century did the population become entirely French-speaking.  On May 24, 1940, during the Fall of France, German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, commanding Army Group A, ordered his armored divisions to close up the "Canal Line" of Lens-Gravelines, and halt there.  The charter between Dartford and Gravelines was signed in Gravelines on the 22 September 1991 by The Mayor, Councillor Tony Gillham, on behalf of Dartford Borough Council and Councillor A. May on behalf of the Dartford and District Twinning Association together with The Mayor of Gravelines, Monsieur A. Denvers and Monsieur C. Marquis, Chairman of their Jumelage (which is Gravelines' equivalent to Dartford's Twinning Association).

Economy.

Today, the small town is famous for its nuclear energy plant. It also hosts two OVH data centers, GRA-1 and GRA-2.

Gravelines (, ; ; ) is a commune in the Nord department in Northern France. It lies at the mouth of the river Aa southwest of Dunkirk. It was formed in the 12th century around the mouth of a canal built to connect Saint-Omer with the sea. As it was on the western borders of Spanish territory in Flanders it became heavily fortified, some of which still remains.

Gravelines (Néerlandais: Grevelingen) est une commune française située dans le département du Nord, en région administrative Hauts-de-France. Ses habitants sont appelés les "Gravelinois".


Geology and physical features.

Kilimanjaro is a large stratovolcano composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo, the highest; Mawenzi at ; and Shira, the lowest at. Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, while Kibo is dormant and could erupt again.  Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo's crater rim. The Tanzania National Parks Authority, a Tanzanian government agency, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization lists the height of Uhuru Peak as, based on a British survey in 1952. The height has since been measured as in 1999, in 2008, and in 2014.

Geology.

The geology of the interior of the volcanic edifice is poorly known, given the lack of large scale erosion that could have exposed the interior of the volcano.  Eruptive activity at the Shira centre commenced about 2.5 million years ago, with the last important phase occurring about 1.9 million years ago, just before the northern part of the edifice collapsed. Shira is topped by a broad plateau at, which may be a filled caldera. The remnant caldera rim has been degraded deeply by erosion. Before the caldera formed and erosion began, Shira might have been between 4,900 m (16,000 ft) and 5,200 m (17,000 ft) high. It is mostly composed of basic lavas, with some pyroclastics. The formation of the caldera was accompanied by lava emanating from ring fractures, but there was no large scale explosive activity. Two cones formed subsequently, the phonolitic one at the northwest end of the ridge and the doleritic Platzkegel in the caldera centre.  Both Mawenzi and Kibo began erupting about 1 million years ago. They are separated by the Saddle Plateau at elevation.  The youngest dated rocks at Mawenzi are about 448,000 years old. Mawenzi forms a horseshoe-shaped ridge with pinnacles and ridges opening to the northeast, with a tower-like shape resulting from deep erosion and a mafic dike swarm. Several large cirques cut into the ring. The largest of these sits on top of the Great Barranco gorge. Also notable are the East and West Barrancos on the northeastern side of the mountain. Most of the eastern side of the mountain has been removed by erosion. Mawenzi has a subsidiary peak, Neumann Tower,.  Kibo is the largest cone on the mountain and is more than wide at the Saddle Plateau altitude. The last activity here, dated to 150,000–200,000 years ago, created the current Kibo summit crater. Kibo still has gas-emitting fumaroles in its crater. Kibo is capped by an almost symmetrical cone with escarpments rising on the south side. These escarpments define a caldera caused by the collapse of the summit.  Within this caldera is the Inner Cone and within the crater of the Inner Cone is the Reusch Crater, which the Tanganyika government in 1954 named after Gustav Otto Richard Reusch, upon his climbing the mountain for the 25th time (out of 65 attempts during his lifetime). The Ash Pit, deep, lies within the Reusch Crater. About 100,000 years ago, part of Kibo's crater rim collapsed, creating the area known as the Western Breach and the Great Barranco.  An almost continuous layer of lava buries most older geological features, with the exception of exposed strata within the Great West Notch and the Kibo Barranco. The former exposes intrusions of syenite. Kibo has five main lava formations:  Kibo has more than 250 parasitic cones on its northwest and southeast flanks that were formed between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago and erupted picrobasalts, trachybasalts, ankaramites, and basanites. They reach as far as Lake Chala and Taveta in the southeast and the Lengurumani Plain in the northwest. Most of these cones are well preserved, with the exception of the Saddle Plateau cones that were heavily affected by glacial action. Despite their mostly small size, lava from the cones has obscured large portions of the mountain. The Saddle Plateau cones are mostly cinder cones with terminal effusion of lava, while the Upper Rombo Zone cones mostly generated lava flows. All Saddle Plateau cones predate the last glaciation.  According to reports gathered in the 19th century from the Maasai, Lake Chala on Kibo's eastern flank was the site of a village that was destroyed by an eruption.

Drainage.

The mountain is drained by a network of rivers and streams, especially on the wetter and more heavily eroded southern side and especially above. Below that altitude, increased evaporation and human water usage reduces the waterflows. The Lumi and Pangani rivers drain Kilimanjaro on the eastern and southern sides, respectively.

Name.

The origin of the name Kilimanjaro is not known, but a number of theories exist. European explorers had adopted the name by 1860 and reported that Kilimanjaro was the mountain's Kiswahili name. The 1907 edition of "The Nuttall Encyclopædia" also records the name of the mountain as Kilima-Njaro.  Johann Ludwig Krapf wrote in 1860 that Swahilis along the coast called the mountain Kilimanjaro. Although he did not offer any support, he claimed that Kilimanjaro meant either mountain of greatness or mountain of caravans. Under the latter meaning, "kilima" meant mountain and "jaro" meant caravans. Jim Thompson claimed in 1885, again without support, that the term Kilima-Njaro "has generally been understood to mean" the mountain ("kilima") of greatness ("njaro"). He also suggested "though not improbably it may mean" the white mountain.  "Njaro" is an ancient Kiswahili word for shining. Similarly, Krapf wrote that a chief of the Wakamba people, whom he visited in 1849, "had been to Jagga and had seen the "Kima jajeu", mountain of whiteness, the name given by the Wakamba to Kilimanjaro..." More correctly in the Kikamba language this would be "kiima kyeu", and this possible derivation has been popular with several investigators.  Others have assumed that "kilima" is Kiswahili for mountain. The problem with this assumption is that "kilima" actually means hill and is, therefore, the diminutive of "mlima", the proper Kiswahili word for mountain. However, "[i]t is... possible... that an early European visitor, whose knowledge of [Kiswahili] was not extensive, changed "mlima" to "kilima" by analogy with the two Wachagga names: "Kibo" and "Kimawenzi"." A different approach is to assume that the kileman part of Kilimanjaro comes from the Kichagga "kileme", which means that which defeats, or "kilelema", which means that which has become difficult or impossible. The jaro part would "then be derived from "njaare", a bird; or, according to other informants, a leopard; or, possibly from "jyaro", a caravan". Considering that the name Kilimanjaro has never been current among the Wachagga people, it is possible that the name was derived from Wachagga saying that the mountain was unclimbable, "kilemanjaare" or "kilemajyaro", and porters misinterpreting this as being the name of the mountain.  In the 1880s, the mountain became a part of German East Africa and was called Kilima-Ndscharo in German following the Kiswahili name components. On 6 October 1889, Hans Meyer reached the highest summit on the crater ridge of Kibo. He named it Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze (Kaiser Wilhelm peak). That name was used until Tanzania was formed in 1964, when the summit was renamed Uhuru Peak, meaning freedom peak in Kiswahili.

Transportation.

The national park is accessible by road. In Tanzania, Kilimanjaro International Airport also serves as an important traffic hub.

History.

First sightings by non-Africans.

The mountain may have been known to non-Africans since antiquity. Sailors' reports recorded by Ptolemy mention a "moon mountain" and a spring lake of the Nile, which may indicate Kilimanjaro; although available historical information does not allow differentiation among others in East Africa like Mount Kenya, the mountains of Ethiopia, the Virunga Mountains, the Rwenzori Mountains, and Kilimanjaro. Before Ptolemy, Aeschylus and Herodotus referred to "Egypt nurtured by the snows" and to a spring between two mountains, respectively. One of these mentions two tall mountains in the coastal regions with a valley with traces of fire between. Martín Fernández de Enciso, a Spanish traveller to Mombasa who obtained information about the interior from native caravans, said in his "Summa de Geografía" (1519) that west of Mombasa "stands the Ethiopian Mount Olympus, which is exceedingly high, and beyond it are the Mountains of the Moon, in which are the sources of the Nile".  The German missionaries Johannes Rebmann of Mombasa and Krapf were the first Europeans known to have attempted to reach the mountain. According to English geographer Halford Mackinder and English explorer Harry Johnston, Rebmann in 1848 was the first European to report the existence of Kilimanjaro. Hans Meyer has claimed that Rebmann first arrived in Africa in 1846 and quotes Rebmann's diary entry of 11 May 1848 as saying,

19th and 20th century explorers.

In August 1861, the Prussian officer Baron Karl Klaus von der Decken accompanied by English geologist R. Thornton made an attempt to climb Kibo but "got no farther than owing to the inclemency of the weather". In December 1862, von der Decken tried a second time together with Otto Kersten, reaching a height of.  In August 1871, missionary Charles New became the "first European to reach the equatorial snows" on Kilimanjaro at an elevation of slightly more than. In June 1887, the Hungarian Count Sámuel Teleki and the Austrian Lieutenant Ludwig von Höhnel made an attempt to climb the mountain. Approaching from the saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo, Höhnel stopped at, but Teleki continued until he reached the snow at. Later in 1887, the German geology professor Hans Meyer reached the lower edge of the ice cap on Kibo, where he was forced to turn back because he lacked the equipment needed to progress across the ice. The following year, Meyer planned another attempt with Oscar Baumann, a cartographer, but the mission was aborted after the pair were held hostage and ransomed during the Abushiri Revolt. In the autumn of 1888, the American naturalist Dr. Abbott and the German explorer Otto Ehrenfried Ehlers approached the summit from the northwest. While Abbott turned back earlier, Ehlers at first claimed to have reached the summit rim, but after severe criticism of the claim, withdrew it.  In 1889, Meyer returned to Kilimanjaro with the Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller for a third attempt. This attempt was based on the establishment of several campsites with food supplies so that multiple attempts at the top could be made without having to descend too far. Meyer and Purtscheller pushed to near the crater rim on 3 October but turned back exhausted from hacking footsteps in the icy slope. Three days later, they reached the highest summit, on the southern rim of the crater. They were the first to confirm that Kibo has a crater. After descending to the saddle between Kibo and Mawenzi, Meyer and Purtscheller attempted to climb the more technically challenging Mawenzi but could only reach the top of Klute Peak, a subsidiary peak, before retreating due to illness. On 18 October, they reascended Kibo to enter and study the crater, cresting the rim at Hans Meyers Notch. In total, Meyer and Purtscheller spent 16 days above during their expedition. They were accompanied in their high camps by Mwini Amani of Pangani, who cooked and supplied the sites with water and firewood.  The first ascent of the highest summit of Mawenzi was made on 29 July 1912, by the German climbers Eduard Hans Oehler and Fritz Klute, who named it Hans Meyer Peak. Oehler and Klute went on to make the third-ever ascent of Kibo, via the Drygalski Glacier, and descended via the Western Breach.  In 1989, the organizing committee of the 100-year celebration of the first ascent decided to award posthumous certificates to the African porter-guides who had accompanied Meyer and Purtscheller. One person in pictures or documents of the 1889 expedition was thought to match a living inhabitant of Marangu, Yohani Kinyala Lauwo. Lauwo did not know his own age, nor remember Meyer or Purtscheller. He did recall joining a Kilimanjaro expedition involving a Dutch doctor who lived near the mountain, and that he did not wear shoes during the climb. Lauwo claimed that he had climbed the mountain three times before the beginning of World War I. The committee concluded that he had been a member of Meyer's team and therefore must have been born around 1871. Lauwo died on 10 May 1996, 107 years after the first ascent. It is sometimes suggested that he was a co-first-ascendant of Kilimanjaro.

Mapping.

A map of the Kibo cone on Mount Kilimanjaro was published by the British government's Directorate of Overseas Surveys (DOS) in 1964 based on aerial photography conducted in 1962 as the "Subset of Kilimanjaro, East Africa (Tanganyika) Series Y742, Sheet 56/2, D.O.S. 422 1964, Edition 1, Scale 1:50,000". Tourist mapping was first published by the Ordnance Survey in England in 1989 based on the original DOS mapping at a scale of 1:100,000, with contour intervals, as DOS 522. West Col Productions produced a map with tourist information in 1990, at a scale of 1:75,000, with contour intervals; it included inset maps of Kibo and Mawenzi on 1:20,000 and 1:30,000 scales respectively and with contour intervals. In recent years, numerous other maps have become available, of various qualities.

Vegetation.

Natural forests cover about on Kilimanjaro. In the foothill area maize, beans, sunflowers and, on the western side, wheat are cultivated. Remnants of the former savanna vegetation with "Acacia", "Combretum", "Terminalia" and "Grewia" also occur. Between and, coffee also appears as part of the "Chagga home gardens" agroforestry. Native vegetation at this altitude range ("Strombosia", "Newtonia", and "Entandrophragma") is limited to inaccessible valleys and gorges and is completely different from vegetation at higher altitudes. On the southern slope montane forests first contain "Ocotea usambarensis" as well as ferns and epiphytes, farther up in cloud forests "Podocarpus latifolius", "Hagenia abyssinica" and "Erica excelsa" grow as well as fog-dependent mosses. On the drier northern slopes olive, "Croton"-"Calodendrum", "Cassipourea", and "Juniperus" form forests in order of increasing altitude. Between and lie "Erica" bush and heathlands, followed by "Helichrysum" until. Neophytes have been observed, including "Poa annua".  Records from the Maundi crater at indicate that the vegetation of Kilimanjaro has varied over time. Forest vegetation retreated during the Last Glacial Maximum and the ericaceous vegetation belt lowered by between 42,000 and 30,000 years ago because of the drier and colder conditions.  The Tussock Grassland is an area on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro that contains many unique species of vegetation such as the water holding cabbage.

Animal life.

Large animals are rare on Kilimanjaro and are more frequent in the forests and lower parts of the mountain. Elephants and Cape buffaloes are among the animals that can be potentially hazardous to trekkers. Bushbucks, chameleons, dik-diks, duikers, mongooses, sunbirds, and warthogs have also been reported. Zebras, leopards and hyenas have been observed sporadically on the Shira plateau. Specific species associated with the mountain include the Kilimanjaro shrew and the chameleon "Kinyongia tavetana".

Climate.

The climate of Kilimanjaro is influenced by the height of the mountain, which allows the simultaneous influence of the equatorial trade winds and the high altitude anti-trades; and by the isolated position of the mountain. Kilimanjaro has daily upslope and nightly downslope winds, a regimen stronger on the southern than the northern side of the mountain. The flatter southern flanks are more extended and affect the atmosphere more strongly.  Kilimanjaro has two distinct rainy seasons, one from March to May and another around November. The northern slopes receive much less rainfall than the southern ones. The lower southern slope receives annually, rising to at altitude and peaking "partly over" in the forest belt at. In the alpine zone, annual precipitation decreases to.  The average temperature in the summit area is approximately. Nighttime surface temperatures on the Northern Ice Field (NIF) fall on average to with an average daytime high of. During nights of extreme radiational cooling, the NIF can cool to as low as.  Snowfall can occur at any time of year but is mostly associated with northern Tanzania's two rainy seasons. Precipitation in the summit area occurs principally as snow and graupel of per year and ablates within days or years.

Glaciers.

Kibo's diminishing ice cap exists because Kilimanjaro is a little-dissected, massive mountain that rises above the snow line. The cap is divergent and at the edges splits into individual glaciers. The central portion of the ice cap is interrupted by the presence of the Kibo crater. The summit glaciers and ice fields do not display significant horizontal movements because their low thickness precludes major deformation.  Geological evidence shows five successive glacial episodes during the Quaternary period, namely First (500,000 BP), Second (greater than 360,000 years ago to 240,000 BP), Third (150,000 to 120,000 BP), Fourth (also known as "Main") (20,000 to 17,000 BP), and Little (16,000 to 14,000 BP). The Third may have been the most extensive, and the Little appears to be statistically indistinguishable from the Fourth.  A continuous ice cap covering approximately down to an elevation of covered Kilimanjaro during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Pleistocene epoch (the Main glacial episode), extending across the summits of Kibo and Mawenzi. Because of the exceptionally prolonged dry conditions during the subsequent Younger Dryas stadial, the ice fields on Kilimanjaro may have become extinct around 11,500 years BP. Ice cores taken from Kilimanjaro's Northern Ice Field (NIF) indicates that the glaciers there have a basal age of about 11,700 years, although an analysis of ice taken in 2011 from exposed vertical cliffs in the NIF supports an age extending only to 800 years BP. Higher precipitation rates at the beginning of the Holocene epoch (11,500 years BP) allowed the ice cap to reform. The glaciers survived a widespread drought during a three century period beginning around 4,000 years BP. In the late 1880s, the summit of Kibo was completely covered by an ice cap about in extent with outlet glaciers cascading down the western and southern slopes, and except for the inner cone, the entire caldera was buried. Glacier ice also flowed through the Western Breach. The slope glaciers retreated rapidly between 1912 and 1953, in response to a sudden shift in climate at the end of the 19th century that made them "drastically out of equilibrium", and more slowly thereafter. Their continuing demise indicates they are still out of equilibrium in response to a constant change in climate over the past century.  In contrast to the persistent slope glaciers, the glaciers on Kilimanjaro's crater plateau have appeared and disappeared repeatedly during the Holocene epoch, with each cycle lasting a few hundred years. It appears that decreasing specific humidity instead of temperature changes has caused the shrinkage of the slope glaciers since the late 19th century. No clear warming trend at the elevation of those glaciers occurred between 1948 and 2005. Although air temperatures at that elevation are always below freezing, solar radiation causes melting on vertical faces. Vertical ice margin walls are a unique characteristic of the summit glaciers and a major place of the shrinkage of the glaciers. They manifest stratifications, calving, and other ice features. "There is no pathway for the plateau glaciers other than to continuously retreat once their vertical margins are exposed to solar radiation." The Kilimanjaro glaciers have been used for deriving ice core records, including two from the southern icefield. Based on this data, this icefield formed between 1,250 and 1,450 years BP. Almost 85 percent of the ice cover on Kilimanjaro disappeared between October 1912 and June 2011, with coverage decreasing from to. Between 1912 and 1953, there was about a 1.1 percent average annual loss of ice coverage. The average annual loss for 1953 to 1989 was 1.4 percent, while the loss rate for 1989 to 2007 was 2.5 percent. Of the ice cover still present in 2000, almost 40 percent had disappeared by 2011. The glaciers are thinning in addition to losing areal coverage, and do not have active accumulation zones; retreat occur on all glacier surfaces. Loss of glacier mass is caused by both melting and sublimation. While the current shrinking and thinning of Kilimanjaro's ice fields appears to be unique within its almost twelve millennium history, it is contemporaneous with widespread glacier retreat in mid-to-low latitudes across the globe. At the current rate, most of the ice on Kilimanjaro will disappear by 2040 and "it is highly unlikely that any ice body will remain after 2060".  A complete disappearance of the ice would be of only "negligible importance" to the water budget of the area around the mountain. The forests of Kilimanjaro, far below the ice fields, "are [the] essential water reservoirs for the local and regional populations".

Trekking.

Climbing records.

The oldest person to climb Mount Kilimanjaro is Anne Lorimor, who reached Uhuru Peak 3.14 p.m. local time on 18 July 2019 aged 89 years and 37 days. The oldest man to summit the mountain is the American Robert Wheeler, who was 85 years and 201 days when he summited on 2 October 2014. Theodore Margaroli from London age 10 was the youngest person to reach the summit unassisted by the Western Breach, the hardest but most scenic route in 2019 <ref><nowiki

Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain in the world: above sea level and about above its plateau base.

Le Kilimandjaro ou Kilimanjaro est une montagne située dans le Nord-Est de la Tanzanie et composée de trois volcans : le Shira à l'ouest, culminant à d'altitude, le Mawenzi à l'est, s'élevant à d'altitude, et le Kibo, le plus récent géologiquement, situé entre les deux autres et dont le pic Uhuru à d'altitude constitue le point culminant de l'Afrique. Outre cette caractéristique, le Kilimandjaro est connu pour sa calotte glaciaire sommitale en phase de retrait accéléré depuis le début du et qui devrait disparaître totalement d'ici 2030 à 2050. La baisse des précipitations neigeuses qui en est responsable est souvent attribuée au réchauffement climatique mais la déforestation est également un facteur majeur. Ainsi, malgré la création du parc national en 1973 et alors même qu'elle joue un rôle essentiel dans la régulation bioclimatique du cycle de l'eau, la ceinture forestière continue à se resserrer. En effet, la montagne est notamment le berceau des pasteurs maasaï au nord et à l'ouest, qui ont besoin de prairies d'altitude pour faire paître leurs troupeaux, et des cultivateurs wachagga au sud et à l'est, qui cultivent des parcelles toujours plus étendues sur les piémonts, malgré une prise de conscience depuis le début du.


Background.

There were four bids for the 1908 Summer Olympics. Rome was selected ahead of London, Berlin and Milan. The selection was made at the 6th IOC Session in London in 1904.  Italian authorities were preparing to stage the games when Mount Vesuvius erupted on 7 April 1906, devastating the city of Naples. Funds were diverted to the reconstruction of Naples, so a new host country was required. London was selected for the first time to hold the Games which were held at White City alongside the Franco-British Exhibition, at the time the more noteworthy event.  The White City Stadium, built in short time for the games, held 68,000 however only 65,000 people turned up to watch the games. The stadium track was three laps to the mile (536 metres), not the current standard of 400 metres, with a pool for swimming and diving and platforms for wrestling and gymnastics in the middle.  The distance from the start of the Marathon to the finish at the stadium was established at these games. The original distance of 25 miles was changed to 26 miles so the marathon could start at Windsor Castle and then changed again at the request of Princess Mary so the start would be beneath the windows of the Royal Nursery. To ensure that the race would finish in front of the King, the finish line was moved by British officials who “felt compelled to restore the importance of the monarchy.” As a result of these changes, the marathon covered a distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km), which became the standard length starting with the 1924 Summer Olympics.

The Games.

There were controversies at the games. On the opening day, following the practice introduced at the Intercalated Games of 1906, teams paraded behind national flags. However, the arrangement caused complications:

American refusal of flag dipping.

The United States' flag bearer, Ralph Rose, refused to dip the flag to King-Emperor Edward VII in the royal box. His fellow athlete Martin Sheridan allegedly declared that "this flag dips to no earthly King." The quote is held as an example of Irish and American defiance of the British monarchy, though it is historicity disputed.

Events.

The 1908 Olympics also prompted establishment of standard rules for sports, and selection of judges from different countries rather than just the host. One reason was the 400 metre race, in which a US runner, John Carpenter, was accused by the British officials of interfering with a British runner. Part of the problem was the different definition of interference under British and international rules (the events were held under British rules by the decision of the Organising Committee). The officials decided to disqualify Carpenter and ordered a second final race without him. British Halswelle was to face the other two finalists. These athletes, William Robbins and John Taylor, were both Americans and decided not to participate in the repeat of the final to protest against the judges' decision. Halswelle was thus the only medallist in the 400 metres.  The most famous incident of the games came at the end of the marathon. Dorando Pietri, Italy, began his race at a rather slow pace, but in the second half of the course began a powerful surge moving him into second position by the mark, 4 minutes behind South African Charles Hefferon. When he knew that Hefferon was in crisis, Pietri further increased his pace, overtaking him at the mark.  The effort took its toll and with only two kilometres to go, Pietri began to feel the effects of extreme fatigue and dehydration. When he entered the stadium, he took the wrong path and when umpires redirected him, he fell down for the first time. He got up with their help, in front of 75,000 spectators.  He fell four more times, and each time the umpires helped him up. In the end, though totally exhausted, he managed to finish the race in first place. Of his total time of 2h 54min 46s, ten minutes were needed for that last 340 metres. Second was American Johnny Hayes. The American team immediately lodged a complaint against the help Pietri received from the umpires. The complaint was accepted and Pietri was disqualified and removed from the final standings of the race. Since he had not been responsible for his disqualification, Queen Alexandra awarded him a gilded silver cup the next day.  These Games were the first to include winter events, as had originally been proposed for the Games. There were four figure skating events, although held on 28 and 29 October, months after most of the other events.  Oscar Swahn from Sweden, who won the gold medal for running deer shooting, became the oldest Olympic champion of all time, and set another age record by being 72 years and 279 days old during his triumph at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. One of the more unusual shooting events in 1908 was Olympic dueling. The discipline, which was an associate event (i.e. not official), was performed by facing opponents wearing protective clothing and masks and firing wax bullets.  American John Taylor was a member of the winning medley relay team, making him the first African-American athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. Times for the winning team were United States (3:29.4): William Hamilton-200 metres (22.0), Nathaniel Cartmell-200 metres (22.2), John Taylor-400 metres (49.8), and Melvin Sheppard-800 metres (1:55.4).  Less than five months after returning from the Olympic Games in London, Taylor died of typhoid fever on 2nd December 1908 at the age of 26.  The budget of the organising committee showed a cost of £15,000; over one-third was labelled "entertainment expense". Donations were the major source of revenue; only 28% of income derived from ticket sales. Total receipts of £21,378 resulted in organisers claiming a profit. Construction of the White City Stadium, which cost the government about £60,000, was not counted.

Sports.

22 sports, representing 110 events in 24 sporting disciplines, were contested. Swimming, diving and water polo are considered three disciplines of the same sport, "aquatics". At the time, tug-of-war was part of athletics and the two different football codes (association and rugby (union)) were listed together. The International Olympic Committee now considers tug-of-war a separate sport, as well as referring to association football as simply "football" and to rugby union as "rugby". In one of seven cycling events (Cycling sprint) no medals were awarded. The sailing program was open for a total of five sailing classes, but actually only four sailing events were contested. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

Venues.

Thirteen sports venues were used for the 1908 Summer Olympics. The first winter sports took place at Prince's Skating Club. White City Stadium served as a precursor to modern stadiums. The figure skating events did not take place at the next Olympics in Stockholm, but returned for the 1920 Games in Antwerp. They served as the precursor for the first Winter Olympics that took place in Chamonix sixteen years later. White City served as the main venue for the 1934 British Empire Games (Commonwealth Games since 1978) and a venue for the 1966 FIFA World Cup before its demolition in 1985. The All England Lawn Tennis Club continues to serve as host for Wimbledon's tennis events and is the only venue of the 1908 Games to serve as one for the 2012 Summer Olympics.  Bisley and Henley served as venues in the 1948 Games when the Olympics returned to London forty years later.

Participating nations.

The 1908 Games featured athletes representing 22 National Olympic Committees. Finland, Turkey and New Zealand (as part of the team from Australasia) made their first appearance at the Olympic Games. The fact that the United Kingdom competed as a single team was upsetting to some Irish competitors, who felt that Ireland should compete on its own, despite being part of the UK at the time. Fearing an Irish boycott, the authorities changed the name of the team to Great Britain/Ireland, and in two sports, field hockey and polo, Ireland participated as a separate country, winning silver medals in both. Irish athletes in the United States were not affected by this controversy, and many Irish born athletes competed for the U.S. Olympic team as members of the Irish American Athletic Club. Members of the Irish American Athletic Club won ten of the U.S. Olympic team's total 23 gold medals, or as many as the nations of France, Germany and Italy combined.

Medal count.

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1908 Games.

The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908.

Les Jeux olympiques de 1908, Jeux de la Olympiade de l'ère moderne, ont été célébrés à Londres, au Royaume-Uni du 27 avril au. L’événement se déroule dans le cadre de l'exposition franco-britannique commémorant l'Entente cordiale où contrairement aux Jeux de 1900 et 1904, les épreuves sportives sont considérées par les organisateurs avec une plus grande attention. Les Jeux olympiques de Londres se déroulent en quatre phases. Tout d’abord, les « Jeux de printemps » se déroulent de la fin avril à la mi-juin, regroupant les sports de raquettes et le polo. Ensuite, les « Jeux d’été » se déroulent durant le mois de juillet et accueillent la majorité des sports olympiques au programme tels l’athlétisme, la natation ou la gymnastique. De la fin juillet à la fin août, des « Jeux nautiques » regroupant la voile et l’aviron sont organisés à l’extérieur de la ville. Enfin, les « Jeux d’hiver », quatrième phase du programme, permettent aux spectateurs de suivre les épreuves de patinage artistique, de boxe et de rugby pendant la deuxième quinzaine du mois d’octobre.


History.

When studies of biological organisms in hot springs began in the 1960s, scientists thought that the life of thermophilic bacteria could not be sustained in temperatures above about. Soon, however, it was discovered that many bacteria in different springs not only survived, but also thrived in higher temperatures. In 1969, Thomas D. Brock and Hudson Freeze of Indiana University reported a new species of thermophilic bacteria which they named "Thermus aquaticus". The bacterium was first isolated from Mushroom Spring in the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park, which is near the major Great Fountain Geyser and White Dome Geyser, and has since been found in similar thermal habitats around the world.

Biology.

"T. aquaticus" shows best growth at 65 to 70 °C (149 °F to 158 °F), but can survive at temperatures of 50 °C to 80 °C (122 °F to 176 °F). It primarily scanvenges for protein from its environment as is evidenced by the large number of extracellular and intracellular proteases and peptidases as well as transport proteins for amino acids and oligopeptides across its cell membrane. This bacterium is a chemotroph—it performs chemosynthesis to obtain food. However, since its range of temperature overlaps somewhat with that of the photosynthetic cyanobacteria that share its ideal environment, it is sometimes found living jointly with its neighbors, obtaining energy for growth from their photosynthesis. "T. aquaticus" normally respires aerobically but one of its strains, "Thermus aquaticus" Y51MC23, is able to be grown anaerobically.  The genetic material of "T. aquaticus" consists of one chromosome and four plasmids, and its complete genome sequencing revealed CRISPR genes at numerous loci.

Morphology.

"Thermus aquaticus" is generally of cylindrical shape with a diameter of 0.5 μm to 0.8 μm. The shorter rod shape has a length of 5 μm to 10 μm. The longer filament shape has a length that varies greatly and in some cases exceeds 200 μm. T. aquaticus has shown multiple possible morphologies in different cultures. The rod-shaped bacteria have a tendency to aggregate. Associations of several individuals can lead to the formation of spherical bodies 10 μm to 20 μm in diameter, also called rotund bodies. These bodies are not composed of cell envelope or outer membrane components as previously thought, but are instead made from remodelled peptidoglycan cell wall. Their exact function in the survival of "T. aquaticus" remains unknown but has been theorised to include temporary food and nucleotide storage, or they may play a role in the attachment and organisation of colonies.

Enzymes from "T. aquaticus".

"T. aquaticus" has become famous as a source of thermostable enzymes, particularly the "Taq" DNA polymerase, as described below.

Aldolase.

Studies of this extreme thermophilic bacterium that could be grown in cell culture was initially centered on attempts to understand how protein enzymes (which normally inactive at high temperature) can function at high temperature in thermophiles. In 1970, Freeze and Brock published an article describing a thermostable aldolase enzyme from "T. aquaticus".

RNA polymerase.

The first polymerase enzyme isolated from "T. aquaticus" in 1974 was a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, used in the process of transcription.

"Taq" I restriction enzyme.

Most molecular biologists probably became aware of "T. aquaticus" in the late 1970s or early 1980s because of the isolation of useful restriction endonucleases from this organism. Use of the term "Taq" to refer to "Thermus aquaticus" arose at this time from the convention of giving restriction enzymes short names, such as Sal and Hin, derived from the genus and species of the source organisms.

DNA polymerase ("Taq pol").

DNA polymerase was first isolated from "T. aquaticus" in 1976. The first advantage found for this thermostable (temperature optimum 72°C, does not denature even in 95°C) DNA polymerase was that it could be isolated in a purer form (free of other enzyme contaminants) than could the DNA polymerase from other sources. Later, Kary Mullis and other investigators at Cetus Corporation discovered this enzyme could be used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process for amplifying short segments of DNA, eliminating the need to add E. coli polymerase enzymes after every cycle of thermal denaturation of the DNA. The enzyme was also cloned, sequenced, modified (to produce the shorter 'Stoffel fragment'), and produced in large quantities for commercial sale. In 1989 "Science" magazine named Taq polymerase as its first "Molecule of the Year". In 1993, Dr. Kary Mullis was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work with PCR.

Other enzymes.

The high optimum temperature for "T. aquaticus" allows researchers to study reactions under conditions for which other enzymes lose activity. Other enzymes isolated from this organism include DNA ligase, alkaline phosphatase, NADH oxidase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, amylomaltase, and fructose 1,6-disphosphate-dependent L-lactate dehydrogenase.

Controversy.

The commercial use of enzymes from "T. aquaticus" has not been without controversy. After Dr. Brock's studies, samples of the organism were deposited in the American Type Culture Collection, a public repository. Other scientists, including those at Cetus, obtained it from there. As the commercial potential of "Taq" polymerase became apparent in the 1990s, the National Park Service labeled its use as the "Great "Taq" Rip-off". Researchers working in National Parks are now required to sign "benefits sharing" agreements that would send a portion of later profits back to the Park Service.

Thermus aquaticus is a species of bacteria that can tolerate high temperatures, one of several thermophilic bacteria that belong to the Deinococcus–Thermus group. It is the source of the heat-resistant enzyme "Taq" DNA polymerase, one of the most important enzymes in molecular biology because of its use in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) DNA amplification technique.

Thermus aquaticus est une espèce de bactérie pouvant tolérer de fortes températures. À Gram négatif et aérobie, elle fait partie des bactéries thermophiles appartenant au phylum des Deinococcus-Thermus. On a extrait de cette bactérie la Taq ADN polymérase, une des enzymes thermostables plus utilisées en biologie moléculaire, notamment dans la technique de la PCR. Elle peut survivre à des températures allant jusqu'à 85 °C et dans des milieux très acides, ce qui en fait un des premiers extrêmophiles découverts.


Background.

Chicago, Illinois won the bid to host the 1904 Summer Olympics, but the organizers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis would not accept another international event in the same timeframe.  The exposition organization began to plan for its own sports activities, informing the Chicago OCOG that its own international sports events intended to eclipse the Olympic Games unless they were moved to St. Louis. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, stepped in and awarded the Games to St. Louis.

The Games.

Highlights.

Boxing, dumbbells, freestyle wrestling and the decathlon made their debuts. The swimming events were held in a temporary pond near Skinker and Wydown Boulevards, where "lifesaving demonstrations" of unsinkable lifeboats for ocean liners took place.  One of the most remarkable athletes was the American gymnast George Eyser, who won six medals even though his left leg was made of wood, and Frank Kugler won four medals in freestyle wrestling, weightlifting and tug of war, making him the only competitor to win a medal in three different sports at the same Olympic Games.  Chicago runner James Lightbody won the steeplechase and the 800 m and then set a world record in the 1500 m. Harry Hillman won both the 200 m and 400 m hurdles and also the flat 400 m. Sprinter Archie Hahn was champion in the 60 m, 100 m and 200 m. In this last race, he set an Olympic record in 21.6, a record that stood for 28 years. In the discus, after American Martin Sheridan had thrown exactly the same distance as his compatriot, Ralph Rose (39.28 m), the judges gave them both an extra throw to decide the winner. Sheridan won the decider and claimed the gold medal. Ray Ewry again won all three standing jumps.  The team representing Great Britain was awarded a total of two medals, both won by Irish athletes. The top non-USA athlete was Emil Rausch of Germany, who won three swimming events. Zoltán Halmay of Hungary and Charles Daniels of the United States each won two swimming gold medals. Galt Football Club from Canada won the gold medal in football.  The organizers of the World's Fair held "Anthropology Days" on August 12 and 13. Since the 1889 Paris Exposition, human zoos, as a key feature of world's fairs, functioned as demonstrations of anthropological notions of race, progress, and civilization. These goals were followed also at the 1904 World's Fair. Fourteen hundred indigenous people from Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America and North America were displayed in anthropological exhibits that showed them in their natural habitats. Another 1600 indigenous people displayed their culture in other areas of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (LPE), including on the fairgrounds and at the Model School, where American Indian boarding schools students demonstrated their successful assimilation. The sporting event itself took place with the participation of about 100 paid indigenous men (no women participated in Anthropology Days, though some, notably the Fort Shaw Indian School girls basketball team, did compete in other athletic events at the LPE). Contests included "baseball throwing, shot put, running, broad jumping, weight lifting, pole climbing, and tugs-of-war before a crowd of approximately ten thousand". According to theorist Susan Brownell, world's fairs – with their inclusion of human zoos – and the Olympics were a logical fit at this time, as they "were both linked to an underlying cultural logic that gave them a natural affinity". Also, one of the original intentions of Anthropology Days was to create publicity for the official Olympic events.

Sports.

94 events in 17 disciplines, comprising 16 sports, were part of the Olympic program in 1904. Swimming and diving are considered two disciplines of the same sport, "aquatics". The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

New sports.

Boxing made its Olympic debut at the St. Louis Games. The sport would be featured at every Summer Olympics ever since, except for the 1912 Stockholm Games.

Demonstration sports.

Basketball, hurling, American football and baseball were featured as demonstration sports. Gaelic football was also an unofficial demonstration sport at the 1904 Olympics.  Water polo is also mentioned in the games reports for the 1904 Summer Olympics. At the time it was not considered to be a demonstration sport, but, as of 2020, the IOC does not include it in its records.

Venues.

Five sports venues were used for the 1904 Summer Olympics. The venues included the first golf course constructed west of the Mississippi River. Three of the sports venues were on the site for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition which was being held concurrently with the Olympics. Glen Echo Country Club became the first golf course west of the Mississippi River when it opened in 1901. It is still in use as of 2020. Forest Park was where the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition took place, and it hosted the diving, swimming, and water polo events on the Life Saving Exhibition Lake. During the water polo events, several of the cattle from a World's Fair livestock exhibit were allowed to enter the lake, on the opposite side from the swimming and water polo events. Within one year, four of those athletes died of typhus.  Creve Coeur Lake became the first park of St. Louis County in 1945. The Lake has hosted rowing regattas since 1882 and still hosts them as of 2010. Francis Olympic Field and Gymnasium are still in use on the Washington University in St. Louis campus as of 2019. An ornamental gate commemorating the 1904 Games was constructed outside the stadium immediately after the Exposition. A swimming pool was added to the gymnasium in 1985. Forest Park, constructed in 1876, is still in use as of 2018 and attracts over 12 million visitors annually. Glen Echo Country Club remains in use as a golf course today as of 2018.

Participating nations.

Athletes from twelve nations competed in St. Louis. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of known competitors for each nation. Due to the difficulty of getting to St. Louis in 1904, and European tensions caused by the Russo-Japanese War, only 62 athletes from outside North America came to the Olympics.

Disputed.

Some sources also list athletes from the following nations as having competed at these Games.

Medal count.

These are the top ten nations to win medals at the 1904 Games.  The nationalities of some medalists are disputed, as many American competitors were recent immigrants to the United States who had not yet been granted US citizenship.  In 2009, historians from the International Society of Olympic Historians discovered that cyclist Frank Bizzoni, formerly thought to be an American, was still an Italian citizen when he competed in 1904, being granted US citizenship in 1917.  The International Olympic Committee considers Norwegian-American wrestlers Charles Ericksen and Bernhoff Hansen to have competed for the United States; each man won a gold medal. In 2012, Norwegian historians however found documentation showing that Ericksen did not receive American citizenship until March 22, 1905, and that Hansen probably never received American citizenship. The historians have therefore petitioned the IOC to have the athletes registered as Norwegians. In May 2013, it was reported that the Norwegian Olympic Committee had filed a formal application for changing the nationality of the wrestlers in the IOC's medal database; as of April 2019, no decision has yet been made.  Francis Gailey competed in 1904 as an Australian, and immigrated to America in 1906, sailing to San Francisco in the SS Sonoma. He worked as a banker in California, lived for a time in Ontario, Canada, where he married Mary Adams, and finally settled in 1918 in southern California, managing orange-grove plantations.  Multi-medalist Frank Kugler of Germany was a member of the St. Louis Southwest Turnverein team, being granted US citizenship in 1913.  Gustav Thiefenthaler was born in Switzerland, but the family moved to the United States when he was young. He represented the South Broadway AC in St. Louis. At the Olympics, Tiefenthaler wrestled one bout and lost, but earned a bronze medal for his efforts.  The IOC also lists French-American Albert Corey as a United States competitor for his marathon silver medal, but (together with four undisputed Americans) as part of a mixed team for the team race silver medal.  The IOC counts one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals won by the American fencer Van Zo Post for Cuba instead of the United States. The IOC also shows Charles Tatham as Cuban for individual fencing events and American for the team event, but he was an American.

The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri, United States from August 29 until September 3, 1904, as part of an extended sports program lasting from July 1 to November 23, 1904, located at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. It was the first time that the Olympic Games were held outside Europe.

Les Jeux olympiques de 1904, également nommés Jeux de la Olympiade, sont organisés en 1904, à Saint-Louis aux États-Unis. Ce sont les troisièmes Jeux olympiques de l'ère moderne organisés par le Comité international olympique. Ils se déroulent du juillet au, cent quarante-cinq jours de compétition, soit quatre mois et vingt-deux jours, pendant lesquels s'affrontent dans quinze disciplines pour un total de.


Host city selection.

Dutch nobleman Frederik van Tuyll van Serooskerken first proposed Amsterdam as host city for the Summer Olympic Games in 1912, even before the Netherlands Olympic Committee was established.  The Olympic Games were cancelled in 1916 due to World War I. In 1919, the Netherlands Olympic Committee abandoned the proposal of Amsterdam in favor of their support for the nomination of Antwerp as host city for the 1920 Summer Olympics. In 1921, Paris was selected for the 1924 Summer Olympics on the condition that the 1928 Summer Olympics would be organized in Amsterdam. This decision, supported by the Netherlands Olympic Committee, was announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 2 June 1921.  The US request to allocate the 1928 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles was without success in 1922 and again in 1923. Los Angeles was eventually selected as host city for the 1932 Summer Olympics, being the only bidder for that year.

Sports.

During the 1928 Summer Olympics, there were 14 sports, 20 disciplines and 109 events in the tournament. In parentheses is the number of events per discipline.  Women's athletics and team gymnastics debuted at these Olympics, in spite of criticism. Five women's athletics events were added: 100 meters, 800 meters, high jump, discus, and 400 meter hurdles. In protest of the limited number of events, British women athletes, boycotted the Games. Halina Konopacka of Poland became the first female Olympic track and field champion. Reports that the 800 meter run ended with several of the competitors being completely exhausted were widely (and erroneously) circulated. As a result, the IOC decided that women were too frail for long distance running, and women's Olympic running events were limited to 200 meters until the 1960s.  Tennis disappeared from the program, only to reappear in 1968 as a demonstration sport.

Demonstration sports.

These Games also included art competitions in five categories: architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, and poetry. However, the IOC no longer considers these to be official medal events, so the medals awarded are not included in today's Olympic medal counts.

Venues.

Fourteen sports venues were used for the 1928 Summer Olympics. The Swim Stadium was demolished in 1929 with it being a temporary venue. The Het Kasteel football stadium was renovated in 1998–99. The Monnikenhuize stadium was demolished in 1950. The Schermzaal sports hall has also been demolished. The Olympic Stadium was renovated between 1996 and 2000, and is still in use. The Old Stadion was demolished in 1929 and replaced with housing in the Amsterdam area.

Participating nations.

A total of 46 nations were represented at the Amsterdam Games. Malta, Panama, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Germany returned after having been banned in 1920 and 1924.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees.

<noinclude>

Medal count.

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1928 Games.

Poster.

The official poster for the Games was designed by Jos Rovers, and 10,000 copies were made.  The poster displays a running man in a white shirt, with in the background the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic flag.  The IOC never succeeded in obtaining the copyright of the image. Therefore, out of practical considerations, the IOC used a different poster, with the German text "Olympische Spiele", and an athlete partly covered in the Dutch national flag, holding a peace leaf in his hand. The poster was made for a German book about the Amsterdam Olympics.

Last surviving competitor.

The last living competitor of the 1928 Summer Olympics was Clara Marangoni, a member of the silver-medal winning Italian gymnastic team who had been 12 years old during the Olympics.  She died 18 January 2018, at the age of 102. She was also the oldest living Olympic medalist at the time of her death.

The 1928 Summer Olympics (Dutch: "Olympische Zomerspelen 1928"), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, but was obliged to give way to war-torn Antwerp in Belgium for the 1920 Games and Pierre de Coubertin's Paris for the 1924 Games. The United States won the most gold and overall medals.

Les Jeux olympiques d'été de 1928, Jeux de la olympiade de l'ère moderne, ont été célébrés à Amsterdam, aux Pays-Bas du 17 mai au. Après deux échecs successifs, la métropole néerlandaise fut désignée par le Comité international olympique le à Lausanne au détriment de la ville de Los Angeles qui reçut néanmoins l’assurance d’accueillir les Jeux de 1932. La reine Wilhelmine des Pays-Bas mit un veto à l’organisation de cet évènement par son pays, considérant les Jeux olympiques comme une « manifestation païenne ».