Plot.

Borges' narrator describes how his universe consists of an enormous expanse of adjacent hexagonal rooms. In each room, there is an entrance on one wall, the bare necessities for human survival on another wall, and four walls of bookshelves. Though the order and content of the books are random and apparently completely meaningless, the inhabitants believe that the books contain every possible ordering of just 25 basic characters (22 letters, the period, the comma, and space). Though the vast majority of the books in this universe are pure gibberish, the library also must contain, somewhere, every coherent book ever written, or that might ever be written, and every possible permutation or slightly erroneous version of every one of those books. The narrator notes that the library must contain all useful information, including predictions of the future, biographies of any person, and translations of every book in all languages. Conversely, for many of the texts, some language could be devised that would make it readable with any of a vast number of different contents.  Despite—indeed, because of—this glut of information, all books are totally useless to the reader, leaving the librarians in a state of suicidal despair. This leads some librarians to superstitious and cult-like behaviors, such as the "Purifiers", who arbitrarily destroy books they deem nonsense as they scour through the library seeking the "Crimson Hexagon" and its illustrated, magical books. Others believe that since all books exist in the library, somewhere one of the books must be a perfect index of the library's contents; some even believe that a messianic figure known as the "Man of the Book" has read it, and they travel through the library seeking him.

Themes.

The story repeats the theme of Borges' 1939 essay "The Total Library" ("La Biblioteca Total"), which in turn acknowledges the earlier development of this theme by Kurd Lasswitz in his 1901 story "The Universal Library" ("Die Universalbibliothek"):  Certain examples that Aristotle attributes to Democritus and Leucippus clearly prefigure it, but its belated inventor is Gustav Theodor Fechner, and its first exponent, Kurd Lasswitz. [...] In his book "The Race with the Tortoise" (Berlin, 1919), Dr Theodor Wolff suggests that it is a derivation from, or a parody of, Ramón Llull's thinking machine [...T]he elements of his game are the universal orthographic symbols, not the words of a language [...] Lasswitz arrives at twenty-five symbols (twenty-two letters, the space, the period, the comma), whose recombinations and repetitions encompass everything possible to express in all languages. The totality of such variations would form a Total Library of astronomical size. Lasswitz urges mankind to construct that inhuman library, which chance would organize and which would eliminate intelligence. (Wolff's "The Race with the Tortoise" expounds the execution and the dimensions of that impossible enterprise.)  Many of Borges' signature motifs are featured in the story, including infinity, reality, cabalistic reasoning, and labyrinths. The concept of the library is often compared to Borel's dactylographic monkey theorem. There is no reference to monkeys or typewriters in "The Library of Babel", although Borges had mentioned that analogy in "The Total Library": "[A] half-dozen monkeys provided with typewriters would, in a few eternities, produce all the books in the British Museum." In this story, the closest equivalent is the line, "A blasphemous sect suggested [...] that all men should juggle letters and symbols until they constructed, by an improbable gift of chance, these canonical books."  Borges would examine a similar idea in his 1975 story, "The Book of Sand" in which there is an infinite book (or book with an indefinite number of pages) rather than an infinite library. Moreover, the story's "Book of Sand" is said to be written in an unknown alphabet and its content is not obviously random. In The Library of Babel, Borges interpolates Italian mathematician Bonaventura Cavalieri's suggestion that any solid body could be conceptualized as the superimposition of an infinite number of planes.  The concept of the library is also overtly analogous to the view of the universe as a sphere having its center everywhere and its circumference nowhere. The mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal employed this metaphor, and in an earlier essay Borges noted that Pascal's manuscript called the sphere "effroyable," or "frightful".  In any case, a library containing "all" possible books, arranged at random, might as well be a library containing "zero" books, as any true information would be buried in, and rendered indistinguishable from, all possible forms of false information; the experience of opening to any page of any of the library's books has been simulated by websites which create screenfuls of random letters.  The quote at the beginning of the story, "By this art you may contemplate the variation of the twenty-three letters," is from Robert Burton's 1621 "The Anatomy of Melancholy".

Philosophical implications.

There are numerous philosophical implications within the idea of the finite library which exhausts all possibilities. Every book in the library is "intelligible" if one decodes it correctly, simply because it can be decoded from any other book in the library using a third book as a one-time pad. This lends itself to the philosophical idea proposed by Immanuel Kant, that our mind helps to structure our experience of reality; thus the rules of reality (as we know it) are intrinsic to the mind. So if we identify these rules, we can better decode'reality'. One might speculate that these rules are contained in the crimson hexagon room which is the key to decoding the others. The library becomes a temptation, even an obsession, because it contains these gems of enlightenment while also burying them in deception. On a psychological level, the infinite storehouse of information is a hindrance and a distraction, because it lures one away from writing one's own book (i.e. living one's life). Anything one might write would of course already exist. One can see any text as being pulled from the library by the act of the author defining the search letter by letter until they reach a text close enough to the one they intended to write. The text already existed theoretically, but had to be found by the act of the author's imagination. Another implication is an argument against certain proofs of the existence of God, as it is carried out by David Hume using the thought experiment of a similar library of books generated not by human mind, but by nature.

Infinite extent.

In mainstream theories of natural language syntax, every syntactically-valid utterance can be extended to produce a new, longer one, because of recursion. If this process can be continued indefinitely, then there is no upper bound on the length of a well-formed utterance and the number of unique well-formed strings of any language is countably infinite. However, the books in the Library of Babel are of bounded length ("each book is of four hundred and ten pages; each page, of forty lines, each line, of some eighty letters"), so the Library can only contain a finite number of distinct strings, and thus cannot contain all possible well-formed utterances. Borges' narrator notes this fact, but believes that the Library is nevertheless infinite; he speculates that it repeats itself periodically, giving an eventual "order" to the "disorder" of the seemingly random arrangement of books.

Quine's reduction.

In a short essay, W. V. O. Quine noted the interesting fact that the Library of Babel is finite (that is, we will theoretically come to a point in history where everything has been written), and that the Library of Babel can be constructed in its entirety simply by writing a dot on one piece of paper and a dash on another. These two sheets of paper could then be alternated at random to produce every possible text, in Morse code or equivalently binary. Writes Quine, "The ultimate absurdity is now staring us in the face: a universal library of two volumes, one containing a single dot and the other a dash. Persistent repetition and alternation of the two are sufficient, we well know, for spelling out any and every truth. The miracle of the finite but universal library is a mere inflation of the miracle of binary notation: everything worth saying, and everything else as well, can be said with two characters."

Comparison with biology.

The full possible set of protein sequences (protein sequence space) has been compared to the Library of Babel. In the "Library of Babel", finding any book that made sense was impossible due to the sheer number and lack of order. The same would be true of protein sequences if it were not for natural selection, which has picked out only protein sequences that make sense. Additionally, each protein sequence is surrounded by a set of neighbors (point mutants) that are likely to have at least some function. Daniel Dennett's 1995 book "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" includes an elaboration of the Library of Babel concept to imagine the set of all possible genetic sequences, which he calls the Library of Mendel, in order to illustrate the mathematics of genetic variation. Dennett uses this concept again later in the book to imagine all possible algorithms that can be included in his Toshiba computer, which he calls the Library of Toshiba. He describes the Library of Mendel and the Library of Toshiba as subsets within the Library of Babel.

"The Library of Babel" () is a short story by Argentine author and librarian Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), conceiving of a universe in the form of a vast library containing all possible 410-page books of a certain format and character set.

La Bibliothèque de Babel est une nouvelle de l'écrivain Jorge Luis Borges publiée en 1941, puis en 1944 dans son célèbre recueil "Fictions". Cette nouvelle est inspirée d'une nouvelle de l'écrivain, philosophe et mathématicien allemand Kurd Lasswitz intitulée "La bibliothèque universelle" et publiée pour la première fois en 1904.


General characteristics.

Each pixel of an LCD typically consists of a layer of molecules aligned between two transparent electrodes, and two polarizing filters (parallel and perpendicular), the axes of transmission of which are (in most of the cases) perpendicular to each other. Without the liquid crystal between the polarizing filters, light passing through the first filter would be blocked by the second (crossed) polarizer. Before an electric field is applied, the orientation of the liquid-crystal molecules is determined by the alignment at the surfaces of electrodes. In a twisted nematic (TN) device, the surface alignment directions at the two electrodes are perpendicular to each other, and so the molecules arrange themselves in a helical structure, or twist. This induces the rotation of the polarization of the incident light, and the device appears gray. If the applied voltage is large enough, the liquid crystal molecules in the center of the layer are almost completely untwisted and the polarization of the incident light is not rotated as it passes through the liquid crystal layer. This light will then be mainly polarized perpendicular to the second filter, and thus be blocked and the pixel will appear black. By controlling the voltage applied across the liquid crystal layer in each pixel, light can be allowed to pass through in varying amounts thus constituting different levels of gray. Most color LCD systems use the same technique, with color filters used to generate red, green, and blue pixels. The color filters are made with a photolithography process. Red, green, blue and black resists are used. All resists contain a finely ground powdered pigment, with particles being just 40 nanometers across. The black resist is the first to be applied; this will create a black grid that will separate red, green and blue subpixels from one another. After the black resist has been dried in an oven and exposed to UV light through a photomask, the unexposed areas are washed away. Then the same process is repeated with the remaining resists. This fills the holes in the black grid (or matrix) with their corresponding colored resists. Another color-generation method used in early color PDAs and some calculators

History.

The origins and the complex history of liquid-crystal displays from the perspective of an insider during the early days were described by Joseph A. Castellano in "Liquid Gold: The Story of Liquid Crystal Displays and the Creation of an Industry". Another report on the origins and history of LCD from a different perspective until 1991 has been published by Hiroshi Kawamoto, available at the IEEE History Center. A description of Swiss contributions to LCD developments, written by Peter J. Wild, can be found at the "Engineering and Technology History Wiki".

Background.

In 1888, Friedrich Reinitzer (1858–1927) discovered the liquid crystalline nature of cholesterol extracted from carrots (that is, two melting points and generation of colors) and published his findings at a meeting of the Vienna Chemical Society on May 3, 1888 (F. Reinitzer: "Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Cholesterins, Monatshefte für Chemie (Wien) 9, 421–441 (1888)"). In 1904, Otto Lehmann published his work ""Flüssige Kristalle"" (Liquid Crystals). In 1911, Charles Mauguin first experimented with liquid crystals confined between plates in thin layers.  In 1922, Georges Friedel described the structure and properties of liquid crystals and classified them in 3 types (nematics, smectics and cholesterics). In 1927, Vsevolod Frederiks devised the electrically switched light valve, called the Fréedericksz transition, the essential effect of all LCD technology. In 1936, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph company patented the first

1960s.

In 1964, George H. Heilmeier, then working at the RCA laboratories on the effect discovered by Williams achieved the switching of colors by field-induced realignment of dichroic dyes in a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal. Practical problems with this new electro-optical effect made Heilmeier continue to work on scattering effects in liquid crystals and finally the achievement of the first operational liquid-crystal display based on what he called the "dynamic scattering mode" (DSM). Application of

1970s.

On December 4, 1970, the twisted nematic field effect (TN) in liquid crystals was filed for patent by Hoffmann-LaRoche in Switzerland, (Swiss patent No. 532 261) with Wolfgang Helfrich and Martin Schadt (then working for the Central Research Laboratories) listed as inventors. Hoffmann-La Roche then licensed the invention to the Swiss manufacturer Brown, Boveri & Cie which produced TN displays for wristwatches and other applications during the 1970s for the international markets including the Japanese electronics industry, which soon produced the first digital quartz wristwatches with TN-LCDs and numerous other products. James Fergason, while working with Sardari Arora and Alfred Saupe at Kent State University Liquid Crystal Institute, filed an identical patent in the United States on April 22, 1971. In 1971, the company of Fergason, ILIXCO (now LXD Incorporated), produced LCDs based on the TN-effect, which soon superseded the poor-quality DSM types due to improvements of lower operating voltages and lower power consumption. Tetsuro Hama and Izuhiko Nishimura of Seiko received a US patent dated February 1971, for an electronic wristwatch incorporating a TN-LCD. In 1972, the first wristwatch with TN-LCD was launched on the market: The Gruen Teletime which was a four digit display watch.  In 1972,

1980s.

In 1983, researchers at Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) Research Center, Switzerland, invented the "super-twisted nematic (STN) structure" for passive matrix-addressed LCDs. H. Amstutz et al. were listed as inventors in the corresponding patent applications filed in Switzerland on July 7, 1983, and October 28, 1983. Patents were granted in Switzerland CH 665491, Europe EP 0131216, and many more countries. In 1980, Brown Boveri started a 50/50 joint venture with the Dutch Philips company, called Videlec. Philips had the required know-how to design and build integrated circuits for the control of large LCD panels. In addition, Philips had better access to markets for electronic components and intended to use LCDs in new product generations of hi-fi, video equipment and telephones. In 1984, Philips researchers Theodorus Welzen and Adrianus de Vaan invented a video speed-drive scheme that solved the slow response time of STN-LCDs, enabling high-resolution, high-quality, and smooth-moving video images on STN-LCDs. In 1985, Philips inventors Theodorus Welzen

1990s.

In 1990, under different titles, inventors conceived electro optical effects as alternatives to "twisted nematic field effect LCDs" (TN- and STN- LCDs). One approach was to use interdigital electrodes on one glass substrate only to produce an electric field essentially parallel to the glass substrates. To take full advantage of the properties of this "In Plane Switching (IPS) technology" further work was needed. After thorough analysis, details of advantageous embodiments are filed in Germany by Guenter Baur "et al." and patented in various countries. The Fraunhofer Institute ISE in Freiburg, where the inventors worked, assigns

2000s–2010s.

In 2007 the image quality of LCD televisions surpassed the image quality of cathode-ray-tube-based (CRT) TVs. In the fourth quarter of 2007, LCD televisions surpassed CRT TVs in worldwide sales for the first time. LCD TVs were projected to account 50% of the 200 million TVs to be shipped globally in 2006, according to Displaybank. In October 2011, Toshiba announced 2560 × 1600 pixels on a 6.1-inch (155 mm) LCD panel, suitable for use in a tablet computer, especially for Chinese character display. The 2010s

Illumination.

Since LCDs produce no light of their own, they require external light to produce a visible image. In a transmissive type of LCD, the light source is provided at the back of the glass stack and is called a backlight. Active-matrix LCDs are almost always backlit. Passive LCDs may be backlit but many use a reflector at the back of the glass stack to utilize ambient light. Transflective LCDs combine the features of a backlit transmissive display and a reflective display.  The common implementations of LCD backlight technology are:  Today, most LCD screens are being designed with an LED backlight instead of the traditional CCFL backlight, while that backlight is dynamically controlled with the video information (dynamic backlight control). The combination with the dynamic backlight control, invented by Philips researchers Douglas Stanton, Martinus Stroomer and Adrianus de Vaan, simultaneously increases the dynamic range of the display system (also marketed as "HDR, high dynamic range television" or called "Full-area Local Area Dimming (FLAD)"  The LCD backlight systems are made highly efficient by applying optical films such as prismatic structure to gain the light into the desired viewer directions and reflective polarizing films that recycle the polarized light that was formerly absorbed by the first polarizer

Connection to other circuits.

A standard television receiver screen, a modern LCD panel, has over six million pixels, and they are all individually powered by a wire network embedded in the screen. The fine wires, or pathways, form a grid with vertical wires across the whole screen on one side of the screen and horizontal wires across the whole screen on the other side of the screen. To this grid each pixel has a positive connection on one side and a negative connection on the other side. So the total amount of wires needed for a 1080p display is 3 x 1920 going vertically and 1080 going horizontally for a total of 6840 wires horizontally and

Passive-matrix.

Monochrome and later color passive-matrix LCDs were standard in most early laptops (although a few used plasma displays) and the original Nintendo Game Boy until the mid-1990s, when color active-matrix became standard on all laptops. The commercially unsuccessful Macintosh Portable (released in 1989) was one of the first to use an active-matrix display (though still monochrome). Passive-matrix LCDs are still used in the 2010s for applications less demanding than laptop computers and TVs, such as inexpensive calculators. In particular, these are used on portable devices where less information content needs to be displayed, lowest power consumption (no backlight) and low cost are desired or readability in direct sunlight is needed.  Displays having a passive-matrix structure are employing "super-twisted nematic" STN (invented by Brown Boveri Research Center, Baden, Switzerland, in 1983; scientific details were published) or double-layer STN (DSTN) technology (the latter of which addresses a color-shifting problem with the former), and color-STN (CSTN) in which color is added by using an internal filter. STN LCDs have been optimized for passive-matrix addressing. They exhibit a sharper threshold of the contrast-vs-voltage characteristic than the original TN LCDs. This is important, because pixels are subjected to partial voltages even while not selected. Crosstalk between activated and non-activated pixels has to be handled properly by keeping the RMS voltage of non-activated pixels below the threshold voltage as discovered by Peter J. Wild in 1972, while activated pixels are subjected to voltages above threshold (the voltages according to the "Alt & Pleshko" drive scheme). Driving such STN displays according to the Alt & Pleshko drive scheme require very high line addressing voltages. Welzen and de Vaan invented an alternative drive scheme (a non "Alt & Pleshko" drive scheme) requiring much lower voltages, such that the STN display could be driven using low voltage CMOS technologies. STN LCDs have to be continuously refreshed by alternating pulsed voltages of one polarity during one frame and pulses of opposite polarity during the next frame. Individual pixels are addressed by the corresponding row and column circuits. This type of display is called "passive-matrix addressed", because the pixel must retain its state between refreshes without the benefit of a steady electrical charge. As the number of pixels (and, correspondingly, columns and rows) increases, this type of display becomes less feasible. Slow response times and poor contrast are typical of passive-matrix addressed LCDs with too many pixels and driven

Active-matrix technologies.

Twisted nematic (TN).

Twisted nematic displays contain liquid crystals that twist and untwist at varying degrees to allow light to pass through. When no voltage is applied to a TN liquid crystal cell, polarized light passes

In-plane switching (IPS).

In-plane switching is an LCD technology that aligns the liquid crystals in a plane parallel to the glass substrates. In this method, the electrical field is applied through opposite electrodes on the same glass substrate, so that the liquid crystals can be reoriented (switched) essentially in the same plane, although fringe fields inhibit a homogeneous reorientation. This requires two transistors for each pixel instead of the single transistor needed for a standard thin-film transistor (TFT) display. Before LG Enhanced IPS was introduced in 2009, the additional transistors resulted in blocking more transmission area, thus requiring a brighter backlight and consuming more power, making this type of display less desirable for notebook computers. Currently Panasonic is using an enhanced version eIPS for their large size LCD-TV products as well as Hewlett-Packard in its WebOS based TouchPad tablet and their Chromebook 11.

Comparison to AMOLED.

In 2011, LG claimed the smartphone LG Optimus Black (IPS LCD (LCD NOVA)) has the brightness up to 700 nits, while the competitor has only IPS LCD with 518 nits and double an active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display with 305 nits. LG also claimed the NOVA display to be 50 percent more efficient than regular LCDs and to consume only 50 percent of the power of AMOLED displays when producing white on screen. When it comes to contrast ratio, AMOLED display still performs best due to its underlying technology, where the black levels are displayed as pitch black and not as dark gray. On August 24, 2011, Nokia announced the Nokia 701 and also made the claim of the world's brightest display at 1000 nits. The screen also had Nokia's Clearblack layer, improving the contrast ratio and bringing it closer to that of the AMOLED screens.

Super In-plane switching (S-IPS).

Super-IPS was later introduced after in-plane

Advanced fringe field switching (AFFS).

Known as fringe field switching (FFS) until 2003, advanced fringe field switching is similar to IPS or S-IPS offering superior performance and color gamut with high luminosity. AFFS was developed by Hydis Technologies Co., Ltd, Korea (formally Hyundai Electronics, LCD Task Force). AFFS-applied notebook applications minimize color distortion while maintaining a wider viewing angle for a professional display. Color shift and deviation

Vertical alignment (VA).

Vertical-alignment displays are a form of LCDs in which the liquid crystals naturally align vertically to the glass substrates. When no voltage is applied, the liquid crystals remain perpendicular to the substrate, creating a black display between crossed polarizers. When voltage is applied, the liquid crystals shift to a tilted

Blue phase mode.

Blue phase mode LCDs have been shown as engineering samples early in 2008, but they are not in mass-production. The physics

Quality control.

Some LCD panels have defective transistors, causing permanently lit or unlit pixels which are commonly referred to as stuck pixels or dead pixels respectively. Unlike integrated circuits (ICs), LCD panels with a few defective transistors are usually still usable. Manufacturers' policies for the acceptable number of defective pixels vary greatly. At one point, Samsung held a zero-tolerance policy for LCD monitors sold in Korea. As of 2005, though, Samsung adheres to the less restrictive ISO 13406-2 standard. Other companies have been known to tolerate as many as 11 dead pixels in their policies.  Dead pixel policies are often hotly debated between manufacturers and customers. To regulate the acceptability of defects and to protect the end user, ISO released the ISO 13406-2 standard, which was made obsolete in 2008 with the release of ISO 9241, specifically ISO-9241-302, 303, 305, 307:2008 pixel defects. However, not every LCD manufacturer conforms to the ISO standard and the

"Zero-power" (bistable) displays.

The zenithal bistable device (ZBD), developed by Qinetiq (formerly DERA), can retain an image without power. The crystals may exist in one of two stable orientations ("black" and "white") and power is only required to change the image. ZBD Displays is a spin-off company from QinetiQ who manufactured both grayscale and color ZBD devices. Kent Displays has also developed a "no-power" display that uses polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal (ChLCD). In 2009

Advantages and disadvantages.

Some of these issues relate to full-screen displays, others to

Chemicals used.

Several different families of liquid crystals are used in liquid crystals. The molecules used have to be anisotropic, and to exhibit mutual attraction. Polarizable rod-shaped molecules (biphenyls, terphenyls, etc.) are common. A common form is a pair of aromatic benzene rings, with a nonpolar moiety (pentyl, heptyl, octyl, or alkyl oxy group) on one end and polar (nitrile, halogen) on the other. Sometimes the benzene rings are separated with an acetylene group, ethylene, CH=N, CH=NO, N=N, N=NO, or ester group. In practice, eutectic mixtures of several chemicals are used, to achieve wider temperature operating range (−10..+60 °C for low-end and −20..+100 °C for high-performance displays). For example, the E7 mixture is composed of three biphenyls and one terphenyl: 39 wt.% of 4'-pentyl[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-carbonitrile (nematic range 24..35 °C), 36 wt.% of 4'-heptyl[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-carbonitrile (nematic range 30..43 °C), 16 wt.% of 4'-octoxy[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-carbonitrile (nematic range 54..80 °C), and 9 wt.% of 4"-pentyl[1,1':4',1"-terphenyl]-4-carbonitrile (nematic range 131..240 °C).

Environmental impact.

The production of LCD screens uses nitrogen trifluoride (NF) as an etching fluid during the production of the thin-film components. NF is a potent greenhouse gas, and its relatively long half-life may make it a potentially harmful contributor to global warming. A report in "Geophysical Research Letters" suggested that its effects were theoretically much greater than better-known sources of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide. As NF was not in widespread

A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly, instead using a backlight or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome. LCDs are available to display arbitrary images (as in a general-purpose computer display) or fixed images with low information content, which can be displayed or hidden, such as preset words, digits, and seven-segment displays, as in a digital clock. They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made from a matrix of small pixels, while other displays have larger elements. LCDs can either be normally on (positive) or off (negative), depending on the polarizer arrangement. For example, a character positive LCD with a backlight will have black lettering on a background that is the color of the backlight, and a character negative LCD will have a black background with the letters being of the same color as the backlight. Optical filters are added to white on blue LCDs to give them their characteristic appearance.

L'écran à cristaux liquides ou LCD (de l'anglais ) (ACL au Québec pour affichage à cristaux liquides) permet la création d’écran plat à faible consommation d'électricité. Aujourd'hui ces écrans sont utilisés dans presque tous les affichages électroniques.


Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion

Mechanism.

There are three characteristics of liquids which are relevant to the discussion of a BLEVE:  Typically, a BLEVE starts with a container of liquid which is held above its normal, atmospheric-pressure boiling temperature. Many substances normally stored as liquids, such as CO, propane, and other similar industrial gases have boiling temperatures, at atmospheric pressure, far below room temperature. In the case of water, a BLEVE could occur if a pressurized chamber of water is heated far beyond the standard. That container, because the boiling water pressurizes it, is capable of holding "liquid" water at very high temperatures.  If the pressurized vessel, containing liquid at high temperature (which may be room temperature, depending on the substance) ruptures, the pressure which prevents the liquid from boiling is lost. If the rupture is catastrophic, where the vessel is immediately incapable of holding any pressure at all, then there suddenly exists a large mass of liquid which is at very high temperature and very low pressure. This causes a portion of the liquid to "instantaneously" boil, which in turn causes an extremely rapid expansion. Depending on temperatures, pressures and the substance involved, that expansion may be so rapid that it can be classified as an explosion, fully capable of inflicting severe damage on its surroundings.

Water example.

For example, a tank of pressurized liquid water held at might be pressurized to above atmospheric ("gauge") pressure. If the tank containing the water were to rupture, there would for a brief moment exist a volume of liquid water which would be at: At atmospheric pressure the boiling point of water is - liquid water at atmospheric pressure does not exist at temperatures higher than. At that moment, the water would boil and turn to vapor explosively, and the liquid water turned to gas would take up significantly more volume (≈1,600-fold) than it did as liquid, causing a vapor explosion. Such explosions can happen when the superheated water of a Boiler escapes through a crack in a boiler, causing a boiler explosion.

BLEVEs without chemical reactions.

A BLEVE need not be a chemical explosion—nor does there need to be a fire—however if a flammable substance is subject to a BLEVE it may also be subject to intense heating, either from an external source of heat which may have caused the vessel to rupture in the first place or from an internal source of localized heating such as skin friction. This heating can cause a flammable substance to ignite, adding a secondary explosion caused by the primary BLEVE. While blast effects of any BLEVE can be devastating, a flammable substance such as propane can add significantly to the danger. While the term BLEVE is most often used to describe the results of a container of flammable liquid rupturing due to fire, a BLEVE can occur even with a non-flammable substance such as water, liquid nitrogen, liquid helium or other refrigerants or cryogens, and therefore is not usually considered a type of chemical explosion. Note that in the case of liquefied gasses, BLEVEs can also be hazardous because of rapid cooling due to the absorption of the enthalpy of vaporization (e.g. frostbites), or because of possible asphyxiation if a large volume of gas is produced and not rapidly dispersed (e.g. inside a building, or in a trough in the case of heavier-than-air gasses), or because of the toxicity of the gasses produced.

Fires.

BLEVEs can be caused by an external fire near the storage vessel causing heating of the contents and pressure build-up. While tanks are often designed to withstand great pressure, constant heating can cause the metal to weaken and eventually fail. If the tank is being heated in an area where there is no liquid, it may rupture faster without the liquid to absorb the heat. Gas containers are usually equipped with relief valves that vent off excess pressure, but the tank can still fail if the pressure is not released quickly enough. Relief valves are sized to release pressure fast enough to prevent the pressure from increasing beyond the strength of the vessel, but not so fast as to be the cause of an explosion. An appropriately sized relief valve will allow the liquid inside to boil slowly, maintaining a constant pressure in the vessel until all the liquid has boiled and the vessel empties.  If the substance involved is flammable, it is likely that the resulting cloud of the substance will ignite after the BLEVE has occurred, forming a fireball and possibly a fuel-air explosion, also termed a vapor cloud explosion (VCE). If the materials are toxic, a large area will be contaminated.

Incidents.

The term "BLEVE" was coined by three researchers at Factory Mutual, in the analysis of an accident at one of their research facilities in 1957 involving a chemical reactor vessel.  On 18 August 1959, the Kansas City Fire Department suffered its second largest loss of life in the line of duty, when a 25,000 gallon (95,000 liter) gasoline tank exploded during a fire on Southwest Boulevard, killing 5 firefighters.  Examples of other BLEVE incidents have included:

Safety measures.

Some fire mitigation measures are listed under liquefied petroleum gas.

A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE, ) is an explosion caused by the rupture of a vessel containing a pressurized liquid that has reached temperatures above its boiling point. Because the boiling point of a liquid rises with pressure, the contents of the pressurized vessel can remain liquid so long as the vessel is intact. If the vessel's integrity is compromised, the loss of pressure and dropping boiling point can cause the liquid to rapidly convert to gas and expand extremely rapidly. If the gas is then combustible as well, as is the case e.g. with hydrocarbons and alcohols, further damage can be caused by an ensuing fire.

Le BLEVE (acronyme de l'anglais: « ») peut être défini comme une vaporisation violente à caractère explosif consécutif à la rupture d'un réservoir contenant un liquide à une température significativement supérieure à sa température d'ébullition à la pression atmosphérique. Le Bleve peut survenir avec tout liquide, inflammable ou non, lorsqu'il est chauffé et contraint dans une enceinte fermée. Il peut être distingué deux types de BLEVE, le BLEVE froid et le BLEVE chaud en fonction de la température à laquelle se produit la rupture de l'enceinte (température qui est propre au produit stocké: appelée TLS, Température Limite de Surchauffe, fonction de la température critique du produit).


Early history.

Savate takes its name from the French for "old shoe" (heavy footwear, especially the boots used by French military and sailors) ("cf." French-English loanwords sabot and sabotage and Spanish cognate "zapato"). The modern formalized form is mainly an amalgam of French street fighting techniques from the beginning of the 19th century. Savate was then a type of street fighting common in Paris and northern France.  In the south, especially in the port of Marseille, sailors developed a fighting style involving high kicks and open-handed slaps. It is conjectured that this kicking style was developed in this way to allow the fighter to use a hand to hold onto something for balance on a rocking ship's deck, and that the kicks and slaps were used on land to avoid the legal penalties for using a closed fist, which was considered a deadly weapon under the law. It was known as the "jeu marseillais" (game from Marseille), and was later renamed "chausson" (slipper, after the type of shoes the sailors wore). In contrast, at this time in England (the home of boxing and the Queensberry rules), kicking was seen as unsportsmanlike.  Traditional savate was a northern French development, especially in Paris' slums, and always used heavy shoes and boots derived from its potential military origins. Street fighting savate, unlike chausson, kept the kicks low, almost never targeted above the groin, and they were delivered with vicious, bone-breaking intent. Parisian savate also featured open hand blows, in thrusting or smashing palm strikes (la baffe) or in stunning slaps targeted to facial nerves. Techniques of savate or chausson were at this time also developed in the ports of northwest Italy and northeastern Spain—hence one savate kick named the "Italian hunt" ("chasse italiane").  The two key historical figures in the history of the shift from street fighting to the modern sport of savate are Michel Casseux (also known as "le Pisseux") (1794–1869) and Charles Lecour (1808–1894). Casseux opened the first establishment in 1825 for practicing and promoting a regulated version of chausson and savate (disallowing head butting, eye gouging, grappling, etc.). However the sport had not shaken its reputation as a street-fighting technique. Casseux's pupil Charles Lecour was exposed to the English art of boxing when he witnessed an English boxing match in France between English pugilist Owen Swift and Jack Adams in 1838. Lecour also took part in a friendly sparring match with Swift later in that same year. Lecour felt that he was at a disadvantage, using his hands only to bat his opponent's fists away, rather than to punch. He then trained in boxing for a time before combining boxing with chausson and savate to create the sport of savate (or "boxe française", as we know it today). At some point "la canne" and "le baton", stick fighting, were added, and some form of stick fencing, such as "la canne", is commonly part of savate training. Those who train purely for competition may omit this. Savate was developed professionally by Lecour's student Joseph Charlemont and then his son Charles Charlemont. Charles continued his father's work and in 1899 fought an English boxer named Jerry Driscoll. He won the match with a round-kick ("fouetté median") in the eighth round although the English said that it was a kick to the groin. According to the well known English referee, Bernard John Angle of the National Sporting Club, in his book "My Sporting Memories" (London, 1925), "Driscoll did not know what he was taking on" when he agreed "to meet the Frenchman at his own game". Angle also said that, "The contest ended in Jerry being counted out to a blow in the groin from the Frenchman's knee." He further alleged that "the timekeeper saved Charlemont several times". After the fight Driscoll bore no grudges, considering the blow to have been "an accident". The French claimed victory for their man by stoppage, following a round-kick to Driscoll's stomach.  Savate was later codified under a Committee National de Boxe Française under Charles Charlemont's student Count Pierre Baruzy (dit Barozzi). The Count is seen as the father of modern savate and was 11-time Champion of France and its colonies, his first ring combat and title prior to World War I. "Savate de Dėfense", "Défense Savate" or "Savate de Rue" ("street savate") is the name given to those methods of fighting excluded from savate competition. The International Savate Federation (FIS) is the official worldwide ruling body of savate.  Perhaps the ultimate recognition of the respectability of savate came in 1924 when it was included as a demonstration sport in the Olympic Games in Paris. In 2008, savate was recognised by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) – this recognition allows savate to hold official University World Championships; the first was held in Nantes, France in 2010. The 25th anniversary of the founding of the International Savate Federation, in March 2010, was celebrated with a visit to Lausanne, to meet with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge. FISav President Gilles Le Duigou was presented with a memento depicting the Olympic Rings. In April 2010, the International Savate Federation was accepted as a member of SportAccord (previously known as AGFIS) – a big step forward on the road to Olympic recognition.

Modern practice.

Despite its roots, savate is a relatively safe sport to learn.  Today, savate is practiced all over the world by amateurs: from Australia to the U.S. and from Finland to Britain. Many countries (including the United States) have national federations devoted to promoting savate.  Modern codified savate provides for three levels of competition: "assaut", "pre-combat" and "combat".
Assaut requires the competitors to focus on their technique while still making contact; referees assign penalties for the use of excessive force.
Pre-combat allows for full-strength fighting so long as the fighters wear protective gear such as helmets and shinguards.
Combat, the most intense level, is the same as pre-combat, but protective gear other than groin protection and mouthguards is prohibited.  Many martial arts provide ranking systems, such as belt colours. Savate uses glove colours to indicate a fighter's level of proficiency (unlike arts such as "karate", which assign new belts at each promotion, moving to a higher colour rank in savate does not necessarily entail a change in the colour of one's actual gloves, and a given fighter may continue using the same pair of gloves through multiple promotions). Novices begin at no colour.  The qualifications for competition vary depending on the association or commission. In the French Federation a yellow glove can compete, and in Belgium a green glove can compete. In the United States, the competition levels start at novice (6 months). In Russia there is no requirement for a specific glove colour in order to compete.  The ranking of savate: Boxe Française is divided into three roads that a savateur can choose to take.  In some clubs there is also a rank of aide-moniteur, while in other associations there is no rank of initiateur. Eight to twelve years of training on average are necessary for a student to reach professeur level; eight years average depending on skills. In France the professional professeur must have a French state certificate of specialized teaching (CQP AS, BEES 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree, 1st de CCB BPJEPS, DEJEPS, DESJEPS). These diplomas are university level education in sports with specialisation in savate (supervised by the French Federation of BF Savate and associated disciplines ( Canne, Self Defense, Lutte, baton) (i.e.:FFBFSDA). The international federation (FIS), however, is still allowed to award professeur to non-French nationals without requiring such rigid system of education. French nationals have to submit and succeed to the rigid system of education and prove themselves in competition as well as being respected by peers, in order to have a slight chance to become a DTD (directeur technique départemental). Like any sport federations in France, the French and International Federation of Savate are under the control of France Ministry of Sport and Youth. This makes these two federations extremely powerful federations on the world scene. These two federations have followed a set of national traditions.  Nowadays, savate is just a term meaning Savate-Boxe Française. In the 1970s the term "savate" was rarely used in France to refer to the formalised sport: people mostly used the term Savate boxe française, Boxe-Française Savate, B.F, B.F.S., S.B.F. or simply boxe française. The term savate remains in use mostly outside France or when speaking a language other than French.  The global distribution of schools (salles) today is best explained through their stylistic approaches:  These are the different stylistic approaches of the French arts of pugilism in the world today.

Savate in the USA.

In the USA it is said that Daniel Duby brought Savate to the west coast in Southern California. The first real FFBFSDA/ FIS club of boxe-francaise savate was open in 1983 on the east coast in Philadelphia, under Jean-Noel Eynard, FFBFSDA/ FIS Professeur with the assistance of former FFBFSDA/ FIS DTN Bob Alix. In 1988 the US Registry of Savate was created on the east coast which became the American Registry of Savate Instructors and Clubs in 1994 (ARSIC-International). Meanwhile, on the west coast Savate clubs were spurring from the California association of Savate. A couple years later, under the collaborative assistance of a steering committee made of Gilles le Duigou (FIS), JN Eynard, ARSIC-International (PA), Armando Basulto (NJ) and Norman Taylor, USSF president(NJ) as well as few other individuals from California, the official name of United State Savate Federation was given to this combined association. The teaching efforts of Jean-Noel Eynard, Salem Assli and Nicolas Saignac contributed to the further development of Boxe Francaise Savate in the USA. ARSIC-International has been instrumental at promoting Savate in the USA.

Dress.

In official competitions, competitors wear an "intégrale" or a vest and savate trousers. They wear boxing gloves (with or without padded palms) and savate boots. Savate is the only kicking and punching (only) style to use footwear, although some other Combat sports, such as Shoot Fighting and some forms of MMA sometimes also wear grappling type shoes/boots. Savate boots can be used to hit with the sole, the top of the foot, the toe, or the heel. Sometimes a helmet can be worn, e.g. in junior competitions and in the early rounds of Combat (full contact) bouts.

Techniques.

In competitive or competition "savate", which includes Assaut, Pre-Combat, and Combat types, there are only four kinds of kicks allowed along with four kinds of punches allowed:

Punches.

Savate did not begin as a sport, but as a form of self-defence and fought on the streets of Paris and Marseille. This type of savate was known as Savate des Rues. In addition to kicks and punches, training in Savate des Rues (Streets Savate) includes knee and elbow strikes along with locks, sweeps, throws, headbutts, and takedowns.

Events.

The International Savate Federation holds World Championships in three disciplines: Savate Assaut, Savate Combat and Canne de combat. World Savate Combat Championships are being held for Seniors (over 21 years) and Juniors (18 to 21 years).

Cultural references.

In the 1964 beach party film "Bikini Beach", a French female bodyguard claims to be an expert in Savate and uses kicks to defend herself.  In Marvel comics, movies, and cartoons, the criminal mercenary Batroc the Leaper is a master of Savate. X-Men superhero, Gambit is trained in Savate.  In the 1967 novel "Logan's Run", protagonist Logan 3 often uses Savate kicks for self-defense.  In DC Comics, the character Nightwing is described as having a personal fighting style that combines Savate with the Filipino martial art Arnis.  Ash Crimson from "The King of Fighters" fights in a basic Savate style that uses his own green flames. Ash himself is portrayed by SNK as a character with an unknown origin, because his lineage as descendant of Saiki (Those from the Past's leader), but it says too that he was raised by the Blanctorche clan, a French family.  In the "Tekken" series, Brazilian character Katarina Alves uses savate as her fighting syle.  In the Japanese manga series "Medaka Box" Zenkichi Hitoyoshi is a master of Savate, and emphasizes its Open Handed Style Techniques with his "Altered God Mode: Model Zenkichi" which makes his hands as sharp as blades.  In the issue "Flight 714" of The Adventures of Tintin, Professor Calculus states that he used to be proficient in Savate in his younger years. However, when attempting a kick, he ends up falling terribly, prompting stunned reactions from the onlookers. Dazed, Calculus remarks that he is out of practice. In "The Black Island", Tintin himself kicks a villain and calls it a Savate move.  In the 1995 martial arts video "Savate", Olivier Gruner plays a savate fighter in the American West using Savate to give his enemies a good thrashing.  In a 1974 episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man" titled "Dr. Wells is Missing", a "Master of the French art of Savate" called Yamo fights with Steve Austin, using the original style of the art (kicks only).

Savate (), also known as boxe française, savate boxing, French boxing or French footfighting, is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of English boxing with graceful kicking techniques.

La savate boxe française est un sport de combat de percussion qui consiste, pour deux adversaires équipés de gants et de chaussons, à se porter des coups avec les poings et les pieds. Elle est apparue au dans la tradition de l'escrime française, dont elle reprend le vocabulaire et l'esprit. Connue dès son apparition sous le nom de « savate » ou « art de la savate », elle a été, tout au long du, désignée par le nom de « boxe française », puis finalement renommée officiellement « savate boxe française » en 2002. C'est actuellement une discipline internationale qui appartient au groupe des boxes pieds-poings. « Savate » en vieux français veut dire « vieille chaussure ». Un homme qui pratique la savate est appelé un tireur tandis qu'une femme s'appelle une tireuse.


History.

Enix was founded on September 22, 1975 as Eidansha Boshu Service Center by Japanese architect-turned-entrepreneur Yasuhiro Fukushima. The company initially published tabloids that advertised real estate.  On February 5, 1980, Eidansha Boshu Service created a wholly owned subsidiary Eidansya Fudousan for the purpose of specializing in real estate trading and brokerage. Eidansya Fudousan took the name Eidansha Systems on August 18. 1981. The following year, on August 30, 1982, Eidansha Systems was renamed Enix Corporation.  After a failed attempt of Eidansha Boshu Service to go nationwide in 1982, its newly established Enix subsidiary began a foray into the gaming market by holding a personal computer game programming contest. One of the winners was "Love Match Tennis", created by Yuji Horii. It would go to become one of the company's first PC releases. Another winner was the puzzle game "Door Door" by Koichi Nakamura, which would become one of the company's better known home computer titles. The game was subsequently ported to the Nintendo Family Computer, but never saw any form of release outside Japan. Nakamura would stay on board as one Enix's key programmers.  Over the next few years, Enix published several video games for various Japanese home computer systems. Rather than developing games within its own company, Enix would continue to outsource the production of its games to other developers through the use of royalties. Enix is perhaps most famous for publishing the "Dragon Quest" series of console games (released as "Dragon Warrior" in North America until 2005) developed by Chunsoft. Key members of the developer's staff consisted of director Koichi Nakamura, writer Yuuji Horii, artist Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama, among others. The first game in the Famicom-based RPG series was released in 1986, and would eventually sell 1.5 million copies in Japan, establishing "Dragon Quest" as the company's most profitable franchise.  On April 1, 1989, the original Enix Corporation along with two sister companies (Konika Enix and Enix Products) were unified and merged into their parent Eidansha Boshu Service who then renamed itself Enix Corporation.  In 1991, Enix registered its stock with the Japan Securities Dealers Association, later known as JASDAQ. Enix soon began publishing manga from its shonen magazine "Monthly Shōnen Gangan". The company established ties with more video game developers and would go on to publish several games for fourth, fifth, and sixth generation game consoles. Despite the announcement that Enix's long-time competitor Square Co., Ltd. would develop exclusively for Sony PlayStation, Enix announced in January 1997 that it would release games for both Nintendo and Sony consoles. This caused a significant rise in stock for both Enix and Sony. By November 1999, Enix was listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 1st section, indicating it as a "large company."

Merger with Square.

In June 2001, Enix expressed interest in partnering with both Square and Namco in online ventures to deal with mounting development costs. That same month, Enix invested in the company Game Arts, acquiring ¥99.2 million worth of stock shares in order to publish the latter's "Grandia" series. Despite Enix's marketing of "Dragon Quest VII" in 1999, the game was delayed numerous times and not released until 2000. As a result, the game didn't (as had been expected) contribute to the fiscal year 1999, cutting the company's previous profit-to-sales ratio in half and causing its stock value to drop by 40% in early 2000. Enix was further hurt by a delay of "Dragon Quest Monsters 2" in Japan in 2001, dropping its first-half 2001 fiscal year profit by 89.71%.  Enix's competitor Square also suffered financially in 2001, mainly from the box office failure of its feature film "". This made Enix hesitant to join with the company. However, it was announced on November 26, 2002 that the two companies would merge the following year in order to mutually decrease development costs and to compete with foreign developers. The merge was delayed until April 1, 2003, when the new merged entity Square Enix came into being, with Enix as the surviving company. On October 1, 2008, Square Enix (the former Enix Corporation) renamed itself Square Enix Holdings and became a pure holding company. On that same date, a new video game company called Square Enix was created as a subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings.

Subsidiaries.

Asia.

Digital Entertainment Academy Co., Ltd. was established as a partially owned subsidiary in 1991. Originally called Toshima Ku Hokkaido University, the school was founded to teach game development. As of April 2008, it is funded by 20 gaming corporations, including Square Enix.  Square Enix Webstar Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. was a company formed between Enix and Mauritius Webstar Inc. in 2001 to develop online and mobile phone games in China and, later, other parts of Asia. One of the products includes the MMORPG "Cross Gate". The subsidiary was carried over after the merger between Square and Enix, but was dissolved in 2005 after the establishment of Square Enix China.

North America.

Enix America Corporation was the corporation's first American localization subsidiary based in Redmond, Washington. It was organized after the release of "Dragon Warrior" by Nintendo of America in 1989. The subsidiary came into existence in 1990, but closed in November 1995 when the parent company decided to no longer release products in North America due to poor sales. One of the games they published, "King Arthur & the Knights of Justice", was Enix's first and only North America exclusive game.  Enix America, Inc., Enix's last American localization subsidiary, was organized in 1999 after the release of "Dragon Warrior Monsters" through a joint venture with Eidos. Paul Handelman, who was part of Enix America Corporation's staff, returned to lead Enix America, Inc. as president. The corporation was in existence until 2003, ceasing to exist after the merger with Square Co., Ltd. It was based in Seattle, Washington.

Products.

Video games.

From 1983 to 1993, Enix published games for Japanese home computers including the NEC PC-8801, MSX, Sharp X68000, and FM-7. Beginning on the Famicom, Enix published the very successful "Dragon Quest" series, which, after the formation of Square Enix, had already sold over 78 million copies worldwide. Although the first few titles were developed by Chunsoft, other companies would also develop main installments, spin-offs, and remakes for the series including Heartbeat, ArtePiazza, TOSE, and Level-5. The "Dragon Quest" franchise would carry over as one of Square Enix's most important assets. Other notable franchises published by Enix include the acclaimed "Star Ocean" and "Valkyrie Profile" series by tri-Ace, both of which would also continue with Square Enix. The company Quintet developed several role-playing games for Enix such as "ActRaiser", "Robotrek", "Soul Blazer", "Illusion of Gaia", and "Terranigma" for the Super NES.

Manga and toys.

Enix began publishing manga in 1991 in its own Gangan Comics publications, which originally consisted of Monthly Shōnen Gangan, Monthly Gangan Wing, and Monthly GFantasy.

Other products.

In November 2000, Enix set up a subsidiary titled BMF in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture to handle a fingerprint identification systems operation. Enix took a 68% stake in 200 million yen capitalization. The subsidiary was expected to post a pretax profit of 12 million yen on sales of 135 million yen in the first five months of operation. In September 2002, Enix entered a joint venture with Waseda University to distribute broadband sports content. The subsidiary, Sports BB, was owned 80% by Enix and 20% by the college.

The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975, as. The name "Enix" is a play on the words "phoenix", a mythical bird that is reborn from its own ashes, and "ENIAC", the world's first digital computer.

Enix ou est une société d'édition et de création de jeux vidéo, créée en 1975 qui a connu un succès immense au Japon grâce à une série de RPG nommée "Dragon Quest".


Media.

Games.

The first installment of the series was released in Japan on December 18, 1987. Subsequent games are numbered and given a story unrelated to previous games, so the numbers refer to volumes rather than to sequels. Many "Final Fantasy" games have been localized for markets in North America, Europe, and Australia on numerous video game consoles, personal computers (PC), and mobile phones. Future installments will appear on seventh and eighth generation consoles. As of November 2016, the series includes the main installments from "Final Fantasy" to "Final Fantasy XV", as well as direct sequels and spin-offs, both released and confirmed as being in development. Most of the older games have been remade or re-released on multiple platforms.

Main series.

Three "Final Fantasy" installments were released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). "Final Fantasy" was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1990. It introduced many concepts to the console RPG genre, and has since been remade on several platforms. "Final Fantasy II", released in 1988 in Japan, has been bundled with "Final Fantasy" in several re-releases. The last of the NES installments, "Final Fantasy III", was released in Japan in 1990; however, it was not released elsewhere until a Nintendo DS remake in 2006.  The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) also featured three

Remakes, sequels and spin-offs.

"Final Fantasy" has spawned numerous spin-offs and metaseries. Several are, in fact, not "Final Fantasy" games, but were rebranded for North American release. Examples include the "SaGa" series, rebranded "The Final Fantasy Legend", and its two sequels, "Final Fantasy Legend II" and "Final Fantasy Legend III". "Final Fantasy Mystic Quest" was specifically developed for a United States audience, and "Final Fantasy Tactics" is a tactical RPG that features many references and themes found in the series. The spin-off "Chocobo" series,

Other media.

Film and television.

Square Enix has expanded the "Final Fantasy" series into various media. Multiple anime and computer-generated imagery (CGI) films have been produced that are based either on individual "Final Fantasy" games or on the series as a whole. The first was an original video animation (OVA), "", a sequel to "Final Fantasy V". The story was set in the same world as the game, although 200 years in the future. It was released as four 30-minute episodes, first in Japan in 1994 and later in the United States by Urban Vision in 1998. In 2001, Square Pictures released its first feature film, "". The film is set on a future Earth invaded by alien life forms. "The Spirits Within" was the first animated feature to seriously attempt to portray photorealistic CGI humans, but was considered a box office bomb and garnered mixed reviews.  A 25-episode anime television series, "," was released in 2001 based on the common elements of the "Final Fantasy" series. It was broadcast in Japan by TV Tokyo and released in North America by ADV Films.  In 2005, "", a feature length direct-to-DVD CGI film, and "", a non-canon OVA, were released as part of the

Other media.

Several video games have either been adapted into or have had spin-offs in the form of manga and novels. The first was the novelization of "Final Fantasy II" in 1989, and was followed by a manga adaptation of "Final Fantasy III" in 1992. The past decade has seen an increase in the number of non-video game adaptations and spin-offs. "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" has been adapted into a novel, the spin-off game "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles" has been adapted into a manga, and

Common elements.

Although most "Final Fantasy" installments are independent, many gameplay elements recur throughout the series. Most games contain elements of fantasy and science fiction and feature recycled names often inspired from various cultures' history, languages and mythology, including Asian, European, and Middle-Eastern. Examples include weapon names like Excalibur and Masamune—derived from Arthurian legend and the Japanese swordsmith Masamune respectively—as well as the spell names Holy, Meteor, and Ultima. Beginning with "Final Fantasy IV", the main series adopted its current logo style that features the same typeface and an emblem designed by Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano. The emblem relates to a game's plot and typically portrays a character or object in the story. Subsequent remakes of the first three games have replaced the previous logos with ones similar to the rest of the series.

Plot and themes.

The central conflict in many "Final Fantasy" games focuses on a group of characters battling an evil, and sometimes ancient, antagonist that dominates the game's world. Stories frequently involve a sovereign state in rebellion, with the protagonists taking part in the rebellion. The heroes are often destined to defeat the evil, and occasionally gather as a direct result of the antagonist's malicious actions. Another staple of the series is the existence of two villains; the main villain is not always who it appears to be, as the primary antagonist may actually be subservient to another character or entity. The main antagonist introduced at the beginning of the game is not always the final enemy, and

Characters.

The series features a number of recurring character archetypes. Most famously, every game since "Final Fantasy II", including subsequent remakes of the original "Final Fantasy", features a character named Cid. Cid's appearance, personality, goals, and role in the game (non-playable ally, party member, villain) vary dramatically. However, two characteristics many versions of Cid have in common are 1) being a scientist or engineer, and 2) being tied in some way to an airship the party eventually acquires. Every Cid has at least one of these two

Gameplay.

In "Final Fantasy" games, players command a party of characters as they progress through the game's story by exploring the game world and defeating opponents. Enemies are typically encountered randomly through exploring, a trend which changed in "Final Fantasy XI" and "Final Fantasy XII". The player issues combat orders—like "Fight", "Magic", and "Item"—to individual characters via a menu-driven interface while engaging in battles. Throughout the series, the games have used different battle systems. Prior to "Final Fantasy XI", battles were turn-based with the protagonists and antagonists on different sides of the battlefield. "Final Fantasy IV" introduced

Development and history.

Origin.

In the mid-1980s, Square entered the Japanese video game industry with simple RPGs, racing games, and platformers for Nintendo's Famicom Disk System. In 1987, Square designer Hironobu Sakaguchi chose to create a new fantasy role-playing game for the cartridge-based NES, and drew inspiration from popular fantasy games: Enix's "Dragon Quest", Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda", and Origin Systems's "Ultima" series. Though often attributed to the company allegedly facing bankruptcy, Sakaguchi explained that the game was his personal last-ditch effort in the game industry and that its title, "Final Fantasy", stemmed from his feelings at the time; had the game not sold well, he would have quit the business and gone back to university. Despite his explanation, publications have also attributed the name to the company's hopes that the project would solve its financial troubles. In 2015, Sakaguchi explained the name's origin: the team wanted a title that would abbreviate to ""FF"", which would sound good in Japanese. The name was originally going to be "Fighting Fantasy", but due to concerns

Design.

For the original "Final Fantasy", Sakaguchi required a larger production team than Square's previous games. He began crafting the game's story while experimenting with gameplay ideas. Once the gameplay system and game world size were established, Sakaguchi integrated his story ideas into the available resources. A different approach has been taken for subsequent games; the story is completed first and the game built around it. Designers have never been restricted by consistency, though most feel each game should have a minimum number of common elements. The development

Graphics and technology.

Because of graphical limitations, the first games on the NES feature small sprite representations of the leading party members on the main world screen. Battle screens use more detailed, full versions of characters in a side-view perspective. This practice was used until "Final Fantasy VI", which uses detailed versions for both screens. The NES sprites are 26 pixels high and use a color palette of 4 colors. 6 frames of animation are used to depict different character statuses like "healthy" and "fatigued". The SNES installments use updated graphics and effects, as well as higher quality audio than in previous games,

Music.

The "Final Fantasy" games feature a variety of music, and frequently reuse themes. Most of the games open with a piece called "Prelude", which has evolved from a simple, 2-voice arpeggio in the early games to a complex, melodic arrangement in recent installments. Victories in combat are often accompanied by a victory fanfare, a theme that has become one of the most recognized pieces of music in the series. The basic theme that accompanies Chocobo appearances has been rearranged in a different musical style for each installment. A piece called "Prologue" (and sometimes "Final Fantasy"), originally featured in the first game, is often played during the ending credits. Although leitmotifs are common in the more character-driven installments, theme music is typically reserved for main

Reception.

Overall, the "Final Fantasy" series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, though each installment has seen different levels of success. The series has seen a steady increase in total sales; it sold over 10 million software units worldwide by early 1996, 45 million by August 2003, 63 million by December 2005, and 85 million by July 2008. In June 2011, Square Enix announced that the series had sold over units, and by March 2014, it had sold over 110 million units. Its high sales numbers have ranked it as one of the best-selling video game franchises in the industry; in January 2007, the series was listed as number three, and later in July as number four. As of 2019, the series had sold over 149 million units worldwide. As of April 2020, the series has sold over 154.5million units worldwide.  Several games within the series have become best-selling games. At the end of 2007, the seventh, eighth, and ninth best-selling RPGs were "Final Fantasy VII", "Final Fantasy VIII", and "Final Fantasy X" respectively. "Final Fantasy VII" has shipped over 12.3 million copies worldwide, earning it the position of the best-selling "Final Fantasy" game. Within two days of "Final Fantasy VIII"s North American release on September 9, 1999, it became the top-selling video game in the United States, a position it held for more than three weeks. "Final Fantasy X" sold over 1.4 million Japanese units in pre-orders alone, which set a record for the fastest-selling console RPG. The MMORPG, "Final Fantasy XI", reached over 200,000 active daily players in March 2006 and had reached over half a million subscribers by July 2007. "Final Fantasy XII" sold more than 1.7 million copies in its first week in Japan. By November 6, 2006—one week after its release—"Final Fantasy XII" had shipped approximately 1.5 million copies in North America. "Final Fantasy XIII" became the fastest-selling game in the franchise, and sold one million units on its first day of sale in Japan. "Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn", in comparison to its predecessor, was a runaway success, originally suffering from servers being overcrowded, and eventually gaining over one million unique subscribers within two months of its launch.  The series has received critical acclaim for the quality of its visuals and soundtracks. In 1996, "Next Generation" ranked the series collectively as the 17th best game of all time, speaking very highly of its graphics, music and stories. In 1999, "Next Generation" listed the "Final Fantasy" series as number 16 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "By pairing state-of-the-art technology with memorable, sometimes shamelessly melodramatic storylines, the series has successfully outlasted its competitors [...] and improved with each new installation." It was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006, making it the first franchise to win a star on the event (other winners were individual games, not franchises). WalkOfGame.com commented that the series has sought perfection as well as having been a risk taker in innovation. In 2006, GameFAQs held a contest for the best video game series ever, with "Final Fantasy" finishing as the runner-up to "The Legend of Zelda". In a 2008 public poll held by The Game Group plc, "Final Fantasy" was voted the best game series, with five games appearing in their "Greatest Games of All Time" list.  Many "Final Fantasy" games have been included in various lists of top games. Several games have been listed on multiple IGN "Top Games" lists. Twelve games were listed on "Famitsu"'s 2006 "Top 100 Favorite Games of All Time", four of which were in the top ten, with "Final Fantasy X" and "Final Fantasy VII" coming first and second, respectively. The series holds seven Guinness World Records in the "Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008", which include the "Most Games in an RPG Series" (13 main games, seven enhanced games, and 32 spin-off games), the "Longest Development Period" (the production of "Final Fantasy XII" took five years), and the "Fastest-Selling Console RPG in a Single Day" ("Final Fantasy X"). The 2009 edition listed two games from the series among the top 50 consoles games: "Final Fantasy XII" at number 8 and "Final Fantasy VII" at number 20. In 2018, "Final Fantasy VII" was inducted as a member of the World Video Game Hall of Fame.  However, the series has garnered some criticism. IGN has commented that the menu system used by the games is a major detractor for many and is a "significant reason why they haven't touched the series." The site has also heavily criticized the use of random encounters in the series' battle systems. IGN further stated the various attempts to bring the series into film and animation have either been unsuccessful, unremarkable, or did not live up to the standards of the games. In 2007, "Edge" criticized the series for a number of related games that include the phrase ""Final Fantasy"" in their titles, which are considered inferior to previous games. It also commented that with the departure of Hironobu Sakaguchi, the series might be in danger of growing stale.  Several individual "Final Fantasy" games have garnered extra attention; some for their positive reception and others for their negative reception. "Final Fantasy VII" topped "GamePro's" "26 Best RPGs of All Time" list, as well as GameFAQs "Best Game Ever" audience polls in 2004 and 2005. Despite the success of "Final Fantasy VII", it is sometimes criticized as being overrated. In 2003, GameSpy listed it as the seventh most overrated game of all time, while IGN presented views from both sides. "" shipped 392,000 units in its first week of release, but received review scores that were much lower than that of other "Final Fantasy" games. A delayed, negative review after the Japanese release of "Dirge of Cerberus" from Japanese gaming magazine "Famitsu" hinted at a controversy between the magazine and Square Enix. Though "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" was praised for its visuals, the plot was criticized and the film was considered a box office bomb. "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles" for the GameCube received overall positive review scores, but reviews stated that the use of Game Boy Advances as controllers was a big detractor. The predominantly negative reception of the original version of "Final Fantasy XIV" caused then-president Yoichi Wada to issue an official apology during a Tokyo press conference, stating that the brand had been "greatly damaged" by the game's reception.

Legacy.

Final Fantasy has been very influential in the history of video game mechanics. "Final Fantasy IV" is considered a milestone for the genre, introducing a dramatic storyline with a strong emphasis on character development and personal relationships. "Final Fantasy VII" is credited as having the largest industry impact of the series, and with allowing console role-playing games to gain mass-market appeal. "Final Fantasy VII" is considered to be one of the most important and influential video games of all time.  The series affected Square's business on several levels. The commercial failure of "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" resulted in hesitation and delays from Enix during merger discussions with Square. Square's decision to produce games exclusively for the Sony PlayStation—a move followed by Enix's decision with the "Dragon Quest" series—severed their relationship with Nintendo. "Final Fantasy" games were absent from Nintendo consoles, specifically the Nintendo 64, for seven years. Critics attribute the switch of strong third-party games like the "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest" games to Sony's PlayStation, and away from the Nintendo 64, as one of the reasons behind PlayStation being the more successful of the two consoles. The release of the Nintendo GameCube, which used optical disc media, in 2001 caught the attention of Square. To produce games for the system, Square created the shell company The Game Designers Studio and released "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles", which spawned its own metaseries within the main franchise. "Final Fantasy XI"s lack of an online method of subscription cancellation prompted the creation of legislation in Illinois that requires internet gaming services to provide such a method to the state's residents.  The series' popularity has resulted in its appearance and reference in numerous facets of popular culture like anime, TV series, and webcomics. Music from the series has permeated into different areas of culture. "Final Fantasy IV"s "Theme of Love" was integrated into the curriculum of Japanese school children and has been performed live by orchestras and metal bands. In 2003, Uematsu co-founded The Black Mages, an instrumental rock group independent of Square that has released albums of arranged "Final Fantasy" tunes. Bronze medalists Alison Bartosik and Anna Kozlova performed their synchronized swimming routine at the 2004 Summer Olympics to music from "Final Fantasy VIII". Many of the soundtracks have also been released for sale. Numerous companion books, which normally provide in-depth game information, have been published. In Japan, they are published by Square and are called "Ultimania" books.  The series has inspired numerous game developers. "Fable" creator Peter Molyneux considers "Final Fantasy VII" to be the RPG that "defined the genre" for him. BioWare founder Greg Zeschuk cited "Final Fantasy VII" as "the first really emotionally engaging game" he played and said it had "a big impact" on BioWare's work. "The Witcher 3" senior environmental artist Jonas Mattsson cited "Final Fantasy" as "a huge influence" and said it was "the first RPG" he played through. "Mass Effect" art director Derek Watts cited "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" as a major influence on the visual design and art direction of the series. BioWare senior product manager David Silverman cited "Final Fantasy XII"s gambit system as an influence on the gameplay of "". Ubisoft Toronto creative director Maxime Beland cited the original "Final Fantasy" as a major influence on him. Media Molecule's Constantin Jupp credited "Final Fantasy VII" with getting him into game design. Tim Schafer also cited "Final Fantasy VII" as one of his favourite games of all time.

"Final Fantasy" installments are generally stand-alone stories, each with different settings, plots and main characters, but the franchise is linked by several recurring elements, including game mechanics and recurring character names. Each plot centers on a particular group of heroes who are battling a great evil, but also explores the characters' internal struggles and relationships. Character names are frequently derived from the history, languages, pop culture, and mythologies of cultures worldwide. The mechanics of each game involve similar battle systems and maps.

Depuis, "" évolue avec chaque génération de console de salon et est parfois adaptée sur d'autres plates-formes. Elle s'est aventurée dans d'autres genres de jeu vidéo dont le jeu de rôle en ligne, la course, les jeux de tir à la troisième personne, le jeu de combat et le jeu de rythme. Elle s'est ensuite diversifiée en termes de format, donnant naissance à des films, des animes, des mangas et des romans.


Biography.

At the age of fourteen he became interested in aeronautics after reading novels by Jules Verne. He is known to have written a letter to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1923. He studied at an Odessa trade school, where he learned to be a sheet metal worker. After graduation he apprenticed at a hydraulics fitting plant. He was first trained as a fitter, then moved to lathe operator.  During his time in Odessa, Glushko performed experiments with explosives. These were recovered from unexploded artillery shells that had been left behind by the White Guards during their retreat. From 1924-25 he wrote articles concerning the exploration of the Moon, as well as the use of Tsiolkovsky's proposed engines for space flight.  He attended Leningrad State University where he studied physics and mathematics, but found the specialty programs were not to his interest. He reportedly left without graduating in April, 1929. From 1929-1930 he pursued rocket research at the Gas Dynamics Laboratory. A new research section was apparently set up for the study of liquid-propellant and electric engines. He became a member of the GIRD (Group for the study of Rocket Propulsion Systems), founded in Leningrad in 1931.  On 23 March 1938 he became caught up in Joseph Stalin's Great Purge and was rounded up by the NKVD, to be placed in the Butyrka prison. By 15 August 1939 he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment; however, Glushko was put to work on various aircraft projects with other arrested scientists. In 1941 he was placed in charge of a design bureau for liquid-fueled rocket engines. He was finally released in 1944. In 1944, Sergei Korolev and Glushko designed the RD-1 auxiliary rocket motor tested in a fast-climb Lavochkin La-7R for protection of the capital from high-altitude "Luftwaffe" attacks.  At the end of World War II, Glushko was sent to Germany and Eastern Europe to study the German rocket program. In 1946, he became the chief designer of his own bureau, the OKB 456, and remained at this position until 1974. This bureau would play a prominent role in the development of rocket engines within the Soviet Union.  His OKB 456 (later NPO Energomash) would design the 35-metric ton (340 kN) thrust RD-101 engine used in the R-2, the 120-ton (1,180 kN) thrust RD-110 employed in the R-3, and the 44-ton (430 kN) thrust RD-103 used in the R-5 Pobeda (SS-3 Shyster). The R-7 ("Semyorka") would include four of Glushko's RD-107 engines and one RD-108. In 1954, he began to design engines for the R-12 Dvina (SS-4 Sandal), which had been designed by Mikhail Yangel. He also became responsible for supplying rocket engines for Sergei Korolev, the designer of the R-9 Desna (SS-8 Sasin). Among his designs was the powerful RD-170 liquid propellant engine.  In 1974, following the successful American moon landings, premier Leonid Brezhnev decided to cancel the troubled Soviet program to send a man to the Moon. He consolidated the Soviet space program, moving Vasily Mishin's OKB-1 (Korolev's former design bureau), as well as other bureaus, into a single bureau headed by Glushko, later named NPO Energia. Glushko's first act, after firing Mishin altogether, was to cancel the N-1 rocket, a program he had long criticized, despite the fact that one of the reasons for its difficulties was his own refusal to design the high power engines Korolev needed because of friction between the two men and ostensibly a disagreement over the use of cryogenic or hypergolic fuel.  In 1965, after the UR-500 booster began flying, the Chelomei Bureau offered a counterproposal to Korolev's N-1 in the UR-700, a Saturn V-class booster with nine F-1 sized engines powered by dinitrogen tetroxide and UDMH. Korolev was an outspoken opponent of hypergolic propellants due to their toxicity, often citing the 1960 Nedelin catastrophe as evidence of the danger posed by them, and had also objected to the UR-500 for the same reason.  Glushko meanwhile was an advocate of Chelomei's UR-700 as well as an even more powerful UR-900 with a nuclear-powered upper stage. When Korolev continued protesting about the safety risk posed by hypergolic propellants, Glushko responded with the counterargument that the US was launching the manned Gemini spacecraft atop a Titan II rocket with very similar propellants and it was not apparently a safety issue for them. He also argued that the N-1 was not a workable solution because they could not develop RP-1/LOX engines on the scale of the Saturn F-1. When Korolev also suggested developing a liquid hydrogen engine for the N-1, Glushko said that LH2 was completely impractical as a rocket fuel.  The UR-700, Glushko said, could enable a direct-ascent trajectory to the Moon which he considered safer and more reliable than the rendezvous-and-dock approach used by the Apollo program and Korolev's N-1 proposals. He also imagined the UR-700 and 900 in all sorts of applications from lunar bases to manned Mars missions to outer planet probes to orbiting battle stations.  When Korolev died in January 1966, his deputy Vasily Mishin took over the OKB-1 design bureau. Mishin succeeded in getting the Kremlin to terminate the UR-700/900 project as well as the RD-270 engine Glushko planned for the launch vehicle family. His main arguments were the tremendous safety risk posed by a low-altitude launch failure of the UR-700 in addition to the waste of money by developing two HLV families at once.  After the complete failure of the Soviet manned lunar effort, unmanned Mars missions, and the deaths of four cosmonauts, Mishin was fired in 1973 and the Kremlin decided to consolidate the entire Soviet space program into one organization headed by Glushko.  One of Glushko's first acts was to suspend the N-1 program, which however was not formally terminated until 1976. He then began work on a completely new HLV. During this time, the US was developing the Space Shuttle.  Glushko decided that the new HLV would use entirely liquid-fueled engines, with an LH2 core stage taking the place of the Shuttle main engines and strap-on boosters with LOX/RP-1 engines.  While the RD-120 engine used for the Energia core stage was developed quickly and with little difficulty, the RD-170 proved harder to work out. Glushko instead decided to use an engine with four combustion chambers fed from a single propellant feed line. The RD-170 powered strap-on boosters designed for Energia became the basis for the Zenit booster family which began flying in 1985. Since the Buran space shuttle was not ready for operations, Energia's maiden flight in May 1987 carried aloft a prototype space station module called Polyus. Ultimately, Buran did fly the following summer, a few months before Glushko's death.  While Energia and Buran fell victim to loss of funding after the collapse of the USSR, the RD-170 engines and its derivatives are still flying today and the experience in LH2 engines made during the Energia project would be used in later upper stages such as Briz.  Glushko's team was part of the Soviet Ministry of General Machine Building headed by Minister Sergey Afanasyev. Before his death, he appointed Boris Gubanov to become his successor.  Glushko died in January 1989. His obituary was signed by multiple Communist Party of the Soviet Union leaders, including Mikhail Gorbachev.  Perhaps his most significant engineering failure, as noted by division chief Yuri Demyanko, was his insistence that hydrogen fuel was unsuitable for use as a rocket fuel. As a result, the Soviet space program was still discussing the use of hydrogen-fueled engines while the Americans were assembling the Saturn V launcher. Also, Glushko's design bureau consistently failed at building a rocket engine powered by LOX/Kerosene with a large combustion chamber to rival the American F-1 used on the Saturn V; instead, his solution was the RD-270, a single large combustion-chamber engine powered by hypergolic fuels which had almost the same thrust and better specific impulse when compared to the F-1 engine. In addition, the RD-270 used the very advanced full-flow, staged, closed-cycle combustion concept as opposed to the simple open-cycle gas generator design used by the F-1 rocket engine. This was a primary reason for the failure of the N-1, which was forced to rely on a multitude of smaller engines for propulsion since Sergei Korolev, its chief designer, insisted on using the LOX/Kerosene combination, which Glushko felt would take much more time and money to design. Glushko never did overcome the combustion instability problems of large rocket motors using kerosene propellants; his eventual solution for this is seen on the RD-170 which is basically four smaller combustion chamber/nozzle assemblies sharing common fuel delivery systems. This solution and engine gave the Soviets the large thrust propulsion needed to build the Energia super heavy-lift launch vehicle, and is probably the finest example of Glushko's technical abilities when he was at his best.

Valentin Petrovich Glushko (, "Valentin Petrovich Glushko";, "Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko"; born 2 September 1908 – 10 January 1989), was a Soviet engineer and designer of rocket engines during the Soviet/American Space Race.

Valentin Petrovitch Glouchko (en ) est considéré comme le plus grand concepteur de moteurs de fusées de l'Union soviétique. Il est né à Odessa, en Ukraine, le, et mort à Moscou le. Glouchko est considéré comme le premier ingénieur à avoir mis en pratique les théories élaborées par Tsiolkovski en concevant et construisant le premier moteur-fusée à ergols liquides, baptisé ORM-1, dont les tests eurent lieu en 1931. Le gros de son travail de pionnier de la propulsion spatiale se fait par la suite en développant trois séries de moteurs expérimentaux ORM4 à ORM-22, ORM-23 à ORM-52 et ORM-53 à ORM-66. Lorsque les missiles balistiques et l'astronautique civile prennent leur essor dans les années 1950, son bureau d'études développe les moteurs de nombreux missiles balistiques ainsi que les engins propulsant notamment la famille de lanceurs Soyouz. Il s'oppose à Sergueï Korolev sur la propulsion de la fusée lunaire N-1 car il ne croit pas à l'utilisation de l'hydrogène liquide qui permettra pourtant aux Américains d'atteindre la Lune. La fin de sa carrière est marquée par le développement du moteur RD-170, qui équipe le lanceur lourd Energia, et le lanceur intermédiaire Zenit. Ce moteur reste aujourd'hui le moteur-fusée le plus puissant jamais développé et des versions dérivées équipent à la fois les premiers étages du lanceur américain Atlas V, du lanceur ukrainien Zenit et du futur lanceur russe Angara.