This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

Dust Networks, Inc. is a company specializing in the design and manufacture of wireless sensor networks for industrial applications including process monitoring, condition monitoring, asset management, Environment, Health and Safety (EH & S) monitoring and power management. They are headquartered in Hayward, California.

Dust Networks works with industry and standards groups such as WirelessHART, IETF, ISA, and WINA to help drive the adoption of interoperable wireless sensor networking products.

Company history[link]

In 1997, Kristofer S. J. Pister, a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, conceived of and started the Smart Dust project with DARPA funding.

Smart Dust[link]

The Smart Dust project^[1] attempted to demonstrate that a complete sensor/communication system could be integrated into a package one cubic millimeter in size. This involved advances in miniaturization, integration, and energy management. The project focus was independent of any particular sensor, and looked at both commercial and military applications including:

• Defense-related sensor networks such as battlefield surveillance, treaty monitoring, transportation monitoring, and scud hunting.
• Virtual keyboard sensors: by attaching miniature remotes on each fingernail, accelerometers could then sense the orientation and motion of each fingertip, and communicate this data to a computer in a wristwatch.
• Inventory control: by placing miniature sensors on each object in the inventory system (product package, carton, pallet, truck warehouse, internet), each component could "talk" to the next component in the system. This evolved into today's RFID inventory control systems.
• Product quality monitoring: temperature and humidity monitoring of perishables such as meat, produce, and dairy.
• Impact, vibration and temperature monitoring of consumer electronics, for failure analysis and diagnostic information, e.g. monitoring the vibration of bearings to detect frequency signatures that may indicate imminent failure.

The project led to the founding of Dust Networks, to provide commercial applications for industrial monitoring and control.

Timeline[link]

• July 2002: Dust Networks founded by Pister, Tod Dykstra, Rob Conant and Brett Warneke
• February 2004: Completes $7 million Series A financing from Foundation Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and In-Q-Tel
• July 2004: First product delivered - SmartMesh shipping
• February 2005: Completes $22 million Series B financing from Crescendo Ventures, Cargill Ventures and prior investors
• March 2005: Launches products based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard in the 2.4 GHz ISM band
• June 2006: Launches SmartMesh-XT wireless sensor networking system optimized for industrial applications
• September 2007: WirelessHART standard ratified
• October 2007: SmartMesh IA-500 family of WirelessHART standards-based systems announced
• July 2008: Launches initiative focused on the use of Internet Protocol (IP) networking in urban infrastructure, building automation, utility metering, and other wireless sensor networking applications
• December 2011: Dust Networks is acquired by Linear Technology ^[2]

Technology[link]

Wireless sensor networks attempt to increase transmission reliability and quickly adapt should the transmission fail and automatically route around failed links. This requires embedded networking intelligence that establishes, maintains and utilizes redundant multi-hop routing from source to destination.

Dust implements full-mesh networks, sometimes referred to as ‘mesh-to-the-edge’, which provides redundant routing to the edge of the network. In a full-mesh network every device has the same routing capabilities and is able to ‘decide’ where it belongs in the routing structure based on what other nodes it can communicate with, its proximity to the network gateway, and its traffic load. This allows for self-forming and self-healing. The multi-chip modules used to drive these networks are divided into 'gateways' and 'motes' (or mote modules). Gateways then tie back into larger networks used to make decisions within large industrial plants (oil refineries, chemical plants, produce facilities, etc).

The company has evolved from using a proprietary protocol called TSMP (Time Synchronized Mesh Protocol), to Wireless HART to launching an IP-based initiative, in support of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), focused on the use of Internet Protocol (IP) networking in urban infrastructure, building automation, utility metering, and other wireless sensor networking applications.

References[link]

• Smart Dust Future at Nanowerk.com
• "DOE Chooses Dust Networks for Advanced Lighting Control Project", February 2005

External links[link]

• UC Berkeley Smart Dust Project
• Kris Pister's Smart Dust Page

Coordinates: 37°37′03″N 122°03′17″W / 37.617529°N 122.054822°W / 37.617529; -122.054822

Robert Toru Kiyosaki (born April 8, 1947) is an American investor, businessman, self-help author, motivational speaker, financial literacy activist, and occasional financial commentator. Kiyosaki is perhaps best known for his Rich Dad Poor Dad series of motivational books and other material published under the Rich Dad brand. He has written over 15 books which have combined sales of over 26 million copies.^[1] Although beginning as a self-publisher, he was subsequently published by Warner Books, a division of Hachette Book Group USA. His new books appear under the Rich Dad Press imprint. Three of his books, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant, and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, have been on number one on the top 10 best-seller lists simultaneously on The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the New York Times. Rich Kid Smart Kid was published in 2001, with the intent to help parents teach their children financial concepts. He has created three "Cashflow" board and software games for adults and children and has a series of "Rich Dad" CDs and disks.

As a devout global financial literacy advocate, Kiyosaki has been a staunch proponent of entrepreneurship, business education, investing, and that comprehensive financial literacy concepts should be taught in schools around the world.^[2] Kiyosaki also operates his own blog and maintains a monthly column on Yahoo Finance writing about his latest thoughts on global economics, investing, business, world financial markets, and personal finance.^[3][4]

Life and career[link]

A fourth-generation Japanese American, Kiyosaki was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii. He is the son of educator Ralph H. Kiyosaki (1919–1991). After graduating from Hilo High School, he attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York, graduating with the class of 1969 as a deck officer. He later served in the Marine Corps as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War in 1972, where he was awarded the Air Medal.^[5]

Kiyosaki left the Marine Corps in 1975 and got a job selling copy machines for the Xerox Corporation as a salesperson. In 1977, Kiyosaki started a company that brought to market the first nylon and Velcro "surfer" wallets. The company was moderately successful at first but eventually went bankrupt. In the early 1980s, Kiyosaki started a business that licensed T-shirts for Heavy metal rock bands, which was later sold in 1985.^[6]

In 1994, after becoming financially independent through various real estate investments and private business operations, Kiyosaki retired at the age of 47. In 1997, after his short lived retirement, he launched Cashflow Technologies, Inc.^[7] which owns and operates the Rich Dad^[8] and Cashflow^[9] brands.

Personal life[link]

He has been married to wife, Kim, who is an entrepreneur, investor, author, and a motivational speaker. They have been married since 1985. He and Kim have settled in the Scottsdale area in Phoenix, Arizona since 1994. Kiyosaki also has one sister, Emi Kiyosaki, a Tibetan Buddhist nun known by the name Ven. Tenzin Kacho. He has co-authored one book with her called "Rich Brother, Rich Sister".

Business ventures and investments[link]

Aside from operating the Rich Dad Company and Cashflow Technologies, Inc., Kiyosaki continues to operate external business ventures and has continued engaging with various investments since he came out of retirement in 1997.^[10][10]

Mining ventures[link]

Kiyosaki bought a silver mine in South America in 2002, took a gold mining company in China public back in 2002, and took public additional mines from IPOs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange during the early 2000s. In 2009, Kiyosaki revealed in his book Conspiracy of the Rich that he is currently working on a copper mine that is yet to be taken public once copper prices begin to rise in value.^[11]

Precious metals and coin dealing[link]

Through his teenage years, Kiyosaki dabbled with silver and gold coins as a starting investment during the 1960s. In a July 2005 Yahoo Finance article Kiyosaki states that

If you only have a few dollars, you may want to go to your local coin dealer and buy silver and gold coins as close to the price of gold or silver as possible. I would not invest in 'collectible' precious metal coins unless you really know a good collectible coin from a bad one. For as little as $20 you can buy a few precious metal coins and begin to take steps to prepare for one of the biggest crashes in world history.^[12]

In addition, Kiyosaki states that he is a "gold bug", meaning is that he holds various commodities such as gold and silver to hedge against government misprinting of the U.S. dollar as a fiat currency since the early 1970s when President Richard Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard.^[10]

Real estate acquisitions[link]

Kiyosaki is also an active real estate investor. A large portion of his wealth is concentrated within real estate investing. He has various real estate investments, real estate development ventures, and property management ventures operating around the United States, such as Texas and Oklahoma, particularly in his home state of Arizona, where he lives. Many of his holdings include hotels, golf courses, and large apartment complexes as stated in an interview with The Alex Jones Show back in late 2010.^[13]

Starting with small residential real estate investments back in 1973, Kiyosaki began investing in small condos on the island of Maui, making a small profit from capital gains by the mid 1970's. Kiyosaki starting his own real estate holding company in the 1980s during his tenure with Xerox and continued on with smaller real estate investments after the Savings and loan crisis and the 1986 Tax Reform Act hit the United States in the early 1990s where much foreclosure investment real estate was sold for pennies on the dollar. After progressing with smaller real estate investments, Kiyosaki moved into the commercial real estate business, branching off into semi-large apartment complexes, with a large portion concentrated in Arizona and the Southwestern United States and retired in 1994. Since coming out of retirement in 1997, Kiyosaki still remains involved with the apartment business and stated in an interview with Jason Hartman in 2011 that he owns over 1400 units of apartment houses.^[14][15]

Kiyosaki has been involved with commercial real estate sector such as investing in warehouses, Triple net lease and real estate development ventures around the United States.^[16][17]

Oil wells and natural gas investments[link]

Kiyosaki has stated in a Rich Dad video, several interviews, and a on number of Yahoo Finance articles that he owns oil drilling operations and oil wells around the United States but does not invest in oil company shares such as ExxonMobil or BP.^{[18][19][19][20]}

Solar company[link]

In a 2010 Rich Dad Insiders video, Kiyosaki stated that he also invested in a startup solar company.^[18]

Financial market investments[link]

In his debut book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki mentioned achieving consistent 16% ROI through tax lien certificates.^[21]

Written in a chapter of Rich Dad's Prophecy, Kiyosaki states of having invested in various government tax free bonds such as municipal bonds and municipal mortgage REIT's offered by real estate development companies paying over 12% tax free dividend interest.^[22]

Kiyosaki has also stated in numerous interviews that he does not invest or play the stock market much like the fact that he does not invest in oil company stocks. Instead, Kiyosaki trades stock options, Forex currencies, and other derivatives in the financial markets as stated in a chapter written in his book, Rich Dad's Prophecy and in a 2009 interview with real estate investor John Hartman.^[15]

Kiyosaki has frequently mentioned himself of investing in hedge funds, private placements, and other various funds such as private equity funds typically investments reserved by SEC law only for millionaires or high-income individuals.

Kiyosaki is also involved in the commodity market where he invests in gold and silver commodities as well as gold and silver ETF's, as written in chapter of his 2008 book, "Rich Dads, Increase Your Financial IQ". He stated this for the reason that he uses commodities as a hedge against uncertain economic forces such as inflation and hyperinflation as well as government's mismanagement via printing of the nations currency.^[21]

Teachings[link]

A large part of Kiyosaki's teachings focus on what he calls "financial education" generating passive income by means of investment opportunities, such as real estate investments and businesses, with the ultimate goal of being able to support oneself by such investments alone and thus achieving true financial independence WITHOUT working for a paycheck. In tandem with this, Kiyosaki defines the term "assets" as things that generate cash inflow, such as stock dividends, rental properties, or businesses, and the term "liabilities" as things that use cash, such as houses, cars, and so on. Kiyosaki continuously argues that financial leverage is critically important in becoming rich, despite the inherent financial risks, repercussions, and pitfalls that come with it.

Originally self-published before being picked up commercially to become a best seller, the central concept of the book is an anecdotal comparison of his "two fathers." His "poor dad" was his biological father, who was highly educated and became Superintendent of the Hawaii State Department of Education but was poor. Contrasted with this is his (arguably fictitious, see "Criticism and controversy" section of this article) "rich dad," his best friend's father who became "the richest man in Hawaii" by investing his smaller income into income-producing investments, and was a high school dropout. Its main purpose as a self-help book is to help people rethink their idea of money and especially their concept of themselves as employees who will gain financial rewards from conformity and education.

Kiyosaki uses the "rich dad, poor dad" comparison to illustrate his view that the majority of people are stuck in what he refers to as "the rat race"—living paycheck to paycheck and spending all of their time working to pay bills and other expenses. In his books, Kiyosaki advocates tax-advantaged investment vehicles, such as real estate or businesses, rather than ownership of securities such as stocks. This idea is further developed in his later books and "Rich Dad" became Kiyosaki's personal brand for various publishing ventures.

Kiyosaki continuously stresses financial literacy through the acquisition of he calls "assets" as the means to obtaining wealth. He says that life skills are often best learned through experience and that there are important lessons not taught in school. He says that formal education is primarily for those seeking to be employees or self-employed individuals, and that this is an "Industrial Age idea." And according to Kiyosaki, in order to obtain financial freedom, one must be either a business owner, an investor, or both generating passive income, particularly on a monthly basis.

Kiyosaki often refers to The CASHFLOW Quadrant, a conceptual tool which he developed to categorize the four major ways income is earned. Depicted in a diagram, this concept entails four groupings, split with two crossed lines (one vertical and one horizontal). In each of the four groups there is a letter representing a way in which an individual may earn income. The letters are as follows.

• E: Employee — Working for someone else.
• S: Self-employed or Small business owner — Where a person owns his own job and is his own boss.
• B: Business owner — A person who owns a business to make money; typically where the owner's physical presence is not required.
• I: Investor — Investing money in order to receive a larger income in the future.

For those on the left side of the divide (E and S), Kiyosaki says that they may never obtain true wealth. Conversely, those on the right side of the divide (B and I) are supposedly following the only road to true wealth.

Kiyosaki also classifies the four main "asset" classes as means of gaining wealth.^[23]:

• Businesses: Businesses that generate monthly cash flow that don't require the owners physical presence.
• Real Estate: Real estate such as owning warehouses, small family homes, or apartment houses that generate monthly cash flow.
• Paper Assets: Investments such as stocks, bonds, hedge funds etc.
• Commodities: Gold, silver, iron ore, or copper that are used to hedge government's mismanagement printing of the nations currency.

Games[link]

Kiyosaki also stresses the value of games, particularly Monopoly, as tools for learning basic financial strategies such as "trade four green houses for one red hotel." Kiyosaki has created several games such as Cashflow 101 and Cashflow 202 to reinforce the information in his book.

Media appearances[link]

Several local stations of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), including WTTW of Chicago, KAET of Phoenix, KOCE of Orange County, California, WLIW of the New York/New Jersey area, and WGBH of Boston, have featured Kiyosaki with his now cancelled Rich Dad TV series. His latest TV special was a fund-raising drive. During this television special, Rich Dad's Guide to Wealth with Robert Kiyosaki, he provides viewers with financial education, opposing the common notion of getting a college degree and downplaying the importance of attaining academic or professional education.

Kiyosaki has been seen giving financial advice on various network television news channels such as on CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg. He has appeared on various programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show,^[24] Fox and Friends,^[25][26][27] Larry King Live,^[28] The O'reilly Factor, The Alex Jones Show,^[13] Glenn Beck,^[29] and Your World with Neil Cavuto.^{[25][30][31][32]}

In 2002, a speech given by Kiyosaki became the subject of a CNN story.^[33]

In 2006, Kiyosaki appeared on CNBC, discussing financial issues, answering questions from the audience, and comments by the financial experts werere also invited. In particular, Kiyosaki also filled in a few episodes under the title The Millionaire Inside Debt-Free and The Millionaire Inside: Get Inspired. Other financial experts accompanied Kiyosaki, including David Bach, Jennifer Openshaw, Larry Winget, Keith Ferrazi, and Dr. Laura Morgan Roberts have also been invited to the event.^[34][35]

In 2009, Kiyosaki was featured in a 10 Questions session in Time Magazine.^[36]

Over a number of years, Kiyosaki has repeatedly criticized other financial gurus, particularly the financial teachings of Suze Orman and Jean Chatzky, calling it “bad advice”. Because of this, Orman responded to Kiyosaki's attacks via Twitter and the two engaged in a Twitter war back in March 2010.^[37]

In September 2011, Kiyosaki along with wife Kim were featured on the front cover of JETSET magazine.^[38]

Financial advice[link]

Mutual funds[link]

Kiyosaki wrote in one column that investors in any mutual fund with a 2.5% annual fee would, over a long time period, surrender 80% of the earnings to the fund.^[39] Kiyosaki expanded on his criticism of mutual funds in another column by stating they are for "losers."^[40] Despite the fact that most mutual funds actually charged less than 1.1%.^[41] He has drawn much criticism for comparing investing in mutual funds to playing the lottery, and for discouraging 401(k) investing, contrary to the advice of most professional financial advisers.^[42] In contrast to these statements, Kiyosaki wrote in his book Prophecy that while mutual funds are not great investments, they remain one of the few acceptable investment vehicles available to those who will not educate themselves financially.

Kiyosaki's criticisms are supported by the founder of the mutual fund Vanguard, John C. Bogle. In a Frontline episode titled "401(k)s: The New Retirement Plan, For Better or Worse", Bogle stated that management fees and trading costs gobble up approximately 2.5% of an investor's annual returns and approximately 80% of an investor's long term gains. He says management costs reduce the value of a $1,000 investment over 65 years from approximately $140,000 at 8% compounded annually to a mere $30,000 at 5.5% compounded annually. Bogle's solution is to utilize index funds, which charge as little as 0.09%, to substantially reduce or eliminate management fees.^[43]

Criticism and controversy[link]

Kiyosaki's books and teachings have been criticized for focusing on anecdotes and containing little in the way of concrete advice on how readers should proceed.^[44] Kiyosaki responds that his material is meant to be more of a motivational tool to get readers thinking about money rather than a step-by-step guide to wealth. He also says the books are supposed to be "interesting" to people, which precludes involving a lot of technical material.^[45]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation consumer affairs program Marketplace ran an investigative piece on Kiyosaki's questionable business practices on Jan 29, 2010. It includes interviews with Kiyosaki.^[46]

Bibliography[link]

Kiyosaki is best known for his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Kiyosaki followed with Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing. He has now had at least a dozen books published, including:

• If You Want to Be Rich & Happy: Don't Go to School? : Ensuring Lifetime Security for Yourself and Your Children (1992). ISBN 0-944031-38-2.
• Rich Dad Poor Dad - What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! (first published in 1997) Warner Business Books. ISBN 0-446-67745-0.
• CASHFLOW Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom (2000). ISBN 0-446-67747-7.
• Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not! (2000). ISBN 0-446-67746-9.
• The Business School for People Who Like Helping People (March, 2001). ISBN 99922-67-42-9 - endorses multi-level marketing
• Rich Dad's Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart (2001). ISBN 0-446-67748-5.
• Rich Dad's Retire Young, Retire Rich (2002). ISBN 0-446-67843-0.
• Rich Dad's Prophecy: Why the Biggest Stock Market Crash in History Is Still Coming… and How You Can Prepare Yourself and Profit from It! (2002). Warner Books, Incorporated. ISBN 0-641-62241-4.
• Rich Dad's The Business School: For People Who Like Helping People (2003) ISBN 979-686-729-X.
• Rich Dad’s Success Stories (2003)
• You Can Choose to be Rich (2003) 12-CD Audio series with three books.
• Rich Dad's Who Took My Money?: Why Slow Investors Lose and Fast Money Wins! (2004)ISBN 0-446-69182-8.
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad for Teens: The Secrets About Money—That You Don't Learn in School! (2004) ISBN 0-446-69321-9.
• Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job : 10 Real-Life Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building a Multimillion-Dollar Business (2005). ISBN 0-446-69637-4.
• Rich Dad's Escape from the Rat Race - Comic for children (2005)
• Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message (2006) co-written with Donald J. Trump ISBN 1-933914-02-5.
• Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money (2008). ISBN 0-446-50936-1.
• Rich Dad's Conspiracy of the Rich: The 8 New Rules of Money (2009). ISBN 0-446-55980-6
• Rich Dad's Rich Brother Rich Sister (2009) co-written with Emi Kiyosaki
• The Real Book of Real Estate: Real Experts. Real Stories. Real Life. (2010). ISBN 1-4587-7250-0.
• An Unfair Advantage: The Power of Financial Education (2011). ISBN 1-61268-010-0.
• Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich And Why Most Don't (2011), co-written with Donald J. Trump ISBN 1-61268-095-X.

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	Business and economics portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Robert Kiyosaki

• Official website
• Hawaii Business Magazine June 2002 cover story on Kiyosaki

Juan Garrido (c. 1480-c. 1550^[1]) was a black African-Spanish conquistador. African by birth, he went to Portugal as a young man, likely as a slave.^[2] In converting to Christianity, he chose the Spanish name, Juan Garrido ("Handsome John").^[1][3]

He joined a Spanish expedition and arrived in Santo Domingo (Hispaniola) about 1502. He participated in the invasion of present-day Puerto Rico and Cuba in 1508. By 1519 he had joined Cortes' forces and invaded present-day Mexico, participating in the siege of Tenochtitlan. He married and settled in Mexico City. He continued to serve with Spanish forces for more than 30 years, including expeditions to western Mexico and to the Pacific.^[4] He is credited with the first cultivation of wheat in the New World.

Early life and education[link]

Born in Africa, he went to Portugal as a youth, likely taken as a slave.^[2] When baptized, he took the name Juan Garrido (Handsome John). He went to Seville, where he joined an expedition to the New World, possibly traveling as Pedro Garrido's servant.

Arriving in Santo Domingo in 1502 or 1503, Garrido was among the earliest Africans to reach the Americas. He was one of numerous African freedmen who had joined expeditions from Seville to the Americas.^[1] From the beginning of Spanish activity in the Americas, Africans participated both as voluntary expeditionaries and, more frequently, as involuntary enslaved colonists.

By 1519 he participated in Marqués del Valle Hernán Cortés expedition to invade Mexico, where they lay siege to Tenochtitlan of the Three Allies (formerly known as the Aztec.) In 1520 he built a chapel to commemorate the many Spanish killed in battle that year by the Aztec.

Garrido married and settled in Mexico City, where he and his wife had three children. He is credited with the first harvesting of wheat planted in the New World for commercial purposes.

Garrido and other blacks were also part of expeditions to Michoacán in the 1520s. Nuño de Guzmán swept through that region in 1529-30 with the aid of black auxiliaries.^[5][6]

In 1538, Garrido provided testimony on his 30 years of service as a conquistador:

"I, Juan Garrido, black in color, resident of this city [Mexico], appear before Your Mercy and state that I am in need of prividing evidence to the perpetuity of the king [a perpetuad rey], a report on how I served Your Majesty in the conquest and pacification of this New Spain, from the time when the Marqués del Valle [Cortés] entered it; and in his company I was present at all the invasions and conquests and pacifications which were carried out, always with the said Marqués, all of which I did at my own expense without being given either salary or allotment of natives [repartimiento de indios] or anything else. As I am married and a resident of this city, where I have always lived; and also as I went with the Marqués del Valle to discover the islands which are in that part of the southern sea [the Pacific] where there was much hunger and privation; and also as I went to discover and pacify the islands of San Juan de Buriquén de Puerto Rico; and also as I went on the pacification and conquest of the island of Cuba with the adelantado Diego Velázquez; in all these ways for thirty years have I served and continue to serve Your Majesty--for these reasons stated above do I petition Your Mercy. And also because I was the first to have the inspiration to sow maize here in New Spain and to see if it took; I did this and experimented at my own expense."^[7]

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c} Peter Gerhard, "A Black Conquistador in Mexico," The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 58, No. 3 (August 1978), pp. 451-459
2. ^ ^{a b} Review: Matthew Restall, Probanza of Juan Garrido in "Black Conquistadors: Armed Africans in Early Spanish America", The Americas, Volume 57, Number 2, October 2000, pp. 171-205, accessed 15 February 2012
3. ^ Darién J. Davis, Slavery and Beyond: The African Impact on Latin America and the Caribbean, Rowman and Littlefield, 1995
4. ^ Ricardo E. Alegría, Juan Garrido, el Conquistador Negro en las Antillas, Florida, México y California, c. 1503-1540 (San Juan: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y El Caribe, 1990), pp. 6, 127-38.
5. ^ Benedict Warren, The Conquest of Michoacán: the Spanish domination of the Tarascan Kingdom in Western Mexico, 1521-1530 (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1985)
6. ^ James Krippner-Martínez, "The Politics of Conquest: An Interpretation of the 'Relación de Michoacán'," The Americas 47:2 (October 1990), pp. 177-98
7. ^ The opening of Juan Garrido's evidence (petitionary proof of merit) of September 27, 1538; Archivo General de Indias, Seville (hereafter AGI), México 204, f.1; a facsimile of this first page, and a transcription of the whole document, appear in Ricardo E. Alegría, Juan Garrido, el Conquistador Negro en las Antillas, Florida, México y California, c. 1503-1540 (San Juan: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y El Caribe, 1990), pp. 6, 127-38.

Further reading[link]

• Ricardo E. Alegría, Juan Garrido, el Conquistador Negro en las Antillas, Florida, México y California, c. 1503-1540 (San Juan: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y El Caribe, 1990)
• Anthony Appiah, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience,
• Peter Gerhard, “A Black Conquistador in Mexico,” Hispanic American Historical Review 58:3 (1978)
• James Krippner-Martinez, Rereading the Conquest: Power, Politics and the History of Early Colonial Mihoacán, Mexico, 1521-1565, Pennsylvania University Press, 2001
• Mann, Charles C. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
• Matthew Restall, “Black Conquistadors: Armed Africans in Early Spanish America,” The Americas 57:2 (October 2000)

External links[link]

• Review: Matthew Restall, Probanza of Juan Garrido in "Black Conquistadors: Armed Africans in Early Spanish America", The Americas, Volume 57, Number 2, October 2000, pp. 171-205 | 10.1353/tam.2000.0015

Atom
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(Cray) Suicide Squad #44 (August 1990) (Atom One Million) DC One Million 80-Page Giant #1,000,000 (August 1999)
Created by	(Cray) John Ostrander (Atom One Million) Grant Morrison
In-story information
Alter ego	- Al Pratt - Ray Palmer - Adam Cray - Ryan Choi
Team affiliations	(Cray) Suicide Squad Black Lantern Corps (Atom One Million) Justice Legion Alpha
Abilities	(All-except Pratt and Atom One Million) Ability to shrink and grow his body to varying degrees (including the subatomic level) while manipulating his weight and mass to his advantage

The Atom is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe.

There have been five characters who have shared the Atom codename. The original Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, was created by Ben Flinton and Bill O'Connor and first appeared in All-American Publications' All-American Comics #19 (Oct. 1940). The second Atom was the Silver Age Atom, Ray Palmer, who first appeared in 1961. The third Atom, Adam Cray, was a minor character present in Suicide Squad stories. The fourth Atom, Ryan Choi, debuted in a new Atom series in August 2006. The fifth Atom from the 853rd Century first appeared as part of Justice Legion Alpha in August 1999.

The Atom has been the star of multiple solo series, and four of the five have appeared as members of various superhero teams, such as the Justice Society of America, the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and the Justice Legion Alpha.

Fictional character biographies[link]

Al Pratt[link]

The original Atom, Al Pratt, first appeared in All-American Comics #19 (Oct. 1940). He initially had no superpowers; instead, he was a diminutive college student and later a physicist who was depicted as a tough guy, a symbol of all the short kids who could still make a difference. Pratt was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, later gaining limited super-strength, and an energy charged 'atomic punch'. He died in the charge against Extant during the Zero Hour.^[1]

Ray Palmer[link]

The Atom introduced during the Silver Age of comic books in Showcase #34 (1961) is physicist and university professor Ray Palmer (named for real-life science fiction writer Raymond A. Palmer, who was himself quite short). Using a mass of white dwarf star matter, he fashioned a lens which allowed him to shrink down to subatomic size. Originally, his size and molecular density abilities derived from the white dwarf star material of his costume, controlled by mechanisms in his belt, and later by controls in the palms of his gloves. Much later, he gained the innate equivalent powers within his own body. After the events of Identity Crisis, Ray shrunk himself to microscopic size and disappeared. Finding him became a major theme of the Countdown year long series and crossover event.^[1]

Paul Hoben[link]

Prior to Ray Palmer's fateful trip to the Amazon Jungle, he learns his wife Jean Loring had an affair with fellow lawyer Paul Hoben and the two divorce. Later, Palmer would offer his blessing to the couple who marry and offers Hoben his size-changing belt in order to protect Ivy Town (as Ray wished to remain with the Morlaidhans) which he accepts. His belt would later be stolen by Adam Cray. It should be noted, Hoben never takes up the costume or name of the Atom.

Adam Cray[link]

Adam Cray, son of the murdered Senator Cray, first appeared as the Atom in the pages of Suicide Squad #44 by John Ostrander (August 1990). At first Cray was widely believed to be Ray Palmer in disguise (by both the fans and the characters). Actually Cray had been recruited by Palmer himself, who faked his death, in order to apprehend the Micro Squad (a group of villains that had been shrunk down) as well as uncover information about a shadowy government cabal, who were interested in Palmer's knowledge of the other heroes' secret identities (his own identity being no longer a secret).

While Palmer would infiltrate the Micro Squad, Cray would gather the attention of the Cabal as the new Atom, so that no one would notice Palmer assuming the identity of a fallen Micro Squad member.

Adam Cray ran with the Suicide Squad only for a short while, serving as a secret weapon most of the time, and his existence was for a while even unknown to others of the Squad. Cray even saves a wounded Amanda Waller from a group of assassins. At one point, Cray approaches Deadshot about the fact that Deadshot had murdered his father. Deadshot tells Cray that he would get one free shot at him. Soon after, on a mission, Cray is impaled through the chest by Blacksnake, a Micro Squad member who believes him to be Palmer.

After the murder of Cray (a move Palmer had not foreseen), Palmer reveals himself and defeats Cray's murderer. The ruse ended, Palmer explains himself to the Justice League, who had been searching for him, after hearing rumors of a new Atom.

During the events of Blackest Night, Adam's corpse is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps alongside several other fallen Suicide Squad members.^[2] Following his reanimation, Adam and the other Black Lanterns travel to Belle Reve and attack Bane and Black Alice.^[3] Adam is apparently destroyed by the Manhunter's self destruct mechanism to unleashing an explosion of Green Lantern energy that eradicates the Black Lanterns.^[4]

Ryan Choi[link]

Ryan Choi, as described by DC solicitations, is "a young hotshot professor who's filling the extra spot on Ivy University's teaching staff. .. and who inadvertently ends up filling the old Atom's super-heroic shoes".^[5] This new Atom is based on a redesign by Grant Morrison. He debuted in the Brave New World one-shot, a preview of upcoming projects, and then appeared in the series, The All-New Atom, written by Gail Simone. He is later murdered by Deathstroke and his Titans.

Atom One Million[link]

An unnamed scientist in the 853rd Century performed experiments in superstring theory that creates a singularity and whose radiation alters his physical make-up. When the singularity threatened to expand and destroy his universe, he enters it in an attempt to save the universe but instead finds himself on an interdimensional bridge to another universe as his own is wiped out, unable to stop it. At the end of the bridge, he finds Superman Prime who came to help but was too late. Stranded, he searches this universe for remnants of the one he lost, in time taking the name the Atom and joining the Justice Legion Alpha when he helped them defeat the Bizarro-Legion. This Atom's powers differ from his predecessors in that he doesn't shrink but breaks up into several smaller duplicates of himself divided amongst his mass. At atomic size, these duplicates can mimic elements such as gold and oxygen.

Other versions[link]

Frank Miller portrayed Ray Palmer as a major player in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. He was taken prisoner by Lex Luthor and made to live in one of his own petri dishes for a period of months until his rescue by Catgirl. He was then instrumental in the liberation of Kandor.

Tangent Comics[link]

In the Tangent Comics print, The Atom is Arthur Harrison Thompson, a subject of radiation testing on human beings. The first hero in the Tangent timeline, he was succeeded by his son, who was killed by the Tangent Comics version of the Fatal Five, and a grandson named Adam, who, in Tangent: Superman's Reign, is being held captive by Superman.

Elseworlds[link]

• Some other re-imaginings of the Atom include an appearance in League of Justice, a story portraying the Justice League in a The Lord of the Rings-type story where the Atom was recast as a wizard/fortune teller called "Atomus The Palmer".

• Al Pratt as the Atom was one of the three heroes who chose to work at the side of Senator Thompson in The Golden Age. When Al discovers that Thompson is really the Ultra-Humanite, he joins the other heroes against the villain and Dyna-Man.

• The Al Pratt Atom appeared in JSA: The Unholy Three as a post-WW2 intelligence agent with transparent atomic flesh and a visible skeleton.

• JLA: Age of Wonder where Ray Palmer worked with a science consortium whose numbers at one point included Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

• JLA: Created Equal, after Ray Palmer is killed in the cosmic storm that nearly wipes out the rest of the male population on Earth, a graduate student named Jill Athron is given a research grant to study Palmer's white-dwarf-star-belt. She becomes the Atom and joins the Justice League.

• Atom evolved from a hawkman that had evolved from Robin in the Just Imagine... comic book.^[6]

52 Multiverse[link]

In the final issue of 52, a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-2". As a result of Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-2, including the Atom among other Justice Society of America characters. The names of the characters and the team are not mentioned in the panel in which they appear, but the Atom is visually similar to the Al Pratt Atom.^[7] Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-2.^[8]

In Countdown #30, the Challengers from Beyond encountered Earth-15, a world where the sidekicks had taken their mentor's places. On this Earth, the Atom is Jessica Palmer, a genius who graduated from MIT at age eight. The Search for Ray Palmer - Red Son features the Ray Palmer of Earth-30, an American captured by the Superman of a communist Russia. Countdown: Arena also depicts the Ray Palmer of Earth-6, who through unknown circumstances now has the powers and title of the Ray. The Search For Ray Palmer: Superwoman/Batwoman briefly features a female version of The Atom.

In the first issue of the 2010 Batman Beyond limited series, a future African-American version of the Atom known as Micron appears as one of the heroes of Earth-12.

Collected Editions[link]

[edit] Ray Palmer

[edit] Ryan Choi

In other media[link]

Television[link]

• Ray Palmer (voiced by Pat Harrington, Jr.) appeared in his own episodes in The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure.
• Ray Palmer appears with the SuperFriends in The All-New Super Friends Hour and The Super Friends Hour voiced by Wally Burr.
• The Atom also makes an appearance with a slightly different color scheme costume in the live action 1979 TV special "Legends of the Superheroes", specifically "The Roast" episode.
• A future version of the Atom called Micron appeared as a Justice League Unlimited member in the Batman Beyond two part episode "The Call" voiced by Wayne Brady. Unlike the Atom, Micron can grow as well as shrink, and similar to Atom Smasher with super-strength.
• In an early Justice League episode, "Legends," the League team up with the Justice Society pastiche the Justice Guild of America. JGA member Tom Turbine is a cross between Golden Age Atom and the Golden Age Superman^{[citation needed]}. The Atom is later mentioned by name in "Hereafter," as a future Vandal Savage describes how he stole technology from Ray Palmer and destroyed the world.
• The Atom (Ray Palmer) later appeared in Justice League Unlimited in both "Dark Heart" and "The Return" as a nanotechnology expert, voiced by John C. McGinley.
• The Atom (Ray Palmer) also appeared in the 1997 live action made-for-TV movie pilot, Justice League of America played by John Kassir.
• The Ryan Choi version of the Atom appears in the series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by James Sie. The Atom helps Batman stop evil sorcerer Felix Faust from opening Pandora's Box in "Evil Under the Sea!". He re-appeared along with Aquaman to save Batman from a virus created by Chemo in "Journey to the Center of the Bat!". Atom has a Crime Syndicate counterpart called Dyna-Mite, also voiced by James Sie. A mind-controlled Ryan Choi appears in "The Siege of Starro! Part One", demonstrating the ability to grow to giant sizes, which he uses to prevent Batman from destroying a signal leading Starro to Earth. He also appears in the teaser for "The Criss Cross Conspiracy!", where he, Batman, and Aquaman battle the Bug-Eyed Bandit.
• The Atom is briefly mentioned in the Young Justice episode "Failsafe", with Cat Grant stating that he had been killed alongside Batman, Icon and Aquaman during an alien invasion of Earth. The invasion is later revealed to simply be a training exercise. The Atom is shown among several candidates for Justice League membership in the episode "Agendas" where Batman cites his size-changing abilities as an important asset and he is officially inducted into the group in the episode "Usual Suspects".

Video Game[link]

• The Atom (Ray Palmer) appears in DC Universe Online.

See Also[link]

• Molecule

References[link]

External links[link]

• Index to the Atom's Earth-1 adventures
• Article on the history/legacy of The Atom from the Comics 101 article series by Scott Tipton
• THE SIMONE FILES II: THE ALL NEW ATOM
• COUNTING DOWN TO COUNTDOWN IV: THE GREAT DISASTER AND THE ATOM