A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though the use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that records the images on film). Originally developed for use in television studios, they are now commonly used for corporate and educational videos, music videos, and direct-to-video movies.

There are two types of professional video cameras: High end portable, recording cameras (essentially, high-end tapeless camcorders) used for Electronic news gathering (ENG) and Electronic field production (EFP) image acquisition, and television studio cameras which lack the recording capability of a camcorder, and are often fixed on studio pedestals. Portable professional cameras are generally much larger than consumer cameras and are designed to be carried on the shoulder.

History[link]

Early studio television camera -- Gray box on right is the lens.

Professional television camera history has two main lines: the gradual shrinking of the camera as it became more versatile and self contained; and a progression of sensors from large insensitive tubes to smaller, much more sensitive tubes and finally to very small, very sensitive solid state charge-coupled device (CCD) and active pixel sensor (CMOS) imagers. Betacam cameras that contained their own recording mechanisms did not appear until the early 1980s.

At the beginning, these cameras were very large devices, almost always in two sections. The camera section held the lens and tube pre-amps and other necessary electronics, and was connected with a large diameter multicore cable to the rest of the camera electronics, usually mounted in a rack. The rack would be in a separate room in the studio, or in a remote truck. The camera head could not generate a video picture signal on its own. The video signal was output from the rack unit to the rest of the studio for switching and transmission. By the fifties, electronic miniaturization had progressed to the point where some monochrome cameras could operate stand alone and even be handheld. But the studio configuration remained, with the large cable bundle transmitting the signals back to the CCU (Camera control unit). The CCU in turn was used to align and operate the camera's functions, such as exposure, system timing, and video and black levels.

The first color cameras (1950s in the US, early 1960s in Europe), notably the RCA TK-40/41 series, were much more complex with their three (and in some models even four) pickup tubes, and the size and weight drastically increased. Handheld color cameras did not come into general use until the early 1970s, and the first ones were two pieces, a camera head shoulder unit that held the lens and pickup tube section, and a backpack unit. The Ikegami HL-33 was the first of this type, but was followed up by one piece cameras. These one piece cameras, (The HL-77 from Ikegami and the TK76 from RCA) made possible, (in combination with portable 3/4" U-matic VCRs) the introduction of the Electronic news-gathering (ENG) camera, which very rapidly replaced the 16mm film cameras that had been the dominant method for capturing news events. This established the standard operation in the field of a two person news crew, one operating the camera, and one carrying the shoulder strapped U-matic recorder and a boom microphone. The control layout (often called "form factor") for the camera's most important functions was also established with these cameras, and continues to define an ENG camera to this day.

In the early 80s, the first cameras with an on board recorder were brought to the market. The more successful of these used the Betacam recording system. At first these cameras used pickup tubes, and the recorders were of the removable type. Models with solid state CCD imagers came on the scene in the mid-80s. These brought multiple benefits. They were much more stable and less prone to drift than tube cameras, and didn't require a warm up or calibration time at the beginning of the day. They also were not prone to image burn in or lag caused by very bright light sources in the frame. The early models did not have the resolution or color quality of their tube counterparts, but successive models quickly pulled ahead of tube technology. Eventually, cameras with the recorder permanently mated to the camera head became the norm for ENG.

Studio camera technology did not stand still during this period. The camera electronics shrank, and CCD imagers replaced the pickup tubes. The thick multi-core cables connecting the camera head to the CCU were replaced in the late seventies with triax connections, a slender video cable that carried multiple video signals, intercom audio, and control circuits, and could be run for a mile or more. As the camera innards shrunk, the electronics no longer dictated the size of the enclosure. But the box shape remained, as it was necessary to hold the large studio lenses, teleprompters, electronic viewfinder (EVF), and other paraphernalia needed for studio and sports production. Electronic Field Production cameras were often mounted in studio configurations inside a mounting cage. This cage supported the additional studio accessories.

In the late 90s, as HDTV broadcasting commenced, HDTV cameras suitable for news and general purpose work were introduced. Though they delivered much better image quality, their overall operation was identical to their standard definition predecessors. New methods of recording for ENG cameras were introduced to supplant video tape, tapeless cameras. Ikegami and Avid introduced EditCam in 1996, based on interchangeable hard drives. Panasonic introduced P2 cameras. These recorded a DVCPro signal on interchangeable flash memory card media. Several other data storage device recording systems were introduced, notably XDCAM from Sony, and as of 2009, it remains to be seen what will become the predominant method of camera media for professional use in the 2010s. Sony also introduced SxS (S-by-S), a flash memory standard compliant to the Sony and Sandisk-created ExpressCard standard.

Chronology[link]

• 1926 to 1933 "cameras" were a type of flying spot scanner using mechanical disk.
• 1936 saw the arrival of RCA's iconoscope camera.
• 1946 RCA's TK-10 studio camera used a 3" IO - Image Orthicon Tube with a 4 lens turret. The RCA TK-30 (1946) was widely used as a Field Camera.
• The 1948 Dumont Marconi MK IV was an Image Orthicon Camera. Marconi's first camera was shown in 1938.^[1] EMI cameras from the UK, were used in the US in the early 1960s, like the EMI 203/4.^[2] Later in the 60s the EMI 2000 an EMI 2001.
• In 1950 the arrival of the Vidicon camera tube made smaller cameras possible. 1952 saw the first Walkie-Lookie "portable cameras". Image Orthicon tubes were still used till the arrival of the Plumbicon.
• The RCA TK-40 is considered to be the first color television camera for broadcasts in 1953. RCA continued its lead in the high-end camera market till the (1978) TK-47, last of the high-end tube cameras from RCA.^[3]
• Ikegami introduced the first truly portable hand-held TV camera in 1962.
• Philips' line of Norelco cameras were also very popular with models such as PC-60 (1965), PC-70 (1967) and PCP-90 (1968 Handheld). Philips/BTS-Broadcast Television Systems Inc. later came out with an LDK line of camera, like its last high end tube camera the LDK 6 (1982). Philips invented the Plumbicon pick up Video camera tube in 1965, that gave tube cameras a cleaner picture. BTS introduced its first HandHeld Frame transfer CCD- Charge-coupled device-CCD camera the LDK90 in 1987.
• Bosch Fernseh marketed a line of high end cameras (KCU, KCN, KCP, KCK) in the US ending with the tube camera KCK-40 (1978). Image Transform (in Universal City, California) used specially modified 24 frame KCK-40 for their "Image Vision" system. This had a 10 MHz bandwidth twice NTSC resolution. This was a custom pre HDTV video System. At its peak this system was used to make "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" in 1982. This was the first major high-definition analog wideband videotape-to-film post production using a film recorder for film out.

Technology[link]

Most professional cameras utilize an optical prism block directly behind the lens. This prism block (a trichroic assembly comprising two dichroic prisms) separates the image into the three primary colors, red, green, and blue, directing each color into a separate charge-coupled device (CCD) or Active pixel sensor (CMOS image sensor) mounted to the face of each prism. Some high-end consumer cameras also do this, producing a higher-resolution image, with better color fidelity than is normally possible with just a single video pickup.

In both single sensor and triple sensor designs, the weak signal created by the sensors is amplified before being encoded into analog signals for use by the viewfinder and monitor outputs, and also encoded into digital signals for transmission and recording. The analog outputs are normally in the form of either a composite video signal, which combines the color and luminance information to a single output; or an R-Y B-Y Y component video output through three separate connectors.

Studio cameras[link]

Studio camera with Teleprompter

Most television studio cameras stand on the floor, usually with pneumatic or hydraulic mechanisms called pedestals to adjust the height, and are usually on wheels. Any video camera when used along with other video cameras in a multiple-camera setup is controlled by a device known as CCU (camera control unit), to which they are connected via a Triax, Fibre Optic or the almost obsolete multicore cable. The CCU along with genlock and other equipment is installed in the production control room (PCR) often known as the Gallery of the television studio. When used outside a formal television studio in outside broadcasting (OB), they are often on tripods that may or may not have wheels (depending on the model of the tripod). Initial models used analog technology, but are now obsolete, supplanted by digital models. Studio cameras are light and small enough to be taken off the pedestal and the lens changed to a smaller size to be used on a Multiple-camera setup's shoulder, but they still have no recorder of their own and are cable-bound. Cameras can be mounted on a tripod, a dolly or a crane, thus making the cameras much more versatile than previous generations of studio cameras. These cameras have a tally light, a small signal-lamp used that indicates, for the benefit of those being filmed as well as the camera operator, that the camera is 'live' - i.e. its signal is being used for the 'main program' at that moment.

ENG cameras[link]

Sony camera head with Betacam SP dock recorder.

Though by definition, ENG (Electronic News Gathering) video cameras were originally designed for use by news camera operators, these have become the dominant style of professional video camera for most video productions, from dramas to documentaries, from music videos to corporate video training. While they have some similarities to the smaller consumer camcorder, they differ in several regards:

• ENG cameras are larger and heavier (helps dampen small movements), and usually supported by a camera shoulder support or shoulder stock on the camera operator's shoulder, taking the weight off the hand, which is freed to operate the zoom lens control.
• The camera mounts on tripods with Fluid heads and other supports with a quick release plate.
• 3 CCDs or CMOS active pixel sensors are used for each of the primary colors
• They have interchangeable lenses.
• The lens is focused manually and directly, without intermediate servo controls. However the lens zoom and focus can be operated with remote controls with a television studio configuration operated by a camera control unit (CCU).
• A rotating behind-the-lens filter wheel, for selecting an 85A and neutral density filters.
• Controls that need quick access are on hard physical switches, all in the same general place on the camera, irrespective of the camera manufacturer, such as Gain Select, White/Black balance, color bar select, and record start controls and not in menu selection.
• All settings, white balance, focus, and iris can be manually adjusted, and automatics can be completely disabled.
• Professional BNC connectors for video out and genlock in.
• Can operate an Electronic viewfinder (EVF) or external CRT viewfinder.
• At least two XLR input connectors for audio are included.
• Direct slot-in for portable wireless microphones.
• Audio is adjusted manually, with easily accessed physical knobs.
• A complete time code section is available, allowing time presets; multiple-camera setups can be time code-synchronized or jam synced to a master clock.
• "Bars and tone" are available in-camera (the SMPTE color bars (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) Bars, a reference signal that simplifies calibration of monitors and setting levels when duplicating and transmitting the picture. )
• Recording is to a professional medium like some variant of Betacam or DVCPRO or Direct to disk recording or flash memory. If as in the latter two, it's a data recording, much higher data rates (or less video compression) are used than in consumer devices.

EFP Camera operator at a baseball game.

EFP Cameras[link]

Electronic Field Production cameras are similar to studio cameras in that they are used primarily in multiple camera switched configurations, but outside the studio environment, for concerts, sports and live news coverage of special events. These versatile cameras can be carried on the shoulder, or mounted on camera pedestals and cranes, with the large, very long focal length zoom lenses made for studio camera mounting. These cameras have no recording ability on their own, and transmit their signals back to the broadcast truck through a triax, fiber optic or the virtually obsolete multicore cable.

Dock cameras[link]

Some manufacturers build camera heads, which only contain the optical block, the CCD sensors and the video encoder, and can be used with a studio adapter for connection to a CCU in EFP mode, or various dock recorders for direct recording in the preferred format, making them very versatile. However, this versatility leads to greater size and weight. They are favored for EFP and low-budget studio use, because they tend to be smaller, lighter, and less expensive than most studio cameras.

A remote-controlled camera mounted on a miniature cable car for mobility.

Remote cameras[link]

Remote cameras are typically very small camera heads designed to be operated by remote control. Despite their small size, they are often capable of performance close to that of the larger ENG and EFP types.

"Lipstick cameras" are so called because the lens and sensor block combined are similar in size and appearance to a lipstick container. These are either hard mounted in a small location, such as a race car, or on the end of a boom pole. The sensor block and lens are separated from the rest of the camera electronics by a long thin multi conductor cable. The camera settings are manipulated from this box, while the lens settings are normally set when the camera is mounted in place.

Block cameras are so called because the camera head is a small block, often smaller than the lens itself. Some block cameras are completely self contained, while others only contain the sensor block and its pre-amps, thus requiring connection to a separate camera control unit in order to operate. All the functions of the camera can be controlled from a distance, and often there is a facility for controlling the lens focus and zoom as well. These cameras are mounted on pan and tilt heads, and may be placed in a stationary position, such as atop a pole or tower, in a corner of a broadcast booth, or behind a basketball hoop. They can also be placed on robotic dollies, at the end of camera booms and cranes, or "flown" in a cable supported harness, as shown in the illustration.

See also[link]

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Zettl, H. 2006 "Television Production Handbook", Thomson Wadsworth, ISBN 0-534-64727-8

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Video cameras

• Television's history through the eyes of its cameras. Over 3000 images and largest site of its kind worldwide.
• Sony professional cameras
• Grass Valley: manufacturer of CCD based professional cameras (formerly Philips)
• History of RCA cameras

A Sony high definition video camera

A video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well. The earliest video cameras were those of John Logie Baird, based on the electromechanical Nipkow disk and used by the BBC in experimental broadcasts through the 1930s. All-electronic designs based on the cathode ray tube, such as Vladimir Zworykin's Iconoscope and Philo T. Farnsworth's Image dissector, supplanted the Baird system by the 1940s and remained in wide use until the 1980s, when cameras based on solid-state image sensors such as CCDs (and later CMOS active pixel sensors) eliminated common problems with tube technologies such as image burn-in and made digital video workflow practical.

Video cameras are used primarily in two modes. The first, characteristic of much early broadcasting, is live television, where the camera feeds real time images directly to a screen for immediate observation. A few cameras still serve live television production, but most live connections are for security, military/tactical, and industrial operations where surreptitious or remote viewing is required. In the second mode the images are recorded to a storage device for archiving or further processing; for many years, videotape was the primary format used for this purpose, but optical disc media, hard disk, and flash memory in tapeless camcorders are all increasingly used. Recorded video is used in television and film production, and more often surveillance and monitoring tasks where unattended recording of a situation is required for later analysis.

Using a pocket video camera

Modern video cameras have numerous designs and uses, not all of which resemble the early television cameras.

• Professional video cameras, such as those used in television production and sometimes filmmaking in digital cinema; these may be television studio-based or mobile in the case of an electronic field production (EFP). Such cameras generally offer extremely fine-grained manual control for the camera operator, often to the exclusion of automated operation.
• Camcorders, which combine a camera and a VCR or other recording device in one unit; these are mobile, and are widely used for television production, home movies, electronic news gathering (ENG) (including citizen journalism), and similar applications. Some digital ones are
  • Pocket video cameras.
• Closed-circuit television (CCTV) generally use pan tilt zoom cameras (PTZ), for security, surveillance, and/or monitoring purposes. Such cameras are designed to be small, easily hidden, and able to operate unattended; those used in industrial or scientific settings are often meant for use in environments that are normally inaccessible or uncomfortable for humans, and are therefore hardened for such hostile environments (e.g. radiation, high heat, or toxic chemical exposure).
  • Webcams are video cameras which stream a live video feed to a computer. Larger video cameras (especially camcorders and CCTV cameras) can be similarly used, though they may need an analog-to-digital converter in order to store the output on a computer or digital video recorder or send it to a wider network.
• Most 21st century video cameras are digital cameras which convert the signal directly to a digital output; such cameras are often small, even smaller than CCTV security cameras, and are often used as webcams or optimized for still-camera use. The majority are incorporated directly into computer or communications hardware, particularly mobile phones, though analog video equipment remains in use.
• Special systems, like those used for scientific research, e.g. on board a satellite or a spaceprobe, or in artificial intelligence and robotics research. Such cameras are often tuned for non-visible radiation for Infrared photography (for night vision and heat sensing) or X-ray (for medical and video astronomy use).

See also[link]

• FireWire camera
• Professional video camera
• Radar imaging
• Television production
• Three-CCD
• Video camera tube
• Videotelephony

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Video cameras

Look up video camera in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References[link]

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007)

Fun
Lead singer Nate Ruess at Electric Ballroom, Camden, London.
Background information
Origin	New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres	indie pop, alternative rock, power pop[1]
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Fueled by Ramen Records/Nettwerk Records (US) Hassle Records (UK)
Associated acts	The Format, Steel Train, Anathallo
Website	ournameisFun.com
Members
Nate Ruess Andrew Dost Jack Antonoff

Fun (often stylized as fun.) is an American alternative rock band based in New York City that was formed by Nate Ruess, formerly of The Format. After the 2008 breakup of The Format, Ruess formed Fun with Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff of Anathallo and Steel Train respectively.^[2] Fun has released two albums: their debut Aim and Ignite in 2009 and their latest Some Nights in February 2012.

The band is best known for its hit single "We Are Young" featuring Janelle Monáe. "We Are Young" reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Digital Songs charts, becoming the first alternative song to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart since Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" in 2008. It also peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart.

History[link]

2007–2008: Career beginning and formation[link]

The Format split in February 2008. Immediately afterward Nate Ruess asked Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff to join his new project. Dost had toured with The Format and provided various instrumentation. Ruess met Antonoff after The Format toured with Steel Train.^[3] The three began working together in New Jersey within a week. Ruess sang melodies while the other two provided music for them.^[4] The first demo song the band recorded was "Benson Hedges," which was made available for free in Spin's September 20, 2008 article on the band.^[5] Fun approached Steven McDonald, who produced The Format's album Dog Problems with Ruess, to produce their debut album. McDonald was enthusiastic about the project and stated, "I can’t believe what we’re working on here. This crushes anything I’ve ever done."^[4]

[edit] 2009–2010: Aim and Ignite

Recording took place in the fall of 2008. The band's first single, "At Least I'm Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)" was made available as a free download on the band's Myspace page on April 6, 2009.^[6] Aim and Ignite was released on August 25, 2009 and had positive reviews. AbsolutePunk.net's Drew Beringer praised the album, stating it was "what a pop album 'should' sound like" and "the most essential pop album of 2009."^[7] Allmusic called the album "progressive, but in the best possible way" and admired Ruess's lyrics for "investigating the larger truths of life...with a witty approach that keeps the songs bubbling merrily along on a positive note".^[8] Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic wrote, "Aim and Ignite isn’t the most consistent pop album around," but he ultimately commended the album as "a superbly mixed and arranged album made by musicians who clearly understand the limits and potential of pop music".^[9] Estella Hung of PopMatters was less impressed with the album. She praised songs "Be Calm" and "The Gambler", but criticized the lyrics and production of the album's early tracks. Hung concluded that while Aim and Ignite is "pretty original to say the least", it "fails to live up to the Format’s last outing."^[10] Popdose's Ken Shane called the album "an interesting and unusual listen." Shane applauded the album's songwriting and said "many of the songs are really good," but he objected to the "cute" production, desiring to hear the band "in a more stripped-down form." He ended his review with: "I have a similar problem with Dr. Dog, a band that was recommended to me by a number of people. I think much of their recorded work is too fussed over, but when I saw them live and their sound was more stripped down out of necessity, emphasizing their powerful songwriting, I thought they were wonderful. Perhaps the same fate awaits me with Fun."^[11] The album reached number 26 on Sputnikmusic's top 50 albums of 2009. The album peaked at 71 on the US album charts.

Fun began its first North American tour on November 8, 2008 with Jack's Mannequin.^[12] The debut album Aim and Ignite was released on August 25, 2009.^[13] In reviewing the album, The Washington Post called some of the arrangements "theatrical, much like those on Panic! at the Disco's 2005 debut".^[14] In February 2010, Fun supported Jack's Mannequin on their headline tour, along with Vedera which was followed by their first UK appearances in March. Their current touring band also includes Will Noon, Rob Kroehler, Emily Moore, Nate Harold, and Jon "Jonny Thunder" Goldstein.^[15] In April 2010, Fun supported Paramore's headline tour. Other support for the tour includes Relient K and Harriet Ellis of Summer Beats.^[16] The band then embarked on a full UK tour in May. On August 4, 2010, Fun announced that they had signed with label Fueled by Ramen.^[17]

On August 14, 2010, it was announced via the Official Paramore Fan Club that Fun would be opening for Paramore on their November UK tour.^[18] In 2010 Fun's single, "Walking the Dog," was used in a commercial for the travel site Expedia.com.^[19] In 2010, Will Noon (formerly of Straylight Run) played drums with Fun on tour, according to Noon's Twitter page.^[20] To celebrate the Paramore UK tour and the band’s new single ‘Walking The Dog’, Hassle Records gave away a free download of an acoustic version of the track.^[21] On April 27, 2011, a video of the band performing a new song entitled "Carry On" was uploaded to YouTube.^[22]

[edit] 2011–present: Some Nights

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (April 2012)

On May 17, 2011, the band released "C'mon" as a joint single with Panic! at the Disco, who they opened for on their 2011 Vices & Virtues Tour.

On November 7, 2011, the band announced that their next album would be titled Some Nights and released on February 21, 2012. Its first single, called "We Are Young" and featuring Janelle Monáe, has since been used in several other media including:

• Gossip Girl season 5 episode 24 "The Return of the Ring"
• 90210 season 4 episode 24 "Forever Hold Your Peace"
• Glee episode "Hold On to Sixteen"
• introducing the Game Changer of the Year at the 2011 WWE Slammy Awards
• Chuck episode "Chuck Versus the Baby"
• Chevrolet Chevy Sonic Super Bowl XLVI commercial "Stunt Anthem", also featuring American professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and the rock band OK Go.^[23]
• a vignette promoting the WWE Wrestlemania XXVIII Main event match between John Cena and The Rock
• BBC Radio One as Scott Mills' Big Thing
• The trailer for the Judd Apatow film This is 40

On December 12, 2011, the band's song "One Foot" was available for instant streaming and free download on Nylon's website.^[24]

On February 13, 2012, the band released an album stream on their website along with a note from Ruess thanking fans for their ongoing support. Ruess states he is "over the moon about what you're about to hear and falling asleep knowing that as soon as I wake up, this will no longer be a dream."^[25]

On March 7, 2012, Fun's single "We Are Young" reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This makes Fun the first multi-member rock band to have a #1 Billboard debut on the Hot 100 since Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" in December 2001/January 2002.^[26] On the same day, "We Are Young" was used by Apple in a promotional video of their recent retail development in Grand Central Terminal.^[27] On April 11, 2012, Billboard.com announced that Fun's "We Are Young" also made Digital Sales history. As the song was at the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a sixth consecutive week, it has become the first, and at this time only, song that has ever gained 300,000+ downloads for seven weeks straight.^[28]

On March 19, 2012, Fun was announced as a performing band at the Bonnaroo 2012 music festival.

On June 3, 2012, Fun will perform "We Are Young" at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards.

"We Are Young" peaked at number 1 on May 27, 2012 in the UK.

Band members[link]

Current members

• Jack Antonoff – vocals, guitars, trumpet (2008–present)
• Andrew Dost – vocals, piano, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, trumpet, flugelhorn, glockenspiel, drums, percussion, beach ball, cardboard box (2008–present)
• Nate Ruess – lead vocals (2008–present)

Current touring members

• Nate Harold – bass guitar, vocals, sampler (2009–present)
• Emily Moore – guitars, vocals, keyboards, saxophone (2009–present)
• Will Noon – drums (2010–present)

Former touring members

• Jon Goldstein – drums (2008–2010)
• Rob Kroehler – guitar (2008–2010)
• Mike Schey - guitar (March 2010-May 2010)
• Michael Newsted (The Soil & The Sun) – bass guitar (2010)
• Maggie Malyn – violin (2008)
• Evan Winiker – bass guitar (2011)
• Ryan Lallier – guitar (2010–2011)

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Aim and Ignite (2009)
• Some Nights (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Fun on Myspace
• Fun on YouTube
• Fun coverage on Audioholic Media
• Alter the Press Interview
• March 18, 2012 NPR story and interview by Guy Raz

Ryan Lewis
Ryan Lewis (back) performing with Macklemore (front) at Sasquatch! Music Festival
Background information
Born	(1988-03-25) March 25, 1988 (age 24) Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Origin	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Producer, DJ
Years active	2006–present
Associated acts	Macklemore
Website	rlewis.com

Ryan Lewis (born March 25, 1988) is an American music producer, musician, music video director, photographer, graphic designer, rapper and DJ currently based in Seattle. He is best known for his collaboration with American rapper Macklemore (Ben Haggerty) producing Macklemore & Ryan Lewis — The VS. EP (2009), The Heist (2012) and a handful of other singles. Since the beginning of their collaboration in late 2008, Ryan has produced, recorded, engineered and mixed all of the music, directed music videos ("Same Love", "Thrift Shop", "And We Danced", "Otherside (Remix)"), designed visuals (album art, web design, posters) and DJed the live show.

In a recent mini-documentary, Lewis recalled meeting Macklemore for the first time. "When I met him, it was a really different time. It was less than a year after [2005's] Language of My World had come out. So he had buzz. For me being a young kid, it was very exciting to link with him. The bulk of our original relationship was photo shoots. I became kind of his photographer."^[1]

[edit] The Heist

On October 9, 2012, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis released The Heist. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts and #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top Rap Albums, selling 78,000 copies in the first week.^[2] The album also debuted at #1 on iTunes Digital Albums chart.^[3] The duo's album has received more than 1 million plays on SoundCloud, 70 million YouTube views and was accompanied by a sold-out 50-date U.S. and Canadian tour.^[4]

Discography[link]

(All credited to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis)

Studio albums[link]

EPs

Singles[link]

Notes[link]

• A ^ "Wing$" did not enter the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but peaked at number 7 on the Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which acts as an extension to the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[27]
• B ^ "Same Love" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 25 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, which acts as an extension to the Hot 100.^[28]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

de:Ryan Lewis

Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking at NASA, 1980s
Born	Stephen William Hawking (1942-01-08) 8 January 1942 (age 70) Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Residence	United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Fields	Mathematics Theoretical physics
Institutions	Cambridge University California Institute of Technology Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Alma mater	Oxford University Cambridge University
Doctoral advisor	Dennis Sciama
Other academic advisors	Robert Berman
Known for	Black holes Theoretical cosmology Quantum gravity Hawking radiation
Influences	Dikran Tahta
Notable awards	Albert Einstein Award (1978) Wolf Prize (1988) Prince of Asturias Award (1989) Copley Medal (2006) Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
Spouse	Jane Hawking (m. 1965–1991, divorced) Elaine Mason (m. 1995–2006, divorced)

Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA (born 8 January 1942) is a British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. His key scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger Penrose, theorems regarding gravitational singularities in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes should emit radiation, which is today known as Hawking radiation (or sometimes as Bekenstein–Hawking radiation).

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Hawking was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009. Subsequently, he became research director at the university's Centre for Theoretical Cosmology.

Hawking has a motor neurone disease related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition that has progressed over the years. He is now almost completely paralysed and communicates through a speech generating device. He has been married twice and has three children. Hawking has achieved success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general; these include A Brief History of Time, which stayed on the British Sunday Times best-sellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.

Early life and education[link]

Stephen Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 to Frank Hawking, a research biologist, and Isobel Hawking.^[1] He has two younger sisters, Philippa and Mary, and an adopted brother, Edward.^[2] Although Hawking's parents were living in North London, he was born in Oxford as his parents felt it was safer to stay in Oxford for the later stages of the pregnancy. (London was under attack at the time by the Luftwaffe).^[3]

When his father became head of the division of parasitology at the National Institute for Medical Research^[1] in 1950, Hawking and his family moved to St Albans, Hertfordshire.^[3] Hawking attended St Albans High School for Girls from 1950 to 1953 (At that time, boys could attend the girls' school until the age of 10).^[2] and then from the age of 11, he attended St Albans School, where he was a good, but not exceptional, student.^[3]

Inspired by his mathematics teacher, Hawking originally wanted to study the subject at university. However, Hawking's father wanted him to apply to University College, Oxford, where his father had attended. As University College did not have a mathematics fellow at that time, applications were not accepted from students who wished to study that discipline. Hawking therefore applied to read natural sciences with an emphasis in Physics. He was accepted and gained a scholarship.^[3] While at Oxford, he coxed a rowing team, which, he stated, helped relieve his immense boredom at the university.^[4] His physics tutor, Robert Berman, later said "It was only necessary for him to know that something could be done, and he could do it without looking to see how other people did it. ... his mind was completely different from all of his contemporaries".^[3]

Hawking's unimpressive study habits resulted in a final examination score on the borderline between first and second class honours, making an "oral examination" necessary.^[3] Berman said of the oral examination: "And of course the examiners then were intelligent enough to realize they were talking to someone far more clever than most of themselves".^[3] After receiving his B.A. degree at Oxford in 1962, he left for graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.^[3]

Career[link]

1962-1975[link]

Hawking in Cambridge

Hawking with string theorists David Gross and Edward Witten

Although Hawking started developing symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as soon as he arrived at Cambridge and did not distinguish himself in his first two years at Cambridge, he returned to working on his PhD after the disease had stabilised and with the help of his doctoral tutor, Dennis William Sciama.^[5]

When Hawking began his graduate studies In the 1960s, there was much debate in the physics community about the opposing theories of the creation of the universe: big bang, and steady state.^[5] Hawking and his Cambridge friend and colleague, Roger Penrose, showed in 1970 that if the universe obeys general relativity and if the universe fits any of the Friedmann models, then the universe must have begun as a singularity.^[6] This work showed that, far from being mathematical curiosities which appear only in special cases, singularities are a fairly generic feature of general relativity.^[7]

Hawking's work with Brandon Carter, Werner Israel and D. Robinson, strongly supported John Wheeler's no-hair theorem – that any black hole is fully described by the three properties of mass, angular momentum, and electric charge.^[8] With Bardeen and Carter, he proposed the four laws of black hole mechanics, drawing an analogy with thermodynamics.^[9] In 1974, he calculated that black holes should thermally create and emit subatomic particles, known today as Bekenstein-Hawking radiation, until they exhaust their energy and evaporate.^[6]

Hawking was elected one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society in 1974,^[10] and in the same year he accepted the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar visiting professorship at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to work with his friend, Kip Thorne, who was a faculty member there.^[11] He continues to have ties with Caltech, spending a month each year there since 1992.^[12]

1975-present[link]

The mid to late 1970s were a period of growing fame and success for Hawking, his work was now much talked about, he was appearing in popular television documentaries and in 1979 he was made the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a post he held for 30 years until his retirement in 2009.^[13][14] Hawking's inaugural lecture as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics had the title "Is the end in sight for Theoretical Physics" and promoted the idea that supergravity would help resolve many of the outstanding problems physicists were studying. ^[14]

In collaboration with Jim Hartle, Hawking developed a model in which the universe had no boundary in space-time, replacing the initial singularity of the classical Big Bang models with a region akin to the North Pole: one cannot travel north of the North Pole, as there is no boundary.^[15] While originally the no-boundary proposal predicted a closed universe, discussions with Neil Turok led to the realisation that the no-boundary proposal is also consistent with a universe which is not closed.^[16]

Along with Thomas Hertog at CERN, in 2006 Hawking proposed a theory of "top-down cosmology", which says that the universe had no unique initial state, and therefore it is inappropriate for physicists to attempt to formulate a theory that predicts the universe's current configuration from one particular initial state.^[17] Top-down cosmology posits that in some sense, the present "selects" the past from a superposition of many possible histories. In doing so, the theory suggests a possible resolution of the fine-tuning question.^[18]

Thorne–Hawking–Preskill bet[link]

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Stephen Hawking in the Blue Room of the White House before a ceremony presenting him and 15 others the Presidential Medal of Freedom on 12 August 2009. The Medal of Freedom is the United States' highest civilian honour.

In 1997 Hawking made a public scientific wager with Thorne and John Preskill of Caltech concerning the black hole information paradox.^[19] Thorne and Hawking argued that since general relativity made it impossible for black holes to radiate, and lose information, the mass-energy and information carried by Hawking Radiation must be "new", and must not originate from inside the black hole event horizon. Since this contradicted the idea under quantum mechanics of microcausality, quantum mechanics would need to be rewritten. Preskill argued the opposite, that since quantum mechanics suggests that the information emitted by a black hole relates to information that fell in at an earlier time, the view of black holes given by general relativity must be modified in some way.^[20] The winner of the bet was to receive an encyclopedia of the loser's choice, from which information may be accessed.^[19]

In 2004, Hawking announced that he was conceding the bet, and that he now believed that black hole horizons should fluctuate and leak information, in doing so providing Preskill with a copy of Total Baseball.^[19] Comparing the useless information obtainable from a black hole to "burning an encyclopedia", Hawking commented, "I gave John an encyclopedia of baseball, but maybe I should just have given him the ashes".^[19]

Recognition[link]

Acclaim[link]

On 19 December 2007, a statue of Hawking by artist Ian Walters was unveiled at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, University of Cambridge.^[21] The Stephen W. Hawking Science Museum in San Salvador, El Salvador, is named in honour of Stephen Hawking, citing his scientific distinction and perseverance in dealing with adversity.^[22] The Stephen Hawking Building in Cambridge opened on 17 April 2007. The building belongs to Gonville and Caius College and is used as an undergraduate accommodation and conference facility.^[23]

Awards and honours[link]

Personal life[link]

Stephen Hawking being presented by his daughter Lucy Hawking at the lecture he gave for NASA's 50th anniversary

Hawking has stated that, having been diagnosed with ALS during an early stage of his graduate work, he did not see much point in obtaining a doctorate if he were to die soon after. Hawking later said that the real turning point was his 1965 marriage to Jane Wilde, a language student.^[29] Jane cared for him until 1990 when the couple separated.^[1] They had three children: Robert, Lucy, and Timothy.^[1] Hawking married his personal care assistant, Elaine Mason, in 1995; ^[1] the couple divorced In October 2006^[30] amid claims by former nurses that she had abused him.^[31] In 1999, Jane Hawking published a memoir, Music to Move the Stars, detailing the marriage and its breakdown; in 2010 she published a revised version, Travelling to Infinity, My Life with Stephen.^[32]

Hawking supports the children's charity SOS Children's Villages UK^[33] and has stated that his view on how to live life is to "seek the greatest value of our action".^[34] He strongly opposed the Iraq War, calling it "a war crime" and "based on two lies" at a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, where he participated in a public reading of the names of Iraqi war victims.^[35][36]

Hawking has named his secondary school mathematics teacher Dikran Tahta as an inspiration.^[37] He maintains his connection with St Albans School, giving his name to one of the four houses and to an extracurricular science lecture series.^[38]

Illness[link]

Hawking on 5 May 2006, during the press conference at the Bibliothèque nationale de France to inaugurate the Laboratory of Astronomy and Particles in Paris and the French release of his work God Created the Integers

Hawking has a motor neurone disease that is related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a condition that has progressed over the years. He is now almost completely paralysed and communicates through a speech generating device. Hawking's illness has progressed more slowly than typical cases of ALS: survival for more than 10 years after diagnosis is uncommon.^[39][40]

Symptoms of the disorder first appeared while he was enrolled at University of Cambridge; he lost his balance and fell down a flight of stairs, hitting his head.^[4] The diagnosis of motor neurone disease came when Hawking was 21, shortly before his first marriage, and doctors said he would not survive more than two or three years. By 1974, he was unable to feed himself or get out of bed. His speech became slurred so that he could be understood only by people who knew him well. During a visit to CERN in Geneva in 1985, Hawking contracted pneumonia, which in his condition was life-threatening as it further restricted his already limited respiratory capacity. He had an emergency tracheotomy, and as a result lost what remained of his ability to speak.^[41] A speech generating device was built in Cambridge, using software from an American company, that enabled Hawking to write onto a computer with small movements of his body, and then have a voice synthesiser speak what he typed.^[42]

The particular voice synthesiser hardware he uses, which has an American English accent, is no longer being produced. Asked why he has still kept the same voice after so many years, Hawking stated that he has not heard a voice he likes better and that he identifies with it even though the synthesiser is both large and fragile by current standards. Although a mid-2009 corporate press release said that he had chosen NeoSpeech's VoiceText speech synthesiser as his new voice,^[43] a 30 December 2011 interview with Hawking's technician indicates that Hawking is still using an older synthesiser containing a card "which dates back to the 1980s" and that any upgrade would have to be the same voice, otherwise "it wouldn't be Stephen's voice any more".^[44]

For lectures and media appearances, Hawking appears to speak fluently through his synthesiser; however when preparing answers his system produces words at a rate of about one per minute.^[44] Hawking's setup uses a predictive text entry system, which requires only the first few characters in order to auto-complete the word, but as he is only able to use his cheek for data entry, constructing complete sentences takes time.^[44] During a TED Conference talk, it took him seven minutes to provide a brief answer to a question.^[45]

He describes himself as lucky, despite his disease. Its slow progression has allowed him time to make influential discoveries and has not hindered him from having, in his own words, "a very attractive family".^[42]

In popular culture[link]

Hawking in 2007, experiencing weightlessness

Hawking has played himself on numerous television shows and has been portrayed in many more. He has played himself on a Red Dwarf anniversary special, played a hologram of himself on the episode "Descent" of Star Trek: The Next Generation,^[46] and appeared on the Discovery Channel special Alien Planet.^[47] He has also played himself in several episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama, and has had an action figure made of his Simpsons likeness.^[48] The 2004 BBC4 TV film Hawking dealt with his early life and the onset of his illness. He was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. In 2008, Hawking was the subject of and featured in the documentary series Stephen Hawking, Master of the Universe for Channel 4. In September 2008, Hawking presided over the unveiling of the 'Chronophage' (time-eating) Corpus Clock at Corpus Christi College Cambridge.^[49] His actual synthesiser voice was used on parts of the Pink Floyd song "Keep Talking" from the 1994 album The Division Bell, as well as on Turbonegro's "Intro: The Party Zone" on their 2005 album Party Animals, Wolfsheim's "Kein Zurück (Oliver Pinelli Mix)". On 5 April 2012 he appeared as a guest star in an episode of The Big Bang Theory.^[50]

Space and spaceflight[link]

At the celebration of his 65th birthday on 8 January 2007, Hawking announced his plan to take a zero-gravity flight that year, with an intention to later take a sub-orbital spaceflight. Billionaire Richard Branson pledged to pay all expenses for a future flight on Virgin Galactic's space service, costing an estimated £100,000.^[51] Stephen Hawking's zero-gravity flight in a "Vomit Comet" of Zero Gravity Corporation, during which he experienced weightlessness eight times, took place on 26 April 2007.^[52] He became the first quadriplegic to float in zero gravity. The fee is normally US$3,750 for 10 to 15 plunges, but Hawking was not required to pay. Hawking was quoted before the flight saying:

Many people have asked me why I am taking this flight. I am doing it for many reasons. First of all, I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space.^[53]

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he suggested that space was the Earth's long term hope.^[54] He continued this theme at a 2008 Charlie Rose interview.^[55]

Hawking has indicated that he is almost certain that alien life exists in other parts of the universe, "To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like".^[56] He believes alien life not only certainly exists on planets but perhaps even in other places, like within stars or even floating in outer space. He has also warned that a few of these species might be intelligent and threaten Earth.^[57] "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said.^[56] He has advocated that, rather than try to establish contact, humans should try to avoid contact with alien life forms.^[56] At a George Washington University lecture in honour of NASA's fiftieth anniversary, Hawking discussed the existence of extraterrestrial life, believing that "primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare".^[58]

Religious views[link]

In his early work, Hawking spoke of God in a metaphorical sense, such as in A Brief History of Time: "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God."^[59] In the same book he suggested the existence of God was unnecessary to explain the origin of the universe.^[60] In the Channel 4 documentary Genius of Britain, in his 2010 book The Grand Design, and in interviews with the Telegraph, Hawking has clarified that he does not believe in a "personal" God.^[61] Hawking writes, "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second."^[61] He adds, "Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing."^[62]

His ex-wife, Jane, has described him as an atheist.^[63] Hawking has stated that he is "not religious in the normal sense" and he believes that "the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws."^[64] In an interview published in The Guardian newspaper, Hawking regarded the concept of Heaven as a myth, believing that there is "no heaven or afterlife" and that such a notion was a "fairy story for people afraid of the dark."^[59][65] Hawking contrasted religion and science in 2010, saying: "There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works."^[66]

Philosophical views[link]

At Google’s Zeitgeist Conference in 2011, Hawking said that "philosophy is dead." He believes philosophers "have not kept up with modern developments in science" and that scientists "have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.” He said that philosophical problems can be answered by science, particularly new scientific theories which "lead us to a new and very different picture of the universe and our place in it”.^[67]

Publications[link]

Hawking's first popular science book, A Brief History of Time, was published on 1 April 1988. It stayed on the British Sunday Times best-sellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.^[68] A Brief History of Time was followed by The Universe in a Nutshell (2001). A collection of essays titled Black Holes and Baby Universes (1993) was also popular. His book, A Briefer History of Time (2005), co-written by Leonard Mlodinow, updated his earlier works to make them accessible to a wider audience. In 2007 Hawking and his daughter, Lucy Hawking, published George's Secret Key to the Universe, a children's book focusing on science that Lucy Hawking described as "a bit like Harry Potter but without the magic."^[69]

Popular[link]

• A Brief History of Time, (1988)
• Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, (1994)
• The Universe in a Nutshell, (2001)
• On The Shoulders of Giants. The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy, (2002)
• A Briefer History of Time, (2005)
• God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs That Changed History, (2005)^[70]
• The Grand Design, (2010)^[70]

Children's fiction[link]

These are co-written with his daughter Lucy.

• George's Secret Key to the Universe, (2007)
• George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt, (2009)^[70]
• George and the Big Bang, (2011)

Films and series[link]

• A Brief History of Time (1991)
• Stephen Hawking's Universe (1997)
• Horizon: The Hawking Paradox^[71] (2005)
• Masters of Science Fiction (2007)
• Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe^[72] (2008)
• Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking^[73] (2010)
• Brave New World with Stephen Hawking

See also[link]

• Many-worlds interpretation, or flexiverse
• Gibbons–Hawking ansatz
• Gibbons–Hawking space

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Stephen Hawking on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Stephen Hawking's web site
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Stephen Hawking at the Internet Movie Database
• Stephen Hawking at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• Works by or about Stephen Hawking in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Stephen Hawking collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Stephen Hawking collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Archival material relating to Stephen Hawking listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Portraits of Stephen William Hawking at the National Portrait Gallery, London