A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field.

In some countries, the highest degree in a given field is referred to as a terminal degree, although this is by no means universal (the phrase is not in general use in the UK, for example), practice varies from country to country, and a distinction is sometimes made between terminal professional degrees and terminal research degrees (such as the J.S.D., or S.J.D. in law).

The term doctorate comes from the Latin docere, meaning "to teach."

The "licentiate" degree shortened from the full Latin title licentia docendi, means "teaching licence".

The doctorate (Latin: doctor, "teacher," from doctum, "[that which is] taught," past participle of docere, "to teach") appeared in medieval Europe as a license to teach (Latin: licentia docendi) at a medieval university. Its roots can be traced to the early church when the term "doctor" referred to the Apostles, church fathers and other Christian authorities who taught and interpreted the Bible. The right to grant a licentia docendi was originally reserved to the church which required the applicant to pass a test, to take oath of allegiance and pay a fee. The Third Council of the Lateran of 1179 guaranteed the access – by that time largely free of charge – of all able applicants, who were, however, still tested for aptitude by the ecclesiastic scholastic. This right remained a bone of contention between the church authorities and the slowly emancipating universities, but was granted by the pope to the University of Paris in 1213 where it became a universal license to teach (licentia ubiquie docendi). However, while the licentia continued to hold a higher prestige than the bachelor's degree (Baccalaureus), it was ultimately reduced to an intermediate step to the Magister and doctorate, both of which now became the exclusive qualification for teaching.

Pawan Kalyan (Telugu: పవన్ కళ్యాణ్; born Konidala Kalyan Babu on 2 September 1971) is an Indian film actor, director, screenwriter and action choreographer in Telugu cinema. He is the brother of Indian actor Chiranjeevi. He made his acting debut in 1996 with Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi.

In 1998, he was starred in Tholi Prema which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that Year. He is known for his works in other blockbusters like Gokulamlo Seetha, Suswagatham, Thammudu, Badri, Kushi, Jalsa and Gabbar Singh

Born to Konidela Venkata Rao and Anjana Devi, Pawan Kalyan is the younger brother of Chiranjeevi and Nagendra Babu. After his divorce from Nandini, Pawan Kalyan married Renu Desai on 28 January 2009. She co-starred with him in the films Badri and Johnny and has worked as costume designer for most of his films. The couple have two children, a son named Akira Nandan born in 2004 and a girl named Aadhya born in 2010. Akira was named after Pawan Kalyan's favorite director Akira Kurosawa.

John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne (1988–1997) for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993.

Goodman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His mother, Virginia Roos (née Loosmore), was a store clerk and waitress who worked at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que, and his father, Leslie F. Goodman, was a postal worker who died of a heart attack in 1954. He has a sister, Elisabeth Horvath, and a brother, Leslie.

Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football and dabbled in theater. He then won a football scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University, now called Missouri State University. He pledged the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, but was not formally initiated until several years later. Later he discovered Southwest Missouri's drama program. He studied there with actors Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. After a college injury ended his football career, he decided to become a professional actor, leaving Missouri for New York in 1975.

Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi (born 19 February 1948, Heathfield Road Hospital, Handsworth, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom) is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, its main composer and sole continual member through multiple personnel changes. Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in heavy metal music. According to Allmusic, "Iommi is one of only two guitarists (the other being Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page) that can take full credit for pioneering the mammoth riffs of heavy metal."

In 2004, Iommi was ranked number one on Guitar World's "100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time", and in 2011, ranked 25th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". On 13 October (Europe) and 1 November (United States) 2011 Iommi's autobiography was published, entitled Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath. On 9 January 2012, it was announced that Iommi had been diagnosed with early stage lymphoma.

Judith Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley. Butler received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University in 1984, for a dissertation subsequently published as Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France. In the late-1980s she held several teaching/research appointments, and was involved in "post-structuralist" efforts within Western feminist theory to question the "presuppositional terms" of feminism.

Her research ranges from literary theory, modern philosophical fiction, feminist and sexuality studies, to 19th- and 20th-century European literature and philosophy, Kafka and loss, mourning and war. Her most recent work focuses on Jewish philosophy, exploring pre- and post-Zionist criticisms of state violence. Politically, she is a strong supporter of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.