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Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is a novel written by Michael Crichton and published in 1991, which was later adapted as a movie directed by Steven Spielberg. Often considered a cautionary tale on unconsidered biological tinkering in the same spirit as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it uniquely uses the mathematical concept of Chaos Theory and its philosophical implications to explain the collapse of an amusement park showcasing certain recreated dinosaur species.

Plot summary (novel)

The novel, in an "introduction", is initially presented as a brief report on the consequences of "The InGen Incident", which occurred in August 1989. This "fiction as fact" presentation had been used by Crichton before, notably in Eaters of the Dead and The Andromeda Strain. Shortly after the story begins, a group of scientists (including paleontologist Alan Grant and chaos theory mathematician Ian Malcolm) are invited on an all-expense-paid preview visit to Jurassic Park, a zoo-like amusement park set up by billionaire John Hammond (founder of InGen) on the island of Isla Nublar (near Costa Rica). Hammond wishes to hear the opinions of the scientists and eventually win their approval of the park; Malcolm expresses misgivings from the beginning. The park contains dinosaurs, which have been recreated from DNA found in mosquitos trapped in amber. Hammond (and his genetic engineers) take great delight in explaining the ways that they created the dinosaurs. The scientists grow apprehensive when they discover that the dinosaurs have been breeding, despite InGen's efforts to keep them sterile. The action begins when Dennis Nedry, chief programmer of the Jurassic Park controlling software, tries to steal dinosaur embryos as per a deal with Lewis Dodgson, who works for one of John Hammond's competitors, Biosyn. In order to do this, he has to turn off the electricity to the park's many electric fences, and a number of dinosaurs – including a Tyrannosaurus rex and eight Velociraptors – escape from their enclosures, and have a number of encounters with the scientists, who remain inside the park. Eventually several of the characters escape the island alive (although many do not) and the island is razed by the Costa Rican Air Force, although there is disturbing evidence that several Raptors may have escaped, as well as a number of procompsagnathus. A young girl's encounter with the small dinosaurs serves as the narrative hook of the novel. The book has one sequel, The Lost World. One of the themes expressed throughout this story and its sequels is that of homeothermic (warm-blooded) dinosaurs; a recent theory popularized by paleontologist Bob Bakker. The novel is considerably darker in tone and content than the movie, with graphic violence and a higher body count.

Movie

Bob Bakker Bob Bakker]] Bob Bakker Steven Spielberg later directed the Jurassic Park movie, filming at the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Kauai in September 1992. Opening in 1993, it starred Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. Many plot points from the novel were changed or dropped, and the cautionary aspect of the novel was reduced. A subplot involving animals escaping to the mainland was dropped, and the cast of dinosaurs was made smaller and more manageable. Many secondary characters were also dropped. Many scenes are left intact from the novel, but have the species of the relevant dinosaurs changed. The film was extremely popular though, grossing $919,700,000 worldwide, the highest ever at the time, and the sixth-highest worldwide box office take for a feature film as of 2004. Largely credited for the movie's success were its special effects, created by Industrial Light and Magic. Through the use of CGI and conventional mechanical effects, the dinosaurs in the film appeared relatively lifelike, unlike previous effects films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Jurassic Park marked the Hollywood effects industry's transition from conventional optical effects to digital techniques. The movie won Academy Awards for Visual Effects, Sound Effects Editing, and Sound, and spawned three sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001). Jurassic Park IV ([http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0369610/ IMDb]) is currently in production and planned for release in 2006. There are rides based on Jurassic Park in the Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando, California and Osaka.

Discrepancies

A fair amount of the discrepancy between the book and the movie lies in which characters die. In addition, the characters themselves are altered. Ian Malcolm, as he appears in the book, is a rather sardonic but brilliant man who couldn't truly appreciate the accuracy of his failure theories because he is badly injured and immobilised by a dinosaur attack. Malcolm's vitriolic monologues are toned down for the film. Grant's relationship with Ellie Sattler in the book was purely professional, whereas in the film they are involved romantically. The character of John Hammond is distinctly different - in the book he ultimately dies at the jaws of small dinosaurs ("compys") while trying to climb a hill to his bungalow with a broken ankle, with plans to rebuild somewhere else, and irritation at his guests and grandchildren. In the movie, he escapes completely unharmed, humbled and awed by the monstrosity he created.

Canon issues

There are key differences between the novels, movies, games, and comics in the Jurassic Park series. The differences are in not only the architectual layout of the island, but also in the dinosaurs, dates, and even the characters used. The status of what would be considered canon vary on which area is being looked at in the entire Jurassic Park franchise. For example, if one were to look at the movies as the official canon source then only the events seen in the three films would be considered movie canon; however, if one were strictly looking at the novels as the official source then only the novels would be considered canon. The video games, specifically the computer game Trespasser, would not be considered movie canon or novel canon due to the fact that there are multiple contradictions in the game between the movies and the novels. One such example of a contradiction is the Isla Sorna map pictured in the Trespasser game being different from the Isla Sorna map pictured in The Lost World: Jurassic Park as well the map that appears in the novel, which also differs from the movie map as it is! The comics illustrate Isla Nublar with an undetermined amount of dinosaurs, and even bring Robert Muldoon back to life. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the novels, games, comics, and movies should be considered to be in their own individual canon and cannot be combined with each other. The theme park rides themselves also stand alone as they ignore previous cautionary tales in an effort to reconstruct John Hammond's park and send visitors on a thrilling journey that includes dangerously escaping menacing raptors and the T.Rex herself.

Original ending

Isla Nublar Originally, the movie was to end with the T. rex skeleton (in the Visitor Center) falling onto the raptors before they attack Alan Grant, Tim, Lex, and Ellie Sattler. Hammond arrives and is then able to gun down the raptors with a shotgun. Later when the original ending was seen as too simplistic a resolution, the skeleton was replaced with a living T. rex that attacks the raptors, saving Grant and the others. This ending also eliminates the shooting of the raptors, which is why a brief scene was included in which the shotgun is left in another room. In both versions, the surviving humans quickly flee with Hammond in his jeep to the helicopter and escape the island. The original ending was used in the original Sega Genesis Jurassic Park video game. The scrapped ending is used as the ending for Grant's campaign, with a minor alteration, in which the player uses fire grenades to cause the skeletons to fall. Alternatively, if a player chooses to play as the Raptor, the end of the game involves kicking the skeletons' bases, causing them to collapse, thereby defeating Dr. Grant.

Dinosaurs Featured

These are dinosaurs confirmed to be on Isla Nublar in the movies:
- Brachiosaurus
- Dilophosaurus
- Gallimimus
- Triceratops
- Tyrannosaurus
- Velociraptor
- Parasaurolophus
- Metriacanthosaurus (Seen on embryo tubes and tour map)
- Proceratosaurus (Seen on embryo tubes and tour map)
- Herrerasaurus (Seen on tour map)
- Stegosaurus (Seen on embryo tubes)
- Baryonyx (Seen on tour map, though may actually be Spinosaurus as later suggested in Jurassic Park III)
- Segisaurus (Seen on tour map)
- Pteranodon (Suggested to be on Isla Nublar by the slideshow and voiceover in the lunch meeting scene, as well as from the mural in The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
- Compsognathus (Suggested to be on Isla Nublar from JP: The Exhibit in 1995) Dinosaurs confirmed to be on Isla Nublar in the novels:
- Tyrannosaurus
- Velociraptor
- Dilophosaurus
- Apatosaurus
- Hadrosaurus
- Maiasaura
- Stegosaurus
- Triceratops
- Procompsognathus
- Styracosaurus
- Hypsilophodon
- Othnielia
- Euoplocephalus
- Microceratops
- Cearadactylus
- A species of Coelurosaurus was to be announced
- Some printings of the novel listed Callovosaurus in place of Microceratops on the charts presented in the book; however this was most likely an editorial oversight and was changed in later printings due to the fact that this would have brought the total number of species over 15, and Microceratops is noted by characters to be in the park whereas Callovosaurus does not appear anywhere in the novel outside of these charts.
- At one point in the novel, the park's tyrannosaur is said to be "hunting the Camarasaurus," although this is most likely meant to be Apatosaurus and is probably an editorial oversight.
- A species of giant dragonfly was also ressurected from extinction for the Park.

Biological issues

During the movie's production, the effects supervisors acknowledged that the Velociraptors featured in the movie were sized more like the larger Deinonychus. However, during the filming of the movie, paleontologists came across a larger dromaeosaurid species named Utahraptor, and the larger raptors remained. The procompsognathus in the novel secrete a venom described as similar to that of a cobra, although more primitive. This ability to incapacitate their prey is absent in the films. The Dilophosaurus in the movie is smaller than their 6 m (20ft) real-life counterparts, and has a totally speculative frill like the Australian frill-necked lizard and the ability to spit venom. The spit and frill in particular were simply added for dramatic effect. The issue of their size may be explained by Nedry's comment about "big brothers" and this one not being "so bad". Though the movie's theory is that the Tyrannosaurus rex would be unable to 'see' someone if they were to remain still, some argue that it would still be able to smell them. In addition, most paleontologists consider Jurassic Park's use of the "amphibian visual cortex" here to be inaccurate, and that the dinosaur would be able to perceive static prey. This is acknowledged in the sequel novel The Lost World: a character attempts to evade a tyrannosaur by freezing. This tactic fails and is criticized by paleontologist Richard Levine, commenting that a T-Rex won't attack prey if it isn't hungry.

Other Issues

During the scene where Dennis Nedry is busy stealing the dinosaurs' DNA, many of the tubes on which the dinosaurs' names are printed have the names spelled incorrectly, including Tyrannosaurus. It also shows Dennis Nedry opening up a liquid Nitrogen filled Cryogenic container and handling the Superfrozen tubes filled with Dino DNA without thermal gloves. Doing this without gloves causes severe frostbite.It is also quite painful. Also, the antennae of the fossil mosquito trapped in amber at the beginning of the film are fuzzy. This indicates that the insect is male; however, only the females are bloodsuckers.

Biotechnological background

The dinosaur DNA is extracted from fossilised mosquitos, and this small amount is then amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This has been done before, for example with a Cretaceous weevil in Cano et al. (1993) (no dinosaur DNA was found). There are some problems with this approach:
- Foremost, the DNA featured in the movie is said to be from mosquitoes enclosed in Dominican amber. Dominican amber is approximately 30 million years old. Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.
- None of the dinosaurs featured in the movie are known to have existed in the Dominican Republic 65 million years ago.
- The mosquito had to have had just one species of dinosaur as its prey to avoid a mix-up
- It is unknown which dinosaur the sample contains. It would be impossible to tell which "species" it is, because the DNA sequences would fit somewhere between that of birds and crocodiles. The book does address this, stating that they "just grow it and find out" to Malcolm's annoyance.
- The dinosaur DNA has to be correct (it has to contain every chromosome) and should contain no gaps.
- The DNA is mixed with mosquito DNA. PCR is extremely sensitive, and will amplify that too.
- Present day PCR can't amplify large quantities of DNA (the entire dinosaur genome). Even if this was possible, it would take a very long time.
- PCR needs parts of the DNA to start the reaction (the so-called primers). To get them, the genome needs to be mapped beforehand.
- Because DNA is broken down by nucleases and proteolytic enzymes in the mosquito gut, the mosquito would have to be preserved immediately after feeding. Furthermore, in the fossilisation process, molecules are altered. Nevertheless, amber is the best preservative, because organic material is preserved. But DNA cannot survive completely without gaps for tens or hundreds of millions of years. Tens of thousands of DNA base pairs were recently sequenced from 40,000-year-old skeletal remains of cave bears without using PCR, establishing that, in principle, large-scale genomic sequencing of fossilized remains is possible. Of course, the remains used in this study are orders of magnitude younger than anything from the dinosaur era, and the technique might not extend to those creatures. In the book the gaps in the DNA are filled by hybridizing the DNA with frog DNA. This is extremely difficult, as one would need to know which dinosaur genes are homologous with frog genes. The use of frog genes is probably a plot device, to allow some females to change sex and breed nevertheless (although natural sex change is also possible in some more advanced vertebrates). The next step would be bringing the DNA strands to expression. For that, one would need to inject the dinosaur DNA into the nucleus of a fertilized egg cell of a close relative of dinosaurs (birds or crocodiles (not frogs)). This technique is based on reproductive cloning, which was used to clone Dolly. In the movie, ostrich eggs are used for this purpose. However, the development of an embryo is regulated by hormones in the egg/uterus and the environment. These (bird or crocodylian) hormones need to have the same effect as their original dinosaurian counterparts. For that, they have to recognize particular pieces of dinosaur DNA, which they could hardly do. New research in plastics, however, has allowed for the creation of synethic eggs to nurture embryos through their development regardless of species. Extra hormones are needed from the original parent specimen, however, or constructed precisely from using the genome in order for the embryo to flourish.

Notes

While the cinematic incarnation of Jurassic Park used ostrich eggs as vessels to facilitate expression, the novel version very specifically utilized "a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell." The plastic was called "millipore," created by an eponymous subsidiary of InGen.[http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0345370775/ref=sib_vae_pg_66/104-4202022-7879160?%5Fencoding=UTF8&keywords=millipore&p=S028&twc=1&checkSum=Xnx%2F5metEicEorJ2Qyg9bdc3pJNNN%2BaGSdc%2F16pqqdU%3D#reader-page]

References


- Cano R.J., Poinar H.N., Pieniazek N.J., Acra A., Poinar G.O. Jr. (1993). [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=npg&cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8505978&dopt=Abstract Amplification and Sequencing of DNA from a 120–135-Million-Year-Old Weevil]. Nature, 363:536–538
- Weaver, R. F. (2002). Molecular Biology. McGraw-Hill, New York, p. 76. ISBN 0-07-234517-9
- Noonan, J.P., et. al. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15933159&query_hl=4 Genomic sequencing of Pleistocene cave bears]. Science 309(5734):597-9, July 2005.

Further reading

The Science of Jurassic Park and The Lost World. Or How to Build a Dinosaur. Rob DeSalle and David Lindley. BasicBooks, New York, 1997. xxix, 194 pp., illus. $18 or C$25.50. ISBN 0-465-07379-4.

Video games

See Jurassic Park (video game). There have been a number of Jurassic Park video games released to act as merchandise for the release of each film. The titles have appeared on a range of platforms including NES, Game Boy, Game Gear, PC:DOS/Windows, SNES, Sega CD, Sega Mega Drive, 3DO, PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

See also


- List of characters in Jurassic Park
- Dominican Amber
- Jurassic Park 4 - A yet-to-be released sequel
- Dragon curve - the fractal from the novel

External links


- [http://michaelcrichton.com/jp/index.html Jurassic Park] at the [http://www.michaelcrichton.com Official Michael Crichton Website]
-
- [http://www.maplesoft.com/applications/app_center_view.aspx?AID=996 Fractal From the Novel]
- [http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/palaeontologia/03-03-14/2002_2/editor/r_and_p.htm Technical paper on molecular paleontology]
- [http://www.jpdatabase.net JPdb - Database for Jurassic Park]
- [http://www.jplegacy.org Jurassic Park Legacy - The Largest JP Information Resource]
- [http://www.jurassickingdom.net/~hosting/JurassicChaos/index.htm Jurassic Chaos - Where Life Finds A Way]
- [http://s8.invisionfree.com/jurassicpark Virtual Jurassic Park - A Jurassic Park Roleplay forum]
- [http://www.jurassickingdom.net/ Jurassic Kingdom - An informative site on everything Jurassic Park, including a forum!] Category:1990 books Category:1993 films Category:Jurassic Park Category:Action films Category:Adventure films Category:Films directed by Steven Spielberg Category:Horror films Category:Science fiction films Category:Thriller films Category:Science fiction novels Category:Techno-thriller novels Category:Films based on novels Category:Universal films Category:Books by Michael Crichton ja:ジュラシック・パーク (Book) (Film) th:จูราสสิค พาร์ค

Michael Crichton

Dr. John Michael Crichton (born October 23, 1942, pronounced 'cry-ton' ) is an author, film producer and television producer. His best-known works are science fiction novels, films and television programs. His genre can be best described as techno-thriller which is usually the marriage of action and technical details. Many of his novels have medical or scientific underpinnings, reflecting his medical training and science background. Crichton directed the film Coma, adapted from a Robin Cook novel, and there are other similarities in terms of genre and the fact that both Cook and Crichton are physicians, are of similar age and write about similar subjects.

Biography

Michael Crichton was born in Chicago, Illinois to John Henderson Crichton and Zula Miller Crichton and raised in Roslyn, Long Island, USA. He attended Harvard University, where he graduated summa cum laude in anthropology. He went on to teach anthropology at Cambridge in England, later returning to Massachusetts to gain an M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School. Crichton has admitted to once plagiarizing a work by George Orwell and submitting it as his own. The paper was received by his professor with a mark of "B−". Crichton admitted to plagiarizing when he was on the stand in the course of a lawsuit trying to defend the authenticity of Twister, a movie which one individual claimed was based on their story entitled "Catch the Wind". Crichton has stated that the plagiarism was not intended to defraud the school, but rather as an experiment. Crichton believed that the professor in question had been intentionally giving him abnormally low marks, and so as an experiment Crichton informed another professor of his idea and submitted Orwell's paper as his own. While in medical school, he wrote novels under the pen names John Lange and Jeffrey Hudson (under which pseudonym A Case of Need won the 1969 Edgar Award). He also co-authored Dealing with his younger brother Douglas Crichton under a shared pen name Michael Douglas. The back cover of that book contains a picture of Michael and Douglas at a very young age taken by their mother. His two pen names were both created to reflect his above-average height. According to his own words, he was about 206 cm (6' 9") tall in 1997 [http://www.adara-interactive.com/crichton/ow_transcripts2.htm]. "Lange" (adverb) means "for a long time" in German and Sir Jeffrey Hudson was a famous seventeenth century dwarf in Queen Henrietta Maria's court. Crichton has two sisters, Kimberly and Catherine, and a brother, Douglas. He is married to Sherri Alexander and has a daughter, Taylor, with ex-wife Anne-Marie Martin.

Scientific concepts

Crichton has been introducing breakthroughs in science and technologies with his books. Many of the ideas he used were novel to the average person, despite having quite a solid scientific base. Before Jurassic Park, Robert T. Bakker's theory of "warm-blooded" and athlete-type dinosaurs was unimaginable to ordinary people, who were accustomed to seeing stop motion clay dinosaurs crawling sluggishly over the volcanic prehistorical terrains. However, Crichton's version of highly intelligent man-eating dinosaurs was also criticized by scientists: : The scientific scheme is not completely outrageous; unless one looks too closely, ... Although they are dinosaurs ..., they could have been any death-dealing automata ... substitute hostile extraterrestrials, lunatic Nazis, or predatory androids and it would have been the same film with a different title -- Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark or Terminator 2: Judgment Day. (Henry Gee, "Jaws with Claws," Nature 363:681, 1993.)

Literary techniques

From time to time, Crichton has recycled a well-known story's structure for his own story. For example: The Andromeda Strain was influenced by H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. However, rather than reusing the early twentieth century plot devices, Crichton introduced the idea of an imaginary microscopic pathogen's evolution of virulence with his own story. Most of his stories tend to be somewhat open-ended, including Jurassic Park, Sphere and Prey. The use of author surrogate has been a feature of Crichton's writings since the beginning of his career. In A Case of Need, one of his pseudonym whodunit stories, Crichton used first-person narrative to portray the hero, a Bostonian pathologist, who is running against the clock to clear a good friend's name from medical malpractice in a girl's death from a hack job abortion. That book was written in 1968, long before Roe v. Wade of 1973, the landmark case that partially legalized abortion in the U.S. It took the hero about 160 pages to find the chief-suspect, an underground abortionist, who was created to be the author surrogate. Then, Crichton gave that character three pages to justify his illegal practice. Some of Crichton's fiction uses a literary technique called false document. For example, Eaters of the Dead is a fabricated recreation of the Old English epic Beowulf in the form of a scholastic translation of Ahmad ibn Fadlan's tenth century manuscript. Other novels, such as The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, incorporate fictionalized scientific documents in the form of diagrams, computer output, DNA sequences, footnotes and bibliography. In The Terminal Man, Crichton created a dialog between two computer programs, good-natured Saint George and evil-minded Martha, variations on ELIZA. In the end, the Charlie Brown–like Saint George shouts "GO TO HELL I WILL KILL YOU:::::::::::::: ..." at the provocative Martha, foreshadowing a killing spree conducted by the ill-fated hero, a nice person implanted with an experimental computerized device to control his epilepsy. Some novels, such as Jurassic Park, create a paradox within the plot. Crichton sets up a story in which something is implied to be impossible through technological means, but it is then contradicted. In Jurassic Park a theme park is created with every security measure taken. Ian Malcolm, a mathematician in the novel, says that the dinosaurs will escape. Later in the novel this happens in part, although the dinosaurs have not really escaped, they have reproduced and live beyond the designated areas. Sphere contains a similar dialog, in which a panicked scientist in an underwater lab tries to talk the omnipotent but innocent "extraterrestrial life" out of manifesting beautiful aquatic creatures that are harmful to human beings. A common criticism of Crichton's novels is that they are generally based on the conceit of a "false revolution": while the novels describe potentially world-changing concepts such as alien plagues, cloned dinosaurs, and time travel, the books always end with the threat destroyed or the scientific breakthrough lost. In other words, the events described in the novels might as well never have happened in the context of their fictional universes. This allows Crichton to avoid having to describe how, for example, time travel or cloning of extinct animals would change society.

Non-fiction

Apart from fiction, Crichton has written several other books based on scientific themes, amongst which is Travels, which also contains autobiographical episodes. As a personal friend to the "Neo-Dadaist" artist Jasper Johns, Crichton compiled many of his works in a coffee table tome also named Jasper Johns. That book has been updated once. Crichton is also the author of Electronic Life, a book that introduces BASIC programming to its readers. In his words, being able to program a computer is liberation: : In my experience, you assert control over a computer -- show it who's the boss -- by making it do something unique. That means programming it. ... [I]f you devote a couple of hours to programming a new machine, you'll feel better about it ever afterward. (p. 44) To prove his point, Crichton included many self-written demonstrative Applesoft (for Apple II)) and BASICA (for IBM PC compatibles) programs in that book. Crichton once considered updating it, but the project seemed to be cancelled. His non-fiction works are:
- 1970 Five Patients
- 1977 Jasper Johns
- 1983 Electronic Life
- 1988 Travels

Movies and television

Crichton has directed several motion pictures:
- 1972 Pursuit (a TV movie)
- 1973 Westworld
- 1978 Coma
- 1979 The Great Train Robbery
- 1981 Looker
- 1984 Runaway (movie)
- 1989 Physical Evidence Westworld was the first feature film that used 2D computer-generated imagery (CGI) and the first use of 3D CGI was in its sequel, Futureworld (1976), which featured a computer-generated hand and face created by then University of Utah graduate students Edwin Catmull and Fred Parke. Many of his novels have been filmed by others:
- 1971 The Andromeda Strain
- 1972 Dealing
- 1972 The Carey Treatment (A Case of Need)
- 1972 The Terminal Man
- 1979 The Great Train Robbery
- 1993 Rising Sun
- 1993 Jurassic Park
- 1994 Disclosure
- 1995 Congo
- 1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- 1998 Sphere
- 1999 The 13th Warrior (Eaters of the Dead)
- 2003 Timeline
- 200? Prey
- 2004 State of Fear He has written the screenplay for the movies Extreme Close Up (1973) and Twister 1996 (the latter co-written with Anne-Marie Martin, his wife at the time). Crichton is also the creator and executive producer of the television drama ER. In December of 1994, he achieved the unique distinction of having the #1 movie (Disclosure), the #1 TV show (ER), and the #1 book (Disclosure, atop the paperback list).

Awards


- Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allen Poe Award, 1969 (A Case of Need) – as Jeffrey Hudson
- Association of American Medical Writers Award, 1970 (Five Patients)
- Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allen Poe Award, 1980 (The Great Train Robbery)

Speeches

"Aliens Cause Global Warming"

In 2003 he gave a controversial lecture at Caltech entitled "Aliens Cause Global Warming" [http://www.sepp.org/NewSEPP/GW-Aliens-Crichton.html] in which he expressed his views of the dangers of consensus science and junk science—especially with regard to popular but disputed theories such as nuclear winter, the dangers of second-hand smoke and the global warming controversy. Crichton has been critical of widespread belief of ETs and UFOs, citing the fact that there is no conclusive proof of their existence. Crichton has commented that belief without a factual basis is more akin to faith. Faith alone is not a proper foundation for scientific belief.

Environmentalism as a religion

In a related and equally controversial speech given to the Commonwealth Club, called "Environmentalism as a religion" [http://cdfe.org/religion.htm], Crichton describes what he sees as similarities between the structure of various religious views (particularly Judeo-Christian dogma) and the beliefs of many modern urban atheists who he asserts have romantic ideas about Nature and our past, who he thinks believe in the initial "paradise", the human "sins", and the "judgement day". He also articulates his belief that it is the tendency of modern environmentalists to cling stubbornly to elements of their faith in spite of scientific evidence to the contrary. Crichton cites what he contends are misconceptions about DDT, second-hand smoke and global warming as examples (however these examples are heavily disputed in the scientific community).

Widespread speculation in the media

In a speech entitled "Why Speculate?" [http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote03.html], delivered in 2002 to the International Leadership Forum, Crichton took the media to task for engaging in what he saw as pointless speculation rather than the delivery of facts. As an example, he pointed to a front-page article of the March 6 New York Times that speculated about the possible effects of U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to impose tariffs on imported steel. Crichton also singled out Susan Faludi's book Backlash for criticism, saying that it "presented hundreds of pages of quasi-statistical assertions based on a premise that was never demonstrated and that was almost certainly false". He referred to what he calls the "Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect" to describe the public's tendency to discount one story in a newspaper they may know to be false because of their knowledge of the subject, but believe the same paper on subjects with which they are unfamiliar. Crichton used the Latin expression "falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus", which he translated as "untruthful in one part, untruthful in all", to describe what he thought a more appropriate reaction should be. The speech also made several references to Crichton's by-now-familiar skepticism of environmentalists' assertions about the possible future ramifications of human activity on Earth's environment.

Criticism

Many of Crichton's publically-expressed views, particularly on subjects like the global warming controversy, have caused heated debate. As pointed out in Dr. Jeffrey M. Masters' review of the book,
[F]lawed or misleading presentations of Global Warming science exist in the book, including those on Arctic sea ice thinning, correction of land-based temperature measurements for the urban heat island effect, and satellite vs. ground-based measurements of Earth's warming. I will spare the reader additional details. On the positive side, Crichton does emphasize the little-appreciated fact that while most of the world has been warming the past few decades, most of Antarctica has seen a cooling trend. The Antarctic ice sheet is actually expected in increase in mass over the next 100 years due to increased precipitation, according to the IPCC (although recent findings by NASA call this result into question). Additionally, Crichton correctly points out that there has been no rise in hurricane activity in the Atlantic over the past few decades (a point unchanged by the record four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004).

- [http://www.wunderground.com/education/stateoffear.asp# Dr. Jeffrey M. Masters – Chief Meteorologist, The Weather Underground]
- [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/murray200412210839.asp Iain Murray – senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute] In September 2005 Crichton testified at a Congressional hearing on climate change, having been called by Senator James Inhofe.[http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1580590,00.html]

References


- Elizabeth A. Trembley, 1996, Michael Crichton: A Critical Companion, Greenwood Press, ISBN 031329414.

Notes

# - Crichton, Michael (2005). [http://michaelcrichton.com/foryoungerreaders/index.html "For Younger Readers"]. Retrieved Dec. 11, 2005.

External links


- [http://www.michaelcrichton.com/ Michael Crichton's Official Homepage]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/fivelive_aod.shtml?5L_michaelcrichton Recorded BBC Five Live interview with Michael Crichton]
- [http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2004/story12-13-04b.html Earth Institute News, Columbia.edu Criticism of the science of State of Fear]
- [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000341/ Michael Crichton at IMDB]
- [http://snarkfest.9.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=712 Discuss Michael Crichton] Crichton, Michael Crichton, Michael Crichton, Michael Crichton, Michael Crichton, Michael Crichton, Michael ja: ko:

1991

1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January


- January 2 - Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first black woman to lead a city of that size and importance.
- January 4 - The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to condemn Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
- January 10 - SA State Govt forced to bail out State Bank.
- January 11 - The Soviets storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence.
- January 12 - Gulf War: The U.S. Congress passes a resolution authorizing the use of military force to liberate Kuwait.
- January 13 - The Soviet Union troops assault the Vilnius TV tower in Lithuania and kill 14 unarmed civilians, many more are injured.
- January 13 - Soccer stampede and fight at Johannesburg, South Africa - 42 dead.
- January 14 - Three PLO guerilla chiefs assassinated in Tunis.
- January 16 - US serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.
- January 17 - Operation Desert Storm begins.
- January 17 - Gulf War: The air strikes against Iraq begin.
- January 17 - Gulf War: Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel.
- January 17 - Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.
- January 18 - Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years citing financial problems.
- January 26 - The Somalian president Siad Barre flees his compound in Mogadishu.
- January 29 - Siad Barre is succeeded by Ali Mahdi Muhammad.

February

February.]]
- February 4 - The Baseball Hall of Fame votes to ban Pete Rose.
- February 5 - A Michigan court bars Dr Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides.
- February 7 - Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
- February 7 - The IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting.
- February 9 - Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.
- February 11 - UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organization, forms in the Hague, Netherlands.
- February 13 - Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy an underground bunker in Baghdad killing hundreds of Iraqis. Iraqi officials claim that the bunker was a bomb shelter but United States military intelligence identified it as a military facility.
- February 15 - The Visegrad Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
- February 16 - Gulf War: American and British war planes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad, injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others.
- February 22 - Gulf War: Iraq accepts a Russian proposed cease fire agreement. The US rejects the agreement, but said that retreating Iraqi forces would not be attacked if they left Kuwait within 24 hours.
- February 23 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Kuwait, thus starting the ground phase of the war.
- February 23 - Thailand: General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
- February 25 - Gulf War: An Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 US Marines.
- February 26 - Gulf War: On Baghdad radio, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreat.
- February 27 - Gulf War: Kuwait is liberated, and a ceasefire is declared, after 100 hours of ground fighting. Iraq accepts the terms of the ceasefire, which call for the country to disarm.

March


- March-April - Iraqi forces suppress rebellions in the southern and northern parts of the country, creating a humanitarian disaster on the borders of Turkey and Iran
- March 1 - Ballistic Missile Submarine USS-Lafayette (now ex-Lafayette) starts to be deactivated
- March 1 - Ethan-Allen-class submarine USS-Sam Houston (now ex-Sam Houston SSBN-609) starts to be deactivated
- March 1 - Clayton Keith Yeutter finishes as the United States Secretary of Agriculture, under the George H. W. Bush administration
- March 3 - An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
- March 3 - Latvia and Estonia vote to become independent of the Soviet Union
- March 4 - Vermont celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- March 4 - Most primitive form of World Wide Web is put online.
- March 9 - Massive demonstrations are held against Slobodan Milošević in Belgrade. Two people are killed and tanks are in the streets
- March 10 - Gulf War: Operation Phase Echo - 540,000 American troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf
- March 11 - A curfew is imposed on black townships in South Africa after fighting between rival political gangs killed 49.
- March 13 - The United States Department of Justice announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
- March 14 - After 16 years in prison for allegedly bombing a pub in an Irish Republican Army attack, the "Birmingham Six" are freed when a court determines that the police fabricated evidence
- March 15 - Four Los Angeles, California police officers are indicted for the videotaped March 3, 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King during an arrest.
- March 15 - Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post-World War II occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union) relinquish all remaining rights.
- March 31 - The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved.
- March 31 - Albania has the first multi-party elections

April


- April 1 - The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times report that [http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0910366/ Selene Walters] had verified her claim that then SAG President Ronald Reagan raped her in her home in 1952
- April 3 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The U.N. Security Council passes the Cease Fire Agreement, Resolution 687. The resolution called for the destruction or removal of all of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons, all stocks of agents and components, and all research, development, support and manufacturing facilities for ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150km and production facilities; and for an end to its support for international terrorism. Iraq accepts the terms of the resolution on April 6
- April 4 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collided with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania
- April 9 - Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia declared the restoration of independence of Georgia
- April 10 - A rare tropical storm develops in the Southern Hemisphere off the coast of Angola; the first of its kind to be documented by Satelites.
- April 14 - In the Netherlands, thieves steal 20 paintings worth $500 million from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Less than an hour later they are found in an abandoned car near the museum
- April 17 - After approaching 3,000 in July 1990, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 for the first time ever, closing at 3,004.46.
- April 17 - First Performance of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at the OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington the song that marked the beggining of a new movement in music called Grunge. It managed to turn a crowd calmly seated at tables into a moshpit.
- April 18 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq declares some of its chemical weapons and materials to the UN, as required by Resolution 687, and claims that it does not have biological weapons program.
- April 26 - Tornadoes break out in the central United States. The most notable tornado of the day was the one that hit in Andover, Kansas. The outbreak of nearly seventy tornadoes killed 17 people in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The tornado that hit Andover was the only F5 of the year. (see The Andover, Kansas Tornado)
- April 29 - A tropical cyclone hits Bangladesh killing an estimated 138,000 people.

May


- May 5 - The shooting of a Salvadoran man by police in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Washington D.C. ignites the Cinco de Mayo Riots, which bring the city to a standstill for 3 days.
- May 15 - Edith Cresson becomes France's first female premier
- May 16 - HM Queen Elizabeth II gives a speech to the US Congress.
- May 19 - Willy T. Ribbs becomes the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500
- May 21 - In Sri Perumbudur near Madras, former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a terrorist bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers
- May 26 - In Thailand, a Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashes near Bangkok killing all 223 people on-board
- May 28 - The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.

June


- June 6 - George and Barbara Loeb, members of the Church of the Creator, are arrested and charged with murder
- June 12 - Boris Yeltsin is elected president of Russia, the largest and most populous of the fifteen Soviet republics.
- June 13 - A spectator is killed by lightning at the U.S. Open [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/slide-show/tstm/slide114.html]
- June 15 - Pinatubo climactic eruption, one of the most destructive volcanic event of the century shaked the Phillipines
- June 17 - Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which had required racial classification of all South Africans at birth
- June 17 - Exhemation of US President Zachary Taylor to discover whether or not his death was caused by arsenic poisoning, instead of acute gastrointestinal illness. No trace of arsenic is found.
- June 23 - Sonic the Hedgehog was created and released for the Sega Genesis
- June 23-June 28 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.N. inspection teams attempt to intercept Iraqi vehicles carrying nuclear related equipment. Iraqi soldiers fire warning shots in the air to prevent inspectors from approaching the vehicles
- June 25 - Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia

July


- July 1 - The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved.
- July 7 - The Brioni Agreement ends the ten day war in Slovenia
- July 9 - International Human Rights Federation cites human rights violations committed by police and military personnel during Oka crisis in Quebec.
- July 10 - Boris Yeltsin begins his 5-year term as the first elected president of Russia
- July 11 - Total Solar Eclipse.(Hawaii, Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Brazil).
- July 19 - Mike Tyson rapes Desiree Washington.
- July 22 - Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested after the remains of 11 men and boys are found in his Milwaukee, Wisconsin apartment.

August

August is torn down in Moscow, signalling the Collapse of the Soviet Union.]]
- August 6 - Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the "World Wide Web."
- August 7 - Assassination of Shapora Baktiari, former prime minister of Iran
- August 8 - Collapse of Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built
- August 17 - Strathfield Massacre (Sydney, Australia) - taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots seven people and injuring 6 others before turning the gun on himself.
- August 18 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while vacationing in the Crimea. The putsch is led by eight high-ranking hard-liners, and will collapse in less than 72 hours.
- August 20 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Estonia declares its independence from the Soviet Union and more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev
- August 21 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Latvia declares its independence from the Soviet Union
- August 24 - Ukraine declares independence from Soviet Union
- August 25 - Student Linus Torvalds post a messages to Usenet newsgroup comp.os.minix about the new operating system kernel he has been developing.
- August 29 - Maronite general Michel Aoun leaves Lebanon via a French ship into exile
- August 31 - Kyrgyzstan declares independence from the Soviet Union

September


- September 2 - The United States recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
- September 3 - In Hamlet, North Carolina, a grease fire breaks out at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant, killing 25 people.
- September 5 - Fall of Communism in the USSR.
- September 5-September 7 - At the 35th Annual Tailhook Symposium, 83 women and 7 men are assaulted.
- September 6 - The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic States.
- September 6 - The name "Saint Petersburg" is restored to Russia's second-largest city, which had been renamed "Leningrad" in 1924.
- September 8 - Republic of Macedonia becomes independent.
- September 15 - The C-17 Globemaster III flys for the first time. The C-17 is regarded by many in the industry as the best, safest and most capable aircraft in the history of aviation.
- September 16 - Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion album was released.
- September 21 - Armenia declares independence from the Soviet Union
- September 21-September 30 - Iraq disarmament crisis: IAEA inspectors discover files on Iraq's hidden nuclear weapons program. Iraqi officials confiscate documents from UN weapons inspectors, and refuse to allow them to leave the site without turning over other documents. A four-day standoff ensues. Iraq permits the team to leave with the documents after a statement from the UN Security Council threatens enforcement actions.
- September 22 - The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time, by the Huntington Library.
- September 24 - The release of Nirvanas Nevermind signified the start of the Grunge era that would dominate the music scene up to the mid-90's.
- September 30 - Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed from power.

October


- October 2 - Arkansas Governor William J. Clinton announces he will seek the 1992 Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.
- October 8 - The Croatian Parliament cuts all remaining ties with Yugoslavia
- October 11 - KGB is replaced by the SVR
- October 11 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 715, which demands that Iraq "accept unconditionally the inspectors and all other personnel designated by the Special Commission". Iraq rejects the resolution, calling it "unlawful"
- October 12 - Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by republic's Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll
- October 14 - Bulgarians celebrate the end of the rule of the communist party
- October 15 - Following a bitter confirmation hearing that involved allegations of sexual misconduct, the United States Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States
- October 16 - George Hennard guns down 24 people in Texas
- October 19 - 7.0 Richter Scale earthquake in Northern Italy - 2000 dead
- October 20 - Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3469 homes and apartments
- October 27 - The first free parliamentary elections in Poland
- October 29 - The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid
- Winter - Centennial of Basketball

November


- November 4 - Ronald Reagan opened his presidential library in Simi Valley.
- November 5 - Body of publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell is found floating in the sea - he had fallen off his yacht
- November 7 - Los Angeles Lakers point guard Magic Johnson announces that he has HIV, effectively ending his career in the NBA.
- November 7 - The last oil well was put out of fire in Kuwait.
- November 14 - American and British authorities announce indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103
- November 14 - Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after 13 years of exile
- November 18 - Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon set Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland free
- November 18 - Serb troops take Vukovar after siege of 87 days
- November 23 - Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the band Queen, issues a public statement confirming that he is stricken with AIDS. He would die of complications the next day.
- November 24 - Freddie Mercury dies of AIDS in his home in London, of AIDS-Related Chronic problems.
- November 27 - The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts UN Security Council Resolution 721, opening the way to the establishment of peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia.
- November 29 - Federal Yugoslavian Army begins to withdraw from Zagreb

December


- December 1 - Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union
- December 4 - Journalist Terry Anderson is released after seven years' captivity as a hostage in Beirut (he was the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon).
- December 4 - Pan American World Airways ends operations.
- December 8 - Leaders of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine met and signed an agreement ending the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Nature Reserve in Belarus
- December 12 - Russian SFSR ceases to be a part of the Soviet Union
- December 19 - Paul Keating replaces Bob Hawke as Australian prime minister
- December 25 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union
- December 26 - Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union
- December 31 - Soviet Union officially ceases to exist

Undated events


- Carbon nanotubes invented by Sumio Iijima
- University of South Australia founded.
- Impostor James Hogue exposed in Princeton University
- Milo Kirk elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Births


- February 17 - Bonnie Wright, English actress
- March 8 - Devon Werkheiser, American actor
- March 28 - Amy Bruckner, American actress
- April 4 - Jamie Lynn Spears, American actress
- April 10 - Amanda Michalka, American actress and singer
- April 20 - Thomas Curtis, American actor
- May 17 - Daniel Curtis Lee, American actor
- June 27 - Madylin Sweeten, American actress
- July 5 - Jason Dolley, American actor
- July 7 - Devon Alan, American actor
- July 12 - Erik Per Sullivan, American actor
- August 21 - Tess Gaerthé, Dutch singer and actress
- August 28 - Kyle Orlando Massey, American actor
- October 19 - Christopher Gerse, American actor

Deaths

January-February


- January 5 - Vasko Popa, Yugoslavian poet (b. 1922)
- January 8 - Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard) (b.1960)
- January 11 - Carl David Anderson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- January 17 - King Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
- January 29 - Yasushi Inoue, Japanese historian (b. 1907)
- January 30 - John Bardeen, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908
- January 30 - John McIntire, American actor (b. 1907)
- February 5 - Dean Jagger, American actor (b. 1903)
- February 6 - Salvador Luria, Italian-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
- February 6 - Danny Thomas, American singer, comedian, and actor (b. 1914)
- February 21 - John S. Cooper, a U.S. Republican senator
- February 14 - John McCone, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. 1902)
- February 21 - Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (b. 1919)
- February 24 - John Charles Daly, South African-born journalist and game show host (b. 1914)
- February 24 - George Gobel, American comedian (b. 1919)

March-May


- March 2 - Serge Gainsbourg, French singer (b. 1928)
- March 3 - Arthur Murray, American dancer and dance instructor (b. 1895)
- March 12 - Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
- March 14 - Howard Ashman, American lyricist (b. 1950)
- March 14 - Doc Pomus, American composer (b. 1925)
- March 29 - Lee Atwater, American Presidential advisor (b. 1951)
- April 1 - Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1894)
- April 3 - Charles Goren, American bridge player, writer, and columnist (b. 1901)
- April 3 - Graham Greene, English writer (b. 1904)
- April 4 - Max Frisch, Swiss writer (b. 1911)
- April 4 - H. John Heinz III, U.S. Senator (plane crash) (b. 1938)
- April 4 - Forrest Towns, American runner (b. 1914)
- April 10 - Natalie Schafer, American actress (b. 1900)
- April 26 - Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor (b. 1910)
- April 28 - Ken Curtis, American actor (b. 1916)
- May 8 - Jean Langlais, French composer and organist (b. 1907)
- May 8 - Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (b. 1903)
- May 15 - Andreas Floer, German mathematician (b. 1956)
- May 21 - Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (b. 1944)
- May 22 - Derrick Henry Lehmer, American mathematician (b. 1905)
- May 24 - Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist (b. 1895)
- May 27 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (b. 1904)

June-December


- June 9 - Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (b. 1903)
- June 14 - Peggy Ashcroft, British actress (b. 1907)
- June 15 - Arthur Lewis, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- July 1 - Michael Landon, American actor (b. 1936)
- July 4 - Victor Chang, Australian physician (murdered) (b. 1936)
- July 15 - Bert Convy, American game show host, actor, and singer (brain tumor) (b. 1933)
- July 16 - Robert Motherwell, American painter (b. 1915)
- July 18 - André Cools, Belgian politician (assassinated) (b. 1927)
- July 24 - Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born Yiddish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 1 - Chris Short, American baseball pitcher (b. 1937)
- August 5 - Paul Brown, American football coach (b. 1908)
- August 8 - James Irwin, astronaut (b. 1930)
- August 11 - J.D. McDuffie, American race car driver (b. 1938)
- August 13 - James Roosevelt, American businessman and politician (b. 1907)
- August 14 - Richard A. Snelling, Governor of Vermont (b. 1927)
- August 30 - Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (b. 1925)
- September 2 - Alfonso García Robles, Mexican diplomat and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1911)
- September 3 - Frank Capra, Italian-born film director (b. 1897)
- September 7 - Edwin McMillan, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
- September 17 - Zino Francescatti, French violinist (b. 1902)
- September 24 - Dr. Seuss, American children's author (b. 1904)
- September 26 - Miles Davis, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1926)
- October 24 - Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (b. 1921)
- November 24 - Eric Carr, American drummer (Kiss) (b. 1950)
- November 24 - Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born singer (Queen) (b. 1946)
- December 1 - George Joseph Stigler, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- December 6 - Richard Stone, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- December 10 - Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
- December 15 - Vasily Zaitsev, Russian World War II hero (b. 1915)
- December 16 - Horatio Luro, Argentine-born racehorse trainer (b. 1901)
- December 18 - George Abecassis, English race car driver (b. 1913)

Nobel Prizes


- story told in folklore, to warn its hearer of a danger. There are three essential parts to a cautionary tale, though they can be introduced in a large variety of ways. First, a taboo or prohibition is stated: some act, location, or thing is said to be dangerous. Then, the narrative itself is told: someone disregarded the warning and performed the forbidden act. Finally, the violator comes to an unpleasant fate, which is frequently related in large and grisly detail. Cautionary tales are ubiquitous in popular culture; many urban legends are framed as cautionary tales: from the lover's lane haunted by a hook-handed murderer to the tale of a man who shot a cactus for fun only to die when the plant toppled onto him. Like horror fiction generally, the cautionary tale exhibits an ambivalent attitude towards social taboos. The narrator of a cautionary tale is momentarily excused from the ordinary demands of etiquette that discourages the use of gruesome or disgusting imagery. The narrator gets an exemption, though, because the tale serves to reinforce some other social taboo. Those whose job it is to enforce conformity therefore frequently resort to cautionary tales. Social guidance films such as Boys Beware or Reefer Madness are deliberately patterned after traditional cautionary tales, as were the notorious driver education films of the 1960s, or military films about syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. The framework of the cautionary tale became a cliché in the slasher films of the 1980s, in which adolescents who had sex, drank alcoholic beverages, or smoked marijuana inevitably ended up as the victims of the serial killer villain. Some films, such as Gremlins, satirized this framework by imposing very arbitrary rules whose violation results in horrendous consequences for the community. "Klaatu barada nikto" in The Day the Earth Stood Still is another example. On the other hand, in the adolescent culture of the United States, for more than a hundred years the traditional cautionary tale gave rise to the phenomenon of legend tripping, in which a cautionary tale is turned into the basis of a dare that invites the hearer to test the taboo by breaking it. The genre of the cautionary tale has been satirized by many writers. Hilaire Belloc in his Cautionary Tales for Children, presented such moral exemplars as "Jim, Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion", and "Matilda, Who told lies, and was Burned to Death". Lewis Carroll, in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, says that Alice :had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked "poison," it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later. In The Complete Tribune Printer, Eugene Field gave cautionary tales an ironic inversion, as in The Gun: :This is a gun. Is the Gun loaded? Really, I do not know. Let us Find out. Put the Gun on the table, and you, Susie, blow down one barrel while you, Charlie, blow down the other. Bang! Yes, it was loaded. Run quick, Jennie, and pick up Susie's head and Charlies lower Jaw before the Nasty Blood gets over the New carpet. Category:Folklore Category:Literary genres

Frankenstein

:For the monster itself, see Frankenstein's monster. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. First published in London in 1818 (but more often read in the revised third edition of 1831), it is a