The Worldwar series is the fan name given to a series of eight alternate history science fiction novels by Harry Turtledove . Its premise is an alien invasion of Earth during World War II , and includes Turtledove's Worldwar tetralogy , as well as the Colonization trilogy, and the novel Homeward Bound . The series' time span ranges from 1942 to 2031. The early series was nominated for a Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1996.
178-690: Worldwar deals with a military invasion that begins on or around May 30, 1942 by a force of aliens that calls itself The Race, a reptilian species. It had reached Earth orbit in December 1941 but delayed the attack for various reasons. Although the Race has the advantage of superior technology, its information on humanity had been collected by a robotic probe during the 12th century AD . The invaders are surprised to find that humanity progressed far more rapidly than any other species that they had previously studied and conquered. Contrary to its expectations, at
356-523: A "heroic figure", and his own objections to constitutionalism and a secular government derived from Nuri's objections to the 1907 constitution. In the late 19th century, the clergy had shown themselves to be a powerful political force in Iran initiating the Tobacco Protest against a concession to a foreign (British) interest. At the age of 61, Khomeini found the arena of leadership open following
534-515: A "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment. To others, it was a reflection of Khomeini's disinterest in the desires, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace. He was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence. Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar , promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint
712-416: A basic component of the development of a potential extraterrestrial technological civilization, as it is on Earth. Fossil fuels may likely be generated and used on such worlds as well. The abundance of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere can also be a clear technosignature, considering their role in ozone depletion . Light pollution may be another technosignature, as multiple lights on the night side of
890-508: A book titled variously Islamic Government or Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist ( Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih ). This principle, though not known to the wider public before the revolution, was appended to the new Iranian constitution after the revolution. Velâyat-e Faqih was his best known and most influential work, and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time): A modified form of this wilayat al-faqih system
1068-547: A broad political movement to strict clerical ruler, Khomeini's first expressed approval of the provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic that had no post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. After his supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the body making final changes in the draft (the Assembly of Experts), they rewrote the proposed constitution to include an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of
1246-611: A catalog of microorganisms, with the way each one reacts to sunlight. The goal is to help with the search for similar organisms in exoplanets, as the starlight reflected by planets rich in such organisms would have a specific spectrum, unlike that of starlight reflected from lifeless planets. If Earth was studied from afar with this system, it would reveal a shade of green, as a result of the abundance of plants with photosynthesis. In August 2011, NASA studied meteorites found on Antarctica, finding adenine , guanine , hypoxanthine and xanthine . Adenine and guanine are components of DNA, and
1424-673: A fatwa which had never been made public in details of when and how it was issued. I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses , which has been compiled, printed and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet and the Qur'an, as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, have been declared madhur el dam [those whose blood must be shed]. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they find them, so that no-one will dare to insult Islam again. Whoever
1602-642: A further challenge to the Ulama. In January 1963, the Shah announced the White Revolution , a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform , nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by
1780-435: A leading scholar of Shia Islam. He taught political philosophy, Islamic history and ethics. Several of his students, for example Morteza Motahhari , later became leading Islamic philosophers and also marja' . As a scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics. He showed an exceptional interest in subjects like philosophy and mysticism that not only were usually absent from
1958-481: A living entity must have the capacity to replicate itself, the capacity to avoid damage/decay, and the capacity to acquire and process resources in support of the first two capacities. Life on Earth started with an RNA world and later evolved to its current form, where some of the RNA tasks were transferred to DNA and proteins . Extraterrestrial life may still be stuck using RNA, or evolve into other configurations. It
SECTION 10
#17327723981852136-534: A math equation, none of its values were known at the time. Although some values may eventually be measured, others are based on social sciences and are not knowable by their very nature. This does not allow one to make noteworthy conclusions from the equation. Based on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope , there are nearly 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. It is estimated that at least ten per cent of all Sun-like stars have
2314-592: A message to the United States Government through [Tehran University professor] Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei", where he expressed that "he was not opposed to American interests in Iran", and that "on the contrary, he thought the American presence was necessary as a counterbalance to Soviet and possibly British influence". According to the BBC, "these document show that in his long quest for power, he [Khomeini]
2492-472: A mixed aromatic - aliphatic structure") that could be created naturally, and rapidly, by stars . It is still unclear if those compounds played a role in the creation of life on Earth, but Sun Kwok, of the University of Hong Kong, thinks so. "If this is the case, life on Earth may have had an easier time getting started as these organics can serve as basic ingredients for life." In August 2012, and in
2670-436: A narrower search for extraterrestrial intelligent life . Depending on the category of search, methods range from analysis of telescope and specimen data to radios used to detect and transmit communications. The concept of extraterrestrial life, and particularly extraterrestrial intelligence, has had a major cultural impact, especially extraterrestrials in fiction . Science fiction has communicated scientific ideas, imagined
2848-511: A pen name in some of his ghazals . Khomeini's grandfather, Mirza Ahmad Mojtahed-e Khonsari was the cleric issuing a fatwa to forbid usage of tobacco during the Tobacco Protest . According to his birth certificate, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, whose first name means "spirit of Allah", was born on 17 May 1900 in Khomeyn , Markazi Province , although his brother Mortaza (later known as Ayatollah Pasandideh) gives his birth date of 24 September 1902,
3026-650: A planetary system formed by a star at the center, the Sun , and the objects that orbit it: other planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. The sun is part of the Milky Way , a galaxy . The Milky Way is part of the Local Group , a galaxy group that is in turn part of the Laniakea Supercluster . The universe is composed of all similar structures in existence. The immense distances between celestial objects
3204-466: A potential explanation to the Fermi paradox. If extraterrestrial life exists, it could range from simple microorganisms and multicellular organisms similar to animals or plants, to complex alien intelligences akin to humans . When scientists talk about extraterrestrial life, they consider all those types. Although it is possible that extraterrestrial life may have other configurations, scientists use
3382-582: A private act, and the humans' great annoyance when reptiles walk in on them while engaged in it. The cultural gap between the males of the Conquest Fleet of the race and the males and females of the Colonization fleet who did not know of the state of affairs at Tosev before reaching there is also explored, with the latter appalled at the former for not having conquered the planet in its entirely and at having to share it with native "Big Uglies", and
3560-484: A radioactive wasteland after a full-scale nuclear exchange. The invasion ultimately ends with all of the major Allied and Axis powers managing to develop their own nuclear weapons, which results in a stalemate. The Race is left in control of roughly half the planet, primarily colonial possessions in the Southern Hemisphere : Africa , South and Central America , Australia , and most of Asia aside from
3738-507: A range of possibilities, and influenced public interest in and perspectives on extraterrestrial life. One shared space is the debate over the wisdom of attempting communication with extraterrestrial intelligence. Some encourage aggressive methods to try to contact intelligent extraterrestrial life. Others – citing the tendency of technologically advanced human societies to enslave or destroy less advanced societies – argue it may be dangerous to actively draw attention to Earth. Initially, after
SECTION 20
#17327723981853916-570: A reasonable scientific explanation for any gathered data. In 1961, astronomer and astrophysicist Frank Drake devised the Drake equation as a way to stimulate scientific dialogue at a meeting on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). The Drake equation is a probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilisations in the Milky Way galaxy . The Drake equation is: where: and Drake's proposed estimates are as follows, but numbers on
4094-443: A result has been conceived, even if hypothetical. Evolution requires life to be divided into individual organisms, and no alternative organisation has been satisfactorily proposed either. At the basic level, membranes define the limit of a cell, between it and its environment, while remaining partially open to exchange energy and resources with it. The evolution from simple cells to eukaryotes, and from them to multicellular lifeforms,
4272-462: A rocky planet can be a sign of advanced technological development. However, modern telescopes are not strong enough to study exoplanets with the required level of detail to perceive it. Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 1902 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian Islamic revolutionary, politician and religious leader who served as the first Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989 . He
4450-468: A scale. Life on Earth is quite ubiquitous across the planet and has adapted over time to almost all the available environments in it, extremophiles and the deep biosphere thrive at even the most hostile ones. As a result, it is inferred that life in other celestial bodies may be equally adaptive. However, the origin of life is unrelated to its ease of adaptation, and may have stricter requirements. A celestial body may not have any life on it, even if it
4628-476: A series of factors that range from the location in the galaxy and the configuration of the Solar System to local characteristics of the planet, and that it is unlikely that all such requirements are simultaneously met by another planet. The proponents of this hypothesis consider that very little evidence suggests the existence of extraterrestrial life, and that at this point it is just a desired result and not
4806-535: A short stay to the Kingdom of Awadh , a region in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh , India , whose rulers were Twelver Shia Muslims of Persian origin. During their rule, they extensively invited and received a steady stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters. The family eventually settled in the small town of Kintoor , near Lucknow , the capital of Awadh. Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi ,
4984-493: A single moment for our performance during the war. Have we forgotten that we fought to fulfill our religious duty and that the result is a marginal issue?" In an interview with Gareth Porter , Mohsen Rafighdoost , the eight-year war time minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps , disclosed how Khomeini had opposed his proposal for beginning work on both nuclear and chemical weapons by
5162-579: A solvent other than water. The low temperatures required would add an extra problem, the difficulty to kickstart a process of abiogenesis to create life in the first place. Norman Horowitz , head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory bioscience section for the Mariner and Viking missions from 1965 to 1976 considered that the great versatility of the carbon atom makes it the element most likely to provide solutions, even exotic solutions, to
5340-440: A star's light and heat, and so its lifeforms would not grow beyond a certain complexity. There is also research in assessing the capacity of life for developing intelligence. It has been suggested that this capacity arises with the number of potential niches a planet contains, and that the complexity of life itself is reflected in the information density of planetary environments, which in turn can be computed from its niches. It
5518-660: A system of planets, i.e. there are 6.25 × 10 stars with planets orbiting them in the observable universe. Even if it is assumed that only one out of a billion of these stars has planets supporting life, there would be some 6.25 billion life-supporting planetary systems in the observable universe. A 2013 study based on results from the Kepler spacecraft estimated that the Milky Way contains at least as many planets as it does stars, resulting in 100–400 billion exoplanets. The apparent contradiction between high estimates of
Worldwar series - Misplaced Pages Continue
5696-453: A woman head of state; however, once he returned, his stances on women's rights exhibited drastic changes. Khomeini revoked Iran's 1967 divorce law , considering any divorce granted under this law to be invalid. Nevertheless, Khomeini supported women's right to divorce as allowed by Islamic law. Khomeini reaffirmed the traditional position of rape in Islamic law in which rape by a spouse
5874-461: A world first, astronomers at Copenhagen University reported the detection of a specific sugar molecule, glycolaldehyde , in a distant star system. The molecule was found around the protostellar binary IRAS 16293-2422 , which is located 400 light years from Earth. Glycolaldehyde is needed to form ribonucleic acid , or RNA, which is similar in function to DNA. This finding suggests that complex organic molecules may form in stellar systems prior to
6052-472: A year later, he moved to Najaf , where speeches he gave outlining his religiopolitical theory of Guardianship of the Jurist were compiled into Islamic Government . Khomeini was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence and has been described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture", where he was known for his support of the hostage takers during
6230-601: Is a difficulty for the study of extraterrestrial life. So far, humans have only set foot on the Moon and sent robotic probes to other planets and moons in the Solar System. Although probes can withstand conditions that may be lethal to humans, the distances cause time delays: the New Horizons took nine years after launch to reach Pluto . No probe has ever reached extrasolar planetary systems. The Voyager 2 has left
6408-501: Is also conceivable that there are forms of life whose solvent is a liquid hydrocarbon , such as methane , ethane or propane . Another unknown aspect of potential extraterrestrial life would be the chemical elements that would compose it. Life on Earth is largely composed of carbon, but there could be other hypothetical types of biochemistry . A replacement for carbon would need to be able to create complex molecules, store information required for evolution, and be freely available in
6586-416: Is being carried out both directly and indirectly. As of September 2017 , 3,667 exoplanets in 2,747 systems have been identified , and other planets and moons in the Solar System hold the potential for hosting primitive life such as microorganisms . As of 8 February 2021, an updated status of studies considering the possible detection of lifeforms on Venus (via phosphine ) and Mars (via methane )
6764-403: Is common knowledge that the conditions on other planets in the solar system, in addition to the many galaxies outside of the Milky Way galaxy , are very harsh and seem to be too extreme to harbor any life. The environmental conditions on these planets can have intense UV radiation paired with extreme temperatures, lack of water, and much more that can lead to conditions that don't seem to favor
6942-485: Is complex and defined by several factors. Being in the habitable zone is not enough for a planet to be habitable, not even to actually have such liquid water. Venus is located in the habitable zone of the Solar System but does not have liquid water because of the conditions of its atmosphere. Jovian planets or gas giants are not considered habitable even if they orbit close enough to their stars as hot Jupiters , due to crushing atmospheric pressures. The actual distances for
7120-520: Is embodied in the Copernican principle , which states that Earth does not occupy a unique position in the Universe, and the mediocrity principle , which states that there is nothing special about life on Earth. Other authors consider instead that life in the cosmos, or at least multicellular life, may be actually rare. The Rare Earth hypothesis maintains that life on Earth is possible because of
7298-406: Is further attested by the modern poet Nader Naderpour (1929–2000), who "had spent many hours exchanging poems with Khomeini in the early 1960s". Naderpour remembered: "For four hours we recited poetry. Every single line I recited from any poet, he recited the next." Ruhollah Khomeini was a lecturer at Najaf and Qom seminaries for decades before he was known on the political scene. He soon became
Worldwar series - Misplaced Pages Continue
7476-433: Is killed in this path will be regarded as a martyr. In early 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie , an India-born British author. Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses , published in 1988, was alleged to commit blasphemy against Islam and Khomeini's juristic ruling (fatwā) prescribed Rushdie's assassination by any Muslim. The fatwā required not only Rushdie's execution, but also
7654-620: Is left obvious to both sides that the long-term trends are in humanity's favor. The Race is also faced with ongoing guerilla wars in much of the territory that they conquered, especially by insurgents, both Kuomintang and Communist in China and by militants in the Middle East influenced by Khomeini . The Race, confirmed conservative monarchists and chauvinists who take the superiority of the Empire as axiomatic, find it difficult to understand why
7832-439: Is likely devoid of life. However, Venus is still of interest to astrobiologists, as it is a terrestrial planet that was likely similar to Earth in its early stages and developed in a different way. There is a greenhouse effect , the surface is the hottest in the Solar System, sulfuric acid clouds, all surface liquid water is lost, and it has a thick carbon-dioxide atmosphere with huge pressure. Comparing both helps to understand
8010-444: Is no guarantee that it is transmitting radio communications in the direction of Earth. The length of time required for a signal to travel across space means that a potential answer may arrive decades or centuries after the initial message. The atmosphere of Earth is rich in nitrogen dioxide as a result of air pollution , which can be detectable. The natural abundance of carbon, which is also relatively reactive, makes it likely to be
8188-435: Is not a single reference to velayat-e faqih." Khomenei was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah and so not frighten away the secular middle class from his movement. His movement emphasized populism, talking about fighting for the mustazafin , a Quranic term for the oppressed or deprived, that in this context came to mean "just about everyone in Iran except
8366-657: Is not guaranteed. The Cambrian explosion took place thousands of millions of years after the origin of life, and its causes are not fully known yet. On the other hand, the jump to multicellularity took place several times, which suggests that it could be a case of convergent evolution , and so likely to take place on other planets as well. Palaeontologist Simon Conway Morris considers that convergent evolution would lead to kingdoms similar to our plants and animals, and that many features are likely to develop in alien animals as well, such as bilateral symmetry , limbs , digestive systems and heads with sensory organs . Scientists from
8544-466: Is that the chemical elements that make up life, such as carbon and water, are ubiquitous in the universe. The third is that the physical laws are universal, which means that the forces that would facilitate or prevent the existence of life would be the same ones as on Earth. According to this argument, made by scientists such as Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking , it would be improbable for life not to exist somewhere else other than Earth. This argument
8722-421: Is that there are natural sources of such signals as well, such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae, and the difference between a natural signal and an artificial one would be in its specific patterns. Astronomers intend to use artificial intelligence for this, as it can manage large amounts of data and is devoid of biases and preconceptions. Besides, even if there is an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, there
8900-447: Is unclear if our biochemistry is the most efficient one that could be generated, or which elements would follow a similar pattern. However, it is likely that, even if cells had a different composition to those from Earth, they would still have a cell membrane . Life on Earth jumped from prokaryotes to eukaryotes and from unicellular organisms to multicellular organisms through evolution . So far no alternative process to achieve such
9078-474: The Axis and Allied powers must cooperate to fight the alien menace. As is gradually revealed, the Race unified its home planet into a single state with a military technology at a level similar to our history's late 20th century. It then had tens of thousands of years of further history, but for most of the time, it fought no wars and so had no incentive or need to develop more advanced weapons. Indeed, for most of
SECTION 50
#17327723981859256-479: The Big Bang the universe was too hot to allow life. 15 million years later , it cooled to temperate levels, but the elements that make up living things did not exist yet. The only freely available elements at that point were hydrogen and helium . Carbon and oxygen (and later, water ) would not appear until 50 million years later, created through stellar fusion. At that point, the difficulty for life to appear
9434-590: The Iran hostage crisis , his fatwa calling for the murder of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie , and for referring to the United States as the " Great Satan " and the Soviet Union as the "Lesser Satan". Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's first supreme leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of
9612-574: The Quran and Arabic from a young age and was assisted in his religious studies by his relatives, including his mother's cousin and older brother. Khomeini was a high ranking cleric in Twelver Shi'ism , an ayatollah , a marja' ("source of emulation"), a mujtahid or faqīh (an expert in sharia ), and author of more than 40 books. His opposition to the White Revolution resulted in his state-sponsored expulsion to Bursa in 1964. Nearly
9790-778: The Rio Tinto river in Spain. NASA officials soon distanced NASA from the scientists' claims, and Stoker herself backed off from her initial assertions. In November 2011, NASA launched the Mars Science Laboratory that landed the Curiosity rover on Mars. It is designed to assess the past and present habitability on Mars using a variety of scientific instruments. The rover landed on Mars at Gale Crater in August 2012. A group of scientists at Cornell University started
9968-481: The Soviet Union and a few Japanese coastal holdings. The second series of novels, set in the 1960s, deals with the interaction between surviving humans and the Race. Opening with the arrival of the colonization fleet, the series ends with the defeat of Nazi Germany and the establishment of a permanently-occupied US space station in the asteroid belt . Part of the series focuses on the Reich-Race War of
10146-450: The Sun , from an exterior perspective, due to a layer of "fiery brightness" in the outer layer of the atmosphere. He theorised all extraterrestrial bodies could be inhabited by men, plants, and animals, including the Sun. Descartes wrote that there was no means to prove the stars were not inhabited by "intelligent creatures", but their existence was a matter of speculation. When considering
10324-403: The atmospheric composition and ecosystems hosted by extraterrestrial bodies, extraterrestrial life can seem more speculation than reality, due to the harsh conditions and disparate chemical composition of the atmospheres, when compared to the life-abundant Earth. However, there are many extreme and chemically harsh ecosystems on Earth that do support forms of life and are often hypothesized to be
10502-459: The hydrothermal vents found on the ocean floor are known to support many chemosynthetic processes which allow organisms to utilize energy through reduced chemical compounds that fix carbon. In return, these reactions will allow for organisms to live in relatively low oxygenated environments while maintaining enough energy to support themselves. The early Earth environment was reducing and therefore, these carbon fixing compounds were necessary for
10680-555: The American Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 embassy staff hostage for 444 days, an event known as the Iran hostage crisis. In the United States, the hostage-taking was seen as a flagrant violation of international law and aroused intense anger and anti-Iranian sentiment . In Iran, the takeover was immensely popular and earned the support of Khomeini under the slogan " America can't do a damn thing against us ". The seizure of
10858-620: The Big Uglies continually and constantly attempt to rebel against them, and why some of their policies (like introducing a tax on religious worship) do not work. Nonetheless, they recognise the recklessness of, and danger posed, by the Tosevites. Another major issue turns out to be ginger , an innocent flavoring in human cuisine but a powerful narcotic for the Race's metabolism. It creates problems of addiction and helps create new criminal networks involving both humans and rogue members of
SECTION 60
#173277239818511036-581: The Iran–Iraq War), as well as for using child soldiers extensively during the Iran–Iraq War for human wave attacks—estimates are as high as 100,000 for the number of children killed. Ruhollah Khomeini came from a lineage of small land owners, clerics, and merchants. His ancestors migrated towards the end of the 18th century from their original home in Nishapur , Khorasan province in northeastern Iran for
11214-525: The Islamic seminary in the holy city of Qom , southwest of Tehran , and invited his students to follow. Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved, and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom. Khomeini's studies included Islamic law ( sharia ) and jurisprudence ( fiqh ), but by that time, Khomeini had also acquired an interest in poetry and philosophy ( irfan ). So, upon arriving in Qom, Khomeini sought
11392-456: The Prayer), where "the symbolic dimensions and inner meaning of every part of the prayer, from the ablution that precedes it to the salam that concludes it, are expounded in a rich, complex, and eloquent language that owes much to the concepts and terminology of Ibn 'Arabi . As Sayyid Fihri, the editor and translator of Sirr al-Salat , has remarked, the work is addressed only to the foremost among
11570-449: The Race. Moreover, inhaling ginger causes females of the Race to become sexually active outside of their normal mating season . That creates new problems, as the Race has no concept whatsoever of sexual activity being private, and when sexually aroused, it tends to engage in indiscriminate orgies to the scandal of the humans who happen to watch. For their part, members of the Race find it difficult to understand humans' insistence on sex being
11748-630: The Revolutionary Tribunals. According to historian Ervand Abrahamian , Khomeini encouraged the clerical courts to continue implementing their version of the Shari'a. As part of the campaign to "cleanse" the society, these courts executed over 100 drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, rapists, and adulterers on the charge of "sowing corruption on earth". According to author Arno Schmitt, "Khomeini asserted that 'homosexuals' had to be exterminated because they were parasites and corruptors of
11926-571: The Shah and his government. When Khomeini refused, Mansur slapped him in the face in a fit of rage. Two months later, Mansur was assassinated on his way to parliament. Four members of the Fadayan-e Islam , a Shia militia sympathetic to Khomeini, were later executed for the murder. Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf . Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964 where he stayed in Bursa in
12104-425: The Shah and his reign. As Iran became more polarized and opposition more radical, Khomeini "was able to mobilize the entire network of mosques in Iran", along with their pious faithful, regular gatherings, hitherto skeptical Mullah leaders, and supported by "over 20,000 properties and buildings throughout Iran"—a political resource the secular middle class and Shiite socialists could not hope to compete with. Aware of
12282-580: The Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies. On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Caliph Yazid , who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and
12460-423: The Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class. Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Shia religious scholars. Khomeini's manifesto argued that the Shah had violated the constitution in various ways, he condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused
12638-445: The Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man", and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country. On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad ) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. Following this action, there were three days of major riots throughout Iran and
12816-514: The Shi'a majority of his country. In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War (September 1980 – August 1988). A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and, despite Saddam's internationally condemned use of poison gas, Iran had by early 1982 regained almost all of the territory lost to
12994-478: The Solar System at a speed of 50,000 kilometers per hour, if it headed towards the Alpha Centauri system, the closest one to Earth at 4.4 light years, it would reach it in 100,000 years. Under current technology such systems can only be studied by telescopes, which have limitations. It is estimated that dark matter has a larger amount of combined matter than stars and gas clouds, but as it plays no role on
13172-584: The US "is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents—diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records". The documents suggest that the Carter administration helped Khomeini return to Iran by preventing the Iranian army from launching a military coup, and that Khomeini told an American in France to convey a message to Washington that "There should be no fear about oil. It is not true that we wouldn't sell to
13350-521: The US." The Guardian wrote that it "did not have access to the newly declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them"; however it confirmed Khomeini's contact with the Kennedy administration and claims of support for US interest in Iran particularly oil through a CIA analysis report titled "Islam in Iran". According to a 1980 CIA study, "in November 1963 Ayatollah Khomeini sent
13528-590: The United States of America during the Shah's era and the United States illegally smuggled arms to Iran during the 1980s despite Khomeini's anti-Western policy (see Iran–Contra affair ). During the war, the Iranians used human wave attacks (people walking to certain death included child soldiers), with Khomeini promising that they would automatically go to paradise—al Janna—if they died in battle. Khomeini's pursuit of victory ultimately proved futile. By March 1984, two million of Iran's most educated citizens had left
13706-625: The University of Oxford analysed it from the perspective of evolutionary theory and wrote in a study in the International Journal of Astrobiology that aliens may be similar to humans. The planetary context would also have an influence: a planet with higher gravity would have smaller animals, and other types of stars can lead to non-green photosynthesizers . The amount of energy available would also affect biodiversity , as an ecosystem sustained by black smokers or hydrothermal vents would have less energy available than those sustained by
13884-410: The area surrounding these hydrothermal vents which can suggest that some form of life can be supported even in the harshest of environments like the other planets in the solar system. The aspects of these harsh environments that make them ideal for the origin of life on Earth, as well as the possibility of creation of life on other planets, is the chemical reactions forming spontaneously. For example,
14062-643: The assistance of his relatives, including his mother's cousin, Ja'far, and his elder brother, Morteza Pasandideh. After the First World War , arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Isfahan , but he was attracted instead to the seminary in Arak . He was placed under the leadership of Ayatollah Abdolkarim Haeri Yazdi . In 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies. The following year, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi transferred to
14240-568: The atom speeds, either too fast or too slow, make it difficult for specific ones to meet and start chemical reactions. A liquid medium also allows the transport of nutrients and substances required for metabolism. Sufficient quantities of carbon and other elements, along with water, might enable the formation of living organisms on terrestrial planets with a chemical make-up and temperature range similar to that of Earth. Life based on ammonia rather than water has been suggested as an alternative, though this solvent appears less suitable than water. It
14418-481: The banning of hijab by Reza Shah , whom he always blamed for his father's murder. In addition, he went from Qom to Tehran to listen to Ayatullah Hasan Mudarris, the leader of the opposition majority in Iran's parliament during the 1920s. Khomeini became a marja' in 1963, following the death of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi . Khomeini also valued the ideals of Islamists such as Sheikh Fazlollah Noori and Abol-Ghasem Kashani . Khomeini saw Fazlollah Nuri as
14596-568: The birth anniversary of Muhammad 's daughter, Fatima . He was raised by his mother, Agha Khanum, and his aunt, Sahebeth, following the murder of his father, Mustafa Musawi, over two years after his birth in 1903. Ruhollah began to study the Qur'an and elementary Persian at the age of six. The following year, he began to attend a local school, where he learned religion, noheh khani (lamentation recital), and other traditional subjects. Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with
14774-482: The book survived murder attempts, the last (in Rushdie's case) in August 2022. The controversy, and subsequent unrest associated with the fatwa has been linked to surges in sales for Rushdie's work. In a speech on 1 February 1979 delivered to a huge crowd after returning to Iran from exile, Khomeini made a variety of promises to Iranians for his coming Islamic regime: a popularly elected government that would represent
14952-428: The books, and if he does not provide, he is indebted to the wife, whether he has the ability or not. Issue 2413 – If a woman does not obey her husband in the matters mentioned in the previous issue, she is a sinner and has no right to food, clothing, housing, and co-sleeping, but her dowry is not lost. Issue 2414 – A man has no right to force his wife to serve the house." A mere three weeks after assuming power, under
15130-505: The boundless immensity of space" in The City of God . Pre-modern writers typically assumed extraterrestrial "worlds" are inhabited by living beings. William Vorilong , in the 15th century, acknowledged the possibility Jesus could have visited extraterrestrial worlds to redeem their inhabitants. Nicholas of Cusa wrote in 1440 that Earth is "a brilliant star" like other celestial objects visible in space; which would appear similar to
15308-511: The classical jurist only require a Muslim to kill anyone who insults the Prophet in his hearing and in his presence." Although Rushdie publicly regretted "the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam", the fatwa was not revoked. The fatwa was followed by a number of deaths, including the lethal stabbing of Hitoshi Igarashi , the Japanese translator of the book, in 1991. Rushdie himself and two other translators of
15486-402: The cold temperatures would make such chemistry take place at a very slow pace. Water is rock-solid on the surface, but Titan does have a subsurface water ocean like several other moons. However, it is of such a great depth that it would be very difficult to access it for study. The science that searches and studies life in the universe, both on Earth and elsewhere, is called astrobiology . With
15664-545: The constitution was approved, on 22 October 1979, the United States admitted the exiled and ailing Shah into the country for cancer treatment. In Iran, there was an immediate outcry, with both Khomeini and leftist groups demanding the Shah's return to Iran for trial and execution. On 4 November, a group of Iranian college students calling themselves the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line took control of
15842-420: The country, and a more powerful Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic. The Supreme Leader followed closely but not completely Khomeini ideas in his 1970 book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih ( Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist ) that had been distributed to his supporters and kept from the public. In November 1979,
16020-496: The country. In July 1988, Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations . Despite the high cost of the war, including 450,000 to 950,000 Iranian casualties and US$ 300 billion, Khomeini insisted that extending the war into Iraq in an attempt to overthrow Saddam had not been a mistake. In a "Letter to Clergy", he wrote that "we do not repent, nor are we sorry for even
16198-560: The creation of theocracy, which was based on the Velayat-e faqih . This began the process of suppression of groups inside his broad coalition but outside his network that had placed their hopes in Khomeini but whose support was no longer needed. This also led to the purge or replacement of many secular politicians in Iran, with Khomeini and his close associates taking the following steps: establishing Islamic Revolutionary courts; replacing
16376-521: The creation or maintenance of extraterrestrial life. However, there has been much historical evidence that some of the earliest and most basic forms of life on Earth originated in some extreme environments that seem unlikely to have harbored life at least at one point in Earth's history. Fossil evidence as well as many historical theories backed up by years of research and studies have marked environments like hydrothermal vents or acidic hot springs as some of
16554-610: The curriculum of seminaries but were often an object of hostility and suspicion. Inaugurating his teaching career at the age of 27 by giving private lessons on irfan and Mulla Sadra to a private circle, around the same time, in 1928, he also released his first publication, Sharh Du'a al-Sahar (Commentary on the Du'a al-Baha ), "a detailed commentary, in Arabic , on the prayer recited before dawn during Ramadan by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq ", followed, some years later, by Sirr al-Salat (Secret of
16732-407: The day, and he worked against secularism in the 1940s. His first political book Kashf al-Asrar ( Uncovering of Secrets ), published in 1942, was a point-by-point refutation of Asrar-e Hezar Sale ( Secrets of a Thousand Years ), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading anti-clerical historian Ahmad Kasravi , as well as a condemnation of innovations such as international time zones, and
16910-400: The deaths of Ayatollah Sayyed Husayn Borujerdi (1961), the leading, although quiescent, Shi'ah religious leader; and Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani (1962), an activist cleric. The clerical class had been on the defensive ever since the 1920s when the secular, anti-clerical modernizer Reza Shah Pahlavi rose to power. Reza's son Mohammad Reza Shah instituted the White Revolution , which was
17088-459: The deaths of some 400 people. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad . Khomeini remained under house arrest until August. On 26 October 1964, Khomeini denounced both the Shah and the United States. This time it was in response to the "capitulations" or diplomatic immunity granted by the Shah to American military personnel in Iran. What Khomeini labeled a capitulation law,
17266-437: The documents and the BBC's report. On 16 January 1979, the Shah left the country for medical treatment (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd reported to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran , he was accompanied by 120 journalists, including three women. One of
17444-401: The embassy of a country he called the " Great Satan " helped to advance the cause of theocratic government and outflank politicians and groups who emphasized stability and normalized relations with other countries. Khomeini is reported to have told his president: "This action has many benefits ... this has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us. We can put the constitution to
17622-413: The end, the star blows much of its content back into the stellar medium, where it would join clouds that would eventually become new generations of stars and planets. Many of those materials are the raw components of life on Earth. As this process takes place in all the universe, said materials are ubiquitous in the cosmos and not a rarity from the Solar System. Earth is a planet in the Solar System ,
17800-536: The event was celebrated in thousands of mosques. The phenomenon was thought to demonstrate that by late 1978 he was increasingly regarded as a messianic figure in Iran, and perceived by many as the spiritual as well as political leader of the revolt. As protests grew, so did his profile and importance. Although several thousand kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against
17978-426: The execution of "all those involved in the publication" of the book. Khomeini's fatwā was condemned across the Western world by governments on the grounds that it violated the universal human rights of free speech and freedom of religion . The fatwā has also been attacked for violating the rules of fiqh by not allowing the accused an opportunity to defend himself, and because "even the most rigorous and extreme of
18156-416: The existence of sapient life elsewhere in the universe. The science of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology . Speculation about the possibility of inhabited worlds beyond Earth dates back to antiquity. Early Christian writers discussed the idea of a "plurality of worlds" as proposed by earlier thinkers such as Democritus ; Augustine references Epicurus 's idea of innumerable worlds "throughout
18334-470: The export of his revolution throughout the world. He believed Shia and the significantly more numerous Sunni Muslims should be "united and stand firmly against Western and arrogant powers", and also said: "Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution." He declared the birth week of Muhammad (the week between 12th to 17th of Rabi' al-awwal ) as the Unity Week and
18512-551: The fate of the American embassy hostages, and demanded that the United States hand over the Shah for trial in Iran for crimes against the nation. Although the Shah died a few months later, during the summer, the crisis continued. In Iran, supporters of Khomeini named the embassy a " Den of Espionage ", publicizing details regarding armaments, espionage equipment and many volumes of official and classified documents which they found there. Khomeini believed in Muslim unity and solidarity and
18690-403: The first hominids appeared 60 million years ago. Life on other planets may have started, evolved, given birth to extraterrestrial intelligences, and perhaps even faced a planetary extinction event millions or even billions of years ago. The brief times of existence of Earth's species, when considered from a cosmic perspective, may suggest that extraterrestrial life may be equally fleeting under such
18868-466: The first places that life could have originated on Earth. These environments can be considered extreme when compared to the typical ecosystems that the majority of life on Earth now inhabit, as hydrothermal vents are scorching hot due to the magma escaping from the Earth's mantle and meeting the much colder oceanic water. Even in today's world, there can be a diverse population of bacteria found inhabiting
19046-410: The formation of planets, eventually arriving on young planets early in their formation. In December 2023, astronomers reported the first time discovery, in the plumes of Enceladus , moon of the planet Saturn , of hydrogen cyanide , a possible chemical essential for life as we know it, as well as other organic molecules , some of which are yet to be better identified and understood. According to
19224-469: The former disgusted by the dogmatism, naivety, and rigidity of the Colonization Fleet, whom they judge to have no idea of the people around them and the effort taken to secure the Race's position as the overlord of half the planet. The final novel in the saga deals with humanity reaching the Race's homeworld, "Home" ( Tau Ceti II). The following is a list of some of the major characters from
19402-507: The gap. Turtledove approaches the novels' science fiction scenario by focusing less on the technological and fantasy elements that are typically associated with the genre. Instead, he shows more concern for the role of more mundane affairs, such as the political repercussions of an alliance between the Allied and the Axis powers, the impact the presence of alien creatures has on human society, and
19580-522: The general interests of the mostazafin, forcefully arguing that the clergy's sacred duty was to take over the state so that it could implement shari'a, and exhorting followers to protest. Despite their ideological differences, Khomeini also allied with the People's Mujahedin of Iran during the early 1970s and started funding their armed operations against the Shah. According to the BBC , Khomeini's contact with
19758-455: The giant planets themselves are highly unlikely to have life, there is much hope to find it on moons orbiting these planets. Europa , from the Jovian system, has a subsurface ocean below a thick layer of ice. Ganymede and Callisto also have subsurface oceans, but life is less likely in them because water is sandwiched between layers of solid ice. Europa would have contact between the ocean and
19936-553: The government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan , demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed". He warned it was "God's government", and disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God", and "revolt against God is Blasphemy". As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over,
20114-470: The guidance of Mirza Ali Akbar Yazdi, a scholar of philosophy and mysticism. Yazdi died in 1924, but Khomeini continued to pursue his interest in philosophy with two other teachers, Javad Aqa Maleki Tabrizi and Rafi'i Qazvini. However, perhaps Khomeini's biggest influences were another teacher, Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Shahabadi , and a variety of historic Sufi mystics , including Mulla Sadra and Ibn Arabi . Khomeini studied ancient Greek philosophy and
20292-404: The habitable zones vary according to the type of star, and even the solar activity of each specific star influences the local habitability. The type of star also defines the time the habitable zone will exist, as its presence and limits will change along with the stars stellar evolution. The Big Bang took place 14 billion years ago, the Solar System was formed 4 and a half billion years ago, and
20470-571: The hierarchy of lifeforms from Earth for simplicity, as it is the only one known to exist. The first basic requirement for life is an environment with non-equilibrium thermodynamics , which means that the thermodynamic equilibrium must be broken by a source of energy. The traditional sources of energy in the cosmos are the stars, such as for life on Earth, which depends on the energy of the sun. However, there are other alternative energy sources, such as volcanoes , plate tectonics , and hydrothermal vents . There are ecosystems on Earth in deep areas of
20648-475: The highest form of criminal offense. Women were compelled to wear veils and the image of Western women was carefully reconstructed as a symbol of impiety. Morality and modesty were perceived as fundamental womanly traits that needed state protection, and concepts of individual gender rights were relegated to women's social rights as ordained in Islam. Fatima was widely presented as the ideal emulatable woman. At
20826-506: The home of Colonel Ali Cetiner of the Turkish Military Intelligence . In October 1965, after less than a year, he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until 1978, when he was expelled by then-Vice President Saddam Hussein . By this time, discontent with the Shah was becoming intense and Khomeini visited Neauphle-le-Château , a suburb of Paris , France, on a tourist visa on 6 October 1978. By
21004-477: The importance of broadening his base, Khomeini reached out to Islamic reformist and secular enemies of the Shah, groups that were suppressed after he took and consolidated power. After the 1977 death of Ali Shariati , an Islamic reformist and political revolutionary author, academic, and philosopher who greatly assisted the Islamic revival among young educated Iranians, Khomeini became the most influential leader of
21182-426: The invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowing him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, instead demanding reparations and the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power. In 1982, there was an attempted military coup against Khomeini. Although Iran's population and economy were three times
21360-414: The journalists, Peter Jennings , asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh : " Hichi " (Nothing). This statement—much discussed at the time, and also since —was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be
21538-574: The largest funeral at the time and one of the largest human gatherings in history. In Iran, his gold-domed tomb in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents, and he is legally considered "inviolable", with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him. His supporters view him as a champion of Islamic revival , anti-racism and anti-imperialism. Critics accuse him of human rights violations (including his ordering of attacks against demonstrators, and execution of thousands of political prisoners , war criminals and prisoners of
21716-648: The last Friday of Ramadan as Quds Day in 1981. Shortly after assuming power, Khomeini began calling for Islamic revolutions across the Muslim world , including Iran's Arab neighbor Iraq, the one large state besides Iran with a Shia majority population. At the same time Saddam Hussein , Iraq's secular Arab nationalist Ba'athist leader, was eager to take advantage of Iran's weakened military and (what he assumed was) revolutionary chaos, and in particular to occupy Iran's adjacent oil-rich province of Khuzestan , and to undermine Iranian Islamic revolutionary attempts to incite
21894-615: The late 1960s, Khomeini was a marja -e taqlid (model for imitation) for "hundreds of thousands" of Shia, one of six or so models in the Shia world. While in the 1940s Khomeini accepted the idea of a limited monarchy under the Persian Constitution of 1906 —as evidenced by his book Kashf al-Asrar —by the 1970s he had rejected the idea. In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as
22072-543: The medium. To create DNA , RNA , or a close analog, such an element should be able to bind its atoms with many others, creating complex and stable molecules. It should be able to create at least three covalent bonds: two for making long strings and at least a third to add new links and allow for diverse information. Only nine elements meet this requirement: boron , nitrogen , phosphorus , arsenic , antimony (three bonds), carbon , silicon , germanium and tin (four bonds). As for abundance, carbon, nitrogen, and silicon are
22250-484: The mid-1960s, when the Greater German Reich and the Race fight a nuclear war. The Germans lose and are forced to allow France to become an independent nation again under a new Fourth Republic . Nonetheless, it is a costly victory for the Race since fighting Germany on its own after 20 years of human technological advancement proved to be much more difficult than fighting all free human nations earlier. It
22428-470: The military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic—with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?"—passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement. While in Paris, Khomeini had "promised a democratic political system" for Iran but once in power advocated for
22606-572: The most abundant ones in the universe, far more than the others. On Earth's crust the most abundant of those elements is silicon, in the Hydrosphere it is carbon and in the atmosphere, it is carbon and nitrogen. Silicon, however, has disadvantages over carbon. The molecules formed with silicon atoms are less stable, and more vulnerable to acids, oxygen, and light. An ecosystem of silicon-based lifeforms would require very low temperatures, high atmospheric pressure , an atmosphere devoid of oxygen, and
22784-467: The nation, which he held until his death. Most of his period in power was taken up by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989. The subject of a pervasive cult of personality , Khomeini is officially known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran and by his supporters internationally. His funeral was attended by up to 10 million people, or one sixth of Iran's population,
22962-504: The native planet that may not be caused by natural causes. There are three main types of techno-signatures considered: interstellar communications , effects on the atmosphere, and planetary-sized structures such as Dyson spheres . Organizations such as the SETI Institute search the cosmos for potential forms of communication. They started with radio waves , and now search for laser pulses as well. The challenge for this search
23140-532: The new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader of Iran , and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution". On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complained that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country. Before
23318-418: The ocean that do not receive sunlight, and take energy from black smokers instead. Magnetic fields and radioactivity have also been proposed as sources of energy, although they would be less efficient ones. Life on Earth requires water in a liquid state as a solvent in which biochemical reactions take place. It is highly unlikely that an abiogenesis process can start within a gaseous or solid medium:
23496-508: The opposition to the Shah. Adding to his mystique was the circulation among Iranians in the 1970s of an old Shia saying attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kadhem. Prior to his death in 799, al-Kadhem was said to have prophesied that "[a] man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path". In late 1978, a rumour swept the country that Khomeini's face could be seen in the full moon. Millions of people were said to have seen it and
23674-568: The origin of extraterrestrial life. The Solar System has a wide variety of planets, dwarf planets, and moons, and each one is studied for its potential to host life. Each one has its own specific conditions that may benefit or harm life. So far, the only lifeforms found are those from Earth. No extraterrestrial intelligence other than humans exists or has ever existed within the Solar System. Astrobiologist Mary Voytek points out that it would be unlikely to find large ecosystems, as they would have already been detected by now. The inner Solar System
23852-451: The origin of life on Earth. Hydrothermal vents , acidic hot springs, and volcanic lakes are examples of life forming under difficult circumstances, provide parallels to the extreme environments on other planets and support the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Since the mid-20th century, active research has taken place to look for signs of extraterrestrial life, encompassing searches for current and historic extraterrestrial life, and
24030-468: The others are used in other biological processes. The studies ruled out pollution of the meteorites on Earth, as those components would not be freely available the way they were found in the samples. This discovery suggests that several organic molecules that serve as building blocks of life may be generated within asteroids and comets. In October 2011, scientists reported that cosmic dust contains complex organic compounds ("amorphous organic solids with
24208-554: The people of Iran and with which the clergy would not interfere. He promised that "no one should remain homeless in this country", and that Iranians would have free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and free oil at their doorstep. Under Khomeini's rule, s haria (Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups. Women were required to cover their hair, and men were forbidden to wear shorts. Alcoholic drinks, most Western movies, and
24386-413: The people's vote without difficulty, and carry out presidential and parliamentary elections." The new constitution was successfully passed by referendum a month after the hostage crisis began. The crisis had the effect of splitting of the opposition into two groups: radicals supporting the hostage taking, and the moderates opposing it. On 23 February 1980, Khomeini proclaimed Iran's Majlis would decide
24564-553: The planetary core ceased to generate a magnetic field, solar winds removed the atmosphere and the planet became vulnerable to solar radiation. Ancient life-forms may still have left fossilised remains, and microbes may still survive deep underground. As mentioned, the gas giants and ice giants are unlikely to contain life. The most distant solar system bodies, found in the Kuiper Belt and outwards, are locked in permanent deep-freeze, but cannot be ruled out completely. Although
24742-508: The powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists. Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam". Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963, Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing both the Shah and his reform plan. Two days later,
24920-614: The practice of men and women swimming or sunbathing together were banned. The Iranian educational curriculum was Islamized at all levels with the Islamic Cultural Revolution ; this was out thoroughly by the Committee for Islamization of Universities . The broadcasting of any music other than martial or religious on Iranian radio and television was banned by Khomeini in July 1979. The ban lasted 10 years (approximately
25098-511: The precise differences that lead to beneficial or harmful conditions for life. And despite the conditions against life on Venus , there are suspicions that microbial life-forms may still survive in high-altitude clouds. Mars is a cold and almost airless desert, inhospitable to life. However, recent studies revealed that water on Mars used to be quite abundant, forming rivers, lakes, and perhaps even oceans. Mars may have been habitable back then, and life on Mars may have been possible. But when
25276-431: The pretext of reversing the Shah's affinity for westernization and backed by a vocal conservative section of Iranian society, he revoked the divorce law. Under Khomeini the minimum age of marriage was lowered to 15 for boys and 13 for girls; nevertheless, the average age of women at marriage continued to increase. Laws were passed that encouraged polygamy, made it impossible for women to divorce men, and treated adultery as
25454-550: The previous military and police force; placing Iran's top theologians and Islamic intellectuals in charge of writing a theocratic constitutions, with a central role for Velayat-e faqih ; creating the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) through Khomeini's Motjaheds with the aim of establishing a theocratic government and tearing down any secular opposition; replacing all secular laws with Islamic laws; and neutralising or punishing top theologians ("Khomeini's competitors in
25632-456: The probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilisations and the lack of evidence for such civilisations is known as the Fermi paradox . Dennis W. Sciama claimed that life's existence in the universe depends on various fundamental constants. Zhi-Wei Wang and Samuel L. Braunstein suggest that a random universe capable of supporting life is likely to be just barely able to do so, giving
25810-476: The probe to study ocean water. Still, Cassini detected complex organic molecules, salts, evidence of hydrothermal activity, hydrogen, and methane. Titan is the only celestial body in the Solar System besides Earth that has liquid bodies on the surface. It has rivers, lakes, and rain of hydrocarbons, methane, and ethane, and even a cycle similar to Earth's water cycle . This special context encourages speculations about lifeforms with different biochemistry, but
25988-438: The problems of survival of life on other planets. However, he also considered that the conditions found on Mars were incompatible with carbon based life. Even if extraterrestrial life is based on carbon and uses water as a solvent, like Earth life, it may still have a radically different biochemistry . Life is generally considered to be a product of natural selection . It has been proposed that to undergo natural selection
26166-438: The regime. During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution. While in exile, Khomeini developed what historian Ervand Abrahamian described as a "populist clerical version of Shii Islam". Khomeini modified previous Shii interpretations of Islam in a number of ways that included aggressive approaches to espousing
26344-550: The religious hierarchy"), whose ideas conflicted with Khomeini's, including Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari , Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi , and Hossein Ali Montazeri . Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. As part of the pivot from guide of
26522-461: The reptile invaders would brand the Jews as traitors to humanity. The first series is made up of four volumes: It ends with neither humanity nor the aliens triumphing. Instead, each side fights to the point that facing mutually-assured destruction , they settle into an uneasy ceasefire. The aliens want to colonize Earth and have nuclear weapons but want to use them only sparingly. They cannot colonize
26700-433: The researchers, "these [newly discovered] compounds could potentially support extant microbial communities or drive complex organic synthesis leading to the origin of life ." Although most searches are focused on the biology of extraterrestrial life, an extraterrestrial intelligence capable enough to develop a civilization may be detectable by other means as well. Technology may generate technosignatures , effects on
26878-451: The rest of his life). According to Janet Afari, "the newly established regime of Ayatollah Khomeini moved quickly to repress feminists, ethnic and religious minorities, liberals, and leftists – all in the name of Islam." Khomeini took on extensive and proactive support of the female populace during the ousting of the Shah and his subsequent homecoming, advocating for mainstreaming of women into all spheres of life and even hypothesizing about
27056-426: The right conditions on Earth were met, life started by a chemical process known as abiogenesis . Alternatively, life may have formed less frequently, then spread – by meteoroids , for example – between habitable planets in a process called panspermia . During most of its stellar evolution stars combine hydrogen nuclei to make helium nuclei by stellar fusion, and the comparatively lighter weight of helium allows
27234-405: The right side of the equation are agreed as speculative and open to substitution: 10,000 = 5 ⋅ 0.5 ⋅ 2 ⋅ 1 ⋅ 0.2 ⋅ 1 ⋅ 10,000 {\displaystyle 10{,}000=5\cdot 0.5\cdot 2\cdot 1\cdot 0.2\cdot 1\cdot 10{,}000} The Drake equation has proved controversial since, although it is written as
27412-422: The rocky surface, which helps the chemical reactions. It may be difficult to dig so deep in order to study those oceans, though. Enceladus , a tiny moon of Saturn with another subsurface ocean, may not need to be dug, as it releases water to space in eruption columns . The space probe Cassini flew inside one of these, but could not make a full study because NASA did not expect this phenomenon and did not equip
27590-532: The same samples suggests that a non-biological reaction is a more likely hypothesis. In February 2005 NASA scientists reported they may have found some evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. The two scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA's Ames Research Center , based their claim on methane signatures found in Mars's atmosphere resembling the methane production of some forms of primitive life on Earth, as well as on their own study of primitive life near
27768-784: The same time, amidst the religious orthodoxy, there was an active effort to rehabilitate women into employment. Female participation in healthcare, education and the workforce increased drastically during his regime. Reception among women of his regime has been mixed. Whilst a section were dismayed at the increasing Islamisation and concurrent degradation of women's rights, others did notice more opportunities and mainstreaming of relatively religiously conservative women. Shortly after his accession as supreme leader in February 1979, Khomeini imposed capital punishment on homosexuals . Between February and March, sixteen Iranians were executed due to offenses related to sexual violations. Khomeini also created
27946-596: The series. Numerous historical characters also appear, some having brief cameos and others having significant parts in the plot: Extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life , or alien life (colloquially, alien ), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth . No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms such as prokaryotes to intelligent beings , possibly bringing forth civilizations that might be far more advanced than humans. The Drake equation speculates about
28124-465: The shah and the imperial court". In Iran, a number of missteps by the Shah including his repression of opponents began to build opposition to his regime. Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah, for example as "the Jewish agent, the American serpent whose head must be smashed with a stone", became common items in the markets of Iran, helping to demythologize the power and dignity of
28302-652: The size of Iraq's, the latter was aided by neighboring Persian Gulf Arab states, as well as the Soviet Bloc and Western countries. The Persian Gulf Arabs and the West wanted to be sure the Islamic revolution did not spread across the Persian Gulf, while the Soviet Union was concerned about the potential threat posed to its rule in central Asia to the north; however, Iran had large amounts of ammunition provided by
28480-638: The spiritual elite (akhass-i khavass) and establishes its author as one of their number." The second book has been translated by Sayyid Amjad Hussain Shah Naqavi and released by Brill in 2015 under the title The Mystery of Prayer: The Ascension of the Wayfarers and the Prayer of the Gnostics . His seminary teaching often focused on the importance of religion to practical social and political issues of
28658-399: The star to release the extra energy. The process continues until the star uses all of its available fuel, with the speed of consumption being related to the size of the star. During its last stages, stars start combining helium nuclei to form carbon nuclei. The higher-sized stars can further combine carbon nuclei to create oxygen and silicon, oxygen into neon and sulfur, and so on until iron. In
28836-482: The stellar evolution of stars and planets, it is usually not taken into account by astrobiology. There is an area around a star, the circumstellar habitable zone or "Goldilocks zone", where water may be at the right temperature to exist in liquid form at a planetary surface. This area is neither too close to the star, where water would become steam, nor too far away, where water would be frozen as ice. However, although useful as an approximation, planetary habitability
29014-508: The study of Earth's life, the only known form of life, astrobiology seeks to study how life starts and evolves and the requirements for its continuous existence. This helps to determine what to look for when searching for life in other celestial bodies. This is a complex area of study, and uses the combined perspectives of several scientific disciplines, such as astronomy , biology , chemistry , geology , oceanography , and atmospheric sciences . The scientific search for extraterrestrial life
29192-539: The survival and possible origin of life on Earth . With the little amount of information that scientists have found regarding the atmosphere on other planets in the Milky Way galaxy and beyond, the atmospheres are most likely reducing or with very low oxygen levels, especially when compared with Earth's atmosphere. If there were the necessary elements and ions on these planets, the same carbon fixing, reduced chemical compounds occurring around hydrothermal vents could also occur on these planets' surfaces and possibly result in
29370-415: The time of invasion, the Race's technology is only marginally more advanced than 20th-century Earth technology. The commander hesitates, and considers turning back without revealing The Race's presence to the humans but finally decides to avoid the disgrace of that course of action. The narrative follows the intersecting fortunes of a large number of human and alien characters. Notably, the series depicts how
29548-493: The time, it maintained no army at all. Only the discovery of other planets with intelligent beings made the Emperor proclaim a "Soldier's Time" and build up an army, and the weapons developed at the last wars when the home planet was unified were quite enough to conquer the other planets. With Earth, it turned out differently since the various human nations were faced with arms some decades ahead of theirs but were soon able to close
29726-445: The unusual properties of the meteorite were eventually explained as the result of inorganic processes, the controversy over its discovery laid the groundwork for the development of astrobiology. An experiment on the two Viking Mars landers reported gas emissions from heated Martian soil samples that some scientists argue are consistent with the presence of living microorganisms. Lack of corroborating evidence from other experiments on
29904-449: The ways in which warfare is paradoxically a hindrance to civilization and simultaneously a catalyst for the progress of civilization. Particular attention is given to the deep dilemma facing the Jews in both Poland and Palestine . The invaders, by landing in 1942, stop the ongoing Holocaust and close down Auschwitz for which the Jews are understandably grateful, but collaborating with
30082-401: Was adopted after Khomeini and his followers took power, and Khomeini was the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or " Supreme Leader ". In the meantime, Khomeini talked only about "Islamic Government", never spelling out what exactly that meant. His network may have been learning about the necessity of rule by Jurists, but "in his interview, speeches, messages and fatvas during this period, there
30260-695: Was born in Kintoor. He left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Ali in Najaf , Ottoman Iraq (now Iraq ), and never returned. According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of British power in India. In 1834, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839, he settled in Khomein . Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi , indicating his stay in India, and Ruhollah Khomeini even used Hindi as
30438-417: Was habitable. It is unclear if life and intelligent life are ubiquitous in the cosmos or rare. The hypothesis of ubiquitous extraterrestrial life relies on three main ideas. The first one, the size of the universe allows for plenty of planets to have a similar habitability to Earth, and the age of the universe gives enough time for a long process analog to the history of Earth to happen there. The second
30616-458: Was in fact a " status-of-forces agreement ", stipulating that U.S. servicemen facing criminal charges stemming from a deployment in Iran, were to be tried before a U.S. court martial, not an Iranian court. Khomeini was arrested in November 1964 and held for half a year. Upon his release, Khomeini was brought before Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansur , who tried to convince him to apologize for his harsh rhetoric and going forward, cease his opposition to
30794-642: Was influenced by both the philosophy of Aristotle , whom he regarded as the founder of logic, and Plato , whose views "in the field of divinity" he regarded as "grave and solid". Among Islamic philosophers, Khomeini was mainly influenced by Avicenna and Mulla Sadra . Apart from philosophy, Khomeini was interested in literature and poetry. His poetry collection was released after his death. Beginning in his adolescent years, Khomeini composed mystic, political and social poetry. His poetry works were published in three collections: The Confidant , The Decanter of Love and Turning Point , and Divan . His knowledge of poetry
30972-452: Was not equivalent to rape or zina, declaring "Issue 2412 – A woman who has entered into a permanent marriage should not go out of the house without her husband's permission, and she should surrender herself to whatever pleasure he wants and not prevent him from getting close to her without a legitimate excuse. If she obeys the husband in these matters, it is obligatory on the husband to provide her food, clothes, house and other items mentioned in
31150-410: Was not the temperature, but the scarcity of free heavy elements. Planetary systems emerged, and the first organic compounds may have formed in the protoplanetary disk of dust grains that would eventually create rocky planets like Earth. Although Earth was in a molten state after its birth and may have burned any organics that fell in it, it would have been more receptive once it cooled down. Once
31328-399: Was reported. Scientists search for biosignatures within the Solar System by studying planetary surfaces and examining meteorites . Some claim to have identified evidence that microbial life has existed on Mars. In 1996, a controversial report stated that structures resembling nanobacteria were discovered in a meteorite, ALH84001 , formed of rock ejected from Mars . Although all
31506-420: Was tactically flexible; he played the moderate even pro-American card to take control but once change had come he put in place an anti-America legacy that would last for decades." Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denied the report, and described the documents as "fabricated". Other Iranian politicians including Ebrahim Yazdi , who was Khomeini's spokesman and adviser at the time of the revolution, denounced
31684-612: Was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian Revolution , which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and ended the Iranian monarchy . Ideologically a Shia Islamist , Khomeini's religious and political ideas are known as Khomeinism . Born in Khomeyn , in what is now Iran's Markazi province , his father was murdered in 1903 when Khomeini was just two years old. He began studying
#184815