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Scotland is acountry that is part of theUnited Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island ofGreat Britain and more than 790 adjacentislands, principally in the archipelagos of theHebrides and theNorthern Isles. In 2022, the country's population was about 5.4 million. Its capital city isEdinburgh, whilstGlasgow is the largest city and the most populous of thecities of Scotland. To the south-east, Scotland has itsonly land border withEngland; otherwise it is surrounded by theAtlantic Ocean to the north and west, theNorth Sea to the north-east and east, and theIrish Sea to the south. The legislature, theScottish Parliament, elects 129members to represent 73constituencies. TheScottish Government is theexecutive arm of the devolved government, headed by thefirst minister, who chairs thecabinet and is responsible for government policy andinternational engagement.
TheKingdom of Scotland emerged as asovereign state in the 9th century.Independence from England was maintained partly through analliance with France. In 1603,James VI succeeded to the thrones ofEngland andIreland, forming apersonal union of thethree kingdoms. On 1 May 1707, Scotland and England combined to create the newKingdom of Great Britain, with theParliament of Scotland subsumed into theParliament of Great Britain. In 1999, aScottish Parliament was re-established, and hasdevolved authority over many areas ofdomestic policy. The country has its own distinctlegal system,education system andreligious history, which have all contributed to the continuation ofScottish culture andnational identity.Scottish English andScots are the most widely spokenlanguages in the country, existing on adialect continuum with each other.Scottish Gaelic speakers can be found all over Scotland, but the language is largely spoken natively by communities within theHebrides; Gaelic speakers now constitute less than 2% of the total population, although state-sponsoredrevitalisation attempts have led to a growing community ofsecond language speakers.
The mainland of Scotland is broadly divided into three regions: theHighlands, a mountainous region in the north and north-west; theLowlands, a flatter plain across the centre of the country; and theSouthern Uplands, a hilly region along the southern border. The Highlands are the most mountainous region of the British Isles and contain its highest peak,Ben Nevis, at 4,413 feet (1,345 m). The region also contains many lakes, calledlochs; the term is also applied to the many saltwater inlets along the country's deeply indented western coastline. The geography of the many islands is varied. Some, such asMull andSkye, are noted for their mountainous terrain, whileTiree andColl are flatter.
TheSchiehallion experiment was an 18th-centuryexperiment to determine themeandensity of the Earth. Funded by a grant from theRoyal Society, it was conducted in the summer of 1774 around the Scottishmountain ofSchiehallion,Perthshire. The experiment involved measuring the tinydeflection of the vertical due to thegravitational attraction of a nearby mountain. Schiehallion was considered the ideal location after a search for candidate mountains, due to its isolation and almost symmetrical shape.The experiment had previously been considered, but rejected, byIsaac Newton as a practical demonstration of histheory of gravitation; however, a team of scientists, notablyNevil Maskelyne, theAstronomer Royal, was convinced that the effect would be detectable and undertook to conduct the experiment. The deflection angle depended on the relative densities and volumes of the Earth and the mountain: if the density and volume of Schiehallion could be ascertained, then so could the density of the Earth. Once this was known, it would in turn yield approximate values for those of the other planets, theirmoons, and theSun, previously known only in terms of their relative ratios. (... Read the full article)
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Deborah Jane Trimmer (30 September 1921 – 16 October 2007), known professionally asDeborah Kerr (/kɑːr/), was a Scottish actress. Kerr rose to fame for her portrayals of proper, ladylike women, who often navigated societal expectations and stereotypes. Kerr attracted wide praise for her work, earning sixAcademy Award nominations forBest Actress. She was regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation. From the 1940s to the late 1960s, she was one of the most popular actresses in the world.
Following a brief career as a ballerina, Kerr moved to the stage and acted in variousShakespeare productions and small plays before making her film debut inMajor Barbara (1941). This led to additional leading roles which raised her profile, such asLove on the Dole (1941),Hatter's Castle (1942), andThe Day Will Dawn (1942). In 1943, Kerr played three women inMichael Powell andEmeric Pressburger's romantic-war dramaThe Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which consistently ranks among the greatest British films of all time. Following major successes in the spy comedyI See a Dark Stranger (1946) and psychological dramaBlack Narcissus (1947), Kerr transitioned toHollywood under the helm ofMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM).
Following the lukewarm success of her debut Hollywood features,The Hucksters andIf Winter Comes, both in 1947, Kerr found critical praise inEdward, My Son (1949), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, becoming the first Scottish person to be nominated for an acting Oscar. Though she found major commercial success inKing Solomon's Mines (1950) andQuo Vadis (1951), the latter thehighest grossing film of 1951, reviews were often lackluster for her performances, highlighting hertypecasting. In 1953, Kerr had a critical resurgence in the major hitFrom Here to Eternity, which reestablished her as a serious actress and earned her a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Throughout the 1950s, Kerr starred in a string of major commercial and critical successes. She earned three consecutive Academy Award nominations forThe King and I (1956),Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), andSeparate Tables (1958). She also appeared in the progressive dramaTea and Sympathy (1956), in which she had starred on Broadway in 1953. Later, the romantic classicAn Affair to Remember (1957). By the 1960s, her career had slowed, though she remained somewhat prominent in film due to successful roles inThe Sundowners (1960 - her 6th Oscar nomination),The Grass Is Greener (1960),The Innocents (1961),The Chalk Garden (1964) andThe Night of the Iguana (1964). She made sporadic appearances in films and television (earning an Emmy nomination forA Woman of Substance in 1984) untilThe Assam Garden in 1985, which was her final film role. (... Read the full article)
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