All About Carbon Fiber and How Its Made

All About Carbon Fiber and How It's Made Also called graphite fiber or carbon graphite, carbon fiber consists of very thin strands of the element carbon. Carbon fibers have high tensile strength and are very strong for their size. In fact, carbon fiber might be the strongest material there is. Each fiber is 5-10 microns in diameter. To give a sense of how small that is, one micron (um) is 0.000039 inches. One strand of spider web silk is usually between 3-8 microns. Carbon fibers are twice as stiff as steel and five times as strong as steel, (per unit of weight). They also are highly chemically resistant and have high-temperature tolerance with low thermal expansion. Carbon fibers are important in engineering materials, aerospace, high-performance vehicles, sporting equipment, and musical instrumentsto name just a few of their uses. Raw Materials Carbon fiber is made from organic polymers, which consist of long strings of molecules held together by carbon atoms.  Most carbon fibers (about 90 percent) are made from the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) process. A small amount (about 10 percent) are manufactured from rayon or the petroleum pitch process.  Gases, liquids, and other materials used in the manufacturing process create specific effects, qualities, and grades of carbon fiber. The highest grade carbon fiber with the best modulus properties are used in demanding applications such as aerospace. Carbon fiber manufacturers differ from one another in the combinations of raw materials they use. They usually treat their specific formulations as trade secrets. Manufacturing Process In the manufacturing process, the raw materials, which are called precursors, are drawn into long strands or fibers. The fibers are woven into fabric or combined with other materials that are filament wound or molded into desired shapes and sizes. There are typically five segments in the manufacturing of carbon fibers from the PAN process. These are: Spinning. PAN mixed with other ingredients and spun into fibers, which are washed and stretched.Stabilizing. Chemical alteration to stabilize bonding.Carbonizing. Stabilized fibers heated to very high temperature forming tightly bonded carbon crystals.Treating the Surface. ​The surface of fibers oxidized to improve bonding properties.Sizing. Fibers are coated and wound onto bobbins, which are loaded onto spinning machines that twist the fibers into different size yarns. Instead of being woven into fabrics, fibers may be formed into composites. To form composite materials, heat, pressure, or a vacuum binds fibers together with a plastic polymer. Manufacturing Challenges The manufacture of carbon fibers carries a number of challenges, including: The need for more cost-effective recovery and repair.The surface treatment process must be carefully regulated to avoid creating pits that could result in defective fibers.Close control required to ensure consistent quality.Health and safety issuesSkin irritationBreathing irritationArcing and shorts in electrical equipment because of the strong electro-conductivity of carbon fibers. Future of Carbon Fiber Because of its high tensile strength and lightweight, many consider carbon fiber to be the most significant manufacturing material of our generation. Carbon fiber may play an increasingly important role in areas such as: Energy: Windmill blades, natural gas storage, and transportation, fuel cells.Automobiles: Currently used just for high-performance vehicles, carbon fiber technology is moving into wider use.  In December 2011 General Motors announced that it is working on carbon fiber composites for mass production of automobiles.Construction: Lightweight pre-cast concrete, earthquake protection.Aircraft: Defense and commercial aircraft.  Unmanned aerial vehicles.Oil exploration: Deepwater drilling platforms, drill pipes.Carbon nanotubes: Semiconductor materials, spacecraft, chemical sensors, and other uses. In 2015, carbon fiber had a $2.25 billion market size. Projections have the market expanding to $31 billion by 2024. To accomplish this, costs must be reduced and new applications targeted.

An Ace Cause and Effect Essay Complete Guide

An Ace Cause and Effect Essay Complete Guide Cause and Effect Essay Topics Definition of a Cause and Effect Essay All objects, events and phenomena – everything in this world is connected. Some connections are obvious for us, but we do not even have an idea about many of them. Even if it’s not visible or obvious in the beginning, every cause has its outcomes. One of the written tasks for a student is a cause and effect essay. When designing one, a student has to describe one event/object/phenomenon and present its outcomes. In our guide you will find useful tips on how to write an ace cause and effect essay. The goal of this kind of essay is to help the student develop their analytical skills. It is done through exploration and analysis of a given decision or event and definition of its results. It means that your essay should be logically structured, and show that you know a lot about the topic you write about. Through this essay students express the connection between different things. A student is to provide the process of how a decision/phenomenon/event influences the writer themselves, other people, and other events. When writing a cause and effect essay a student not only has to describe the cause and its effects but also answer two questions Why? and How?. Skills Students Develop When Writing a Cause and Effect Essay Every task has its purpose. Not always writing an essay is a pleasure. Quite often students do it just because they have to do it. However, the execution of this task will give you benefits not only in the form of a good grade. When you deal with a cause and effect essay you develop a number of skills: Writing skills. The more you write, the more efforts you invest in your work, the better you become. Organizational skills. If you approach things you need to do when you are organized you do them better. Writing this essay you will help yourself become more organized. How? You learn how to organize the information you have in a logical order. You may have lots of different effects of one event, but you need to put them in the right sequence, define the level of their significance. Such an approach will help your reader understand the subject better. Accuracy about details. Being attentive to details helps us in many situations. When you deal with a cause and effect essay you do not need to describe things obvious for everyone. You should aim at going deeper into details and notice what others cannot see. This will make your essay extremely interesting. Objective thinking. When you write a cause and effect essay you should put your emotions and your personal attitudes away. Thinking objectively is what you should do completing this task – providing facts and their reasonable outcomes. What to Write About Same like other types of essays, this one can tell about anything in our world. Things, people, events, actions that surround you every day can become a great topic for your cause and effect essay. Everything has its reasons and outcomes and it means you are unlimited in your choice of topic. Some of the areas of interest include: events in the world historical events politics social life ecological issues technologies relationships between people family life education healthcare science Cause and Effect Essay Structure Despite essays may have different goals and styles, all of them have a certain structure. Structure is what helps the writer distribute the entire information logically, highlight key points and make the essay easy to read. The structure includes introductory part, body part and conclusion. Being aware of the essay structure helps students compiling an outline of their paper. Outline or a plan helps to keep strict to the topic of your essay and provide information in the right order. A typical outline for a cause and effect essay contains: Introductory part in which you should strive to attract the attention of your audience, describe the topic you will be talking further and present the benefits of your audience from reading your essay. In this part you give your thesis. Body where you provide causes and effects of the event/phenomenon you write about. This is central and biggest in volume part of your essay. You should normally divide into several paragraphs. Their number would depend on the quantity of facts you have. It is possible to use different approaches: first, you name causes first and provide their effects afterwards; second, you give one cause and its outcome, and so on. Conclusive part. This is last but not the least part in your cause and effect essay. This is the last thing your readers will read in your essay this is why it should be written well to leave a good impression. In conclusion you summarize everything you said before, indicate the significance of your topic, and insert call for action. Different Outlines It should be obvious for you by now that making a good outline is the direct path to writing a winning composition. All the parts of the essay should be logically linked and have good reasoning. Depending on the essay topic and the materials you have your outlines can be different. Multiple Causes Lead to One Outcome If the event you describe had multiple causes that all together lead to one outcome, your essay outline will be as follows: Introductory part Body part: cause 1 cause 2 cause 3 (or more) Effects Conclusive part Example: Topic: Poor sanitation, disease and undercooked food as causes of diarrhea. The outcomes can be different: from intoxication to death. One Cause Leads to Many Outcomes Quite often students are asked to describe one event/decision/phenomenon that caused multiple effects. I this case the outline should be as follows: Introductory part Body part: effect 1 effect 2 cause 3 (or more) Conclusive part Example: Topic: Corruption in government leads to country’s overborrowing. The results can be many: decrease in wages, increase in taxes, increased cost of living, etc. Multiple Causes Lead to Multiple Outcomes Another format of this type of essay when the topic a student has to describe had multiple reasons that lead to multiple effects. Such essays can be rather difficult to write because a student has to be much focused on the details, stick to logical structure and not miss anything important. In this case the outline will be as follows: Introductory part Body part: cause 1 effect 1 leading to cause 2 effect 2 leading to cause 3 effect 3 leading to cause 4 (or more) Conclusive part Example: Topic: A large number of road accidents are caused by drunken drivers. The effects can be multiple: road accident may lead to death of people, their death will cause their relatives to grief. Another line of outcomes is that drunken drivers may be fined, imprisoned. Another line of outcomes is the damage to the vehicle. Tips for Writing a Winning Cause and Effect Essay Obtaining new skills and talking on the subject you like can be cool. However, process of composing a cause and effect composition causes stress in many students. The tips below will help you stay cool and ease the writing process: Differentiate between cause and effect. It is unlikely you will not be able to differentiate between causes and effects, but still give it a minute to see what the catalyst is and what the consequences are. Conduct research. Whatever your topic is, no matter how good you know it, you have to conduct research. Read additional information, find out the opinion of other authors on this topic, try to expand your limits and look at the issue at different angle. Logical connections. The effects you provide have to be strongly and directly connected to the causes. If you are uncertain and there are no proofs of the connection between an effect and a cause it is better to leave it. Make quality your preference. Analyze the depth and strength of the link between a cause and effect. If it is vague, do not include it in your essay. It is better to write less but give good support to your words, than pile lots of information without good reasoning. Choose your method. The methods of presenting information were provided above. See what kind of information you have, what type of event/phenomenon/decision you describe, thus you will be able to present information in logical order. Transit from one point to another smoothly. Remember, all the parts of your essay should be connected between each other. Transition words will help you make the transition smooth: because, due to, resulting from this, etc. Provide proofs. All your words should be supported by good evidences. It is not enough just to say this effect was caused by this. Do not exaggerate. Do not try to increase the impact of your essay by exaggeration. Provide only proven facts. Put emotions away. In a cause and effect essay you should not provide your personal attitude to something. The aim is to provide facts and stay objective about your judgment. Stick to your purpose. When you write a cause-effect composition your aim is providing your audience with the information about effects of a certain cause/causes. You should not try to pursue your reader in certain point of view. Winning Topics for a Cause and Effect Essay In some cases topic for essays are provided by supervisors. However, quire often students are free to come up with the topics on their own. This can be a bit stressful, this is why we have prepared a list of winning topics in different subjects. Good Topics What causes voter apathy? What are the effects of parents divorce on a child? Can relationships be affected by abortion? What are the reasons for poverty in America? What makes obesity increase in the US? Do violent video games affect children’s psyche? What are the effects of being addicted to sports? Why more and more students drop education and what it will lead to? Why people spend more money on online shopping? What is the impact of technologies on human society? What effects does feminism have on marriage? What causes air pollution of what are the consequences? Relationships and Family What are the reasons for cheating on your partner? What can living together before marriage lead to? How does growing up in a one-parent family affect us? What is the impact of spending holidays together for family relationships? Destructive relationships between siblings: causes and effects Environment Is there one decisive factor for environment changes? Does human intrusion into nature have positive or negative effect on our planet? What causes climatic catastrophes? Human intrusion on planet: good or bad? What are the possible consequences of global warming? Social Life How is community affected by frequent violence? Is real life communication influenced by social networks? Why there are so many poor people in big cities? What effect does lack of freedom have on people? Living in poor housing: possible effects Technology How is youth affected by internet? How modern technologies influence kids? How useful is it to apply modern technologies in the study process? What impact does progress have on environment? What helped Japan develop so fast? Education What effect will have changing of major subject during the study process? What are the effects of becoming a top student? What will happen if a student fails an exam? What happens if a student gets caught cheating at exam? Why should students be involved in extra curriculum activities? Health How is our general health affected by our diet? Should teenagers be vaccinated? How is it to have smallpox when you are adult? What does long-term smoking lead to? If you don’t sleep during your preparations for exams what are the possible effects? Food How eating seafood does effects our health? What are the benefits of being a vegetarian? What are the outcomes of eating a lot of fast food? What are the outcomes of eating food with GMO? What causes loss of appetite? Culture Why are comedies so popular? What impact has listening to favourite music on us? Free music download: outcomes for a singer What are the possible effects of addiction to video games? Get Help with Writing Your Essay Writing your cause and effect essay does not have to make you stressed. Modern technologies help to make the process much simpler. Topic Generators If you are to chose your own topic for your essay you don’t have to browse for hours on internet to search for something interesting. You can use platforms where you will easily find topic either by different categories, by alphabet or keyword. Essay Templates There are platforms where you can find a lot of successful essay samples. Looking through several samples will help you arrange everything in your head and get a better idea of what and how you should write. Essay Checker When your essay is done, you need to check it for uniqueness. Your teacher will definitely do it to make sure you did not copy the essay from somewhere. There are websites where you can do the plagiarism checking. Essay Writing Services Reliable professional writing service has a team of cool writers who know everything about essays, are experts in their areas, and possess necessary skills for writing. At Tutoriage we have the best writers who will write your essay from scratch and assist you until it is accepted by your teacher. Essay Editing Tutoriage provides editing services for students who have written their essays and need a professional opinion, want to have possible mistakes corrected. Our editors and proofreaders will correct spelling, grammar, lexical mistakes, improve style and formatting.

Urban Land use Issues and Concepts within London Essay

Urban Land use Issues and Concepts within London - Essay Example rch has been conducted for the urban sustainability of London, the twenty four hour city, to know the positive and negative impacts of the densification and diverse activity resulting from land uses for residents, businesses and reactions of the people over mixed use and increased development activity. Case study results of conceptual and empirical model were attempted by VIVA 2020 IN Clerkenwell, situated on the city fringe of London, a typical urban village. Survey results of a comparative study between central Sheffield where new apartments and mixed-use construction is going on and Manchester, making a secondary analysis of residential survey, besides other stakeholders including local authority planners (policy and development control), conservation and economic development & regeneration officers, local estate agents, developers and design firms to evaluate the quality of life realized and criteria that impacted decision making by the stakeholders (Viva 2020, 2010). As per the findings of the case study comparison between central Sheffield and Manchester, the social and economic uses can remain there to the limit of mixed-use at building, street and neighbourhood level. Some functions were deemed spatially different to be within walking distances like housing and nearby functions. Housing above the retailing at the level floor and entertainment was found practically discernible if rest of the issues could be looked after well by design quality and management (Viva 2020, 2010). Major issues faced were related to environment – litter/waste, noise, anti-social behaviour. Criminal activity was found related and associated with cafà © and street culture near to residential areas and outsiders’ access to street and, but fringes of streets with poor security. Residents made choices between a lack of balcony space and reduced car use and trade-off it with public transport. Facilities like local shops, green area and play fields were prime quality of life

LEGO Case Study - Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

LEGO Case Study - Strategic Management - Essay Example In the 80-year history of the company, the last fifteen years or so have been one of happenings periods in the history of company. From its peak in the mid 90s to a serious slump in the late 1990s and early 2000s and then from that to a period of recovery and dominance, the period of 1995-2009 has many stories to tell for Lego (Ireland, Hoskisson & Hitt, pp. 85-89, 2008). Problems for the company started somewhere in the 1990s but they did not made the headlines or even got the attention of the top management of the company till 1998 when the company incurred its first loss on its income statement in its entire history. Lego got back on the track of making profits during 2001 and 2002 but that was primarily because of the deals with Harry Potter franchise and when no Harry Potter movie was released during 2003, the company’s sales decreased by 26 percent and 20 percent in the subsequent year (The Lego Group, 2012). Furthermore, the company posted a record loss of over 240 mill ion US dollars and rumors started in the market that Mattel would soon takeover Lego (Lewis, pp. 21-23, 2011). There were many reasons behind the declining market share of the company. First, the toy industry was going through a similar revolution and competitive outburst as of the airline industry. Many competitors with low cost and claiming to be high quality, entered into the market to disrupt the equilibrium. For example, a Canadian toy company, Megabloks was instrumental in removing Lego toys from many shelves because not only it was of lower price to attract the customers but also even the retailers were paid with higher profit margins. Second, many of the customers of the company that were young boys were being more attracted to computer games and video games during that time thus decreasing the sales even further. Third, Lego’s main operations were in Denmark, which was high cost economy with long supply chains and many supplies. In fact, it at one point in time, Lego had more suppliers than Boeing had to build aircrafts (Ireland, Hoskisson & Hitt, pp. 85-89, 2008). Strategies In order to understand the strategies used by Lego during the period of 1995-2009, we will have to divide the period between two sub-periods of 1998-2003 and 2004-2009 since the company shifted its strategy during the period. First period (1998-2003) During the first period of 1998-2003 and even before that, Lego was following an aggressive policy of product development. Lego was constantly trying to improve its existing products with bringing new variations. The mindset of the company’s strategists was that by providing more product variations, they would force the customers to spend more and new variations would bring more and new customers into the loop (Bender, pp. 55, 2010). In fact, it appeared that somehow Lego was trapped in the product orientation, one of the five marketing orientations. In it, the prime focus and expectation of the company was on improving the current products, bringing more colour, designs and variations hoping that would make the customers stay and even become ready to pay a premium for Lego’s products (Ireland, Hoskisson & Hitt, pp. 85-89, 2008). Secondly, this was a period where Lego engaged in many strategic partners with Harry Potter, Disney and other franchises in an attempt to co-brand their products. In fact, this was the prime reason why Lego was able to show some profit during these years (The Lego Group, 2012). Second

The Use of Coal as an Energy Source in the United States Essay examples

Energy from Coal: The Nation’s Dirty Secret Abstract While technology has led the world into such an advanced setting with intelligent machinery and automated devices, coal has remained a loyal contributor of the energy needed by these various types of equipment to function properly. Almost half of the electricity in the United States is produced in coal plants where coal is burnt to produce this energy [1]. Both beneficial and detrimental factors come with this alternative source of energy, known by the world for centuries. Background Information Even with the quantity of fossil fuels dwindling due to human consumption, coal has remained one of the cheapest, reliable sources of electricity, natural gas, diesel fuel, and steel production. It is one of the main sources of energy for the United States particularly because one-quarter of the world’s coal reserves are found there [2]. Typically, coal mines are found throughout many different regions of the United States, depending on what type of coal is being mined. The types of coal used in the industry are anthracite, bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lignite [3]. Anthracite is the hardest of the four because it contains the most carbon and the least ash and moisture. It is used as a heating fuel for homes since it burns slowly over a lengthy period of time. Bituminous is medium-hard in comparison to the others and is the most common type of coal found in the United States. It generates electricity and produces coke, used to make steel. Sub-bituminous is medium-soft, meaning that it contains a lot of moisture. This type of coal is used mainly in producing steam for electricity generation for the industry. Lastly, there is lignite, the softest of the four. It contains the m... ...R.H. Fossil Fuels and Their Utilization. 26 Nov 1996. World of Chemistry. 28 July 2008. . 6. Unknown. Eco-Logical. Unknown. Grinning Planet. 27 July 2008. . 7. Unknown. BTU Conversion Liquefaction – Peabody Energy. Unknown. Peabody. 27 July 2008. . 8. Macintyre, Stacy. Coal Energy. Feb 2007. Energy Kid’s Page. 20 July 2008. . 9. Trimble, Tyghe. Clean Coal: How to Make Rock into Biofuel. 21 June 2007. Popular Mechanics. 21 July 2008. . 10. Unknown. Energy Production. 2008. HowStuffWorks. 26 July 2008. .

Dickens Presentation of Female Characters in Great Expectations Essay

Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations was first serialised in 1861 in the journal ‘All Around the World’ during the Victorian period. During this time women were almost regarded as second class, even though the reigning queen had been on the throne for fourteen years. On the contrary, the Queen herself was quite masculine thinking it quite ‘improper’ that women should have the same rights as men. No women could vote, all major decisions were made by men and there were no important female political figures except for the queen herself, who was opposed to ‘votes for women’. Women were beginning to show signs of demand equality. Dickens created a lot of public awareness in his writings about the condition England was in. He liked to give the message ‘If men would behave decently the world would be decent’. He became very interested in socialist ideas from a young age and wrote novels for several years, including a novel based on his own life and the troubles he had. Great Expectations tells the story of orphan Pip, living with his bitter, older sister. Throughout the novel he encounters an escaped convict only then to be summoned by the wicked and cold Miss Havisham and her beautiful niece Estella. On top of this he is suddenly endowed with the generosity of a mysterious benefactor. Dickens uses physical appearance to convey his female characteristics. It was traditionally thought at the time, if a woman and ’round and curvy’ then she was a very warm person but if she was bony and skinny she would be an unpleasant and not very nice woman. There are several examples of this throughout the novel. He wanted to show what a horrible woman Mrs Joe Gargery was. So he described her as being: â€Å"not a good looking woman† and â€Å"tall and bony†. Both of these don’t make her sound particularly attractive and she is a very cruel person to Pip and Joe Gargery. Miss Havisham is shown in the same light, â€Å"Miss Havisham’s grey hair was all adrift upon the ground, among the other bridal wrecks, and was a miserable sight to see†. She is always dressed in her old wedding dress and her skin is very pale. Therefore almost giving us the impression, she is a ghost and she died years ago, making her seem like a very peculiar woman. There are many gothic images of Miss Havisham throughout the novel, because Gothic imagery was very popular at the time. She is twisted and evil and this is reflected in her attire and in her home, Satis house. The Clocks in Satis house reflect Miss Havsiham because just like clocks, she has stopped moving on with her life, she is also decaying, physically and mentally, just as the house is. She is only wearing one shoe and hasn’t changed her clothes in years. A Victorian reader would think upon first seeing a woman like her, that was crazy or evil and in this case, she is both. We see everything through Pip therefore we relate to him and feel what he does. So, even if Estella is horrible to Pip we can still forgive her because Pip does. Estella, in contrast â€Å"seemed more beautiful than she had ever seemed yet†, therefore in the eyes of a Victorian reader making her a warm and caring woman. This is ironic because she is the complete opposite. She can not express her emotions and has been brought up not to express love. But because the book is in a first person perspective the reader can relate to her beauty and because Pip still likes her, inevitably so does the reader. We see everything through Pip therefore we relate to him and feel what he does. So, even if Estella is horrible to Pip we can still forgive her because Pip does. Mrs Joe Gargery is very cruel to Pip until she is attacked. â€Å"It’s hard enough to be a blacksmith’s wife without being a mother†- she is resentful of having spent her life looking after Pip and being married to Joe. Mrs Joe Gargery is a very cruel and horrible old woman and the reader’s feelings towards her are only strengthened by the fact that she is not very attractive. Estella can be just as cruel to Pip as Mrs Joe Gargery is at times. When she says â€Å"you wait here boy† and â€Å"you ridiculous boy, will you never take warning? † it tells the reader she thinks a lot of herself and she is very proud. Again because she is pretty and the fact that, it is not her fault that she is this way, she is forgiven by the reader and Pip, because he is in love with her. In Mrs Joe Gargery’s opinion she has spent too many years raising Pip. She spends all her time being spiteful to Pip and will not be kinder, whatever the scenario. Pip would often recall scenes such as this one, ‘My sister made at dive at me and fished me up by the hair’. She strongly resented him and would take every opportunity possible to show it. She treats her husband Joe in the same way, although at heart Joe is an honest man and good man, he isn’t very bright and Pip always thinks of him as a ‘larger species of child’. Mrs Joe Gargery will, on the other hand, treat him like one Dickens makes the reader like Joe because Pip is very fond of him. This only increases the reader’s dislike for Mrs Joe Gargery. It is only until her encounter with Orlick that she becomes a completely different person, becoming much more patient. It is only because of an event such as this, she is like this, not because of her own will. It’s the male character Orlick who changed Mrs Joe Gargery into some more acceptable to the reader. Dickens created this event to show the reader that men still have authority over women. Miss Havisham died a very twisted, old and bitter woman. She was malicious and she poured all her dark, evil emotions into Estella. She once loved her husband-to-be very much. She had a lot of passion in her heart but that was destroyed when he left her standing at the altar. ‘I’ll tell you what real love is†¦.. giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter’. Once again it has been a man that has changed one of the female leads into a person of hatred. She had an accident many years later and was left in such a state of shock she never fully recovered.

Heinrich Himmler, Nazi SS Head Oversaw the Holocaust

Heinrich Himmler was a key figure in the Nazi party and leader of the feared SS. He was also responsible for turning the racist and anti-Semitic ideology of the Nazi movement into a shockingly efficient killing machine. Himmlers fanatical devotion to Hitler, as well as his fascination with the pseudoscience that fortified Nazi beliefs, made him one of the main architects of the Holocaust. The unlikely rise of Himmler from an unimpressive clerk-like figure running a small farm to one of the most powerful men on earth was attributed to his penchant for organization. Upon his suicide, soon after hed been captured and the Nazi regime had crumbled, the New York Times noted that Himmler had â€Å"raised wholesale slaughter to a science.† Fast Facts: Heinrich Himmler Known For: As head of the Nazi SS elite troops, he terrorized much of Europe and masterminded the HolocaustBorn: October 7, 1900 in Munich, BavariaDied: May 23, 1945 in Luneberg, Germany (committed suicide after being captured)Spouse: Margarete Concerzowo, known as MargaChildren: Gundrun Himmler, born 1929 Early Life Heinrich Himmler was born in Munich, Bavaria, on October 7, 1900. His father, Gebhard Himmler, was a schoolmaster. Early in his career, Himmler’s father had been appointed the tutor of Prince Heinrich of Bavaria, and Himmler was named in honor of the prince. Growing up in a middle-class family with an older and younger brother, Himmler developed a great sense of pride in German traditions. When his older brother joined the military in World War I, he wrote in his diary that he wished he was old enough to enlist. He did eventually join the German army and received training, but the war ended before he saw action. Following the war, Himmler studied agriculture and seemed destined to be a farmer. Like other young and angry Germans, he responded to his country’s defeat and perceived humiliation by the Allied powers by becoming interested in nationalist political movements. He officially joined the small Nazi Party in August 1923. He was involved in a minor role, manning a barricade and holding a Nazi banner in the Munich beer hall putsch that November. After the failed takeover attempt, he escaped prosecution and avoided prison, unlike Hitler and other participants. Rise to Power As the Nazi Party grew, Himmler became a key figure. In 1925, Himmler joined the SS (Schutzstaffel, the Nazi paramilitary organization), which had originally been a thuggish group of bodyguards tasked with protecting Hitler at public gatherings. As the second-in-command at the SS, Himmler dealt with fairly mundane tasks such as increasing party membership, collecting dues, and canvassing for advertisements for the party’s newspaper. In 1927 Himmler met his future wife, Margarete Concerzowo, known as Marga. They married in July 1928, and with Marga’s money they bought a small farm about ten miles outside Munich. They kept hens and grew some produce, and proceeds from the farm augmented Himmler’s salary from the Nazi Party. At some point, Hitler recognized Himmler’s fanatical loyalty and talent for organization, and in January 1929 he appointed him Reichsfuhrer SS, essentially making him the head of the organization. Himmler had a grand vision for the SS. He saw the black-uniformed troops as elite soldiers for Hitler, modern-day knights in service to the Nazi movement. As Hitler moved to seize power in Germany in the early 1930s, Himmler made plans to increase the size and power of the SS as well as its racial composition. In 1932 he issued a marriage code for the SS. Based on the concept of Blut und Boden (blood and soil in English) expounded by Nazi theorist Richard Walter Darre, the code stressed the racial purity of SS members. By Himmler’s orders, prospective members of the elite group had to prove they were of pure Nordic stock. Potential wives of SS members had to submit to physical examinations and prove they were free of Jewish or Slavic ancestry. Himmler became fixated on the idea of selective breeding. Heinrich Himmler, left, and Adolf Hitler review SS troops. Getty Images   Building the SS Himmler accelerated SS recruiting, and by 1932 the organization had grown to more than 50,000 men. Within a few years, the SS grew to more than 200,000 and became a formidable presence in German life. A major boost to Himmler’s plans came when he happened to meet a young German who had been forced out of the German navy. Reinhard Heydrich had family connections which led him to Himmler, and Himmler, believing Heydrich had intelligence experience, hired him to perform a particular mission: build a spy network within Germany. Heydrich had not actually worked in military intelligence, but he was a fast learner and before long he had an efficient network of spies and informers. An early sign of what was coming occurred in 1933 when Himmler and Heydrich opened the first concentration camp. The Dachau camp was created to hold political dissidents and it served as a warning to anyone who opposed the Nazi regime. Throughout the 1930s Himmler acquired more power. In 1934 he participated in the notorious Night of the Long Knives, the purge of the leadership of the SA, the Nazi stormtroopers, an organization which rivaled the SS. Having won the power struggle with the SA, Himmler became known as a major figure in the Nazi leadership. In 1936, the New York Times published a front-page article noting that Himmler had become the head of all â€Å"Reich Police.† By the end of the 1930s the SS had become the dominant force within the Nazi Party. And Himmler as head of not only the SS but the Gestapo, the secret police, was established as the most powerful figure in Germany after Hitler. Heinrich Himmler inspecting a camp holding Russian prisoners of war. Getty Images Directing the Holocaust Himmler’s main historical significance was for the role he played in the Holocaust, the Nazi’s systematic slaughter of millions of European Jews. From his early youth Himmler had been an ardent anti-Semite, and he eagerly used his great power to persecute the Jews in Germany. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, militarized units of the SS were part of the invasion force. Under Himmler’s direction, SS troops were tasked with removing undesirable populations, which generally meant Jews, from areas conquered by German troops. SS units called Einsatzgruppen rounded up Jews and killed them in massacres across Poland. When the German forces attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, SS units followed to conduct racial cleansing at a vast level. Himmler’s work at eliminating Jews in Europe moved quickly. By late 1941 large-scale massacres by SS troops had occurred. At the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, Heydrich laid out SS plans to come up with a Final Solution for Jews in Europe. This plan for mass murder was followed by Himmler after Heydrich was assassinated by partisans months later. Himmler directed the mass murder of millions and paid close attention to what was happening in the concentration camps. It is known that he visited the death camp at Auschwitz on two occasions. At times he issued detailed orders about how the camps should be run, even explaining in detail how much food prisoners should be given. He also authorized the gruesome medical experiments conducted by Nazi doctors who used concentration camp prisoners as subjects. As part of the Nazi campaigns in Eastern Europe, many Jews were forced to live in ghettos, where they were isolated in overcrowded and brutal conditions. Himmler took a great interest in the Warsaw Ghetto, and when the Jews rose up in a rebellion in the spring of 1943, he gave orders to conduct a brutal campaign that amounted to extermination of the residents. As World War II expanded and the Germans began to suffer defeats, Himmler made plans to create SS guerrilla units which would conduct warfare against the Allies in the event Germany was forced to surrender. In 1944 he was put in the field at one point to command troops, but as he had no real military experience, he was ineffective. Hitler called him back to Berlin to command troops positioned there. Downfall In early 1945, when it became evident that Germany would lose the war, Himmler tried to reach out to the Americans to make a peace deal. He hoped to evade prosecution as a war criminal. The American commander in Europe, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, refused to consider Himmler’s peace offer and declared him a war criminal. Hitler was enraged by the betrayal and stripped Himmler of his power. As Germany was collapsing, Himmler sought to escape. He shaved his distinctive mustache, dressed in civilian clothes, and tried to blend in with the refugees traveling on the roads. Himmler was stopped at a checkpoint manned by British soldiers and he was able to produce fake identity papers. However, he aroused the suspicion of the British, who took him into custody and turned him over to intelligence officers. When questioned, Himmler admitted his real identity. While being searched on the night of May 23, 1945, Himmler managed to put a vial of poison in his mouth and bite down on it. He died minutes later. A dispatch by the Reuters News Service published in the New York Times on May 25, 1945 was headlined Himmler Outsmarted Himself. The story noted that Himmler, who had created a system of Germans often having to show identity papers to members of the Gestapo, would have had a set of fake identity papers created for himself. But in the chaos of the war’s end, few refugees on the roads still had their papers. Himmler’s pristine set of papers was what drew attention at the checkpoint. Had he simply claimed he was a refugee trying to walk home and had lost his papers, the British soldiers at the bridge might have waved him along. Sources: Heinrich Himmler. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 7, Gale, 2004, pp. 398-399. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Reshef, Yehudacxv, and Peter Longreich. Himmler, Heinrich °. Encyclopaedia Judaica, edited by Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 2nd ed., vol. 9, Macmillan Reference USA, 2007, pp. 121-122. Gale Virtual Reference Library.Himmler, Heinrich. Learning About the Holocaust: A Students Guide, edited by Ronald M. Smelser, vol. 2, Macmillan Reference USA, 2001, pp. 89-91. Gale Virtual Reference Library.SS (Schutzstaffel). Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction, edited by John Merriman and Jay Winter, vol. 4, Charles Scribners Sons, 2006, pp. 2434-2438. Gale Virtual Reference Library.