Name	Yukiya Amano
Office	Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency
Term start	1 December 2009
Predecessor	Mohamed ElBaradei
Birth date	May 09, 1947
Birth place	Kanagawa, Japan
Party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	University of TokyoUniversity of Franche-ComtéUniversity of Nice Sophia Antipolis }}

is the current Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), having been elected to the position in July 2009. Amano previously served as a Japanese diplomat and international civil servant for the United Nations and its subdivisions.

Early life

Amano was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, in 1947. He started his studies at the University of Tokyo in 1968. After graduating from the Faculty of Law, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April 1972. He specialized in the international disarmament issue and nuclear nonproliferation efforts. In 1973–1974, he studied at the University of Franche-Comté and in 1974–1975, at the University of Nice, France.

Career

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Amano held different posts in the foreign ministry such as the Director of the Science Division and Director of the Nuclear Energy Division in 1993. As a member of the Diplomatic service, he was posted in the Embassies of Japan in Vientiane, Washington and Brussels, in the Delegation of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and was Consul General of Japan in Marseille.

In August 2002, he was appointed Director-General for Arms Control and Scientific Affairs, and in August 2004, he was appointed Director-General of the Disarmament, Nonproliferation and Science Department. In these positions, he was involved in international negotiations such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty extension, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention verification protocol, amendment of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation. He represented Japan as a governmental expert on the UN Panel on Missiles in April 2001 and in the UN Expert Group on Disarmament and Nonproliferation Education in July 2001.

International Atomic Energy Agency

In 2005, Amano served as the ambassador from Japan to the IAEA. From September 2005 to September 2006, Amano served as the Chairman of the IAEA Board of Governors. During this time, the IAEA and its Director General Mohamed ElBaradei received the Nobel Peace Prize. Amano represented the IAEA as the chairman at the Nobel Prize award ceremony held in December 2005.

In September 2008, the Japanese government announced that it had nominated Yukiya Amano to be the next Director General of the IAEA. On 2 July 2009, he was elected by the Board of Governors as Director General for the IAEA in the sixth round of voting. He defeated South African representative Abdul Samad Minty, his primary rival. On 3 July 2009 all 145 IAEA member states formally appointed Yukiya Amano "by acclamation".

On 1 December 2009, Amano began his first term as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In November 2010, British newspaper The Guardian reported on a U.S. diplomatic cable originating a year earlier in Vienna and supplied to the newspaper by WikiLeaks, detailing a meeting between Amano and an American ambassador. The author of the cable summarized a statement by Amano in which the latter offered that he "was solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program." In March 2012, Amano was accused by several former senior officials of pro-western bias, over-reliance on unverified intelligence and of sidelining sceptics.

Views on nuclear proliferation

In an interview mid-2009 with the Austrian newspaper ''Die Presse'', Yukiya Amano said he was "resolute in opposing the spread of nuclear arms because I am from a country that experienced Hiroshima and Nagasaki".

November 2011 IAEA Report on Iran

In an interview with Democracy Now on November 21st 2011, Seymour Hersh, precising an article he wrote for the New Yorker, three days earlier, claimed that Yukiya Amano's election to the IAEA was a political appointment, heavily backed by the US administration, and that the IAEA report on Iran's ability or desire to produce a nuclear weapon relies on no new evidence and that many experts in the IAEA, as well as in the American and Israeli intelligence community, had indicated to Hersh that they do not endorse it.

According to a U.S. cable obtained by WikiLeaks , in a meeting in September, 2009 with Glyn Davies, the American permanent representative to the IAEA, Amano "reminded Ambassador on several occasions that he would need to make concessions to the G-77 [the developing nations], which correctly required him to be fair-minded and independent, but that he was solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program."

Involvement in nuclear emergency after Japanese earthquake and tsunami

After the Fukushima I nuclear accidents on 11 March 2011, Amano held a meeting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Tokyo on 18 March. Amano, "who had just arrived from the agency’s headquarters ... said he would dispatch a team 'within days' to monitor radiation near the damaged plant." At the meeting, Amano said Kan "agreed on the necessity to disclose as much information as possible on the unfolding nuclear crisis in Fukushima. 'What’s important is coordination with international society and better transparency,' Mr. Amano told reporters before the meeting."

Personal

Amano is married and speaks English, French and his native language, Japanese.

Criticism

Accusation of Pro western bias

The Guardian newspaper ran an editorial that read "Nuclear watchdog chief accused of pro-western bias over Iran", where Robert Kelley, a former US weapons scientists who ran the IAEA action team on Iraq criticised Amano. Hans Blix, a former IAEA director general, raised concerns about the agency's credibility under Amano.

However western diplomats in Vienna (where IAEA's headquarters is located), defended Amano.

Publications

A Japanese View on Nuclear Disarmament, ''The Non-Proliferation Review'', 2002

The Significance of the NPT Extension, ''Future Restraints on Arms Proliferation'', 1996

La Non Proliferation Nucleaire en Extreme-Orient, ''Proliferation et Non-Proliferation Nucleaire'', 1995

Sea Dumping of Liquid Radioactive Waste by Russia, ''Gaiko Jiho'', 1994

See also

Nuclear Security Summit (2010) (attended)

References

External links

IAEA Director General's Corner

Category:1947 births Category:Directors General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Category:Japanese diplomats Category:Japanese expatriates in Austria Category:Living people Category:Nuclear proliferation Category:People associated with nuclear power Category:People from Kanagawa Prefecture Category:United Nations officials Category:University of Tokyo alumni

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David J. Wineland (born 1944) is an American physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physics laboratory in Boulder. His work has included advances in optics, specifically laser cooling of ions in Paul traps and use of trapped ions to implement quantum computing operations.

Wineland received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965 and his PhD in 1970 working under Norman Ramsey at Harvard University. He then worked as a postdoc in Hans Dehmelt's group at the University of Washington before joining the National Bureau of Standards in 1975 where he started the ion storage group, now at NIST, Boulder.

Wineland is a fellow of the American Physical society, the American Optical society, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1992.

He was the recipient of the 1990 Davisson-Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics, the 1990 William F. Meggers Award of the Optical Society of America, the 1996 Einstein Medal for Laser Science of the Society of Optical and Quantum electronics, the 1998 Rabi Award from the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society, the 2001 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, the 2007 National Medal of Science in the physical sciences, the 2008 Herbert Walther Award from the OSA., and The Franklin Institute's 2010 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics with Juan Ignacio Cirac and Peter Zoller.

References

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:American physicists Category:Optical physicists Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:National Medal of Science laureates Category:Members of the Optical Society of America Category:Harvard University alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni

de:David Wineland pt:David Wineland

The Atom is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe.

There have been five characters who have shared the Atom codename. The original Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, was created by Ben Flinton and Bill O'Connor and first appeared in All-American Publications' ''All-American Comics'' #19 (Oct. 1940). The second Atom was the Silver Age Atom, Ray Palmer, who first appeared in 1961. The third Atom, Adam Cray, was a minor character present in Suicide Squad stories. The fourth Atom, Ryan Choi, debuted in a new ''Atom'' series in August 2006. The fifth Atom from the 853rd Century first appeared as part of Justice Legion Alpha in August 1999.

The Atom has been the star of multiple solo series, and four of the five have appeared as members of various superhero teams, such as the Justice Society of America, the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and the Justice Legion Alpha.

Fictional character biographies

Al Pratt

The original Atom, Al Pratt, first appeared in ''All-American Comics'' #19 (Oct. 1940). He initially had no superpowers; instead, he was a diminutive college student and later a physicist who was depicted as a tough guy, a symbol of all the short kids who could still make a difference. Pratt was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, later gaining limited super-strength, and an energy charged 'atomic punch'. He died in the charge against Extant during the Zero Hour.

Ray Palmer

The Atom introduced during the Silver Age of comic books in ''Showcase'' #34 (1961) is physicist and university professor Ray Palmer (named for real-life science fiction writer Raymond A. Palmer, who was himself quite short). Using a mass of white dwarf star matter, he fashioned a lens which allowed him to shrink down to subatomic size. Originally, his size and molecular density abilities derived from the white dwarf star material of his costume, controlled by mechanisms in his belt, and later by controls in the palms of his gloves. Much later, he gained the innate equivalent powers within his own body. After the events of ''Identity Crisis'', Ray shrunk himself to microscopic size and disappeared. Finding him became a major theme of the Countdown year long series and crossover event.

Paul Hoben

Prior to Ray Palmer's fateful trip to the Amazon Jungle, he learns his wife Jean Loring had an affair with fellow lawyer Paul Hoben and the two divorce. Later, Palmer would offer his blessing to the couple who marry and offers Hoben his size-changing belt in order to protect Ivy Town (as Ray wished to remain with the Morlaidhans) which he accepts. His belt would later be stolen by Adam Cray. It should be noted, Hoben never takes up the costume or name of the Atom.

===Adam Cray===

Adam Cray, son of the murdered Senator Cray, first appeared as the Atom in the pages of ''Suicide Squad'' #44 by John Ostrander (August 1990). At first Cray was widely believed to be Ray Palmer in disguise (by both the fans and the characters). Actually Cray had been recruited by Palmer himself, who faked his death, in order to apprehend the Micro Squad (a group of villains that had been shrunk down) as well as uncover information about a shadowy government cabal, who were interested in Palmer's knowledge of the other heroes' secret identities (his own identity being no longer a secret).

While Palmer would infiltrate the Micro Squad, Cray would gather the attention of the Cabal as the new Atom, so that no one would notice Palmer assuming the identity of a fallen Micro Squad member.

Adam Cray ran with the Suicide Squad only for a short while, serving as a secret weapon most of the time, and his existence was for a while even unknown to others of the Squad. Cray even saves a wounded Amanda Waller from a group of assassins. At one point, Cray approaches Deadshot about the fact that Deadshot had murdered his father. Deadshot tells Cray that he would get one free shot at him. Soon after, on a mission, Cray is impaled through the chest by Blacksnake, a Micro Squad member who believes him to be Palmer.

After the murder of Cray (a move Palmer had not foreseen), Palmer reveals himself and defeats Cray's murderer. The ruse ended, Palmer explains himself to the Justice League, who had been searching for him, after hearing rumors of a new Atom.

During the events of ''Blackest Night'', Adam's corpse is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps alongside several other fallen Suicide Squad members. Following his reanimation, Adam and the other Black Lanterns travel to Belle Reve and attack Bane and Black Alice. Adam is apparently destroyed by the Manhunter's self destruct mechanism to unleashing an explosion of Green Lantern energy that eradicates the Black Lanterns.

===Ryan Choi=== Ryan Choi, as described by DC solicitations, is "a young hotshot professor who's filling the extra spot on Ivy University's teaching staff. .. and who inadvertently ends up filling the old Atom's super-heroic shoes". This new Atom is based on a redesign by Grant Morrison. He debuted in the ''Brave New World'' one-shot, a preview of upcoming projects, and then appeared in the series, ''The All-New Atom'', written by Gail Simone. He is later murdered by Deathstroke and his Titans.

Atom One Million

An unnamed scientist in the 853rd Century performed experiments in superstring theory that creates a singularity and whose radiation alters his physical make-up. When the singularity threatened to expand and destroy his universe, he enters it in an attempt to save the universe but instead finds himself on an interdimensional bridge to another universe as his own is wiped out, unable to stop it. At the end of the bridge, he finds Superman Prime who came to help but was too late. Stranded, he searches this universe for remnants of the one he lost, in time taking the name the Atom and joining the Justice Legion Alpha when he helped them defeat the Bizarro-Legion. This Atom's powers differ from his predecessors in that he doesn't shrink but breaks up into several smaller duplicates of himself divided amongst his mass. At atomic size, these duplicates can mimic elements such as gold and oxygen.

Other versions

Frank Miller portrayed Ray Palmer as a major player in ''Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again''. He was taken prisoner by Lex Luthor and made to live in one of his own petri dishes for a period of months until his rescue by Catgirl. He was then instrumental in the liberation of Kandor.

Tangent Comics

In the Tangent Comics print, The Atom is Arthur Harrison Thompson, a subject of radiation testing on human beings. The first hero in the Tangent timeline, he was succeeded by his son, who was killed by the Tangent Comics version of the Fatal Five, and a grandson named Adam, who, in ''Tangent: Superman's Reign'', is being held captive by Superman.

Elseworlds

Some other re-imaginings of the Atom include an appearance in ''League of Justice'', a story portraying the Justice League in a ''The Lord of the Rings''-type story where the Atom was recast as a wizard/fortune teller called "Atomus The Palmer".

Al Pratt as the Atom was one of the three heroes who chose to work at the side of Senator Thompson in ''The Golden Age''. When Al discovers that Thompson is really the Ultra-Humanite, he joins the other heroes against the villain and Dyna-Man.

The Al Pratt Atom appeared in ''JSA: The Unholy Three'' as a post-WW2 intelligence agent with transparent atomic flesh and a visible skeleton.

''JLA: Age of Wonder'' where Ray Palmer worked with a science consortium whose numbers at one point included Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

''JLA: Created Equal'', after Ray Palmer is killed in the cosmic storm that nearly wipes out the rest of the male population on Earth, a graduate student named Jill Athron is given a research grant to study Palmer's white-dwarf-star-belt. She becomes the Atom and joins the Justice League.

Atom evolved from a hawkman that had evolved from Robin in the ''Just Imagine...'' comic book.

52 Multiverse

In the final issue of ''52'', a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-2". As a result of Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-2, including the Atom among other Justice Society of America characters. The names of the characters and the team are not mentioned in the panel in which they appear, but the Atom is visually similar to the Al Pratt Atom. Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-2.

In ''Countdown'' #30, the Challengers from Beyond encountered Earth-15, a world where the sidekicks had taken their mentor's places. On this Earth, the Atom is Jessica Palmer, a genius who graduated from MIT at age eight. ''The Search for Ray Palmer - Red Son'' features the Ray Palmer of Earth-30, an American captured by the Superman of a communist Russia. ''Countdown: Arena'' also depicts the Ray Palmer of Earth-6, who through unknown circumstances now has the powers and title of the Ray. ''The Search For Ray Palmer: Superwoman/Batwoman'' briefly features a female version of The Atom.

In the first issue of the 2010 ''Batman Beyond'' limited series, a future African-American version of the Atom known as Micron appears as one of the heroes of Earth-12.

Collected Editions

''Ray Palmer''

Title	Material collected	Pages	ISBN#
''The Atom'' Archives, Vol. 1	''Showcase'' #34-36, ''The Atom'' #1-5		208		ISBN 1563897172
''The Atom'' Archives, Vol. 2	''The Atom'' #6-13		208		ISBN 1401200141
''Sword of the Atom''	''Sword of the Atom'' #1-4 and ''Sword of the Atom Special'' #1-3		232		ISBN 140121553X
''DC Comics Presents: The Atom''	''Legends of the DC Universe'' #28-29 and 40-41		96

''Ryan Choi''

Title	Material collected	Pages	ISBN#
My Life in Miniature	''The All-New Atom'' #1-6		160		ISBN 1401213251
Future/Past	''The All-New Atom'' #7-11		128		ISBN 1401215688
The Hunt for Ray Palmer	''The All-New Atom'' #12-16		128		ISBN 9781401217822
Small Wonder	''The All-New Atom'' #17-18 and 20-25		192

In other media

Television

Ray Palmer (voiced by Pat Harrington, Jr.) appeared in his own episodes in ''The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure.''

Ray Palmer appears with the ''SuperFriends'' in ''The All-New Super Friends Hour'' and ''The Super Friends Hour'' voiced by Wally Burr.

The Atom also makes an appearance with a slightly different color scheme costume in the live action 1979 TV special "Legends of the Superheroes", specifically "The Roast" episode.

A future version of the Atom called Micron appeared as a Justice League Unlimited member in the ''Batman Beyond'' two part episode "The Call" voiced by Wayne Brady. Unlike the Atom, Micron can grow as well as shrink, and similar to Atom Smasher with super-strength.

In an early ''Justice League'' episode, "Legends," the League team up with the Justice Society pastiche the Justice Guild of America. JGA member Tom Turbine is a cross between Golden Age Atom and the Golden Age Superman. The Atom is later mentioned by name in "Hereafter," as a future Vandal Savage describes how he stole technology from Ray Palmer and destroyed the world.

The Atom (Ray Palmer) later appeared in ''Justice League Unlimited'' in both "Dark Heart" and "The Return" as a nanotechnology expert, voiced by John C. McGinley.

The Atom (Ray Palmer) also appeared in the 1997 live action made-for-TV movie pilot, ''Justice League of America'' played by John Kassir.

The Ryan Choi version of the Atom appears in the series ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold'', voiced by James Sie. The Atom helps Batman stop evil sorcerer Felix Faust from opening Pandora's Box in "Evil Under the Sea!". He re-appeared along with Aquaman to save Batman from a virus created by Chemo in "Journey to the Center of the Bat!". Atom has a Crime Syndicate counterpart called Dyna-Mite, also voiced by James Sie. A mind-controlled Ryan Choi appears in "The Siege of Starro! Part One", demonstrating the ability to grow to giant sizes, which he uses to prevent Batman from destroying a signal leading Starro to Earth. He also appears in the teaser for "The Criss Cross Conspiracy!", where he, Batman, and Aquaman battle the Bug-Eyed Bandit.

The Atom is briefly mentioned in the ''Young Justice'' episode "Failsafe", with Cat Grant stating that he had been killed alongside Batman, Icon and Aquaman during an alien invasion of Earth. The invasion is later revealed to simply be a training exercise. The Atom is shown among several candidates for Justice League membership in the episode "Agendas" where Batman cites his size-changing abilities as an important asset and he is officially inducted into the group in the episode "Usual Suspects".

Video Game

The Atom (Ray Palmer) appears in DC Universe Online.

See Also

Molecule

References

External links

Index to the Atom's Earth-1 adventures

Article on the history/legacy of The Atom from the Comics 101 article series by Scott Tipton

THE SIMONE FILES II: THE ALL NEW ATOM

COUNTING DOWN TO COUNTDOWN IV: THE GREAT DISASTER AND THE ATOM

Category:DC Comics superheroes Atom Category:Fictional American people of Chinese descent Category:Fictional Hong Kong people Category:Fictional schoolteachers Category:DC Comics martial artists Category:Fictional professors Category:Comics characters introduced in 1990 Category:Comics characters introduced in 2006 Category:Size change in fiction Category:Fictional characters who can change size Category:Characters created by John Ostrander

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