Electron and Al Franken: Difference between pages

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{{Future election candidate|article|Franken, Al}}
{{alternateuses}}
{{Infobox Congressional Candidate
{{dablink|"e-" redirects here. For the [[Internet-related prefix]] e-, see Wiktionary's entry [[wikt:e-|e-]].}}
| name = Al Franken
{{dablink|"Negatron" redirects here. For the album by Voivod, see [[Negatron (album)]].}}
| image = Franken-closeup.JPG‎
{{Infobox Particle
| bgcolour =
| caption =
| nominee = U.S. Senator from Minnesota<br>([[United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2008|2008 election]])
| name = Electron
| incumbent = [[Norm Coleman]]
| image = [[Image:HAtomOrbitals.png|280px]]
| opponent = [[Norm Coleman]]
| caption = Theoretical [[Probability amplitude|probability densities]] for the first few [[hydrogen atom]] [[Atomic orbital|orbitals]], seen in cross-section. The energy level of a bound electron determines the orbital it occupies, and the color intensity shows the probability that the electron will be seen at that position.
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|5|21}}
| num_types =
| birth_place = [[New York, New York]], [[United States|USA]]
| composition = [[Elementary particle]]
| death_date =
| family = [[Fermion]]
| death_place =
| group = [[Lepton]]
| occupation = [[comedian]], [[actor]], [[author]], [[screenwriter]], [[political commentator]], [[politician]] and [[radio host]]
| generation = First
| party=[[Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party|Democratic-Farmer-Labor]]
| interaction = [[Gravity]], [[Electromagnetic interaction|Electromagnetic]], [[Weak interaction|Weak]]
| antiparticle = [[Positron]]
| alma mater = [[Harvard University]]
| salary =
| theorized = [[G. Johnstone Stoney]] (1874)
| networth =
| discovered = [[J.J. Thomson]] (1897)
| spouse = Franni Bryson Franken
| symbol = e<sup>−</sup>, β<sup>−</sup>
| children = Thomasin and Joe
| mass=9.10938215(45){{Esp|-31}}&nbsp;kg<ref name=CODATA>{{cite journal
| website = [http://www.alfranken.com/content/splash Al Franken for Senate]
| last=Mohr | first=Peter J.
| net worth =$4.3–9.9 million ([[USD]]) <ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-05-22-al-franken_N.htm Al Franken worth between $4.3 million and $9.9 million - USATODAY.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
| coauthors=Taylor, Barry N.; Newell, David B.
| footnotes =
| title=CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants
| journal=Reviews of Modern Physics
| date=2006-06-06 | volume=80 | pages=633–730
| doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.80.633
}}</ref><ref>The fractional version’s denominator is the inverse of the decimal value (along with its relative standard uncertainty of 5.0{{Esp|–8}}).</ref><br>
5.48579909(27){{Esp|–4}}&nbsp;[[Atomic mass unit|u]]<br>
1&frasl;1822.8884843(11)&nbsp;[[Atomic mass unit|u]]<br>
0.510998918(44)&nbsp;[[Electronvolt|MeV]]/[[speed of light|c]]<sup>2
| electric_charge = –1.602176487(40){{Esp|–19}}&nbsp;[[Coulomb|C]]<ref name=CODATA /><ref>The electron’s charge is the negative of ''[[elementary charge]]'', which is a positive value for the proton.</ref>
| magnetic_moment = 1.00115965218111(74)&nbsp;[[Bohr magneton|μ<sub>B</sub>]]<ref name=CODATA />
| spin = ½
| num_spin_states =
}}
}}
'''Alan Stuart "Al" Franken''' (born [[May 21|May 21,]] 1951) is an [[Emmy Award]]–winning [[United States|American]] [[comedian]], [[writer]], [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] [[political commentator]], and, recently, [[politician]]. He gained fame as a writer and a performer for ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', eventually writing and appearing in several films. Since then, Franken has become more known for his political commentary, writing numerous bestselling books and hosting a [[The Al Franken Show|nationally-syndicated radio show]] on [[Air America Radio]].


On [[February 14|February 14,]] [[2007|2007,]] Franken announced his candidacy for the 2008 [[United States Senate]] [[United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2008|election]] in [[Minnesota]] as a member of the [[Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party|Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party]], and was nominated by that party on June 7, 2008.<ref>[http://ww3.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/?p=1062 The Big Question » Blog Archive » It’s Franken in One<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He won the Democratic Party primary on September 9, 2008, defeating his closest opponent 65% to 29%.<ref>[http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvonEK0aSFP9aZpT3p6uUTlUQ_GwD933KGPO0 "Al Franken wins Senate nod amid 7 state primaries" By Brian Bakst]</ref> The seat is currently held by [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Norm Coleman]] and was previously held by [[Paul Wellstone]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Chris Rovzar; Jessica Pressler | title=Al Franken Decides He's Good Enough, Smart Enough to Run for Senate | url=http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/02/al_franken_decides_hes_good_en_1.html | work=New York Magazine | date=2007-02-01 | accessdate=2008-02-16}}</ref>
The '''electron''' is a [[fundamental particle|fundamental]] [[subatomic particle]] that carries a negative [[electric charge]]. It is a spin ½ [[lepton]] that participates in [[electromagnetic interaction]]s, and its mass is approximately <math>1/1836</math> of that of the [[proton]]. Together with [[atomic nucleus|atomic nuclei]], which consist of [[proton]]s and [[neutron]]s, electrons make up [[atoms]]. The electron(s) interaction with electron(s) of adjacent nuclei is the main cause of [[chemical bonding]].


==Etymology==
==Biography==
===Personal life===
The [[English language|English]] name electron is a combination of the word ''[[electric]]'' and the suffix ''-on'', with the latter now used to designate a [[subatomic particle]].{{cn}}<!-- This is not sufficient <ref>Guralnik (1970).</ref>--> Both electric and electricity are derived from the [[Latin]] ''ēlectrum'', which in turn came from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''ēlektron'' (''ήλεκτρον'') for [[amber]]; a gemstone that is formed from the hardened sap of trees (the ancient Greeks noticed that amber, when rubbed with fur, attracted small objects. Apart from [[lightning]] this phenomenon was man's earliest experience of electricity.<ref>Shipley, Joseph T. (1945). Dictionary of Word Origins. New York, N. Y.: Philosophical Library.</ref>
Franken was born in [[New York]], the [[son]] of Phoebe G. (née Kunst), a homemaker and [[real estate]] agent, and Joseph P. Franken, a printing [[sales]]man.<ref>[http://www.wargs.com/other/franken.html Ancestry of Al Franken<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.filmreference.com/film/91/Al-Franken.html Al Franken Biography (1951?–)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Franken had a [[Jew]]ish upbringing{{Fact|date=September 2008}} and grew up in [[St. Louis Park, Minnesota|St. Louis Park]], a suburb near [[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]]. Franken is a cousin of [[MSNBC]]'s [[Bob Franken]].<ref>{{Fact|date=April 2008}}</ref> His older brother, Owen Franken, is a [[photojournalist]]. Franken attended [[St. Louis Park High School]] until the tenth grade. He graduated in 1969 from [[The Blake School]], where he was on the [[sport wrestling|wrestling]] team. He attended [[Harvard College]] and graduated ''[[Latin honors|cum laude]]'' in 1973 with a [[bachelor of arts]] degree.<ref name=Corliss/> At Harvard, Franken washed dishes as a participant in the [[work-study]] program with [[Richard Honaker]], who was nominated by [[U.S. President]] [[George W. Bush]] in 2007 as one of three [[U.S. District Judge]]s from [[Wyoming]].<ref>[http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/03/20/news/top_story/6fbf6fcf6aae840f872572a40004e07a.txt Casper Star-Tribune Online - Top Story<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>


Franken met his wife, the former Franni Bryson, in his first year of college at a Harvard-[[Simmons College (Massachusetts)|Simmons]] mixer, and they have been together ever since. They have a daughter, Thomasin, and a son, Joe, who both attended New York City's [[Dalton School]]. Joe graduated from [[Princeton University]] in June 2007. Thomasin was a public school teacher in New York City, with a degree in sociology from [[Harvard College]], but is now volunteering full time for her father's campaign. The Frankens reside in Minneapolis. He is an active member of the [[Independent Order of Odd Fellows]] (Manchester Unity).
==History==
{{main|History of electromagnetism}}


===Writer and performer===
As early as 1838&ndash;51, the British natural philosopher [[Richard Laming]] conceived the idea that an atom is composed of a core of matter surrounded by sub-atomic particles that had unit [[electrical charge]]s. Beginning in 1846, German physicist [[Wilhelm Eduard Weber|William Weber]] theorized that electricity was composed of positively and negatively charged fluids, and their interaction was govered by the [[inverse square law]]. After studying the phenomenon of [[electrolysis]], in 1874 the Anglo-Irish physicist [[G. Johnstone Stoney]] suggested that there existed a "single definite quantity of electrity." He was able to estimate the value of the charge ''e'' of a [[monovalent]] [[ion]] by means of [[Faraday's laws of electrolysis]].<ref>{{cite journal
[[Image:Al Franken at Rammstein Air Force Base, Dec 2000.JPEG|thumb|left|Al Franken entertaining at [[Ramstein Air Base]], December 2000.]]
| last=Barrow | first=J. D.
Franken's performing career began in high school, where he and longtime writing partner [[Tom Davis (comedian)|Tom Davis]] were known for their humor. Franken honed his writing and performing skills at Minneapolis's [[Dudley Riggs]]' [[Brave New Workshop]] theater, specializing in political satire. He and Davis soon found themselves in "a life of near-total failure on the fringes of show business in Los Angeles."<ref>Hill, Doug and Weingrad, Jeff, ''Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live'' (Vintage Books, 1987) ISBN 0-394-75053-5</ref>
| title=Natural Units Before Planck
| journal=Royal Astronomical Society Quarterly Journal
| year=1983 | volume=24 | pages=24–26
| url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983QJRAS..24...24B
| accessdate=2008-08-30 }}</ref> However, Stoney believed these charges were permanently attached to atoms and could not be removed. In 1881, German physicist [[Hermann von Helmholtz]] argued that both positive and negative charges were divided into elementary parts, each of which "behaves like atoms of electricity".<ref name=arabatzis>{{cite book
| last=Arabatzis | first=Theodore | year=2006
| title=Representing Electrons: A Biographical Approach to Theoretical Entities
| publisher=University of Chicago Press
| isbn=0226024210 }}</ref>


Franken and Davis were recruited as two of the original writers (and occasional performers) on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' from 1975 to 1980 and again from 1985 to 1995, although in the latter case only Franken returned as a performer while Davis usually stayed behind the camera.
In 1894, Stoney coined the term ''electron'' to represent these elementary charges.


In the first season, as apprentice writers, the two shared a salary of US$350 per week. Franken received seven Emmy nominations and three [[Emmy Award]]s for his television writing and production. He created characters such as [[self-help]] guru [[Stuart Smalley]] and routines such as proclaiming the 1980s to be the "Al Franken Decade." Franken was associated with ''SNL'' for over 15 years and in 2002 interviewed former [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Al Gore]] while in character as Smalley. Franken and Davis wrote the script to the 1986 comedy film ''[[One More Saturday Night]],'' appearing in it as rock singers in a band called "Bad Mouth." They also had cameos together in ''[[The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash]]'' as promoter Ron Decline's ([[John Belushi]]) henchmen and in the [[Eddie Murphy]] and [[Dan Aykroyd]] film ''[[Trading Places]]'' as the baggage handlers with the gorilla on the train.
{{quote|1=In this paper an estimate was made of the actual amount of this most remarkable fundamental unit of electricity, for which I have since ventured to suggest the name ''electron''.|2={{Cite journal
| last = Stoney | first = George Johnstone
| authorlink = George Johnstone Stoney
| title = Of the "Electron," or Atom of Electricity
| journal = [[Philosophical Magazine]]
| volume = 38 | issue = 5 | pages = 418–420
| year = 1894 | month = October
| url = http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Stoney-1894.html }}}}


Franken's most notorious ''SNL'' performance may have been "A Limo for the Lame-O", a commentary delivered by Franken near the end of the 1979–80 season. Franken mocked controversial NBC president [[Fred Silverman]] as "a total unequivocal failure" and displayed a chart showing the poor ratings of NBC programs. Franken proclaimed that Silverman did not deserve a limo, unlike Franken, a comedian on a popular NBC program. As a result of this sketch, Silverman nixed Lorne Michaels's request that Franken succeed him as SNL's head producer, prompting Franken to leave the show when Michaels did, at the end of the 1979–80 season.<ref>Shales, T: "Live From New York", page 191. Back Bay Books, 2003.</ref> Franken later returned to the series in 1985, mostly as a writer but also as an occasional performer best known for the Stuart Smalley character. He acknowledged using cocaine while working for ''Saturday Night Live'' but he no longer uses any illicit drugs.<ref>{{cite web| last =Cox| first =Ana Marie| title =Don't Laugh at Al Franken| publisher =CNN/Time| date =2007-04-05| url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1607252,00.html| accessdate = 2007-08-19}}</ref> Franken left the show in 1995 in protest over losing the role of "Weekend Update" anchor to [[Norm MacDonald (comedian)| Norm MacDonald]].<ref>Shales, T: "Live From New York", pages 433-444. Back Bay Books, 2003.</ref>
===Identification===
[[Image:Schattenkreuzröhre-in use-lateral view-standing cross.jpg|right|thumb|Lateral view of a [[Crookes tube]], with the cathode at left. The profile of the cross-shaped anode is projected against the tube face at right by the beam of particles.]]
Progress in the study of electrons began to occur once a [[cathode ray]] tube was developed that had a [[high vacuum]] within its interior. Once he had accomplished during the 1870s,<ref>{{cite journal
| last=DeKosky | first=Robert
| title=William Crookes and the quest for absolute vacuum in the 1870s
| journal=Annals of Science | year=1983
| volume=40 | issue=1 | pages=1–18
| doi=10.1080/00033798300200101 }}</ref> English chemist and physicist Sir [[William Crookes]] was able to show that the luminescence rays appearing within the tube carried energy and moved from the cathode to the anode. Further, by applying a magnetic field, he was able to deflect the rays, thereby demonstrating that the beam behaved as though it were negatively charged.<ref name=leicester>*{{cite book
| last=Leicester | first=Henry M. | year=1971
| title=The Historical Background of Chemistry
| publisher=Courier Dover Publications
| isbn=0486610535 }}</ref> In 1879, he proposed that these properties could be explained by what he termed 'radiant matter'. He suggested that this was a fourth state of matter, consisting of negatively charged molecules that were being projected with high velocity from the cathode.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Zekman | first=P. | editor=Lockyer, Norman
| title=Sir William Crookes, F.R.S.
| journal=Nature | year=1907
| volume=77 | issue=1984 | pages=1–3
| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UtYRAAAAYAAJ
| accessdate=2008-08-25 }}</ref>


Besides writing five ''[[New York Times]]'' [[bestselling]] books, three of which reached #1, including ''[[Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations]],'' Franken wrote the original screenplay and starred in the film ''[[Stuart Saves His Family]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/05-11-08-01.all.html|title=The Al Franken Show from Woolsey Hall|date=2005-11-08}}</ref>, which was panned by critics (receiving a rating of 29% on the website, Rottentomatoes.com). He also co-wrote the film ''[[When a Man Loves a Woman (film)|''When A Man Loves A Woman'']].'' He co-created and starred in the NBC sitcom ''[[LateLine]]'' until it was canceled in its second season. He appeared in the 2004 re-make of ''[[The Manchurian Candidate]]'' as Reporter #1, a role he joked was made specifically for him, saying: "Reporter #1 didn't appear in the original version."{{Fact|date=February 2008}}
The German-born British physicist [[Arthur Schuster]] expanded upon Crookes's experiments by placing metal plates in parallel to the cathode rays and applying an electrical potential between the plates. The resulting field deflected the rays toward the positive plate, providing further evidence that the rays carried negative charge. By measuring the amount of deflection for a given level of current, in 1890 Schuster was able to estimate the [[Mass-to-charge ratio|charge-to-mass ratio]]<!-- Note: the older sources list charge-to-mass rather than the modern mass-to-charge ratio --> of the ray components. However, this produced such an unexpectedly large value that little credence was given to his calculations at the time.<ref name=leicester/>


In 2003, Franken served as a Fellow with [[Harvard]]'s [[Kennedy School of Government]] at the [[Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy]]. Later he became the first nationally syndicated radio talk show host to visit [[Iraq]],{{Fact|date=March 2007}} where he headlined two [[USO]] shows while traveling with [[Russell Adam Burnham|Russell Burnham]], the U.S. Army Soldier of the Year. Franken has done seven USO tours to date, his most recent being in mid-December 2006.
In 1896, British physicist [[J.J. Thomson]], with his collegues [[John Sealy Townsend|John S. Townsend]] and [[Harold A. Wilson (physicist)|H. A. Wilson]],<ref name=weinberg>{{cite book
| last=Weinberg | first=Steven | year=2003
| title=The Discovery of Subatomic Particles
| publisher=Cambridge University Press
| isbn=052182351X }}</ref> performed experiments indicating that cathode rays really were unique particles, rather than waves, atoms or molecules as was believed earlier. Thomson made good estimates of both the charge ''e'' and the mass ''m'', finding that cathode ray particles, which he called "corpuscles", had perhaps one thousandth of the mass of the least massive ion known (hydrogen). He also showed that their charge to mass ratio, ''e''/''m'', was independent of cathode material. He further showed that the negatively charged particles produced by radioactive materials, by heated materials, and by illuminated materials, were universal.<ref>{{cite web
| last=Thomson | first=J. J. | date=1906-12-11
| url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1906/thomson-lecture.html
| title=Lecture, The Nobel Prize in Physics 1906
| publisher=The Nobel Foundation
| accessdate=2008-08-25
}}</ref> The name electron was again proposed for these particles by the Irish physicist [[George FitzGerald|George F. Fitzgerald]], and it has since gained universal acceptance.<ref name=leicester />


Since May 2005, Franken has been a contributing blogger at ''[[The Huffington Post]]''. Franken's most recent book, ''[[The Truth (with jokes)]],'' was released in 2005.
While studying naturally [[Fluorescence|fluorescing]] minerals in 1896, French physicist [[Henri Becquerel]] discovered that they emitted radiation without any exposure to an external energy source. These [[Radioactive decay|radioactive]] materials became the subject of much interest by scientists, including New Zealand physicist [[Ernest Rutherford]] who discovered they emitted particles. He designated these particles [[Alpha particle|alpha]] and [[Beta particle|beta]], based on their ability to penetrate matter.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Trenn | first=Thaddeus J.
| title=Rutherford on the Alpha-Beta-Gamma Classification of Radioactive Rays
| journal=Isis | date=March 1976
| volume=67 | issue=1 | pages=61–75
| url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/231134 | accessdate=2008-09-04 }}</ref> In 1900, Becquerel showed that the beta rays emitted by [[radium]] could be deflected by an electrical field, and that their mass-to-charge ratio was the same as for cathode rays.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Becquerel | first=Henri
| title=Déviation du Rayonnement du Radium dans un Champ Électrique
| journal=Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences
| year=1900 | volume=130 | pages=809–815
| language=French }}</ref> This evidence strengthened the view that electrons existed as components of atoms.<ref>{{cite book
| last=Buchwald | first=Jed Z.
| coauthors=Warwick, Andrew
| title=Histories of the Electron: The Birth of Microphysics
| year=2001 | publisher=MIT Press
| isbn=0262524244 | pages = 90-91}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| last=Myers | first=William G.
| title=Becquerel's Discovery of Radioactivity in 1896
| journal=Journal of Nuclear Medicine | year=1976
| volume=17 | issue=7 | pages=579–582
| url=http://jnm.snmjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/7/579
| accessdate=2008-09-04 }}</ref>


In June 2003, Franken wrote a letter to several conservatives who favored [[abstinence-only sex education]]. He asked the recipients to be role models for the youth of America by sharing "moment[s] when you were tempted to have sex, but were able to overcome your urges through willpower and strength of character."<ref>[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/frankenabs1.html Franken's Letters to John Ashcroft] from ''[[The Smoking Gun]]''</ref> Franken proposed including the contribution in a book he claimed to be writing called ''Savin' It!'' The recipients included then-[[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[John Ashcroft]]. The following month, Franken wrote each person who received the previous letter and apologized. He explained that his letter was satirical and said, "I am sincerely sorry if I caused any discomfort."
The electron's charge was more carefully measured by American physicist [[Robert Andrews Millikan|R. A. Millikan]] in his [[oil-drop experiment]] of 1909. This experiment used an electrical field to prevent a charged droplet of oil from falling as a result of gravity. This device could measure the electrical charge from as few as 1&ndash;150 ions to within an error margin of 0.3%. Comparable experiments had been made earlier by Thomson's team, using a clouds of charged water droplets generated with electrolysis.<ref name=weinberg /> However, oil drops, not subject to evaporation, were more stable than water drops and more suited to precise experimentation over longer periods of time.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Millikan | first=R. A.
| title=The Isolation of an Ion, a Precision Measurement of its Charge, and the Correction of Stokes's Law
| journal=Physical Review | year=1911
| volume=32 | issue=2 | pages=349–397
| doi=10.1103/PhysRevSeriesI.32.349 }}</ref>


===Atomic theory===
===Radio show===
{{main|The Al Franken Show}}
[[Image:Bohr atom model English.svg|right|thumb|The Bohr model of the atom, showing quantized states of electron orbital energy. An electron dropping to a lower orbit emits a photon equal to the energy difference between the orbits.]]
[[Image:Time 100 Al Franken.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Al Franken at the 2006 [[Time 100]], as covered on the [[blog]] ''[[Rocketboom]]''.]]
By 1914, experiments by physicists Ernest Rutherford, [[Henry Moseley]], [[James Franck]] and [[Gustav Ludwig Hertz|Gustav Hertz]]
Franken signed a one-year contract in early 2004 to become a [[talk show]] host for [[Air America Radio]]'s flagship program with co-host [[Katherine Lanpher]], who remained with the show until October 2005. The network was launched [[March 31]], [[2004]]. The show was originally named ''The O'Franken Factor'' but was renamed ''[[The Al Franken Show]]'' on [[July 12]], [[2004]]. The show aired 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for around 4 years. The aim of this apparent side-track was to counter the then dominance of rightwing syndicated radio commentators who Franken believed strayed from the truth with impunity, and to affect the U.S. political atmosphere. "I'm doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected", he told a ''New York Times'' reporter in 2004.<ref>from ''Al Franken, Seriously So'' by Russell Shorto.[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E6DA1731F932A15750C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=8]</ref> The show was more commentary and interviews with progressive issues analysts than comedy. Franken is a [[Grateful Dead]] fan and used their songs as [[bumper music]] on his radio show. Franken's last radio show on Air America Radio was on [[February 14]], [[2007]]. In the last segment of the show, Franken announced his candidacy for the [[United States Senate]].
had largely established the structure of an atom as a dense [[Atomic nucleus|nucleus]] of positive charge surrounded by lower mass electrons.<ref name=smirnov /> In 1913, Danish physicist [[Niels Bohr]] postulated that electrons resided in quantized energy states, with the energy determined by the [[angular momentum]] of the electron's orbits about the nucleus. The electrons could move between these states, or orbits, by the emission or absorption of photons at specific frequencies. By means of these quantized orbits, he accurately explained the spectral lines of hydrogen that were formed when the gas is energized by heat or electricity. However, Bohr's model failed to account for the relative intensities of the spectral lines and it was unsuccessful in explaining the spectrum of more complex atoms.<ref name=smirnov>{{cite book
| last=Smirnov | first=Boris M. | year=2003
| title=Physics of Atoms and Ions
| publisher=Springer | isbn=038795550X }}</ref>


===Fox News conflict===
[[Chemical bond]]s between atoms were now explained, by [[Gilbert Newton Lewis]] in 1916, as the interactions between their constituent electrons.<ref>{{cite journal
{{main|Fox v. Franken}}
| last=Lewis | first=Gilbert N.
In 2003, [[Penguin Books]] published Franken's book ''[[Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them|Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right]]'', which included a cover photo of [[Fox News]] commentator [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]] and a chapter accusing O'Reilly, with whom Franken was feuding, of lying. In August of that year, [[Fox v. Franken|Fox News sued]], claiming infringement of its registered [[trademark]] phrase "Fair and Balanced". A federal judge found the [[lawsuit]] to be "wholly without merit" and Fox then filed to dismiss it. The episode with Fox focused a great deal of media attention upon Franken's book and, according to Franken, greatly increased its sales. Reflecting on the lawsuit during a September 2003 interview on the [[National Public Radio]] program ''[[Fresh Air]]'', Franken said that Fox's case against him was "literally laughed out of court" and added that the judge's comment that the case was "wholly without merit" was a good characterization of Fox News itself.<ref name=NYT>
| title=The Atom and the Molecule
{{cite web | last = Saulny | first = Susan | authorlink = | date = August 23, 2003 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/nyregion/23FRAN.html?ex=1376971200&en=221c949c94e93f90&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND | title = In Courtroom, Laughter at Fox and a Victory for Al Franken | work = The New York Times | publisher = The New York Times Company | accessdate = 2005-10-05}}</ref> After the lawsuit was dismissed, Franken and O'Reilly [[Criticism of Bill O'Reilly#Feuds with other media personalities|continued to feud]].
| journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society
| date=April 1916 | volume=38 | issue=4
| pages=762-786 | doi=10.1021/ja02261a002 }}</ref> As the [[Chemical property|chemical properties]] of the elements were known to largely repeat themselves according to the [[periodic law]],<ref>{{cite book
| last=Scerri | first=Eric R. | year=2007
| title=The Periodic Table
| publisher=Oxford University Press US
| isbn=0195305736 | pages=205–226 }}</ref> in 1919 the American chemist [[Irving Langmuir]] suggested that this could be explained if the electrons in an atom were connected or clustered in some manner. Groups of electrons were thought to occupy a set of [[electron shell]]s about the nucleus.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Langmuir | first=Irving
| title=The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules
| journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society
| year=1919 | volume=41 | issue=6 | pages=868–934
| url=http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Langmuir-1919b.html
| accessdate=2008-09-01 }}</ref>


===Tax issues===
In 1924, Austrian physicist [[Wolfgang Pauli]] observed that the shell-like structure of the atom could be explained if each quantum energy state was described by a set of four parameters, as long as each state was inhabited by no more than a single electron. (This prohibition against more than one electron occupying the same quantum energy state became known as the [[Pauli exclusion principle]].)<ref>{{cite book
| last=Massimi | first=Michela | year=2005
| title=Pauli's Exclusion Principle, The Origin and Validation of a Scientific Principle
| publisher=Cambridge University Press
| isbn=0521839114 }}</ref> However, what physicists lacked was a physical mechanism to explain the fourth parameter, which had two possible values. This was provided by the Dutch physicists [[Samuel Abraham Goudsmit|Abraham Goudsmith]] and [[George Uhlenbeck]] when they suggested that an electron, in addition to the angular momentum of its orbit, could possess an intrinsic angular momentum.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Uhlenbeck | first=G. E. | coauthors=Goudsmith, S.
| title=Ersetzung der Hypothese vom unmechanischen Zwang durch eine Forderung bezüglich des inneren Verhaltens jedes einzelnen Elektrons
| journal=Die Naturwissenschaften | year=1925
| volume=13 | issue=47 | language=German
| url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1925NW.....13..953E
| accessdate=2008-09-02 }}</ref><ref name=smirnov /> This property became known as [[Spin (physics)|spin]], and it explained the previously mysterious splitting of spectral lines observed with a high resolution [[spectrograph]]; a phenomenon known as [[fine structure]] splitting.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=W. | first=Pauli
| title=Über die Gesetzmäßigkeiten des anomalen Zeemaneffektes
| journal=Zeitschrift für Physik | year=1923
| volume=16 | issue=1 | pages=155–164
| language=German
| url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1923ZPhy...16..155P
| accessdate=2008-09-02 }}</ref>


New York state officials stated Al Franken Inc. failed to carry workers' compensation insurance for employees from 2002 to 2005. Franken paid the $25,000 fine to the state of New York upon being advised his corporation was out of compliance with the state's workers compensation laws.<ref name="autogenerated1">http://www.kxmb.com/printArticle.asp?ViewPrintable=True&ArticleId=229313</ref><ref>[http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/16241067.html Franken faces $25,000 workers' comp penalty<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
===Quantum mechanics===
During his 1924 dissertation ''Recherches sur la théorie des quanta'', French physicist [[de Broglie hypothesis|Louis de Broglie hypothesized]] that all matter possesses a [[wave–particle duality]] similar to photons.<ref>{{cite web
| last=de Broglie | first=Louis | date=1929-12-12
| url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1929/broglie-lecture.html
| title=Lecture, The Nobel Prize in Physics 1929
| publisher=Nobel Foundation
| accessdate=2008-08-30 }}</ref> That is, under the appropriate conditions, electrons and other matter would show properties of either particles or waves. The wave-like nature of light occurs, for example, when light is passed through slits, resulting in [[interference]] patterns. In 1937, a similar effect was demonstrated from a beam of electrons by English physicist [[George Paget Thomson]] with a thin metal film and by American physicists [[Clinton Davisson]] and [[Lester Germer]] using a crystal of [[nickel]].<ref>{{cite web
| last=Davisson | first=Clinton | date=1937-12-13
| url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1937/davisson-lecture.html
| title=Lecture, The Nobel Prize in Physics 1937
| publisher=Nobel Foundation
| accessdate=2008-08-30 }}</ref>


The California Franchise Tax Board reported that the same corporation owed more than $4,743.40 in taxes, fines and associated penalties in the state of California for 2003 through 2007 because the corporation did not file tax returns in the state for those years.<ref name="autogenerated2">[http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/18160744.html New round of financial questions dogs Franken] Star Tribune April 24, 2008</ref> A Franken representative said that it followed the advice of an accountant who believed when the corporation stopped doing business in California that no further filing was required.<ref name="autogenerated1" /><ref>http://www.twincities.com/ci_8950475?nclick_check=1</ref> However, Republicans say that Franken made 32 public appearances from 2003 to 2007, including two on [[NBC]]'s ''[[Tonight Show with Jay Leno]]'' taped in Burbank, California, for which Franken would have been paid the standard union fee as a member of the [[Screen Actors Guild]].<ref name="autogenerated2" /> On [[April 29]], [[2008]], Franken released a statement noting that he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003. Most of the income at issue was from speeches and other paid appearances by the comedian-turned candidate. Franken said he got bad advice from his accountant, who had told him to pay income tax only in his state of residence. He added that he will seek retroactive credit from the states where he paid income tax that should have been paid in these 17 states.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/29/politics/p144139D56.DTL Comedian-turned-candidate Franken to pay $70K in back taxes], San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2008</ref>
[[Image:Orbital s 1.png|right|thumb|In quantum mechanics, the behavior of an electron in an atom is described by an [[orbital]], which is a probability distribution rather than an orbit.]]
The success of de Brolie's prediction led to the publication, by [[Erwin Schrödinger]] in 1926, of the wave equation that successfully describes how electron waves propagated.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Schrödinger | first=Erwin
| title=Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem
| journal=Annalen der Physik | year=1926
| volume=385 | issue=13 | pages=437–490
| language=German
| url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1926AnP...385..437S
| accessdate=2008-08-31 }}</ref> Rather than yielding a solution that determines the location of an electron over time, this wave equation gives the probability of finding an electron near a position. This approach became the theory of [[quantum mechanics]], which provided an exact derivation to the energy states of an electron in a hydrogen atom.<ref>{{cite book
| last=Rigden | first=John S. | year=2003
| title=Hydrogen | publisher=Harvard University Press
| pages=59–86 | isbn=0674012526 }}</ref> Once the electron spin and the interaction between multiple electrons is taken into consideration, the Schroedinger wave equation successfully predicted the configuration of electrons in atoms with higher atomic numbers than hydrogen. However, for atoms with multiple electrons, the exact solution to the wave equation is much more complicated, so approximations were often necessary.<ref>{{cite book
| last=Reed | first=Bruce Cameron | year=2007
| title=Quantum Mechanics
| publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers
| pages=275–350 | isbn=0763744514 }}</ref>


==Political action==
==Characteristics==
[[Image:Al Franken Makes a Point by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|left|Franken speaking in New York]]
===Classification===
On [[SNL]]'s Weekend Update segment in the late 1970s, Al Franken spoofed his ideas with a familiar line: "Vote for me, Al Franken. You'll be glad you did!"<ref name=Corliss>[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1590138,00.html Vote for Me, Al Franken], Richard Corliss, [[Time magazine]], February 14, 2007.</ref> In 1999, Franken released a parody book, ''[[Why Not Me?]],'' detailing his election for the Presidency in 2000. He had been a strong supporter of Minnesota [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Paul Wellstone]]. Wellstone's death in a plane crash shortly before the [[United States Senate elections, 2002|2002 Senate election]] strongly affected Franken. After the funeral, [[Rush Limbaugh]], [[Jesse Ventura]], and conservative commentators criticized the remembrance ceremony and its participants for alleged overt displays of [[left-wing]] political sentiment. Columnists [[Peggy Noonan]] and [[Chris Caldwell (writer)|Chris Caldwell]] asserted that 20,000 people booed [[Trent Lott]]. Franken, who attended, denied there was widespread jeering: "Along with everyone else, I cried, I laughed, I cheered. It was, to my mind, a beautiful four-hour memorial. I didn't boo. Neither did 22,800 of the some 23,000 people there."<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-franken/reflections-on-the-wellst_b_15459.html Reflections on the Wellstone Memorial and the King Funeral], Al Franken, [[Huffington Post]], February 11, 2006.</ref>
[[Image:Standard Model of Elementary Particles.svg|right|thumb|280px|Standard model of elementary particles. The electron is at lower left.]]
The electron belongs to the group of subatomic particles called [[lepton]]s, which are believed to be [[fundamental particle]]s. Electrons have the lowest mass of any electrically charged lepton. All members of the lepton group, which include the [[muon]] and [[tauon]], belong to the family of [[fermion]]s. This family includes all [[elementary particle]]s with half-odd integer [[Spin (physics)|spin]]; the electron has spin &frac12;. Leptons differ from the other basic constituent of matter, the [[quark]]s, by their lack of [[strong interaction]].<ref name=raith>Raith (2001:777–781).</ref>


Franken said he learned that 21% of Americans received most of their news from talk radio, then an almost exclusively conservative medium<ref name=Corliss/>. Said Franken, "I didn't want to sit on the sidelines, and I believed Air America could make a difference."<ref name=Corliss/>
The [[antiparticle]] of an electron is the [[positron]], which has the same mass and spin as the electron but a positive rather than negative charge.<ref name=raith/> The discoverer of the positron, [[Carl D. Anderson]], proposed calling standard electrons ''negatrons'', and using ''electron'' as a generic term to describe both the positively and negatively charged variants. This usage of the term "negatron" is still occasionally encountered today, and it may also be shortened to "negaton".<ref name="schweber">Schweber (1962).</ref>
In November 2003, Franken talked about moving to his home state of Minnesota to run for the Senate. The seat once held by Wellstone, now occupied by Republican [[Norm Coleman]], was to be contested in the 2008 election. In 2005, Franken announced his move to Minnesota: "I can tell you honestly, I don't know if I'm going to run, but I'm doing the stuff I need to do in order to do it."<ref>{{cite news
|last=Kuhn
|first=David Paul
|title=Senator Franken?
|url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/04/28/franken/
|date=2005-04-28
|accessdate=2007-02-15
|publisher=[[Salon.com]]}}</ref> He said that he would run as a Democrat.


Franken's books express strong support for [[pro-choice]] views, [[gun control]] laws, [[same-sex marriage]], environmental protections and a revamped, more [[progressive income tax]] system. In the postscript of ''The Truth (with jokes)'', Franken joked that if elected to the Senate, in the two-week window between the Senate's swearing in and the end of [[George W. Bush|Bush]]'s term, he would push for a "quickie [[impeachment]]."
===Fundamental properties===
In a [[frame of reference]] where a
free electron has no net velocity, its [[rest mass]]
is [[Orders of magnitude (mass)|9.11{{Esp|-31}}&nbsp;kg]].<ref name=CODATA /> On the atomic scale, this is 5.489{{Esp|-4}}&nbsp;[[Atomic mass unit|u]], where 1&nbsp;u is one-twelth the mass of a neutral [[Carbon-12|<sup>12</sup>C]] atom. Based on the principle of [[mass–energy equivalence]], this mass corresponds to a [[rest energy]] of 0.511&nbsp;MeV, where an eV, or electron volt, is defined as the energy acquired by an electron being accelerated through an electrical potential of one [[volt]]. The [[proton-to-electron mass ratio]]
is about 1836.<ref>Zombeck (2007).</ref> This ratio is one of the fundamental constants of physics, and the
[[Standard Model]] of [[particle physics]] assumes this and other constants are unchanging. Astronomical measurements show that the ratio has held the same value for at least half the current [[age of the universe]].<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Murphy | first=Michael T.
| coauthors=Flambaum, Victor V.; Muller, Sébastien; Henkel, Christian
| title=Strong Limit on a Variable Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio from Molecules in the Distant Universe
| journal=Science | date=2008-06-20 | volume=320
| issue=5883 | pages=1611–1613
| url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/320/5883/1611
| accessdate=2008-09-03 }}</ref> However, the rest energy of the electron has been shown to vary by
10<sup>&minus;6</sup>&ndash;10<sup>&minus;9</sup>&nbsp;eV because of local fluctuations of temperature and magnetic field.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Hagelstein | first=Peter L.
| coauthors=Chaudhary, Irfan U.
| title=Electron mass shift in nonthermal systems
| journal=Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
| year=2008 | volume=41 | issue=12 | pages=125001
| doi=10.1088/0953-4075/41/12/125001 }}</ref>


In late 2005, Franken started his own [[political action committee]] called [[Midwest Values PAC]]. By early 2007, the PAC had raised more than US$1 million.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/02/al_franken_minnesota.html?nav=rss_blog| author=Chris Cilizza| publisher=washingtonpost.com| date=2007-02-05| accessdate=2007-08-08| title=Minnesota Senate: Is Franken the Dems' Dream Candidate?}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2007/09/doggone-it-people-like-him.html| publisher=Mother Jones| date=2007-09-01| accessdate=2007-09-01| title=Doggone It, People Like Him}}</ref>
Electrons have an [[electric charge]] of −[[Orders of magnitude (charge)|1.602&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>−19</sup>&nbsp;C]],<ref name=CODATA /> which is used as a standard unit of [[elementary charge]] for subatomic particles. Within the limits of experimental accuracy, the electron charge is identical to the charge of a proton, but with the opposite sign.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Zorn | first=Jens C.
| coauthors=Chamberlain, George E.; Hughes, Vernon W.
| title=Experimental Limits for the Electron-Proton Charge Difference and for the Charge of the Neutron
| journal=Physical Review | year=1963
| volume=129 | issue=6 | pages=2566–2576
| doi=10.1103/PhysRev.129.2566 }}</ref> As the symbol ''e'' is used for the constant of electrical charge, the electron is commonly symbolized by e<sup>&minus;</sup>, where the minus sign indicates the negative charge.<ref name=CODATA />


Franken was the subject of the 2006 [[documentary film]] ''[[Al Franken: God Spoke]],'' which premiered in April 2006 at the [[Tribeca Film Festival]] in [[New York City]]. It was released nationally on September 13 that year.<ref>{{imdb title|id=0799916|title=Al Franken: God Spoke}}</ref>
The electron is currently described as a [[elementary particle|''fundamental'' or ''elementary'' particle]]. It has no known [[preon|substructure]].{{Fact|date=September 2008}} Hence, for convenience, it is usually defined or assumed to be a point-like mathematical [[point charge]] with no [[spatial]] extent; a [[point particle]].<ref name=curtis74>Curtis (2003:74).</ref> Observation of a single electron in a [[Penning trap]] shows the upper limit of the particle's radius is 10<sup>&minus;22</sup>&nbsp;m.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Dehmelt | first=Hans
| title=A Single Atomic Particle Forever Floating at Rest in Free Space: New Value for Electron Radius
| journal=Physica Scripta
| year=1988 | volume=T22 | pages=102–110
| doi=10.1088/0031-8949/1988/T22/016 }}</ref> The "[[classical electron radius]]" is 2.8179{{Esp|&minus;15}}&nbsp;[[Metre|m]]. This is the radius that is inferred from the electron's electric charge, by using the [[classical electromagnetism|classical]] theory of [[electrodynamics]] alone, ignoring [[quantum mechanics]].


===2008 U.S. Senate campaign===
The electron has [[spin (physics)|spin]] ½ and is a [[fermion]] (it follows [[Fermi-Dirac statistics]]). In addition to its intrinsic angular momentum, an electron has an intrinsic [[magnetic moment]] along its spin axis.{{Fact|date=September 2008}} The concept of a dimensionless particle possessing an intrinsic angular momentum and a magnetic moment is unclear. One possible explanation lies in the formation of [[Virtual particle|virtual photons]] in the electric field generated by the electron. The continual creation and absorption of these photons causes the electron to move about in a jittery fashion (known as [[zitterbewegung]]).<ref>{{cite journal
[[Image:FrankenMinnesota.JPG|thumb|right|Franken campaigning for U.S. Senate]]
| last=Foldy | first=Leslie L.
{{main|United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2008}}
| coauthors=Wouthuysen, Siegfried A.
On [[January 29]], [[2007]], Al Franken announced his departure from [[Air America Radio]].<ref>[http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/013007/franken.html Franken off the air], Aaron Blake, [[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]], January 30, 2007.</ref> On the day of his final show, [[February 14]], Franken formally announced that he would run for the [[United States Senate]] from [[Minnesota]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite news
| title=On the Dirac Theory of Spin 1/2 Particles and Its Non-Relativistic Limit
|last=Cooper
| journal=Physical Review | year=1950
|first=Peter
| volume=78 | pages=29–36
|url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Senate_Franken.html
| doi=10.1103/PhysRev.78.29 }}</ref> As photons possess angular momentum, this jittering of the electron causes a net precession, which, on average, results in a circulatory motion of the mass and charge.<ref name=curtis74 />
|title=Franken enters Minn. Senate race
|publisher=Seattle Post-Intelligencer
|date=2007-02-14
}}</ref> Challenging him for the Democratic endorsement was [[Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer]], a professor, author, and activist. Other candidates, [[Mike Ciresi]], a wealthy trial lawyer; and [[Jim Cohen]], an attorney and human rights activist dropped out of the race earlier.<ref>Condon, Peter. [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070214.wfranken0214/BNStory/Entertainment/home Franken to seek nomination in U.S. senate race], [[Globe and Mail]], February 14, 2007</ref> <ref>http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/16463506.html, Pat Doyle and Kevin Duchschere. Retrieved 11 March 2008</ref>


On [[April 13]], [[2007]], Al Franken's campaign finance report was filed. He was able to raise US$1.35 million dollars in the first quarter of 2007. The incumbent Senator, [[Norm Coleman]], was able to raise US$1.53 million dollars.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/14/franken.senate.ap/index.html?eref=rss_politics Al Franken's Senate campaign gets off to big start], CNN.com, April 14, 2007.</ref> On [[July 8]], [[2007]], the Franken campaign stated that it expected to announce that Franken had raised more funds than Coleman during the second quarter of the year, taking in US$1.9 million to Coleman's US$1.6 million,<ref>{{cite web | author= | title=Franken Raises Over $1.9 Million In Second Quarter | url=http://blog.alfranken.com/2007/07/09/franken-raises-over-19-million-in-second-quarter/ | publisher=Al Franken for Senate | date=2007-07-08 | accessdate=2008-02-16}}</ref><ref name=mpr>{{cite web| last=Mulcahy| first=Mike| title=Franken leads the pack in second quarter fundraising | work=Polinaut | publisher=MPR | date=2007-07-09 | url=http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2007/07/franken_leads_t.shtml| accessdate =2007-07-17}}</ref> although as of early July 2007, Coleman's US$3.8 million cash on hand exceeded Franken's US$2 million.<ref name=mpr/>
The electron is thought to be stable on theoretical grounds; the lowest known experimental upper bound for its [[mean lifetime]] is [[Orders of magnitude (time)|4.6×10<sup>26</sup> years]], with a 90% confidence interval (see ''[[Particle decay]]'').


On [[June 7]], [[2008]], Franken was endorsed at the [[Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party|DFL]] convention, defeating University of St. Thomas Professor [[Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer]]. In a July 2008 interview with CNN, Franken was endorsed by noted conservative speechwriter, economist, author and entertainer [[Ben Stein]].<ref name="BenSteins">
As with all particles, electrons can also act as waves. This is called the [[wave-particle duality]], also known by the term ''[[complementarity (physics)|complementarity]]'' coined by [[Niels Bohr]], and can be demonstrated using the [[double-slit experiment]]. According to [[quantum mechanics]], electrons can be represented by [[wavefunction]]s, from which a calculated probabilistic [[electron density]] can be determined.
{{cite web
|title = Preston on Politics: Bueller? Bueller? -- McCain needs Rove
|work=cnn.com
|publisher=CNN
|author=Preston, Mark
|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/27/preston.mccain/index.html?iref=newssearch
|accessdate=2008-07-29}}</ref> Stein said of Franken,
"He is my pal, and he is a really, really capable smart guy. I don't agree with all of his positions, but he is a very impressive guy, and I think he should be in the Senate." During his campaign for the Senate Franken advised SNL creator [[Lorne Michaels]] on a political sketch attacking and ridiculing Senator [[John McCain]]. Franken's opponent incumbent Senator, [[Norm Coleman]]'s campaign reacted as saying, "Once again he proves he's more interested in entertainment than service, and ridiculing those with whom he disagrees,". <ref>[http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvSV2ERq0uM2HJCrVXhq5xX99wEAD93BDN880 Franken advises 'SNL' on sketch ridiculing McCain]</ref>


===Interaction===
===''Playboy'' article===
In late May 2008, the Minnesota Republican Party released a letter regarding an article Franken had written for ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine in 2000 entitled 'Porn-O-Rama!'. The letter, signed by six prominent GOP women, including a state senator and state representative, called on Franken to apologize for what they referred to as a "demeaning and degrading" article.<ref name=playboy>[http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4921109&page=1 ABC story anout 2008 letter regarding Playboy article written in 2000]</ref> Several DFL leaders expressed personal and political discomfort with the article.<ref>[http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/19359734.html]</ref> A Franken campaign spokesman said, "Al had a long career as a satirist. But he understands the difference between what you say as a satirist and what you do as a senator."<ref name=playboy/>
When a test particle is forced to approach an electron, we measure changes in its properties of charge and mass. This effect is common to all elementary particles. Current theory suggests that this effect is due to the influence of [[vacuum fluctuation]]s in its local space, so that the properties measured from a significant distance are considered to be the sum of the bare properties and the vacuum effects (see [[renormalization]]).


===Views===
An electron generates an [[Electric field]] that exerts an attractive force on a particle with a positive charge, such as the proton, and a repulsive force on a particle with a negative charge. The strength of this force is determined by [[Coulomb's law]]. When an electron is in motion, it generates a [[magnetic field]]. When an electron is moving through a magnetic field, it is subject to the [[Lorentz force]] that exerts an influence in a direction perpendicular to the plane defined by the magnetic field and the electron velocity. This causes the electron to follow a curved trajectory through the field.
[[Image:AlFranken2008.JPG|thumb|left|Franken in 2008]]
Franken has been a vocal critic of the [[Iraq War]] for several years and opposed the [[Iraq War troop surge of 2007|2007 troop surge]]. However, he didn't criticize the invasion at the time, a fact he often admitted, with regret, on his radio program. In an interview with [[MSNBC]]’s [[Joe Scarborough]],<ref> Transcript, "Scarborough Country," MSNBC, December 7, 2005,</ref> Franken said that he "believed [[Colin Powell]]," whose presentation at the [[United Nations]] convinced him that the war was necessary. Franken now believes that Congress should refuse to pass appropriations bills to fund the war if they don't include timetables for leaving Iraq. In an interview with [[Josh Marshall]], Franken said of the Democrats, "I think we've gotta make [Bush] say, 'OK, I'm cutting off funding because I won't agree to a timetable.'"<ref>http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/014615.php, Joshua Marshall, June 14, 2007.</ref>


Franken favors transitioning to a [[universal health care]] system, with the provision that every child in America should receive health care coverage immediately. He believes that private [[pension]]s and [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] should be protected.<ref>{{cite web | author= | title=Al on the Issues | url=http://www.alfranken.com/pages/issues | publisher=Al Franken for Senate | year=2008 | accessdate=2008-02-16}}</ref><ref>[http://www.topix.net/content/kri/3446430846152986143710581648501731740606 They love him, but it's a tough crowd],<!-- use http://www.webcitation.org/5OMvXGPbH if the current link goes dead --> Rachel Stassen-Berger, [[St. Paul Pioneer Press]], [[February 18]], [[2007]].</ref> He wants to cut tax breaks for oil companies, increase money available for college students and cut interest rates on [[student loan]]s.<ref>[http://www.albertleatribune.com/articles/2007/02/21/news/news5.txt Al Franken Talks Politics], Sarah Kirchner, Alberta Lea Tribune, February 21, 2007.</ref>
The [[atomic orbital|orbital]] of each electron in an atom can be described by a wavefunction. Based on the [[Heisenberg uncertainty principle]], the exact [[momentum]] and position of the actual electron cannot be simultaneously determined. This is a limitation which, in this instance, simply states that the more accurately we know a particle's position, the less accurately we can know its momentum, and vice versa.


==Other notable events==
Electrons in an atom are ''bound'' to that atom, while electrons moving freely in vacuum, space or certain media are ''free'' electrons that can be focused into an [[electron beam]]. When free electrons move, there is a [[net flow]] of charge, and this flow is called an [[electric current]]. The [[drift velocity]] of electrons in metal wires is on the order of millimetres per second. However, the speed at which a current at one point in a wire causes a current in other parts of the wire, the [[velocity of propagation]], is typically 75% of light speed.
===Palace Theatre rally===
During the 2004 presidential election, Franken was at the [[Palace Theatre, Manchester, New Hampshire|Palace Theatre]] in [[Manchester, New Hampshire|Manchester]], [[New Hampshire]], attending a rally for governor [[Howard Dean]] in his bid for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. A [[heckler]] attempted to shout down the governor, who was taking questions from the audience. When theater manager Peter Ramsey tried to calm the situation, the man began pushing and elbowing Ramsey. According to the ''[[New Hampshire Union Leader]],'' at that point Franken assisted Ramsey by temporarily restraining the heckler. When a second heckler appeared, "Franken and three other men escort[ed] the second heckler out the stage door."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20040322022515/http://www.newhampshire.com/articles/showularticle.cfm?id=32449 Al Franken Rousts Heckler From Dean Rally], a January 2004 ''[[New Hampshire Union Leader]]'' article</ref> The first heckler then left quietly after Ramsey threatened to call the police. Franken said that while he wasn't a Dean supporter, he restrained the heckler in order to uphold Dean's right to free speech, and that he "would have done it if [the heckler] was a Dean supporter at a [[John Kerry|Kerry]] rally."


==Bibliography==
In some [[superconductor]]s, pairs of electrons move as [[Cooper pair]]s in which their motion is coupled to nearby matter via lattice vibrations called [[phonon]]s. The distance of separation between Cooper pairs is roughly 100 nm.
====Books by Al Franken====
*''I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!: Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley'' (Dell Books, 1992) ISBN 0-440-50470-8
*''[[Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations]]'' (Delacorte Press, 1996) ISBN 0-385-31474-4
*''[[Why Not Me?]]'' (Delacorte Press, 1999) a parody-journal of the fictional “Franken campaign” for President ISBN 0-385-31809-X
*''[[Oh, the Things I Know!|Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness]]'' (Plume Books, 2003) ISBN 0-452-28450-3
*''[[Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them|Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right]]'' (Dutton Books, 2003) ISBN 0-525-94764-7
*''[[The Truth (with jokes)]]'' (Dutton Books, 2005) ISBN 0-525-94906-2


==CDs and compilations==
A body has an [[electric charge]] when that body has more or fewer electrons than are required to balance the positive charge of the nuclei. When there is an excess of electrons, the object is said to be negatively charged. When there are fewer electrons than [[proton]]s, the object is said to be positively charged. When the number of electrons and the number of protons are equal, their charges cancel each other and the object is said to be electrically neutral. A [[macroscopic]] body can develop an electric charge through rubbing, by the [[phenomenon]] of [[triboelectricity]].
*''Best democracy money can buy: the truth about corporate cons, globalization, and high-finance fraudsters'', with [[Greg Palast]] (2004)
*''The O'Franken Factor Factor - The Best of the O'Franken Factor''
*''The Al Franken Show Party Album''


==Filmography==
When electrons and [[positron]]s collide, they [[electron-positron annihilation|annihilate]] each other and produce pairs of high-energy [[photon]]s or other particles. On the other hand, high-energy photons may transform into an electron and a positron by a process called [[pair production]], but only in the presence of a nearby charged particle, such as a nucleus.
*''[[Tunnel Vision (film)|Tunnel Vision]]'' (1976)
*''[[The Rutles]]'' (1978)
*''[[Trading Places]]'' (1983)
*''[[One More Saturday Night]]'' (1986)
*[[When A Man Loves A Woman]] (1994) (Writer)<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111693/</ref>
*''[[Stuart Saves His Family]]'' (1995)
*''[[From the Earth to the Moon (miniseries)|From the Earth to the Moon]]'' (1998)
*''[[Harvard Man]]'' (2001)
*''[[Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism]]'' (2004)
*''[[The Manchurian Candidate (2004 film)|The Manchurian Candidate]]'' (2004)
*''[[Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable]]'' (2004)
*''[[Tanner on Tanner]]'' (2004)
*''[[Al Franken: God Spoke]]'' (2006)


==References==
===Motion and energy===
{{reflist|2}}
Based on current theory, the speed of an electron can approach, but never reach, ''c'' (the [[speed of light]] in a vacuum). This limitation is attributed to Einstein's theory of [[special relativity]] which defines the speed of light as a constant within all [[inertial frames]]. However, when [[special relativity|relativistic]] electrons are injected into a [[dielectric]] medium such as water, where the local speed of light is significantly less than ''c'', the electrons (temporarily) travel faster than light in the medium. As they interact with the medium, they generate a faint bluish light called [[Cherenkov radiation]].

The effects of [[special relativity]] are based on a quantity known as the [[Lorentz factor]] ([[gamma|γ]]), which is a function of the coordinate velocity of the particle (''v''). It is defined as:

:<math>\begin{smallmatrix}\gamma\ =\ \frac{1}{\sqrt{1\ -\ \left( \frac{v^{2}}{c^{2}} \right)}}.\end{smallmatrix}</math>

The kinetic energy of an electron (moving with velocity ''v'') is:

:<math>\begin{smallmatrix}K\ =\ \left(\gamma\ -\ 1\right)m_e c^2.\end{smallmatrix}</math>

For example, the [[Stanford Linear Accelerator Center|Stanford linear accelerator]] can [[accelerate]] an electron to roughly 51 GeV [http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/theory/relativity.html]. This gives a gamma of 100,000, since the mass of an electron is 0.51 MeV/''c''² (the relativistic momentum of this electron is 100,000 times the classical momentum of an electron at the same speed). Solving the equation above for the speed of the electron (and using an approximation for large ''γ'') gives:

:<math>\begin{smallmatrix}v\ =\ c \sqrt{1\ -\ \frac{1}{\gamma^2}}\ \simeq\ \left(1\ -\ \frac{1}{2} \gamma ^{-2}\right)c\ =\ 0.999\,999\,999\,95\,c.\end{smallmatrix}</math>

The [[De Broglie hypothesis|de Broglie]] wavelength of a particle is λ=h/p where h is [[Planck's constant]] and p is momentum. At low (e.g photoelectron) energies this determines the size of atoms, and at high (e.g. electron microscope) energies this makes the [[Bragg angle]]s for [[electron diffraction]] (co-discovered by [[J. J. Thomson]]'s son [[George Paget Thomson|G. P. Thomson]]) well under one degree. Since momentum is mass times [[proper velocity|proper-velocity]] w=γv, we have

:<math>\begin{smallmatrix}\lambda_e\ =\ \frac{h}{p}\ =\ \frac{h}{m_e \gamma v}\ =\ \frac {h c}{\sqrt{K^2\ +\ 2 K m_e c^2}}.\end{smallmatrix}</math>

For the 51 GeV electron above, proper-velocity is approximately γc, making the wavelength of those electrons small enough to explore structures well below the size of an atomic nucleus.

==Production==
Scientists believe that the number of electrons existing in the known [[universe]] is at least 10<sup>79</sup>. This number amounts to an average density of about one electron per [[cubic metre]] of space. Astronomers have estimated that 90% of the mass of atoms in the universe is [[hydrogen]], which is made of one electron and one proton.{{Fact|date=September 2008}}

<!-- Big bang theory with focus on the electron -->
The [[big bang]] theory is the current-accepted scientific theory to explain the early stages in the evolution of the Universe. For the first millisecond of the big bang, the temperatures were over 10&nbsp;billion&nbsp;K and photons had mean energies over a million electron volts. These photons were sufficiently energetic that they could react with each other to form pairs of electrons and positrons,

:<math>\begin{smallmatrix}\gamma\ +\ \gamma\ \leftrightharpoons\ e^{+}\ +\ e^{-}\end{smallmatrix}</math>

where ''&gamma;'' is a photon, ''e''<sup>+</sup> is a positron and ''e''<sup>-</sup> is an electron. Likewise, positron-electron pairs annihilated each other, emitting photons of [[gamma ray]]s with energies of 511&nbsp;keV. An equilibrium between electrons, positrons and protons was maintained during this creation and destruction cycle. After 15 seconds had passed, however, the temperature of the universe dropped below the threshold where electron-positron formation could occur. Most of the surviving electrons and positrons annihilated each other, releasing gamma radiation that briefly reheated the universe.<ref>Silk (2000).</ref>

For reasons that remain uncertain, there was a slight excess in the number of electrons over positrons; a problem known as [[baryon asymmetry]].<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Christianto | first=Vic
| coauthors=Smarandache, Florentin
| title=Thirty Unsolved Problems in the Physics of Elementary Particles
| journal=Progress in Physics | date=October 2007
| volume=4 | pages=112-114
| url=http://www.ptep-online.com/index_files/2007/PP-11-16.PDF
| format=PDF | accessdate=2008-09-04
}}</ref> Hence a few electrons survived the annihilation process. This excess also matched the excess of [[proton]]s over anti-protons, resulting in a net charge of zero for the universe. The surviving protons and [[neutron]]s begin to undergo nucleosynthesis, forming isotopes of [[hydrogen]] and [[helium]], with trace amounts of [[lithium]]. This process peaked after a few hundred seconds, and any leftover neutrons thereafter underwent negative [[beta decay]] with a half-life of about a thousand seconds, releasing a proton and electron in the process,

:<math>\begin{smallmatrix}n\ \Rightarrow\ p\ +\ e^{-}\ +\ \bar{\nu}_e\end{smallmatrix}</math>

where ''n'' is a neutron, ''p'' is a proton, ''e''<sup>-</sup> is an electron and <math>\begin{smallmatrix}\bar{\nu}_e\end{smallmatrix}</math> is an [[electron antineutrino]]. For the next million years, the excess electrons remained too energetic to bind with [[atomic nuclei]].<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Boesgaard | first=A. M. | coauthors=Steigman, G.
| title=Big bang nucleosynthesis - Theories and observations
| journal=Annual review of astronomy and astrophysics
| year=1985 | volume=23 | issue=2 | pages=319–378
| url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?1985ARA%26A..23..319B
| accessdate=2008-08-28 }}</ref> Once atoms were formed, the universe became transparent to radiation and it continued to cool and expand.

<!-- Stellar -->
The concentrations of mass in the universe allow [[star]]s to form. Within a star, [[stellar nucleosynthesis]] results in the production of positrons from the fusion of atomic nuclei. These antimatter particles immediately annihilate with electrons, releasing gamma rays. The net result is a steady reduction in the number of electrons, and a matching increase in the number of neutrons. However, the process of [[stellar evolution]] can also result in the synthesis of radioactive isotopes. Some of these isotopes can subsequently undergo negative beta decay, emitting an electron and antineutrino from the nucleus.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Burbidge | first=E. Margaret
| coauthors=Burbidge, G. R.; Fowler, William A.; Hoyle, F.
| title=Synthesis of Elements in Stars
| journal=Reviews of Modern Physics | year=1957
| volume=29 | issue=4 | pages=548–647
| doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.29.547 }}</ref> An example is the [[cobalt-60]] (<sup>60</sup>Co) isotope, which decays to form [[nickel-60]] (<sup>60</sup>Ni).<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Rodberg | first=L. S.
| coauthors=Weisskopf, V. F.
| title=Fall of Parity: Recent Discoveries Related to Symmetry of Laws of Nature
| journal=Science | year=1957 | volume=125
| issue=3249 | pages=627–633
| doi=10.1126/science.125.3249.627
}}</ref>

<!-- Other sources -->
[[Cosmic ray]]s are particles travelling through space with high energies. Energy events as high as 3.0{{Esp|20}}&nbsp;eV have been recorded.<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Halzen | first=F. | coauthors=Hooper, D.
| title=High-energy neutrino astronomy: the cosmic ray connection
| journal=Reports on Progress in Physics | year=2002
| volume=66 | pages=1025–1078
| url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002astro.ph..4527H
| accessdate=2008-08-28 }}</ref> When these particles collide with nucleons in the [[Earth]]'s atmosphere, a shower of particles is generated, including [[pion]]s.<ref>Longair (1994).</ref> More than half of the cosmic radiation observed from the Earth's surface consists of [[muon]]s. This particle is a lepton which is produced in the upper atmosphere by the decay of pions. Muons in turn can decay to form an electron or positron by means of the [[weak force]]. Thus, for the negatively charged pion <math>\pi^{-}</math>,<ref>{{cite news
| last=Sutton | first=Christine | date=1990-08-04
| title=Muons, pions and other strange particles
| publisher=New Scientist
| url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12717284.700-muons-pions-and-other-strange-particles-.html
| accessdate=2008-08-28 }}</ref>

:<math>\begin{smallmatrix}
\pi^{-}\ \Rightarrow\ \mu^{-}\ +\ \nu_{\mu}\end{smallmatrix}</math>
:<math>\begin{smallmatrix}\mu^{-}\ \Rightarrow\ e^{-}\ +\ \bar{\nu}_e\ +\ \nu_{\mu}\end{smallmatrix}</math>

where <math>\mu^{-}</math> is a muon, <math>\nu_{\mu}</math> is a muon neutrino and <math>\begin{smallmatrix}\bar{\nu}_e\end{smallmatrix}</math> is an electron [[antineutrino]].

==Visualisation==
The first video images of an electron were captured by a team at Lund University in Sweden in February 2008. To capture this event, the scientists used extremely short flashes of light. To produce this light, newly developed technology for generating short pulses from intense laser light, called attosecond pulses, allowed the team at the university’s Faculty of Engineering to capture the electron's motion for the first time.

"It takes about 150 attoseconds for an electron to circle the nucleus of an atom. An attosecond is related to a second as a second is related to the age of the universe," explained Johan Mauritsson, an assistant professor in atomic physics at the Faculty of Engineering, Lund University.<ref>http://www.atto.fysik.lth.se/ Lund Univ with video link</ref><ref>http://www.atto.fysik.lth.se/video/pressrelen.pdf Lund Univ. Press release</ref>

The distribution of the electrons in the [[reciprocal space]] of [[solids]] can be visualized by [[angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy]].

==Applications==

===In industry===
[[Electron beam]]s are used in [[electron beam welding|welding]], [[electron beam lithography|lithography]], [[scanning electron microscope]]s and [[transmission electron microscope]]s. [[Low-energy electron diffraction|LEED]] and [[RHEED]] are surface-imaging techniques that use electrons.

Electrons are also at the heart of [[cathode ray tube]]s, which are used extensively as display devices in laboratory instruments, [[computer monitor]]s and [[television set]]s. In a [[photomultiplier]] tube, one photon strikes the photocathode, initiating an avalanche of electrons that produces a detectable current.

===In the laboratory===
The uniquely high charge-to-mass ratio of electrons means that they interact strongly with atoms, and are easy to accelerate and focus with electric and magnetic fields. Hence some of today's [[Transmission Electron Aberration-corrected Microscope|aberration-corrected]] transmission [[electron microscope]]s use 300keV electrons with velocities greater than the speed light travels in water (approximagely 1/2 to 2/3 of c), wavelengths below 2 picometers, transverse coherence-widths over a nanometer, and longitudinal coherence-widths 100 times that. This allows such microscopes to image scattering from individual atomic-nuclei ([[Annular dark-field imaging|HAADF]]) as well as interference-contrast from solid-specimen exit-surface deBroglie-phase ([[HRTEM]]) with lateral [[Image resolution|point-resolutions]] down to 60 picometers. Magnifications approaching 100 million are needed to make the resulting image detail comfortably visible to the naked eye.

Quantum effects of electrons are also used in the [[scanning tunneling microscope]] to study features on solid surfaces with lateral-resolution at the atomic scale (around 200 picometers) and vertical-resolutions much better than that. In such microscopes, the [[quantum tunneling]] is strongly dependent on tip-specimen separation, and, precise control of the separation (vertical sensitivity) is made possible with a [[piezoelectric]] scanner.

===In medicine===
In [[radiation therapy]], electron beams are used for treatment of [[superficial]] tumours.

==In theory==
In Dirac's model, an electron is defined to be a mathematical point, a point-like, charged "bare" particle surrounded by a sea of interacting pairs of virtual [[Elementary particle|particle]]s and [[antiparticle]]s. These provide a correction of just over 0.1% to the predicted value of the electron's [[gyromagnetic ratio]] from exactly 2 (as predicted by Dirac's single-particle model). The extraordinarily precise agreement of this prediction with the experimentally determined value is viewed as one of the great achievements of modern physics.<ref name="griffiths">Griffiths (2004).</ref>

In the [[Standard Model]] of [[particle physics]], the electron is the first-[[generation (particle physics)|generation]] charged [[lepton]]. It forms a [[weak isospin]] doublet with the [[electron neutrino]]; these two particles interact with each other through both the charged and neutral current [[weak interaction]]. The electron is very similar to the two more massive particles of higher generations, the [[muon]] and the [[tau lepton]], which are identical in charge, [[spin (physics)|spin]], and [[fundamental interaction|interaction]], but differ in mass.

The [[antimatter]] counterpart of the electron is the [[positron]]. The positron has the same amount of electrical charge as the electron, except that the charge is positive. It has the same mass and spin as the electron. When an electron and a positron meet, they may [[annihilation|annihilate]] each other, giving rise to two [[Gamma ray|gamma-ray]] photons emitted at roughly 180° to each other. If the electron and positron had negligible momentum, each gamma ray will have an energy of 0.511 [[MeV]]. See also [[Electron-positron annihilation]].

Electrons are a key element in [[electromagnetism]], a theory that is accurate for macroscopic systems, and for classical modelling of microscopic systems.

{{QED}}

==Notes and references==
<div class="references-small">
<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
<references/>
</div>

===Book references===
<div class="references-small">
*{{cite book
| last=Curtis | first=Lorenzo J. | year=2003
| title=Atomic Structure and Lifetimes: A Conceptual Approach
| publisher=Cambridge University Press
| isbn=0521536359 }}
*{{cite book
| last=Griffiths | first=David J.
| title=Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
| edition=2nd edition | publisher=Prentice Hall
| year=2004 | id=ISBN 0-13-805326-X }}
*{{cite book
| last=Longair | first=Malcolm S. | year=1994
| title=High Energy Astrophysics: Stars, the Galaxy and the Interstellar Medium
| publisher=Cambridge University Press
| isbn=0521435846 }}
*{{cite book
| author=Numerous | editor=Soukhanov, Anne H.
| title=Word Mysteries & Histories | year=1986
| publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company
| location=Boston, MA | isbn=0-395-40265-4 }}
*{{cite book
| author=Numerous | editor=Guralnik, David B.
| title=Webster's New World Dictionary | year=1970
| publisher=Prentice-Hall, Inc.
| location=Englewood Cliffs, N. J. }}
*{{cite book
| first=Wilhelm | last=Raith
| coauthors=Mulvey, Thomas | year=2001
| title=Constituents of Matter: Atoms, Molecules, Nuclei and Particles
| publisher=CRC Press | isbn=0849312027 }}
*{{cite book
| last = Schweber | first = Silvan S.
| title = An Introduction to Relativistic Quantum Field Theory
| publisher = [[Dover Publications]] | year = 2005
| edition = 2nd | origyear=1962
| isbn = 0-486-44228-4}}
*{{cite book
| first=Joseph | last=Silk | year=2000
| title=The Big Bang: The Creation and Evolution of the Universe
| publisher=Macmillan | isbn=080507256X }}
*{{cite book
| last=Zombeck | first=Martin V. | year=2007
| title=Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics
| publisher=Cambridge University Press
| edition=Third edition | isbn=0521782422 }}
</div>

== See also ==

* [[Atom]]
* [[Covalent bonding]]
* [[Electron bubble]]
* [[Elementary charge]]
* [[Exoelectron]]
* [[One-electron universe]]
* [[Pair production]]
* [[Positron]]
* [[Proton]]
* [[Neutron]]


==External links==
==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Electron}}
{{commonscat|Al Franken}}
* [http://www.aip.org/history/electron/ The Discovery of the Electron] from the American Institute of Physics History Center
* [http://pdg.lbl.gov/ Particle Data Group]
*[http://www.alfranken.com/ Al Franken's official campaign website]
**[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh8LfGIM62M Announcing his candidacy for the Senate] on [[YouTube]]
* Eric Weisstein's World of Physics: [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Electron.html Electron]
{{CongLinks | congbio = | fec = S8MN00438 | opensecrets = | votesmart = 108924 | ontheissuespath = Senate/Al_Franken.htm | legistorm = | surge = | govtrack = | findagrave = }}
* [http://www.educatedearth.net/video.php?id=3573 Researchers Catch Motion of a Single Electron on Video]
*[http://opensecrets.org/races/summary.asp?ID=MNS1&Cycle=2008 Campaign contributions] at [[OpenSecrets.org]]
*{{dmoz|Regional/North_America/United_States/Minnesota/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Candidates_and_Campaigns/US_Senate/Al_Franken_%5bD%5d}}
*{{National Public Radio|1142525}}
*{{imdb name|id=0291253|name=Al Franken}}
*{{worldcat id|id=lccn-no93-4145}}
*[http://usliberals.about.com/od/senatecandidatesin2008/p/AlFranken.htm About.com Profile of Al Franken, 2008 Senate Candidate]
*[http://www.alfrankensense.com/ Al Franken Fan Club and Discussion Forum]
*[http://www.scribemedia.org/2006/11/23/al-franken/ Al Franken commentary on 2006 elections]
*[http://www.midwestvaluespac.org Al Franken's PAC, Midwest Values PAC]
*[http://www.alfrankenweb.com/ Al Franken Discussion Forum]
*[http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Al_Franken.php Al Franken's federal campaign contributions]
*[http://politicaltherapy.blogspot.com/2005/01/air-america-gains-listener.html Al Franken Under the Satirist's Lens]
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-franken/ Al Franken's writings on the Huffington Post]
*[http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4206/ Is Al Franken Worthy to Take Wellstone's Seat?]
*[http://www.alfrankensense.com/al_franken_quotes.html Al Franken quotes]
*[http://www.airamericaplace.com/archive The Al Franken Show Audio Archive]
*[http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=60301 Video of Al Franken interviewed on the Colbert Report]


{{Particles}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{succession box
| before= [[Walter Mondale]]
|title= [[Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party|Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party]] nominee for [[List of United States Senators from Minnesota|United States Senator from Minnesota]]<br>([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 2]])
|years=[[United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2008|2008]]
|after=Current nominee}}
{{end}}
{{AAR}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Franken, Al}}
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Revision as of 03:04, 10 October 2008

Template:Future election candidate

Al Franken
Democratic-Farmer-Labor nominee for
U.S. Senator from Minnesota
(2008 election)
OpponentNorm Coleman
IncumbentNorm Coleman
Personal details
Born (1951-05-21) May 21, 1951 (age 72)
New York, New York, USA
Political partyDemocratic-Farmer-Labor
SpouseFranni Bryson Franken
ChildrenThomasin and Joe
Occupationcomedian, actor, author, screenwriter, political commentator, politician and radio host
WebsiteAl Franken for Senate

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an Emmy Award–winning American comedian, writer, progressive political commentator, and, recently, politician. He gained fame as a writer and a performer for Saturday Night Live, eventually writing and appearing in several films. Since then, Franken has become more known for his political commentary, writing numerous bestselling books and hosting a nationally-syndicated radio show on Air America Radio.

On February 14, 2007, Franken announced his candidacy for the 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and was nominated by that party on June 7, 2008.[2] He won the Democratic Party primary on September 9, 2008, defeating his closest opponent 65% to 29%.[3] The seat is currently held by Republican Norm Coleman and was previously held by Paul Wellstone.[4]

Biography

Personal life

Franken was born in New York, the son of Phoebe G. (née Kunst), a homemaker and real estate agent, and Joseph P. Franken, a printing salesman.[5][6] Franken had a Jewish upbringing[citation needed] and grew up in St. Louis Park, a suburb near Minneapolis. Franken is a cousin of MSNBC's Bob Franken.[7] His older brother, Owen Franken, is a photojournalist. Franken attended St. Louis Park High School until the tenth grade. He graduated in 1969 from The Blake School, where he was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated cum laude in 1973 with a bachelor of arts degree.[8] At Harvard, Franken washed dishes as a participant in the work-study program with Richard Honaker, who was nominated by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2007 as one of three U.S. District Judges from Wyoming.[9]

Franken met his wife, the former Franni Bryson, in his first year of college at a Harvard-Simmons mixer, and they have been together ever since. They have a daughter, Thomasin, and a son, Joe, who both attended New York City's Dalton School. Joe graduated from Princeton University in June 2007. Thomasin was a public school teacher in New York City, with a degree in sociology from Harvard College, but is now volunteering full time for her father's campaign. The Frankens reside in Minneapolis. He is an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (Manchester Unity).

Writer and performer

Al Franken entertaining at Ramstein Air Base, December 2000.

Franken's performing career began in high school, where he and longtime writing partner Tom Davis were known for their humor. Franken honed his writing and performing skills at Minneapolis's Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop theater, specializing in political satire. He and Davis soon found themselves in "a life of near-total failure on the fringes of show business in Los Angeles."[10]

Franken and Davis were recruited as two of the original writers (and occasional performers) on Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980 and again from 1985 to 1995, although in the latter case only Franken returned as a performer while Davis usually stayed behind the camera.

In the first season, as apprentice writers, the two shared a salary of US$350 per week. Franken received seven Emmy nominations and three Emmy Awards for his television writing and production. He created characters such as self-help guru Stuart Smalley and routines such as proclaiming the 1980s to be the "Al Franken Decade." Franken was associated with SNL for over 15 years and in 2002 interviewed former Vice President Al Gore while in character as Smalley. Franken and Davis wrote the script to the 1986 comedy film One More Saturday Night, appearing in it as rock singers in a band called "Bad Mouth." They also had cameos together in The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash as promoter Ron Decline's (John Belushi) henchmen and in the Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd film Trading Places as the baggage handlers with the gorilla on the train.

Franken's most notorious SNL performance may have been "A Limo for the Lame-O", a commentary delivered by Franken near the end of the 1979–80 season. Franken mocked controversial NBC president Fred Silverman as "a total unequivocal failure" and displayed a chart showing the poor ratings of NBC programs. Franken proclaimed that Silverman did not deserve a limo, unlike Franken, a comedian on a popular NBC program. As a result of this sketch, Silverman nixed Lorne Michaels's request that Franken succeed him as SNL's head producer, prompting Franken to leave the show when Michaels did, at the end of the 1979–80 season.[11] Franken later returned to the series in 1985, mostly as a writer but also as an occasional performer best known for the Stuart Smalley character. He acknowledged using cocaine while working for Saturday Night Live but he no longer uses any illicit drugs.[12] Franken left the show in 1995 in protest over losing the role of "Weekend Update" anchor to Norm MacDonald.[13]

Besides writing five New York Times bestselling books, three of which reached #1, including Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, Franken wrote the original screenplay and starred in the film Stuart Saves His Family[14], which was panned by critics (receiving a rating of 29% on the website, Rottentomatoes.com). He also co-wrote the film When A Man Loves A Woman. He co-created and starred in the NBC sitcom LateLine until it was canceled in its second season. He appeared in the 2004 re-make of The Manchurian Candidate as Reporter #1, a role he joked was made specifically for him, saying: "Reporter #1 didn't appear in the original version."[citation needed]

In 2003, Franken served as a Fellow with Harvard's Kennedy School of Government at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. Later he became the first nationally syndicated radio talk show host to visit Iraq,[citation needed] where he headlined two USO shows while traveling with Russell Burnham, the U.S. Army Soldier of the Year. Franken has done seven USO tours to date, his most recent being in mid-December 2006.

Since May 2005, Franken has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. Franken's most recent book, The Truth (with jokes), was released in 2005.

In June 2003, Franken wrote a letter to several conservatives who favored abstinence-only sex education. He asked the recipients to be role models for the youth of America by sharing "moment[s] when you were tempted to have sex, but were able to overcome your urges through willpower and strength of character."[15] Franken proposed including the contribution in a book he claimed to be writing called Savin' It! The recipients included then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. The following month, Franken wrote each person who received the previous letter and apologized. He explained that his letter was satirical and said, "I am sincerely sorry if I caused any discomfort."

Radio show

Main article: The Al Franken Show
Al Franken at the 2006 Time 100, as covered on the blog Rocketboom.

Franken signed a one-year contract in early 2004 to become a talk show host for Air America Radio's flagship program with co-host Katherine Lanpher, who remained with the show until October 2005. The network was launched March 31, 2004. The show was originally named The O'Franken Factor but was renamed The Al Franken Show on July 12, 2004. The show aired 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for around 4 years. The aim of this apparent side-track was to counter the then dominance of rightwing syndicated radio commentators who Franken believed strayed from the truth with impunity, and to affect the U.S. political atmosphere. "I'm doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected", he told a New York Times reporter in 2004.[16] The show was more commentary and interviews with progressive issues analysts than comedy. Franken is a Grateful Dead fan and used their songs as bumper music on his radio show. Franken's last radio show on Air America Radio was on February 14, 2007. In the last segment of the show, Franken announced his candidacy for the United States Senate.

Fox News conflict

Main article: Fox v. Franken

In 2003, Penguin Books published Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, which included a cover photo of Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly and a chapter accusing O'Reilly, with whom Franken was feuding, of lying. In August of that year, Fox News sued, claiming infringement of its registered trademark phrase "Fair and Balanced". A federal judge found the lawsuit to be "wholly without merit" and Fox then filed to dismiss it. The episode with Fox focused a great deal of media attention upon Franken's book and, according to Franken, greatly increased its sales. Reflecting on the lawsuit during a September 2003 interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air, Franken said that Fox's case against him was "literally laughed out of court" and added that the judge's comment that the case was "wholly without merit" was a good characterization of Fox News itself.[17] After the lawsuit was dismissed, Franken and O'Reilly continued to feud.

Tax issues

New York state officials stated Al Franken Inc. failed to carry workers' compensation insurance for employees from 2002 to 2005. Franken paid the $25,000 fine to the state of New York upon being advised his corporation was out of compliance with the state's workers compensation laws.[18][19]

The California Franchise Tax Board reported that the same corporation owed more than $4,743.40 in taxes, fines and associated penalties in the state of California for 2003 through 2007 because the corporation did not file tax returns in the state for those years.[20] A Franken representative said that it followed the advice of an accountant who believed when the corporation stopped doing business in California that no further filing was required.[18][21] However, Republicans say that Franken made 32 public appearances from 2003 to 2007, including two on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno taped in Burbank, California, for which Franken would have been paid the standard union fee as a member of the Screen Actors Guild.[20] On April 29, 2008, Franken released a statement noting that he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003. Most of the income at issue was from speeches and other paid appearances by the comedian-turned candidate. Franken said he got bad advice from his accountant, who had told him to pay income tax only in his state of residence. He added that he will seek retroactive credit from the states where he paid income tax that should have been paid in these 17 states.[22]

Political action

Franken speaking in New York

On SNL's Weekend Update segment in the late 1970s, Al Franken spoofed his ideas with a familiar line: "Vote for me, Al Franken. You'll be glad you did!"[8] In 1999, Franken released a parody book, Why Not Me?, detailing his election for the Presidency in 2000. He had been a strong supporter of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone. Wellstone's death in a plane crash shortly before the 2002 Senate election strongly affected Franken. After the funeral, Rush Limbaugh, Jesse Ventura, and conservative commentators criticized the remembrance ceremony and its participants for alleged overt displays of left-wing political sentiment. Columnists Peggy Noonan and Chris Caldwell asserted that 20,000 people booed Trent Lott. Franken, who attended, denied there was widespread jeering: "Along with everyone else, I cried, I laughed, I cheered. It was, to my mind, a beautiful four-hour memorial. I didn't boo. Neither did 22,800 of the some 23,000 people there."[23]

Franken said he learned that 21% of Americans received most of their news from talk radio, then an almost exclusively conservative medium[8]. Said Franken, "I didn't want to sit on the sidelines, and I believed Air America could make a difference."[8] In November 2003, Franken talked about moving to his home state of Minnesota to run for the Senate. The seat once held by Wellstone, now occupied by Republican Norm Coleman, was to be contested in the 2008 election. In 2005, Franken announced his move to Minnesota: "I can tell you honestly, I don't know if I'm going to run, but I'm doing the stuff I need to do in order to do it."[24] He said that he would run as a Democrat.

Franken's books express strong support for pro-choice views, gun control laws, same-sex marriage, environmental protections and a revamped, more progressive income tax system. In the postscript of The Truth (with jokes), Franken joked that if elected to the Senate, in the two-week window between the Senate's swearing in and the end of Bush's term, he would push for a "quickie impeachment."

In late 2005, Franken started his own political action committee called Midwest Values PAC. By early 2007, the PAC had raised more than US$1 million.[25][26]

Franken was the subject of the 2006 documentary film Al Franken: God Spoke, which premiered in April 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It was released nationally on September 13 that year.[27]

2008 U.S. Senate campaign

Franken campaigning for U.S. Senate
Main article: United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2008

On January 29, 2007, Al Franken announced his departure from Air America Radio.[28] On the day of his final show, February 14, Franken formally announced that he would run for the United States Senate from Minnesota in 2008.[29] Challenging him for the Democratic endorsement was Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a professor, author, and activist. Other candidates, Mike Ciresi, a wealthy trial lawyer; and Jim Cohen, an attorney and human rights activist dropped out of the race earlier.[30] [31]

On April 13, 2007, Al Franken's campaign finance report was filed. He was able to raise US$1.35 million dollars in the first quarter of 2007. The incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman, was able to raise US$1.53 million dollars.[32] On July 8, 2007, the Franken campaign stated that it expected to announce that Franken had raised more funds than Coleman during the second quarter of the year, taking in US$1.9 million to Coleman's US$1.6 million,[33][34] although as of early July 2007, Coleman's US$3.8 million cash on hand exceeded Franken's US$2 million.[34]

On June 7, 2008, Franken was endorsed at the DFL convention, defeating University of St. Thomas Professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. In a July 2008 interview with CNN, Franken was endorsed by noted conservative speechwriter, economist, author and entertainer Ben Stein.[35] Stein said of Franken, "He is my pal, and he is a really, really capable smart guy. I don't agree with all of his positions, but he is a very impressive guy, and I think he should be in the Senate." During his campaign for the Senate Franken advised SNL creator Lorne Michaels on a political sketch attacking and ridiculing Senator John McCain. Franken's opponent incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman's campaign reacted as saying, "Once again he proves he's more interested in entertainment than service, and ridiculing those with whom he disagrees,". [36]

Playboy article

In late May 2008, the Minnesota Republican Party released a letter regarding an article Franken had written for Playboy magazine in 2000 entitled 'Porn-O-Rama!'. The letter, signed by six prominent GOP women, including a state senator and state representative, called on Franken to apologize for what they referred to as a "demeaning and degrading" article.[37] Several DFL leaders expressed personal and political discomfort with the article.[38] A Franken campaign spokesman said, "Al had a long career as a satirist. But he understands the difference between what you say as a satirist and what you do as a senator."[37]

Views

Franken in 2008

Franken has been a vocal critic of the Iraq War for several years and opposed the 2007 troop surge. However, he didn't criticize the invasion at the time, a fact he often admitted, with regret, on his radio program. In an interview with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough,[39] Franken said that he "believed Colin Powell," whose presentation at the United Nations convinced him that the war was necessary. Franken now believes that Congress should refuse to pass appropriations bills to fund the war if they don't include timetables for leaving Iraq. In an interview with Josh Marshall, Franken said of the Democrats, "I think we've gotta make [Bush] say, 'OK, I'm cutting off funding because I won't agree to a timetable.'"[40]

Franken favors transitioning to a universal health care system, with the provision that every child in America should receive health care coverage immediately. He believes that private pensions and Social Security should be protected.[41][42] He wants to cut tax breaks for oil companies, increase money available for college students and cut interest rates on student loans.[43]

Other notable events

Palace Theatre rally

During the 2004 presidential election, Franken was at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, New Hampshire, attending a rally for governor Howard Dean in his bid for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. A heckler attempted to shout down the governor, who was taking questions from the audience. When theater manager Peter Ramsey tried to calm the situation, the man began pushing and elbowing Ramsey. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, at that point Franken assisted Ramsey by temporarily restraining the heckler. When a second heckler appeared, "Franken and three other men escort[ed] the second heckler out the stage door."[44] The first heckler then left quietly after Ramsey threatened to call the police. Franken said that while he wasn't a Dean supporter, he restrained the heckler in order to uphold Dean's right to free speech, and that he "would have done it if [the heckler] was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally."

Bibliography

Books by Al Franken

CDs and compilations

  • Best democracy money can buy: the truth about corporate cons, globalization, and high-finance fraudsters, with Greg Palast (2004)
  • The O'Franken Factor Factor - The Best of the O'Franken Factor
  • The Al Franken Show Party Album

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Al Franken worth between $4.3 million and $9.9 million - USATODAY.com
  2. ^ The Big Question » Blog Archive » It’s Franken in One
  3. ^ "Al Franken wins Senate nod amid 7 state primaries" By Brian Bakst
  4. ^ Chris Rovzar; Jessica Pressler (2007-02-01). "Al Franken Decides He's Good Enough, Smart Enough to Run for Senate". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2008-02-16.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Ancestry of Al Franken
  6. ^ Al Franken Biography (1951?–)
  7. ^ [citation needed]
  8. ^ a b c d Vote for Me, Al Franken, Richard Corliss, Time magazine, February 14, 2007.
  9. ^ Casper Star-Tribune Online - Top Story
  10. ^ Hill, Doug and Weingrad, Jeff, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live (Vintage Books, 1987) ISBN 0-394-75053-5
  11. ^ Shales, T: "Live From New York", page 191. Back Bay Books, 2003.
  12. ^ Cox, Ana Marie (2007-04-05). "Don't Laugh at Al Franken". CNN/Time. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
  13. ^ Shales, T: "Live From New York", pages 433-444. Back Bay Books, 2003.
  14. ^ "The Al Franken Show from Woolsey Hall". 2005-11-08.
  15. ^ Franken's Letters to John Ashcroft from The Smoking Gun
  16. ^ from Al Franken, Seriously So by Russell Shorto.[1]
  17. ^ Saulny, Susan (August 23, 2003). "In Courtroom, Laughter at Fox and a Victory for Al Franken". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2005-10-05.
  18. ^ a b http://www.kxmb.com/printArticle.asp?ViewPrintable=True&ArticleId=229313
  19. ^ Franken faces $25,000 workers' comp penalty
  20. ^ a b New round of financial questions dogs Franken Star Tribune April 24, 2008
  21. ^ http://www.twincities.com/ci_8950475?nclick_check=1
  22. ^ Comedian-turned-candidate Franken to pay $70K in back taxes, San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2008
  23. ^ Reflections on the Wellstone Memorial and the King Funeral, Al Franken, Huffington Post, February 11, 2006.
  24. ^ Kuhn, David Paul (2005-04-28). "Senator Franken?". Salon.com. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  25. ^ Chris Cilizza (2007-02-05). "Minnesota Senate: Is Franken the Dems' Dream Candidate?". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  26. ^ "Doggone It, People Like Him". Mother Jones. 2007-09-01. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  27. ^ Al Franken: God Spoke at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  28. ^ Franken off the air, Aaron Blake, The Hill, January 30, 2007.
  29. ^ Cooper, Peter (2007-02-14). "Franken enters Minn. Senate race". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  30. ^ Condon, Peter. Franken to seek nomination in U.S. senate race, Globe and Mail, February 14, 2007
  31. ^ http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/16463506.html, Pat Doyle and Kevin Duchschere. Retrieved 11 March 2008
  32. ^ Al Franken's Senate campaign gets off to big start, CNN.com, April 14, 2007.
  33. ^ "Franken Raises Over $1.9 Million In Second Quarter". Al Franken for Senate. 2007-07-08. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  34. ^ a b Mulcahy, Mike (2007-07-09). "Franken leads the pack in second quarter fundraising". Polinaut. MPR. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  35. ^ Preston, Mark. "Preston on Politics: Bueller? Bueller? -- McCain needs Rove". cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  36. ^ Franken advises 'SNL' on sketch ridiculing McCain
  37. ^ a b ABC story anout 2008 letter regarding Playboy article written in 2000
  38. ^ [2]
  39. ^ Transcript, "Scarborough Country," MSNBC, December 7, 2005,
  40. ^ http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/014615.php, Joshua Marshall, June 14, 2007.
  41. ^ "Al on the Issues". Al Franken for Senate. 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  42. ^ They love him, but it's a tough crowd, Rachel Stassen-Berger, St. Paul Pioneer Press, February 18, 2007.
  43. ^ Al Franken Talks Politics, Sarah Kirchner, Alberta Lea Tribune, February 21, 2007.
  44. ^ Al Franken Rousts Heckler From Dean Rally, a January 2004 New Hampshire Union Leader article
  45. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111693/

External links

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Party political offices
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