YEAR IN REVIEW 1997: BIOGRAPHY

Aikman, Troy U.S. professional football quarterback Troy Aikman not only led the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) to three Super Bowl victories (1993, 1994, 1996) but also helped restore the lustre that the squad once enjoyed as "America's Team." The Cowboys, one of the most dominant and popular teams in the 1970s, had fallen on lean times by 1989, when Jerry Jones bought the club, replacing longtime head coach Tom Landry with Jimmy Johnson and building a star-studded backfield around quarterback Aikman (drafted 1989) and running back Emmitt Smith (drafted 1991). By the mid-1990s, owing to his rugged good looks and the precision and the power of his passing game, Aikman was one of football's top celebrities. In his first seven seasons with the Cowboys, he completed nearly 63% of his passes, including 98 touchdown throws. Aikman was born on Nov. 21, 1966, in West Covina, Calif., and raised in Cerritos, a suburb of Los Angeles, before moving to the small town of Henryetta, Okla., where he was an all-state high school standout. He was hotly recruited by coaches Barry Switzer of the University of Oklahoma and Johnson of Oklahoma State University; both later coached him as a professional. Aikman chose Switzer, who introduced the wishbone formation to the Oklahoma offense, emphasizing a running game at the expense of Aikman's strong passing skills. As a sophomore in 1985, Aikman broke his leg in the fifth game of the season and, because he was not well suited to the wishbone offense, lost his place as starting quarterback. Oklahoma went on to win the national championship, and Aikman went on to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, where, as a transfer student, he had to sit out the 1986 season. He shone in his remaining two years at UCLA, completing 65% of his passes and leading his squad to a 20-4 record, with postseason victories in the Aloha Bowl (December 1987) and the Cotton Bowl (January 1989). Named All-American in his senior year, he placed third in the polling for the Heisman Trophy, college football's most prestigious award. In 1989 the Cowboys made Aikman their number one draft selection and the wealthiest rookie in league history, with a six-year, $11 million contract. He fared poorly in his first few seasons, throwing more interceptions than touchdown passes and missing games because of injuries. In 1992-93, however, his first season without injuries, Aikman led the team to a Super Bowl victory and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. On the way to a second Super Bowl win in 1994, he became the highest-paid player in NFL history, with an eight-year, $50 million contract. In March 1994 Johnson was replaced as head coach by Switzer, who oversaw the Cowboys' continued success--much of which was due to Aikman's heroics in postseason play, during which he held the career record for passing percentage, highest average yard gain, and longest pass completion. (TOM MICHAEL) Alagna, Roberto, and Gheorghiu, Angela In 1996 French-born tenor Roberto Alagna and Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu created their own personal operatic libretto with a highly publicized romance that resulted in marriage in May. The pair first met in 1992 while appearing opposite each other as Rodolfo and Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's La Bohme with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London, and they fell in love two years later while Gheorghiu sang the role of Violetta in Sir Georg Solti's 1994 production of Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata at Covent Garden. Alagna was born to Sicilian parents in a suburb of Paris on June 7, 1963, and was discovered while he was singing for tips in a Paris pizzeria. Although he was mostly self-taught, his first audition in 1988 resulted in the tenor lead as Alfredo in Glyndebourne's touring production of La traviata. Alagna went on to enter the 1988 Luciano Pavarotti International Competition and won. In 1990 he reprised the role of Alfredo for La Scala in Milan. He overcame personal tragedy to sing a highly acclaimed Romeo in the Royal Opera's 1994 production of Charles Gounod's Romo et Juliette only a few weeks after his wife succumbed to a brain tumour, leaving him with a four-year-old daughter. While Alagna was considered a consummate performer, with a strong physical stage presence, some critics questioned whether he was overstraining his voice, especially since he had had no formal training. As the first genuine lyric tenor to appear in many years, however, Alagna was continually hailed as the "fourth tenor." He shrugged off all comparisons to the famed trio of Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jos Carreras, claiming he wanted to establish his own style. Gheorghiu, two years Alagna's junior, had a much more traditional background. She was born in Adjud, Rom., where her father worked for the railroad. Gheorghiu realized her love for singing early and was supported by her family in her desire for a career in opera. She left home at age 14 to study at the Academy of Music in Bucharest and made her debut in 1992 as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni at Covent Garden. Gheorghiu, an elegant and compelling artist, was praised in London as one of the great Violettas. Her performance in La Bohme for the New York City Metropolitan Opera in early 1996--a production that marked the U.S. debut for both her and Alagna--was described as "ideal." Like Alagna, she did not work with a teacher, subscribing to their shared philosophy of self-reliance. Gheorghiu had less pressure on her than Alagna, but she did not welcome the comparisons to Maria Callas, preferring to be recognized for her own voice. Aggressive marketing, combined with the talented duo's fairy-tale romance, brought them increased attention. Alagna and Gheorghiu were booked jointly for the next few years with recording studios and opera houses throughout the world, and the hope--especially for Alagna--was that they would continue to plan wisely for long and rewarding careers. (AMANDA E. FULLER) Amanpour, Christiane Throughout the 1990s, in war zones throughout the world, there was one constant. No matter how distant or dangerous the battlefield, viewers of the Cable News Network (CNN) could count on the reporting of Christiane Amanpour. One of a small group of female foreign correspondents, Amanpour had gained a reputation as the leading war reporter of her generation. As senior international correspondent for CNN, she covered conflicts in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1996 she signed a contract with the CBS network to appear on the prestigious "60 Minutes" as a correspondent. In an unprecedented arrangement, Amanpour would also keep her job at CNN. Amanpour was born in London in 1958. Her father, an Iranian airline executive, moved the family to Tehran shortly after her birth. Politically connected and wealthy, the Amanpours led a privileged life in Iran. At the age of 11, Amanpour was sent back to England to attend the Holy Cross Convent School in Buckinghamshire. She stayed at Holy Cross until she was 16, when she went to the exclusive New Hall School, the oldest Roman Catholic girls' school in the U.K. In January 1979 the Islamic revolution in Iran toppled the shah, forcing many of his followers to leave the country, the Amanpour family among them. Her father lost everything he had owned in Iran. Amanpour later credited her desire to be a journalist to this firsthand experience. Amanpour moved to the U.S. and attended the University of Rhode Island, majoring in journalism. Following her graduation, she worked at an NBC affiliate in Providence, R.I. In September 1983 she was hired at the fledgling CNN as an assistant for the international news desk. By 1986 she was working at CNN's New York bureau as a producer-correspondent. Amanpour received her big break in 1989, when she was promoted to a post in Frankfurt, Ger. She arrived there at an opportune time; the pro-democracy movement was sweeping Eastern Europe, and Amanpour quickly became CNN's reporter on the spot. Amanpour gained distinction in Europe, but it was during the Persian Gulf War that she became a familiar face. She covered the conflict from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to the eventual triumph of the U.S.-led coalition. After the war she reported on the Kurdish uprising in northern Iraq. In 1992 Amanpour went to Bosnia and Herzegovina to cover the outbreak of violence that she felt would become "my generation's war." Her reporting was credited with bringing the savage nature of that conflict to the attention of the world, although some criticized her for what they felt was her tendency to editorialize rather than report, claiming that she was clearly biased against the Serbs. Amanpour responded by stating that "objectivity means giving all sides a hearing. It doesn't mean treating all sides equally." (JOHN H. MATHEWS) Andreessen, Marc From recent college grad to cofounder of Netscape Communications Corp., computer programmer Marc Andreessen accomplished what many could only dream of. At age 25 he was a top officer of a software company that reported revenues totaling $55 million for the first quarter of 1996, and he graced the cover of Time magazine to illustrate a story on the "Golden Geeks" of the 1990s (in 1994 Time had named him one of the top 50 people under the age of 40). Just a few months earlier, he had been given the 1995 Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Leadership. Andreessen grew up in New Lisbon, Wis. While still in grammar school he taught himself BASIC, a programming language, so that he could write his own computer games; he later attempted to design a program that would do his math homework. Andreessen planned a career in electrical engineering. That changed, however, when he entered the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and landed a part-time job at the school's computer lab, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). There he and a handful of his peers created Mosaic, a user-friendly browser application that integrated graphics and point-and-click simplicity to make it easier for nontechnical people to navigate the World Wide Web (the graphic subsection of the Internet). It was a hit. NCSA made Mosaic available free of charge over the Internet, and more than two million copies were downloaded within a year. After graduating in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in computer science, Andreessen headed to California's Silicon Valley to work for a small company that made security products for use in electronic commerce. Soon he was contacted by James Clark, the founder and former president of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Clark was searching for an exciting new venture, and he found it with Andreessen. With Clark's $4 million investment and Andreessen's genius, the dynamic duo founded Mosaic Communications Corp. (later rechristened Netscape Communications) in April 1994. Andreessen recruited the original masterminds behind Mosaic and set out to create the "monster" software, which they initially dubbed Mozilla (meaning Mosaic Killer). It was commercially launched as Netscape Navigator and, almost overnight, became the most popular browser used on the Web, taking over 75% of the market share by mid-1996. Netscape's main objective was to enable individuals and companies around the globe to exchange information. And, as vice president of technology, Andreessen earned the role of setting the company's technical path as it prepared to ride the "bandwidth tidal wave," which Andreessen predicted would transform the wireless communications industry. (MARIA OTTOLINO RENGERS) Armbruster, Peter On Feb. 9, 1996, German physicist Peter Armbruster and a multinational team of scientists at the Institute for Heavy Ion Research (GSI), Darmstadt, Ger., synthesized element 112, thereby attaining yet another goal in their quest to discover increasingly heavy chemical elements. Armbruster and physicist Sigurd Hofmann led the researchers who made the new element, their third such achievement in less than two years. In 1971 Armbruster became chief scientist at GSI, where he worked for more than two decades to synthesize the superheavy elements--i.e., a group of relatively stable elements with atomic numbers (numbers of nuclear protons) around 114 and mass numbers (numbers of nuclear protons and neutrons) around 298. Scientists began creating new elements with atomic numbers higher than that of uranium, element 92, in the early 1940s. As they attempted to make elements heavier than fermium, element 100, the extreme instability of those elements posed increasing challenges. In response, Armbruster and physicists at other accelerators around the world developed more sophisticated synthetic techniques. At GSI the approaches proved quite successful. In the early 1980s Armbruster and co-workers produced elements 107 through 109, and in 1994, within a two-month period, they created elements 110 and 111. Element 112, with an atomic mass of 277, was the heaviest yet to be produced in the laboratory. It was created from the fusion of the nuclei of lead and zinc when zinc atoms were raised to high kinetic energies in a heavy-ion accelerator and aimed at a lead target. The two nuclei combined, and element 112 was born. Only one atom of the element was detected in the experiment, and in less than a thousandth of a second it decayed. In spite of its short life span, the new element was expected to provide insight into the nature of nuclear structure. The synthesis of increasingly heavy elements allowed physicists to test predictions about the stability of atomic nuclei. Scientists had identified certain, "magic" numbers of protons and neutrons that should confer particular stability to a nucleus. The stability arises because the internal nuclear structure can arrange itself such that the binding energy of the nucleus is increased. Element 112 has 161 neutrons in its nucleus, which is only one short of the predicted magic number of 162 neutrons. Armbruster was born in Dachau, Bavaria, on July 25, 1931. He received his doctorate from the Technical University of Munich. Throughout his career he remained intrigued by the reactions between heavy nuclei and applied the results of his studies to understanding atomic and solid-state physics. As 1996 progressed, Armbruster continued his work to extend the periodic table beyond its current limits, hoping in the near future to create the superheavy element predicted to be the most stable of the group--element 114. (MARY JANE FRIEDRICH) Armstrong, Karen Though once a refugee from religion, in 1996 author Karen Armstrong completed In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis, worked closely with a major television series on the book of Genesis: "Genesis: A Living Conversation," and completed her most ambitious project to date: Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, a history of Jerusalem from the Bronze Age to the present. Armstrong, one of the leading commentators on religion in Britain and once a practicing Roman Catholic, described herself as a "freelance monotheist." Armstrong was born on Nov. 14, 1944, in Worcestershire, Eng. At 17 she entered a Catholic convent. Though she had "pictured the religious life as a series of philosophical conversations sandwiched between prayerful ecstasies," she was rudely awakened. She entered the convent just as the Second Vatican Council was getting under way, long before its reforms were introduced into Catholic institutions. Armstrong found herself searching for God in the midst of the severe and outdated Victorian subculture of her convent. After seven years of tortured experience, she emerged nonreligious and recounted her journey in the autobiographical Through the Narrow Gate (1981). She graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in literature and then taught modern literature at the University of London before serving as the head of the English department at a girls' school. By 1982 she had become a freelance writer and broadcaster. This new vocation gradually led her back to the subject of religion. In 1983 she wrote and presented a six-part documentary TV series on the life and work of the Apostle Paul. Much of the background work for the series was done on-site in the Middle East, where Armstrong gained a fresh appreciation for Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. She then went on to other television series, including "Varieties of Religious Experience" (1984) and "Tongues of Fire" (1985). A teacher at the Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism and the Training of Rabbis and Teachers, she was also an honorary member of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. Armstrong's work A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (1993) was on the New York Times best-seller list for more than a year. Her other works include Beginning the World (1983), The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity's Creation of the Sex War in the West (1986), Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World (rev. ed., 1991), Muhammad (1991), The English Mystics of the Fourteenth Century (1991), and The End of Silence: Women and the Priesthood (1993). (TODD M. JOHNSON) Asahina, Takashi Octogenarian maestro Takashi Asahina, widely credited with having popularized the compositions of Beethoven, Bruckner, and Mahler in Japan, considered giving up the baton in 1996 until a word of encouragement from Emperor Akihito changed his mind. The encounter took place in 1994 when Asahina received the Order of Culture, a decoration that acknowledged outstanding achievements in the arts. As Asahina jokingly explained it in his memoirs, he interpreted the emperor's advice to "hang in there" as an "imperial edict." Asahina was born in Tokyo on July 9, 1908. In early infancy he was adopted by his father's colleague, an engineer who specialized in the construction of railway tunnels. As a child Asahina suffered from asthma and lived for a time in a seashore area outside Tokyo. He took up soccer to strengthen his body and learned to play the violin. Asahina opted to study law at Kyoto University after failing a university entrance examination in Tokyo. He continued to play the violin in university extracurricular activities but quit soccer to make time for music. Following graduation in 1931, Asahina took the examination required of those seeking positions in the government. To his dismay, the one topic he was certain would not be asked, and which he had not studied, was asked. He turned in a blank paper, fully aware that his plans for a career in government would never be realized. Asahina landed a job with a private railway company that owned a chain of department stores. For two years he worked as a passenger train engineer and a department store clerk, and he then reentered the university (1933) to study philosophy. He also became seriously interested in music and studied the violin and conducting. Asahina looked up to Emmanuel Metter, a Russian who taught at Kyoto University from 1926 to 1938, as his orchestra-conducting mentor. Asahina made his professional debut as a conductor in 1939. After conducting the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Harbin Symphony Orchestra in Japanese-occupied China during World War II, he established the Kansai Symphony Orchestra in Osaka in 1947 and became its regular conductor, the position he retained when the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra replaced the Kansai orchestra in 1960. Since his European debut in Helsinki in 1953, he had conducted more than 60 orchestras in 15 countries. Because he saw himself as a conductor who received no formal education at a music school, Asahina humbly declined to take protgs under his wing. (TEIJI SHIMIZU) Atkinson, Rowan Sebastian It is no surprise that a painfully shy person would hide behind a mask, but it can be highly risky to borrow that mask's main features from a gargoyle. Such were the facial contortions and attributes displayed with manic genius by British comic actor Rowan Atkinson, whose alter ego, Mr. Bean, made his transatlantic jump to U.S. television in 1996. Transcending both the traditional lines drawn by "English humour" and the verbal repartee of his previous TV incarnation, Blackadder, Atkinson found millions of devotees for his gormless, all-but-silent working-class nerd. Born to wealthy Durham farmers on Jan. 6, 1955, Atkinson grew up knowing the importance of education, hard work, and a proper career. He attended Durham Cathedral Choristers' School, where he was dubbed "Moon Man" (among other things) by his peers owing to the "idea that I was related to an alien force." At the University of Newcastle upon Tyne he studied electrical engineering, progressing to the University of Oxford for his master's degree. Taking to the stage to satisfy an inner urge, he met Richard Curtis and Howard Goodall, and together they ventured to the Edinburgh Festival. There his classic schoolmaster sketch rocketed him to fame and the distinction of being at the time the youngest person to have a one-man show in London's West End. In 1979 the satirical television show "Not the Nine O'Clock News" introduced him to millions of delighted British viewers. In 1983 the first installment of "Blackadder," written by Atkinson and Curtis, slithered onto British TV screens, featuring the twisted relationship between four incarnations of the groveling, spineless Lord Blackadder and his foully fleshed retainer, Baldrick, as they cajoled their way through history from the Crusades to the end of World War I. The series established Atkinson as one of England's finest comic actors and led to "Mr. Bean" (1990), which won the 1990 Montreux Festival Golden Rose, a 1991 International Emmy for best popular arts program, and a 1994 American Cable Ace Award. At its peak "Mr. Bean" was British television's most popular comedy, with 18 million viewers. Atkinson's motion picture credits included The Witches, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and The Lion King, and a film version of "Mr. Bean" was in the works. Atkinson's latest TV incarnation was Police Inspector Raymond Fowler in "The Thin Blue Line." Despite his success, the fiercely private Atkinson insisted that he was not a funny man. "I am," he said, "essentially a rather quiet, dull person, who just happens to be a performer." (LESLEY EDMONDSON) Aznar Lpez, Jos Mara On May 4, 1996, the Spanish Cortes (parliament) approved Jos Mara Aznar Lpez, the leader of the centre-right Popular Party (PP), as the new prime minister of Spain. A former tax inspector who was little known outside his native country, Aznar had narrowly defeated incumbent Felipe Gonzlez Mrquez in the general elections on March 3. Though Aznar's victory fell far short of the landslide that had been predicted, it helped bring to an end 13 years of Socialist rule in Spain and signified a major political turning point for Western Europe's youngest democracy. Aznar was born on Feb. 25, 1953, in Madrid. Although both his father and grandfather held government jobs during the fascist regime of Gen. Francisco Franco, throughout his career Aznar advocated a much more moderate conservatism. After graduating from the University of Madrid and while working as a tax inspector during the 1970s and early '80s, Aznar became an active member of the right-wing Popular Alliance, which later became the PP. Aznar was instrumental in leading the party toward the political centre, and the PP elected him to succeed retiring party leader Manuel Fraga Iribarne in 1989. First elected to the Cortes from Avila in 1984, Aznar later served as president of the Castile-Len region (1987-89). He was elected to the Cortes from Madrid in 1989 and, as head of the PP, continued to reform the party, actively recruiting women and young people and cutting ties to the far right. In 1995, after being slightly wounded by a car bomb that was attributed to the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, Aznar led the PP to large gains in the general elections. During his campaign to become prime minister, he focused on the numerous scandals that had plagued Gonzlez's government, citing them as evidence that the Socialist regime needed to be replaced by a "clean" party. He also was able to turn his uncharismatic popular image to his advantage, stressing his "ordinariness" and his reputation for being an earnest, levelheaded leader. In his effort to be named prime minister, Aznar was forced to seek the backing of several of Spain's small, regionally aligned political parties, since the PP had fallen short of winning a legislative majority in the March elections. Facing possible instability with a minority government, Aznar remained unperturbed. He declared that Spain had "begun a new chapter in its history" and reaffirmed his goals of liberalizing the economy, cutting the public deficit, and rooting out the rampant corruption that had plagued Gonzlez's government. (SHERMAN HOLLAR) Bailey, Donovan At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey won the 100-m dash in 9.84 sec to earn the appellation "the world's fastest man." Then he ran the last leg of the 4 100-m relay and helped the Canadian team win a gold medal in that event. These were impressive accomplishments for a man who had emerged as a factor in international track only in 1994 and did not set a world record until 1996. Bailey was born on Dec. 16, 1967, in Manchester, Jam., and moved to Oakville, Ont., in 1981 to live with his father. He was on the track team in high school, and at age 16 he ran the 100-m dash in 10.65 sec. He did not pursue running seriously, however, because his first love was basketball. He played forward on the basketball team at Sheridan College, Oakville, where he studied economics. After receiving a diploma in business administration, Bailey started his own marketing and investment-consulting business. Sports became his hobby. He played recreational basketball and occasionally entered sprint races. In 1991 he won the 60-m dash at the Ontario indoor championships. Training only sporadically, Bailey did not make the Canadian track team for the 1991 world championships or the 1992 Olympics. In 1993 Bailey was a member of the Canadian track team at the world championships in Stuttgart, Ger. It was there that he met coach Dan Pfaff, who invited Bailey to train with him. After Bailey began training with him in March 1994, first in Baton Rouge, La., and then at the University of Texas at Austin, Pfaff overhauled his technique and helped him polish his style. As a result, Bailey improved his starts and his ability to sustain his speed throughout the race. By the end of 1994, he was ranked eighth in the world in the 100-m dash. He ran the 100 m in less than 10 seconds for the first time in the spring of 1995. In July Bailey set a Canadian record of 9.91 sec at the Canadian track and field championships, and in August he won the 100 m at the world track and field championships in Gteborg, Swed. He set his first world record in 1996 in the 50-m dash at the Reno Air Games. Bailey structured his 100-m run as 20 m of start, 50 m of acceleration, and 30 m of relaxation. Shortly after the Atlanta Olympics, he competed again in Europe. He won the 100-m at the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo and the IAAF Grand Prix in Cologne, Ger. Bailey, who developed an interest in the history of track and field and had great respect for those who built the sport, like Jesse Owens, received the Canadian Sport Award in March 1996. (DIANE LOIS WAY) Ban, Shigeru Before a catastrophic earthquake devastated the Kobe area in Japan on Jan. 17, 1995, Shigeru Ban was recognized as a rising Japanese architect. He therefore felt he had to help the afflicted people and went to the city in February. By the end of the summer, his relief work had brought to a section of Kobe what was popularly called a paper dome to temporarily replace a ruined Roman Catholic church and paper-tube cabins to shelter some of those who had lost their homes. Ban used recycled, durable, strong, and environment-friendly paper material to construct the paper dome on the grounds where the church had stood before it was leveled by the earthquake. He had actually used paper tubes in 1985-86 in building structures, including a gallery for fashion designer Issey Miyake. He even suggested to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1994 that shelters made of paper be constructed for Rwandan refugees. Ban was born on Aug. 5, 1957, in Tokyo. He studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1980 and later moved to the Cooper Union School in New York City because he wanted to study under architect John Hejduk. Ban received a degree in architecture in 1984 and the following year opened his own office. The construction of the rectangular-shaped church, featuring a rounded canvas roof, started in July and finished in September with the help of 160 volunteers, most of them architecture students. A total of 58 paper tubes, each measuring 5 m (16.4 ft) long, 33 cm (13 in) in diameter, and 15 cm (6 in) in thickness, were arranged in an oval form inside the church. Ban designed the structure so that it could be easily constructed and dismantled, then used again, perhaps in Rwanda or some such place when its mission as a temporary facility ended. A few companies donated construction materials, but the building cost 9 million yen, some of which was contributed by the public. Ban and his student volunteers also simultaneously built 22 paper cabins for quake-stricken people during the two-month period, using beer crates containing sand bags as their foundations and coated tenting fabrics for the roofs. Ban's service was acknowledged with an award from a Japanese architecture association, which praised him for displaying an architect's sense of mission based on deeply rooted human love. He became a UNHCR consultant and a part-time professor of architecture at Yokohama National University in 1995 and a part-time professor of architecture at Nihon University in 1996. (TEIJI SHIMIZU) Bossi, Umberto In the already fractious world of Italian politics, secessionist Umberto Bossi raised eyebrows in 1996 by calling for a complete break--dividing Italy into separate nations. In September Bossi, the leader of the rightist Northern League political party, declared independence for a portion of northern Italy that he dubbed the Republic of Padania. Exploiting the economic and cultural differences between north and south, he argued that wealthy northern cities were hampered by poorer, less-developed cities to the south and that the breakaway republic would hold its own as a member of the European Union. He illustrated his vision of Padania with flashy iconography that recalled the historic Lombard League, a medieval alliance between northern Italian towns that defeated the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa at the Battle of Legnano in 1176. As a political reality, however, the proposed republic remained mired in mythology; very few Italians actually supported secession. In fact, on the day of Bossi's main rally in Venice, many more attended a counterdemonstration in Milan held by the far-right National Alliance, led by Gianfranco Fini. Observers noted, however, that despite widespread indifference to Bossi's separatist agenda, he succeeded in garnering support for his platform of federalist reform and participation in the European Monetary System. Bossi was born on Sept. 19, 1941, in the Varese province town of Cassano Magnago, north of Milan. He received a high-school diploma and worked as a hospital orderly in Pavia before entering politics. In 1979 he met Bruno Salvadori, a federalist reformer from the northwestern Italian region of Valle d'Aosta, who inspired him in the mid-1980s to form a regional party called the Lombard League, which captured seats in the national legislature in 1987, installing Bossi as senator. Two years later the Lombard League won representation in the European Parliament. In 1991 Bossi refashioned the Lombard League as the Northern League, which soon proved dominant in northern Italy. The party's membership in government swelled after the elections of 1992, when Bossi was voted into the Chamber of Deputies. In 1994 the Northern League became the largest political faction in the nation on the strength of its federalist message, distance from incumbent corruption, and timely alliance with Silvio Berlusconi, who was elected prime minister that March. By December 1994, however, the Northern League had retreated from this alliance, and Bossi's threat of a no-confidence vote forced Berlusconi's resignation. In the 1996 national elections, the party won 10.1% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies and 10.4% of the Senate vote. (TOM MICHAEL) Bucaram Ortz, Abdal Campaigning in 1996 under the name El Loco ("The Madman"), Abdal Bucaram Ortz seemed an unlikely choice for president of Ecuador. The flamboyant politician traveled with a rock band, often singing "Jailhouse Rock," a song associated with Elvis Presley, before his speeches. His unconventional style, however, and his attacks on the wealthy business establishment proved popular with the country's eight million poor, who helped elect him president on July 7, 1996. Bucaram was born on Feb. 20, 1952, in Guayaquil, Ecuador. An accomplished athlete, he was a member of Ecuador's track and field team and competed as a hurdler in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Ger. He earned a law degree at the State University in Guayaquil but turned his attention to politics after his uncle became prominent in the populist movement. In 1982 Bucaram founded the leftist Ecuadorian Roldosist Party (PRE), and two years later he was elected mayor of Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city. His two terms in office were marked by controversy. Businessmen accused him of extortion, claiming that he demanded money and harassed those who refused to pay. Bucaram called the payments donations. In 1985 his criticism of the Ecuadoran army resulted in a warrant for his arrest. Bucaram fled to Panama, where he was arrested for cocaine possession but was not convicted. He claimed that rivals had planted the drugs on him. In 1987 he was allowed to return to Ecuador, and he ran for the presidency in 1988 and 1992. Though he was unsuccessful in both bids, election returns showed that he had won a surprisingly large number of votes. In the 1996 elections, with Rosalia Arteaga as his running mate, Bucaram focused on the gap separating the rich and the poor. He criticized the "oligarchy," which he defined as wealthy businesses and banks, and campaigned for social welfare programs and the construction of new housing. In a country where 67% of the people were poor, it was a popular platform. After the May 19 election, Bucaram and Jaime Nebot of the Social Christian Party were declared eligible for the second-round runoff. Nebot, who was supported by businesses and banks, was favoured to win. Critics cited Bucaram's vague economic policy and the fear that he would discourage investors, particularly foreigners, as major weaknesses in his campaign. His promise of change, however, galvanized much of the electorate. In the July elections Bucaram won by a comfortable margin, capturing 54.5% of the votes. After his victory Bucaram, a man noted for his unpredictability, moderated his populist rhetoric, leaving many to wonder if he would abandon his campaign promises. While Ecuador awaited the answer, it seemed clear that Bucaram's presidency would hold numerous surprises. (AMY TIKKANEN) Bustillos, Edwin In 1996 human rights activist and environmentalist Edwin Bustillos continued his campaign to save Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range from loggers and drug traffickers. Though his work resulted in five attempts on his life and daily death threats, Bustillos remained committed to the cause that made him as endangered as the land and people he sought to protect. The Sierra Madre Occidental, located in northern Mexico, extends over 1,100 km (700 mi) of mountains and canyons. Considered North America's most diverse ecosystem, it is home to endangered species, such as the jaguar and Mexican gray wolf, and to the world's most varied forest of pine, oak, and cedar. In addition, four native human cultures have lived in the region for over 2,000 years. By 1996, however, loggers and drug traffickers were threatening the Sierra Madre. Lumber companies, which had begun logging in the late 1800s, had destroyed 98% of the area's original forest growth. Moreover, in recent years the area's isolation had attracted drug traffickers, who forced the Indians to grow marijuana and opium poppies; refusal often led to death or removal from the land. The region consequently became one of the largest producers of drug crops in the world. Part Tarahumara, Bustillos was born in the Sierra Madre on May 16, 1964. It was while working for a timber company that he became aware of the problems in the region. In 1992 he founded Consejor Asesor de la Sierra Madre, A.C. (CASMAC; "Advisory Council of the Sierra Madre"), an organization that, while addressing environmental issues, concentrated on securing rights for the indigenous people. Operating with a staff of only three and on an annual budget of $80,000, Bustillos successfully lobbied for a new constitution for the state of Chihuahua that included unprecedented protection of the rights and lands of the native cultures; he also helped eradicate more than 100 ha (250 ac) of drug crops. CASMAC's goal was the creation of a two million-hectare (five million-acre) biosphere comprising community reserves, protected areas used for traditional purposes such as grazing and plant gathering. The challenges Bustillos faced were numerous. His work angered loggers and drug traffickers, who vowed to kill him. He also had to contend with bribed officials and a Mexican government that ignored the problem or offered ineffective solutions. The few arrests were often of Tarahumara, who cultivated drug crops, and the spraying of herbicide to destroy the illicit crops damaged plants and the water supply that the Indians relied upon for survival. In 1996 Bustillos received the Goldman Environmental Prize and the Cond Nast Environmental Award. (AMY TIKKANEN) Carson, David In 1996 U.S. graphic designer David Carson consolidated his reputation with the publication of The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson, the first comprehensive collection of his distinctive graphic imagery. Designed by Carson, with text by design writer Lewis Blackwell, the beautifully produced book surveyed Carson's career and showcased the best of his designs for the counterculture magazines Beach Culture and Ray Gun, as well as never-before-published illustrations and photos and a sampling of his print and television ad campaigns. Although some decried Carson's "fractured layouts and tortured typography," his unconventional style revolutionized visual communication in the 1990s. Born on Sept. 8, 1955, in Corpus Christi, Texas, Carson came to the world of graphic design relatively late in life. At 26 he was a competitive surfer--eighth in the world--and was teaching in a California high school when he enrolled in a two-week commercial design class and found a new calling. After six months at a commercial art school, he worked at a small surfer magazine, Self and Musician. During his four years as a part-time designer for the magazine Transworld Skateboarding, ample space and budget permitted bold experimentation. His chaotic spreads overlapped photos and mixed, twisted, and shattered type fonts, drawing both admirers and detractors. Photographer Albert Watson, for whom Carson designed a collection of work called Cyclops, declared, "He uses type the way a painter uses paint, to create emotion, to express ideas." In 1989 Carson became art director at Beach Culture. Although he produced only six issues before the journal folded, he collected over 150 design awards. The visual rhythms of Carson's work caught the eye of Marvin Scott Jarrett, publisher of the ultrahip alternative-music magazine Ray Gun, and he hired Carson in 1992. During the three years he served as its art director, Ray Gun tripled its circulation. Carson's ability to connect with a youthful marketing segment attracted corporations such as Nike and Levi Strauss, which commissioned him to design their print ads. Carson also branched into directing television commercials for Citibank and TV Guide. Meanwhile, the American Center for Design praised his designs as "the most important work" of 1994. Fired from Ray Gun in November 1995, Carson found himself busier than ever before. He established David Carson Design with offices in New York City and San D