Russian Morse code → Aston University, Jacques-Louis David, Walt Whitman

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  Russian Morse codeThe Russian Morse code approximates the Morse code for the Latin alphabet. It was enacted by the Russian government in 1856. To memorize the codes, practitioners use mnemonics known as напевы. The "melody" corresponding to a character is a sung phrase: syllables containing the vowels а, о, and ы correspond to dashes and are sung long, while syllables containing other vowels, as well the syllable ай, correspond to dots and are sung short. The specific "melodies" employed differ among various schools. The correspondences between Cyrillic and Latin letters were codified in MTK-2, KOI-7, and KOI-8.
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  Aston UniversityAston University is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first college of advanced technology in 1956. Aston University received its royal charter from Queen Elizabeth II on 22 April 1966. Aston pioneered the integrated placement year concept over 50 years ago, and more than 73% of Aston students take a placement year, the highest percentage in the UK. The annual income of the institution for 2021–22 was £197.7 million of which £19.3 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £219.4 million. In 2020, Aston University was named "University of the Year" by The Guardian, and the newspaper also awarded Aston Students' Union its "Buildings That Inspire" award. The Times Higher Education Awards named Aston University as its "Outstanding Entrepreneurial University" in 2020. In September 2021, Aston was shortlisted for University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2021. In March 2024, it was announced that Aston University had become the second university in England to be awarded the Athena SWAN Gold Award at an institutional level in recognition of efforts to promote gender equality.
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  Jacques-Louis DavidJacques-Louis David was a French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in taste away from Rococo frivolity toward classical austerity, severity, and heightened feeling, which harmonized with the moral climate of the final years of the Ancien Régime. David later became an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), and was effectively a dictator of the arts under the French Republic. Imprisoned after Robespierre's fall from power, he aligned himself with yet another political regime upon his release: that of Napoleon, the First Consul of France. At this time he developed his Empire style, notable for its use of warm Venetian colours. After Napoleon's fall from Imperial power and the Bourbon revival, David exiled himself to Brussels, then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, where he remained until his death. David had many pupils, making him the strongest influence in French art of the early 19th century, especially academic Salon painting. David's career spans six different political regimes in France. He was a prolific artist and produced imagery that has entered the collective imagination. Famous paintings include The Death of Marat, Napoleon Crossing the Alps and The Coronation of Napoleon.
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  Walt WhitmanWalter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality. Whitman was born in Huntington on Long Island and lived in Brooklyn as a child and through much of his career. At age 11, he left formal schooling to go to work. He worked as a journalist, a teacher, and a government clerk. Whitman's major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, was financed with his own money and became well known. The work was an attempt to reach out to the common person with an American epic. Whitman continued expanding and revising Leaves of Grass until his death in 1892. During the American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C., and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded. His poetry often focused on both loss and healing. On the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman greatly admired, he authored a number of poems, including "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and gave a series of lectures on Lincoln. After suffering a stroke towards the end of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. When he died at age 72, his funeral was a public event. Whitman's influence on poetry remains strong. Art historian Mary Berenson wrote, "You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass.... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him." Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet.... He is America." According to the Poetry Foundation, he is "America's world poet—a latter-day successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Shakespeare."

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