Name origin: Greek son of Zeus and Europa. Because of his just and upright life, after death Rhadamanthus was appointed a judge of the dead and the ruler of Elysium, a blissfully beautiful area of the Underworld where those favoured by the gods spent their life after death.
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Name origin: Greek; one of the Centaurs. Thereus was killed at the Lapith wedding by Theseus; he was a bear hunter “who used to take bears on the mountain slopes of Thessaly, and carry them home angry and alive.”
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Name origin: Hindu god of water and the celestial ocean. Varuna was also the god of law in the underwater world, and may have been replaced eventually by Indra. He is said to have unlimited knowledge.
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In Greek myth, Chaos was the primordial void state before the creation of the universe.
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sbolos was a diviner who read omens in the flight of birds, and who predicted the battle with the Lapiths. He eventually caused the fight with Herakles (by bringing the centaurs when he saw Herakles’ wine opened), and thus was indirectly responsible for the deaths of Pholus and Chiron.
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Name origin: Venetia Phair (née Burney), who at age 11 was the first to suggest the name Pluto when said planet was discovered. She studied mathematics and became an accountant, and later a teacher.
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Name origin: Famous Greek hero and demigod who became immortal. Performed the 12 labours for King Eurystheus of Mycenae, and had a number of other adventures. His name means ‘glory (or fame) of Hera’. On his ascension, he married Hebe.
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Name origin: Greek god of medicine and patron of doctors. After Asklepios’ mother died while pregnant, his father Apollo cut the unborn child from her womb. From this Asklepios received his name which means “to cut open.”
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Name origin: Jack B. Child (b. 1951), software engineer at JPL and Asteroid Project director of the World Space Foundation; honoured for his “generous helpfulness” and for introducing team members to the Palomar project.
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Named for the ancient Indian philosophical principle of cause and effect: good actions and intent have good consequences; bad actions and intent have bad consequences. This can also refer to how a person’s actions affect who they become. (Note that the various theories of karma are generally much more complex than in popular media descriptions.)
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