The Alpha reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Alpha

Alpha by itself may refer to:

• The first letter of the Greek alphabet, Α α, which also has some cultural meanings; see alpha (letter).
• The letter A in the NATO phonetic alphabet, which is spelled Alfa for the benefit of native Spanish speakers.
• A male in police CB code. (Delta represents a female)
• DEC Alpha, a microprocessor from DEC.
• Alpha TV - a Greek terrestrial channel
• Alpha TV Gujarati - a Gujarati language channel in India.

The International Space Station has sometimes been referred to as 'Alpha'.

Alpha may also be used in:

• An adjective to indicate the first or most significant occurrence of something., as in these examples:
  • alpha female or male - the individual in the community to whom the others defer. Humans and their nearest species-relatives, the chimpanzees, show deference to the alpha of the community by ritualized gestures such as bowing, allowing the alpha to walk first in a procession, or standing aside when the alpha challenges.
  • alpha geek - a slang term based on the above, referring to any person considered pre-eminent amongst geeks, such as Linus Torvalds.
  • alpha version or alpha release - the first release of a computer program or other product, likely to be very unstable but useful for demonstrating internally and to select customers.
  • alpha - typically the brightest start in a constellation.
  • alpha channel - a transparency information layer to supplement the three RGB color layers to make the RGBA color space.
  • H-alpha, an emission line created by Hydrogen atoms.
• Alpha particles
• Alpha course, a course in Christianity
• Alpha squad, a Russian special unit

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