CompletePin

Computers, The Z4

2005-04-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

In Germany, Konrad Zuse began construction of the Z4 in 1943 with funding from the Air Ministry. Like his Z3 (described in the section Konrad Zuse), the Z4 used electromechanical relays, in part because of the difficulty in acquiring the roughly 2,000 necessary vacuum tubes in wartime Germany. The Z4 was evacuated from Berlin in early 1945, and it eventually wound up in Hinterstein, a small

Yanam

2005-04-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

Formerly part of the Cola empire, the area came under Muslim occupation in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was the scene of constant warfare between Muslim, British, and French troops. When much of the coastal plain

Canning Basin

2005-04-03T03:13:00.000-07:00

Also called Desert Artesian Basin arid sedimentary basin in northwestern Western Australia. Occupying a largely unexplored area of about 150,000 square miles (400,000 square km), it extends south from the Fitzroy River to the De Grey River and from the coast southeast almost to 128° E longitude. The basin underlies the western section of the Great Sandy Desert (q.v.). Most of its interior is covered by parallel sand dunes,

Jewish Daily Forward

2005-04-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

The Forward was founded in 1897 by the Jewish Socialist Press Federation as a civic aid and a cohesive device for Jewish immigrants from Europe. It quickly became the leading Yiddish-language newspaper in the United States. Under the guidance of Abraham Cahan, who was

Heterotrich

2005-04-02T05:19:00.000-08:00

Any member of the ciliated protozoan order Heterotrichida. Complete ciliation is typical, although there is a tendency toward loss of the cilia, which are minute, hairlike processes, in several families (Peritromidae, Licnophoridae). Heterotrichs are considered the most primitive of the subclass Spirotrichia because of their uniform ciliation.

Carnivore, Importance to humans

2005-04-02T04:45:00.000-08:00

Probably of most significance economically is the musk, called civet, produced by the anal gland in members of the viverrid group known as “civet cats.” Civet is a yellowish substance with the consistency of butter and is of great importance as a base for perfumes. It is produced by the anal scent glands and stored in a sac near the genital region. The Oriental and African

Aztec

2005-03-31T17:34:00.000-08:00

Nahuatl-speaking people who in the 15th and early 16th centuries ruled a large empire in what is now central and southern Mexico. The Aztec are so called from Aztlán (“White Land”), an allusion to their origins, probably in northern Mexico. They were also called the Tenochca, from an eponymous ancestor, Tenoch, and the Mexica, probably from Metzliapán (“Moon Lake”), the mystical name

Vieira, António

2005-03-31T16:46:00.000-08:00

Vieira went to Brazil with his parents as a child of six. Educated at the

Argentina

2005-03-30T10:47:00.000-08:00

Argentina's economy, which is one of the more powerful in the region, has been dominated by manufacturing and agriculture since the 19th century, but its service sector has grown increasingly important. Argentina produces more grain and raises more cattle than any nation in Latin America except Brazil, and its receipts from tourism are second in the region only to

Allen, Bog Of

2005-03-29T23:17:00.000-08:00

Irish Móin Alúine group of peat bogs between the Liffey and the Shannon rivers in east-central Ireland in Counties Kildare, Offaly, Laoighis, and Westmeath. Some 370 square miles (958 square km) in area, it is developed extensively for fuel for power stations; the cutover land is used for grazing. The bogs are traversed by the Grand and Royal canals, the latter no longer in use. An early monastic site

Sobibor

2005-03-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

Sobibor was one of the three Operation Reinhard camps established after the Wannsee

Wyre

2005-03-28T02:12:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Lancashire, northwestern England, bordering on the Irish Sea north and east of the resort of Blackpool. The borough, named for the River Wyre, which crosses and drains it, is generally a low coastal plain. Formerly occupied by pockets of marshland, much of the plain has been reclaimed and is now intensively cultivated.

Sable Antelope

2005-03-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

(Hippotragus niger), handsome antelope, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), that lives in herds in forests of southern Africa. Like the related roan antelope (H. equinus), the sable antelope is a graceful animal with an erect mane, long ears, long hair on the throat, and long, parallel, sickle-shaped horns. It stands up to 137 centimetres (54 inches) at the shoulder.

Tricellular Theory

2005-03-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

Obsolescent model of the Earth's wind systems that represents them as three parallel wind cells or belts in each hemisphere. First advanced by T. Bergeron (1928) and further developed by C.-G. Rossby, it replaced the Hadley-cell model (proposed by George Hadley in 1735): a single cell in each hemisphere with westward and Equatorward flow at low levels and eastward and poleward flow

Greifswald

2005-03-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

City, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Land (state), northeastern Germany. It lies 20 miles (30 km) southeast of Stralsund near the mouth of the Ryck River, which empties into Greifswalder Bay on the Baltic Sea. First mentioned in 1209 as a market settlement of the Eldena monastery and chartered in 1250, Greifswald joined the Hanseatic League in 1278. It passed to Sweden in 1648 and to Prussia in 1815. Notable

Ponte Vecchio

2005-03-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

(Italian: “Old Bridge”), first segmental arch bridge built in the West, which crosses over the Arno River at Florence and is an outstanding engineering achievement of the European Middle Ages. Its builder, Taddeo Gaddi, completed the bridge in 1345. Requiring fewer piers in the stream than the Roman semicircular-arch design, the segmental arch offered less obstruction to

Pierce, Jane

2005-03-23T01:33:00.000-08:00

At the end of Franklin's single term, the couple traveled to Europe for a year and a half, but by 1860 they had returned to Concord, New Hampshire. Jane also spent time with relatives in Massachusetts. When she died in 1863, she was buried near her children.

Grafton

2005-03-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

City and port, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, 42 mi (68 km) from the mouth of the Clarence River (and its Pacific outport of Yamba), in the North Coast district. The site was first settled in 1838 when the area was exploited by cedar getters. The city was proclaimed in 1885 and increased in size in 1956 by merging the municipalities of Grafton and South Grafton (both named after the Duke

Berezovsky, Boris

2005-03-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

When Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin resigned, Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky lost his status as a Kremlin insider and one of Russia's most powerful men. Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, came to power in 2000 promising to “liquidate the oligarchs as a class.” By year's end Berezovsky had been ousted from Kremlin circles and was facing a criminal investigation into his business

Biblical Literature, Printed editions

2005-03-20T17:59:00.000-08:00

The first edition of the entire Hebrew Bible was printed at Soncino (in Italy) in 1488 with punctuation and accents, but without any commentary. The second complete

Zamenhof, L.l.

2005-03-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

A Jew whose family spoke Russian and lived in an environment of racial and national conflict on the Polish-Russian borderland, Zamenhof dedicated himself to promoting tolerance, mainly

Mercury

2005-03-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

(genus Mercurialis), group of eight annual and perennial weedy flowering-plant species of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa but naturalized in North America. Herb mercury (M. annua) grows as a weed in cultivated areas and shaded woods. Dog's mercury (M. perennis; see photograph), which is malodorous and poisonous

Cacus And Caca

2005-03-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

In Roman religion, brother and sister, respectively, originally fire deities of the early Roman settlement on the Palatine Hill, where “Cacus' stairs” were later situated. The Roman poet Virgil described Cacus as the son of the flame god Vulcan and as a monstrous fire-breathing brigand who terrorized the countryside. He stole some of the giant Geryon's cattle from the

Biblical Literature, The significance of Elisha

2005-03-19T00:11:00.000-08:00

The stories of Elijah and his successor, Elisha, are of a different literary genre from the historical accounts of the political developments of the 9th century. The historical accounts are based on the viewpoints and biases of the monarchy, nobility, and military leaders. The stories of Elijah and Elisha are legendary, popular accounts, probably having arisen among

Indonesian Languages

2005-03-18T19:15:00.000-08:00

Broadly, the Austronesian languages of island Southeast Asia as a whole, including the languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan, and the outlying areas of Madagascar and of Palau and the Mariana Islands of western Micronesia. A more restricted core area includes only the languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. The term has been used

Atheriniform

2005-03-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

Beryciforms and zeiforms are mostly deep-bodied fishes of small to moderate size, a foot or less in length. The lampridiforms include a few rare, deep-bodied forms, notably the disk-shaped opah, which may reach more than 136 kilograms (300 pounds) in weight, but the majority are much elongated, ribbonlike fishes, including the giant oarfish, Regalecus, which reaches eight metres

Metastasio, Pietro

2005-03-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

In 1712, after receiving a good education from Gravina,

Appomattox Court House

2005-03-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

In the American Civil War, site in Virginia of the surrender of the Confederate forces to those of the North on April 9, 1865. After an engagement with Federal cavalry, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was surrounded at Appomattox, seat of Appomattox county, Virginia, 25 miles east of Lynchburg. Three miles to the northeast, at the former county seat, known as Appomattox

Penelope

2005-03-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, a daughter of Icarius of Sparta and the nymph Periboea and wife of the hero Odysseus. In the Odyssey is told the story of how, during her husband's long absence after the Trojan War, many chieftains of Ithaca and nearby islands became her suitors. To spare herself their importunities she insists that they wait until she has woven a shroud for Laertes,

Bloch, Felix

2005-03-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

Bloch's doctoral dissertation (University of Leipzig, 1928) promulgated a quantum theory of solids that provided the basis for understanding electrical

Franz, Robert

2005-03-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

Franz studied organ at Dessau from 1835 to 1837. Later he returned to Halle, where he became a friend of Wilhelm Osterwald, many of whose poems he set to music. About the time he published his first

Rimini

2005-03-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

The Romans called it Ariminum, from Ariminus, the old name of the Marecchia, and, according to the 1st-century-BC Greek historian

Koch

2005-03-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

Also called Rajbansi, ethnic group of the Bodo people, dispersed over parts of Assam and Bengal. While their original language is a Tibeto-Burman dialect, large sections of the group in the 20th century spoke Bengali or other Indo-Aryan languages. In the 16th century a Koch chief established the state of Cooch Behar, and they now call themselves Rajbansi (Of Royal Blood), resent being called by the

Hunt Of Llanfairwaterdine, (henry Cecil) John Hunt, Baron

2005-03-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

British soldier and mountaineer who was the leader of the 1953 British expedition during which Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first persons to climb to the top of Mt. Everest; he was created C.B.E. in 1945, knighted in 1953, made a life peer in 1966, and named a Knight of the Garter in 1979 (b. June 22, 1910, India--d. Nov. 7/8, 1998, Henley-on-Thames, Eng.).

Norfolk

2005-03-13T08:33:00.000-08:00

County, eastern Massachusetts, U.S., southwest and south of Boston, bordered by Massachusetts Bay to the northeast and Rhode Island to the southwest. It consists of an upland region, including the Blue Hills, that is drained by the Charles and Neponset rivers. The main parklands are Wrentham State Forest and F. Gilbert Hills, Bristol Blake, and Webb Memorial state

Tendinitis

2005-03-11T10:01:00.000-08:00

Also spelled tendonitis inflammation of the sheaths of the tendons. These sheaths are composed of thin, filmy tissue that permits the sliding motion of tendons within them. The cause of inflammation is irritation of the sheaths by prolonged or abnormal use of the tendons. Less often it may follow invasion of the tendon sheaths by bacteria with subsequent infection. It is in many instances

Kuala Lumpur

2005-03-11T00:21:00.000-08:00

Capital of Malaysia. The city is located in west-central West (Peninsular) Malaysia, midway along the west coast tin and rubber belt and about 25 miles (40 km) east of its ocean port, Port Kelang, on the Strait of Malacca. It is the federation's largest urban area and its cultural, commercial, and transportation centre. In 1972 Kuala Lumpur was designated a municipality, and in 1974 this entity

Auditorium

2005-03-10T23:02:00.000-08:00

The part of a public building where an audience sits, as distinct from the stage, the area on which the performance or other object of the audience's attention is presented. In a large theatre an auditorium includes a number of floor levels frequently designed as stalls, private boxes, dress circle, balcony or upper circle, and gallery. A sloping floor allows the seats

Ford, Gerald R.

2005-03-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

Ford was defeated in the November 1976 election by a popular vote of 40.8 million to 39.1 million and an electoral vote of 297 to 240. When, during the race that ultimately ousted President Carter in 1980, Ford was offered the vice presidential role by candidate Ronald Reagan, whom Ford held responsible for dissipating Republican support for his 1976 campaign, he refused. After leaving the White House, Ford happily retired from public life, golfed and skied at his leisure, and ultimately joined the boards of directors of numerous corporations.

Optical Interferometer

2005-03-08T17:08:00.000-08:00

Instrument for making precise measurements for beams of light of such factors as length, surface irregularities, and index of refraction. It divides a beam of light into a number of beams that travel unequal paths and whose intensities, when reunited, add or subtract (interfere with each other). This interference appears as a pattern of light and dark bands called

Poynting Vector

2005-03-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Where m is the permeability of the medium through which the radiation passes, E is the electric field intensity, and B is the magnetic induction. Thus,

Strachey, (giles) Lytton

2005-03-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

English biographer and critic who opened a new era of biographical writing at the close of World War I. Adopting an irreverent attitude to the past and especially to the monumental life-and-letters volumes of Victorian biography, Strachey proposed to write lives with “a brevity which excludes everything

Agulhas, Cape

2005-03-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

Cape that is the southernmost point of the African continent, located 109 miles (176 km) southeast of Cape Town, S.Af. Its name, Portuguese for “needles,” refers to the rocks and reefs that have wrecked many ships. A lighthouse was established there in 1849. The Agulhas Banks are excellent for trawling. The cape's meridian (20° E) is the official boundary between the Indian and Atlantic

Khanty And Mansi

2005-03-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

Their present-day territory

Nara National Museum

2005-03-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

Japanese Nara Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, in Nara, Japan, art museum devoted primarily to Buddhist art. Exhibits include dry-lacquer works, wooden statues, and lacquered wood from the earlier and later Heian periods. There are Kamakura sculptures, including Jizo-Bosatsu, and a relief of 1327 from Kochi of Kobo Daishi (Kukai), one of the best-known Buddhist saints in Japan. Pieces on display include a fine gilded-bronze

Tasmania, Transportation

2005-03-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

Given its island setting and dispersed development, transportation, both internal and external, is especially important to Tasmania. The settled areas have a good network of roads with the highest density of roads per square mile of any Australian state. In 1975 control of the state's railways was transferred to the federal government, and in 1978 regular passenger services

Resende

2005-03-05T06:13:00.000-08:00

City, western Rio de Janeiro estado (“state”), eastern Brazil, on the Paraíba do Sul River, opposite Agulhas Negras, at 1,296 feet (395 m) above sea level. Dairying, meat and coffee processing, and talc pulverizing are the principal economic activities. A marble quarry is located nearby, as is a military school. Resende, on the Presidente Dutra Highway between the cities of Rio de Janeiro

Stringed Instrument

2005-03-05T03:12:00.000-08:00

The violin family at present comprises the violin, viola, violoncello, and double bass; it forms the backbone of the modern symphony orchestra. In addition, the violin and viola are widely used in the music of South India and North Africa, in modern Greek and Arab music, in European and American folk music, and by Romany musicians. The term violin, a diminutive of viola (itself

Río De La Plata, Viceroyalty Of The

2005-03-05T01:57:00.000-08:00

Spanish Virreinato Del Río De La Plata, the final of the four viceroyalties that Spain created during its colonization of Central and South America. Including the territory now comprising Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, the new viceroyalty (established in 1776) controlled an area previously under the administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru. The decision to create a fourth viceroyalty was a

Level

2005-03-04T04:46:00.000-08:00

Device for establishing a horizontal plane. It consists of a small glass tube containing alcohol or similar liquid and an air bubble; the tube is sealed and fixed horizontally in a wooden or metallic block or frame with a smooth lower surface. The glass tube is slightly bowed, and adjustment to the horizontal is indicated by movement of the bubble. The device is on a

Computers, Microsoft's Windows Operating System

2005-03-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

In 1985 Microsoft came out with its Windows operating system, which gave PC compatibles some of the same capabilities as the Macintosh. Year after year, Microsoft refined and improved Windows so that Apple, which failed to come up with a significant new advantage, lost its edge. IBM tried to establish yet another operating system, OS/2, but lost the battle to Gates's company.

Latin American Central Of Workers

2005-03-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

Spanish Central Latinoamericana de Trabajadores (CLAT), regional Christian Democrat trade union federation linked to the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). Its affiliated member groups represent some 10,000,000 workers in more than 35 Latin-American and Caribbean countries and territories. Its headquarters are in Caracas, Venez. From its founding in 1954 until 1971 it was known as the Latin American Federation of Christian Trade

Mitchell, John Thomas Whitehead

2005-03-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

At an early age, Mitchell joined the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and was appointed its secretary in 1857. He shaped the policy of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, established in 1863, and was its chairman from 1874 until his death. Mitchell emphasized

'abd Al-rahman Iii

2005-03-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

'Abd al-Rahman succeeded his grandfather 'Abd Allah as emir of Córdoba in October 912 at the age of 21. Because of his intelligence and character he had been the obvious favourite of his grandfather, who had designated him heir presumptive in preference to the other royal princes. In appearance he is described as having been light-skinned, handsome, thickset, and short-legged.

Hill, Phil

2005-03-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

Hill began in racing as a mechanic for midget-car racing in the Santa Monica, Calif., area where he grew up. He won his first sports car competition in 1949 and became a Formula I car racer for Ferrari in 1956. He was a disciplined perfectionist in car preparation, and in study of the course. His world

Feminine Ending

2005-02-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

In prosody, a line of verse having an unstressed and usually extrametrical syllable at its end. In the opening lines from Robert Frost's poem “Directive,” the fourth line has a feminine ending while the rest are masculine: Back out of all this now too much for us,Back in a time made simple by the lossOf detail, burned, dissolved, and broken off Like graveyard marble sculpture

Kora

2005-02-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

Long-necked harp lute of the Malinke people of western Africa. The instrument's body is composed of a long hardwood neck that passes through a calabash gourd resonator, itself covered by a leather soundboard. Twenty-one leather or nylon strings are attached to the top of the neck with leather tuning rings. The strings pass over a notched bridge (10 strings

Mosaic Rhyme

2005-02-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

A type of multiple rhyme in which a single multisyllabic word is made to rhyme with two or more words, as in the end rhymes of the following two lines from W.S. Gilbert's song “The Modern Major-General”: About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news, With interesting facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Hess, Walter Rudolf

2005-02-27T03:02:00.000-08:00

Originally an ophthalmologist (1906–12), Hess turned to the study of physiology at the University of Bonn

Kora

2005-02-26T08:06:00.000-08:00

The organization is composed of five program offices: Aeronautics and Space Technology, for the development of equipment; Space Science and Applications, dealing with programs

France, History Of, Culture and art

2005-02-26T03:55:00.000-08:00

Cultural circles remained strongly oriented to aristocratic values and the past. With the accession of the Valois came a high nobility, distinguished by lavish and exclusive conceits. When John II formed the Order of the Star (1351), an institution imitated by the great lords for their clientages, chivalry stood incorporated as the most distinguished of religious confraternities.

Vienne River

2005-02-25T17:26:00.000-08:00

River, western France, 217 mi (350 km) in length, a left-bank tributary of the Loire. Rising on the Plateau de Millevaches, the Vienne winds through the agricultural regions of five départements. It flows west-northwest into the Haute-Vienne département, receiving the Maulde and Taurion tributaries, which are dammed in several places, before it flows past the city of Limoges.

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, General theory and history

2005-02-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

D.C. Allen, Mysteriously Meant: The Rediscovery of Pagan Symbolism and Allegorical Interpretation in the Renaissance (1970); C.H. Dodd, The Authority of the Bible (1958); A.S. Fletcher, Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode (1964); R.M. Grant, The Letter and the Spirit (1958); Edwin Honig, Dark Conceit: The Making of Allegory (1959); C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love (1936); Jean Pepin, Mythe et allégorie (1958); Rosemond Tuve, Allegorical Imagery (1966); Maureen Quilligan, The Language of Allegory: Defining the Genre (1979).

Dacite

2005-02-25T07:15:00.000-08:00

Volcanic rock that may be considered a quartz-bearing variety of andesite. Dacite is primarily associated with andesite and trachyte and forms lava flows, dikes, and sometimes massive intrusions in the centres of old volcanoes. Like andesite, dacite consists mostly of plagioclase feldspar with biotite, hornblende, augite, or enstatite and generally has a porphyritic

Aklavik

2005-02-24T18:55:00.000-08:00

Hamlet, Inuvik region, northwestern Northwest Territories, Canada. It is situated in the Mackenzie River delta near the Yukon border. Its Eskimo name can be translated “where there are bears.” Established as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post on the south bank of the Mackenzie River's West Channel in 1912, Aklavik was moved to the north bank in 1920. It is the site of a radio and meteorological

Powhatan War

2005-02-23T23:08:00.000-08:00

(1622–44), relentless struggle between the Powhatan Indian confederacy and early English settlers in the tidewater section of Virginia and southern Maryland. The conflict resulted in the destruction of the Indian power. English colonists who had settled in Jamestown (1607) were at first strongly motivated by their need of native corn (maize) to keep peace with the Powhatans

Alexander

2005-02-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

The second son of King Constantine (ruled 1913–17 and 1920–22) and Queen Sophia, Alexander became king (June 12, 1917) when his father was forced by the Allies of World War I to abdicate and thereby allow his country to join them in the war. Shortly after Alexander's accession to the throne, Eleuthérios Venizélos became premier of

Gisborne

2005-02-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

City (“district”) and port on Poverty Bay, Gisborne unitary authority, east coast of North Island, New Zealand. The city is located where the Waimata and Taruheru rivers join to form the Turanganui. It was the first area in New Zealand visited (1769) by Captain James Cook. It received its first permanent European settlers in 1852 and was surveyed in 1870 and given the name Gisborne for then

Carnivore, Annotated classification

2005-02-22T03:30:00.000-08:00

Although the terrestrial and marine carnivores are grouped together in the following classification, many authors separate them into two orders. In this article the split is indicated by erecting two suborders, the Fissipedia and Pinnipedia, based largely on the degree of specialization undergone by the members as they evolved and adapted to radically different

Race, North America

2005-02-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Racial classifications appeared in North America, and in many other parts of the world, as a form of social division predicated on what were thought to be natural differences among human groups. Analysis of the folk beliefs, social policies, and practices of North Americans about race from the 18th to the 20th century reveals a fundamental ideology about human differences

Gisborne

2005-02-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

Military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Marxist-Leninist (CPP-ML), which is a Communist organization dedicated to achieving power in the Philippines by means of revolutionary insurrection. The CPP-ML was originally a Maoist faction that broke away from the largely passive, Soviet-oriented Philippine Communist Party in 1968–69 and formed the New People's

Macpherson, Sir David (lewis)

2005-02-20T01:24:00.000-08:00

Macpherson emigrated in 1835 from Scotland to Montreal, where he amassed a large fortune in shipping. He moved to Toronto in 1853 and obtained a contract to build a railway line in Canada West (now in Ontario)

Graebner, Fritz

2005-02-20T00:57:00.000-08:00

While a research assistant at the Royal Museum

Wied-neuwied, Maximilian, Prinz (prince) Zu

2005-02-19T22:29:00.000-08:00

Maximilian was the prince of the small state of Neuwied and served in the Prussian army. He undertook explorations in Brazil in

Seti I

2005-02-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

In the early years of his reign, Seti led his army northward to restore Egyptian prestige, which had been partly lost during the troubled years of the late 18th dynasty. He battled in northern Palestine

Rabaul

2005-02-19T01:47:00.000-08:00

The town, founded in 1910 as a German colonial headquarters, was the capital (1921–41) of the Australian-administered Territory of New Guinea mandated by the League of Nations. Occupied by the Japanese from 1942 to 1945, Rabaul

Itabuna

2005-02-18T07:16:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Bahia estado (“state”), northeastern Brazil. It lies just west of Ilhéus on the Cachoeira River at 174 feet (53 m) above sea level. Itabuna, which was elevated to city status in 1910, is the trade centre for a rich zone yielding cacao, livestock, and other agricultural products. It was used as a setting by Jorge Amado in his novels dealing with the cacao culture. A chemical

Murex

2005-02-17T19:32:00.000-08:00

The animal

Swale

2005-02-16T23:58:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England, on the south side of the Thames estuary at its mouth. Swale borough includes the Isle of Sheppey, 9 miles (14 km) long and 4 miles (6 km) wide, to the north. The island is separated from the mainland (south) by The Swale, a branch of the River Medway estuary, which gives its name to the district. Land on

Rabat

2005-02-16T18:23:00.000-08:00

The history of Rabat is closely connected to that of neighbouring Salé, the site of which was first occupied by the Roman settlement of Sala (Shella). During the 10th century, Salé was established by the Zenata Berbers, who were orthodox

Literature

2005-02-16T00:56:00.000-08:00

The most distinctive feature of Italian literature in 2001 was the publication of several novels whose settings in the recent past served as a framework for a reflection on history. Davide Longo's Un mattino a Irgalem takes place during the Italian colonization of Ethiopia, a topic traditionally neglected by historians and creative writers. In the action a short and

Aerospace Industry, Military aircraft

2005-02-15T03:46:00.000-08:00

The large majority of military aircraft are fighters, followed by bombers, transporter-tankers, early-warning and patrol aircraft, and a variety of propeller- and jet-driven trainers. As is the case with commercial aircraft, the complexity of the technology and the immense capital requirements have narrowed the number of suppliers. In addition, the end of the Cold

Medicine, History Of, Hellenistic and Roman medicine

2005-02-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

In the following century the work of Aristotle, regarded as the first great biologist, was of inestimable value to medicine. A pupil of Plato at Athens and tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle studied the entire world of living things. He laid what can be identified as the foundations of comparative anatomy and embryology, and his views influenced scientific thinking

Stefan Duan

2005-02-14T19:27:00.000-08:00

King of Serbia (1331–46) and “Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks” (1346–55), the greatest ruler of medieval Serbia, who promoted his nation's influence and gave his people a new code of laws.

Williams, Esther

2005-02-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

Williams was a teenaged swimming champion who set a record for the 100-metre breaststroke in 1939 and won national titles in Seattle, Washington, and Miami, Florida. She won a spot on the 1940 U.S. Olympic team, but the games, which were scheduled to

Bukovina

2005-02-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

Eastern European territory consisting of a segment of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plain, divided in modern times (after 1947) between Romania and the Soviet Union. Settled by both Ukrainians (Ruthenians) and Romanians (Moldavians), the region became an integral part of the principality of Moldavia in the 14th century. Suceava, in the south of

Furniture, Commercial modern

2005-02-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

Most modern furniture designed between 1930 and 1940 was bulky, bulbous, glowingly coloured, glossily finished, and rich with hardware or shiny fabric. It pleased the public but not critics and connoisseurs. Gradually, and more noticeably after 1945, stylistic details filtered down from more progressive design levels to appear as commercial fads, such as sectional seating and

Luangwa River

2005-02-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Rio Aruângua, river rising on the Malawi–Zambia border, southern Africa. From its source near Isoka, Zambia, it flows 500 miles (800 km) south-southwest, skirting the Muchinga Mountains to join the Zambezi River between Luangwa (formerly Feira), Zambia, and Zumbo, Mozambique. The river valley is the site of several game parks. Along its lower course the Luangwa forms part of the Zambia–Mozambique

Viola

2005-02-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

Genus of about 500 species of herbs or low shrubs, including the small, solid-coloured violets and the larger-flowered, often multicoloured violas and pansies. Viola occur naturally worldwide but are found most abundantly in temperate climates, with the greatest variety occurring in the Andes Mountains of South America. They have also been widely cultivated

Wolof

2005-02-10T23:19:00.000-08:00

The typical rural community is small (about 100 persons). Most Wolof are farmers, growing peanuts (groundnuts) as a cash crop and millet and sorghum as staples; many, however, live and work in Dakar and Banjul as traders, goldsmiths, tailors, carpenters,

Pacific Mountain System, Soils

2005-02-10T07:03:00.000-08:00

In the Pacific mountain system are found all of the 11 orders of soils, of which three are most abundant. Inceptisols dominate in the coastal ranges from the Queen Charlotte Islands south to San Francisco Bay and in the Cascade Range. They have weakly differentiated horizons (layers), are little altered from their parent material, and occur where summers are cool. The

Bydgoszcz

2005-02-10T06:26:00.000-08:00

German Bromberg, city, capital of Bydgoszcz województwo (province), northern Poland, near the confluence of the Brda and Vistula rivers. Beginning as a frontier stronghold, Bydgoszcz was seized by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century; it received town rights in 1346. It prospered as a grain and timber centre, was devastated during the 17th-century Swedish wars, and regained importance in

Dies Irae

2005-02-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

The hymn ascribed to Thomas of Celano contains 18 rhymed stanzas (17 tercets, 1 quatrain), to which a later, anonymous writer added an unrhymed couplet, ending in “Amen.” The impressive plainsong melody to which the

Neo-confucianism

2005-02-09T22:21:00.000-08:00

In China, a rationalistic revival of Confucian philosophy in the 11th century AD that exercised profound influence on Chinese thought for the next 800 years. See Confucianism.

Alcamenes

2005-02-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

Sculptor and younger contemporary of Phidias, noted for the delicacy and finish of his works, among which a Hephaestus and an “Aphrodite of the Gardens” are noteworthy. A copy of the head of his “Hermes Propylaeus” at Pergamum has been identified by an inscription, and he is said by the Greek traveler Pausanias (2nd century

Andrew Of Crete, Saint

2005-02-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

From his monastery in Jerusalem he was sent to Constantinople (modern Istanbul), where he became deacon of the Hagia Sophia. During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Philippicus Bardanes he was made archbishop of Gortyna and took part

Outremeuse, Jean D'

2005-02-08T00:16:00.000-08:00

D'Outremeuse was no accurate

France, History Of, The juridical revolution

2005-02-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

Louis XVI's decision to convene the Estates-General in May 1789 became a turning point in French history. When he invited his subjects to express their opinions and grievances in preparation for this event—unprecedented in living memory—hundreds responded with pamphlets in which the liberal ideology of 1789 gradually began to take shape. Exactly how the Estates-General

Luther, Martin, Luther's questioning of authority

2005-02-07T03:15:00.000-08:00

Eck was able to go off to Rome with new prestige to give sharpness to the process of Luther's official condemnation. Luther had now to examine the further implications of his actions to date, in relation to the authority of the church, of councils, and of Scripture; his correspondence shows that he was reaching something like a crisis in his attitude to papal

Ablution

2005-02-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

In religion, a prescribed washing of part or all of the body or of possessions, such as clothing or ceremonial objects, with the intent of purification or dedication. Water, or water with salt or some other traditional ingredient, is most commonly used, but washing with blood is not uncommon in the history of religions, and urine of the sacred cow has been used in