RoundNeedle

Alaskan Mountains

2005-03-18T10:11:00.000-08:00

The mountain ranges of Alaska give their state a rugged and beautiful terrain across its entire expanse. They include the highest peak in North America and are characterized by glaciers, earthquakes, and continuing volcanic activity. Structurally, the ranges are

Kirovohrad

2005-03-16T02:14:00.000-08:00

Russian Kirovograd oblast (province), south-central Ukraine. It extends from the Dnieper River in the northeast across the rolling hills of the Dnieper Upland to the basin of the Southern (Pivdennyy) Buh River in the southwest. The oblast's natural vegetation of grass steppe on fertile soils has been almost wholly plowed up, and unsound practices have resulted in serious and widespread

Leucothea

2005-03-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

(Greek: White Goddess [of the Foam]), in Greek mythology, a sea goddess first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, in which she rescued the Greek hero Odysseus from drowning. She was customarily identified with Ino, daughter of the Phoenician Cadmus; because she cared for the infant god Dionysus, the goddess Hera drove Ino (or her husband, Athamas) mad so that she and her son, Melicertes,

Gender

2005-03-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

In language, a phenomenon in which the words of a certain part of speech, usually nouns, require the agreement, or concord, through grammatical marking (or inflection), of various other words related to them in a sentence. In languages that exhibit gender, two or more classes of nouns control variation in words of other parts of speech (typically pronouns and adjectives

Franceville

2005-03-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

Franceville is now an active trading centre in a mining region. The exploitation of manganese at Mouanda and uranium at Mounana, both to the northwest,

Gregory, Horace

2005-03-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

Gregory began to write poetry while studying Latin in college, and he first contributed to periodicals in the early 1920s. Finding formal verse inadequate, he tried to combine the idiom of modern life with literary influences

Abbeville

2005-03-06T04:03:00.000-08:00

Town, Somme département, Picardy région, northern France, near the mouth of the canalized Somme, northwest of Amiens. Stone Age artifacts unearthed by Boucher de Crèvecoeur de Perthes in 1844 attesting to early occupation of the site are displayed at the Musée Boucher-de-Perthes. The town originated as Abbatis Villa, a 9th-century dependency of the abbots of Saint-Riquier,

Halton

2005-03-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

Unitary authority, geographic county of Cheshire, England. The unitary authority comprises Widnes and surrounding suburban areas, on the north shore of the River Mersey in the historic county of Lancashire, and Runcorn and its suburbs, on the south shore of the Mersey in the historic county of Cheshire. The name Halton is ancient, and the barony of Halton created after

Aung San

2005-03-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

Born

Berber

2005-02-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

Any of the descendants of the pre-Arab inhabitants of North Africa. The Berbers are scattered in tribes across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt and tend to be concentrated in the mountain and desert regions of those countries. Smaller numbers of Berbers live in the northern portions of Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. They speak various languages belonging to

Esmarch, Friedrich Von

2005-02-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

Esmarch studied medicine at Kiel and Göttingen. He graduated in 1848 and in the same year was called up as army surgeon in the war with Denmark, during which he

Dietrich Von Bern

2005-02-22T04:43:00.000-08:00

Dietrich's exploits are related in a number of south German songs preserved in Das Heldenbuch (“The Heroes Book”)—including Dietrichs Flucht (“Dietrich's Flight”), Die Rabenschlacht (“The Battle of Ravenna”), Alpharts Tod (“Alphart's Death”), and a number

Kidepo Valley National Park

2005-02-20T04:41:00.000-08:00

National park, northeastern Uganda, East Africa. It occupies an area of 540 square miles (1,399 square km) in wooded grasslands and mountainous scenery in the northeastern corner of the country. It straddles the Kidepo and Larus rivers, which are seasonally dry except for some permanent pools on the Larus. Mount Morungole on the east and the Lotuku Ridge rising in The Sudan to

Hesychius Of Jerusalem

2005-02-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

Serving as a priest in the church in Jerusalem c. 412, Hesychius gained repute as a theologian and catechist, so that by 429 he was

Cilicia

2005-02-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

Ancient district of southern Anatolia, bounded on the north and west by the Taurus Mountain Range, on the east by the Anti-Taurus, and on the south by the Mediterranean Sea. It is geographically divided into two contrasting regions, the western portion being wild and mountainous and the eastern consisting of rich plainland. In ancient times the only route from Anatolia

Anti-comintern Pact

2005-02-14T03:10:00.000-08:00

The treaties were sought by Adolf Hitler, who at the time was publicly inveighing against Bolshevism and who was interested in Japan's

Pen, International

2005-02-12T22:26:00.000-08:00

International organization of writers. The original PEN was founded in London in 1921 by the English novelist John Galsworthy, and it has since grown to include writers worldwide. The name PEN is an acronym standing for “poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, and novelists.” International PEN promotes international intellectual exchanges and goodwill among writers.

Bonney, Thérèse

2005-02-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

Bonney grew up in New York and California. She graduated from the University of California, took a master's degree in Romance languages at Harvard University, and, after a short time at Columbia University

Jackson, Glenda

2005-02-09T23:40:00.000-08:00

The daughter of a bricklayer, Jackson quit school at age 16 to join an amateur theatre group and soon won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After graduating she began working in repertory theatres as an actress and stage

Semiconductor Device

2005-02-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

A p-n junction diode is a solid-state device that has two terminals. Depending on impurity distribution, device geometry, and biasing condition, a junction diode can perform various functions. There are more than 50,000 types of diodes with voltage ratings from less than 1 volt to more than 2,000 volts and current ratings from less than 1 milliampere to more than 5,000 amperes. A p-n junction

Fu-shou-lu

2005-02-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fushoulu, in Chinese mythology, a collective term for the three so-called stellar gods, taken from their names: Fu Hsing, Shou Hsing, and Lu Hsing (qq.v.).

Libya

2005-02-03T23:51:00.000-08:00

The Libyan leadership continued to seek improved international relations with the United States and European Union countries. Diplomatic relations had been restored with all except the United States by the beginning of 2002. The outcome of the Lockerbie trial in January 2001 was unconvincing internationally, unsatisfactory from the point of view of the families of

Welch, Elisabeth Margaret

2005-02-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

American-born British musical theatre and cabaret singer (b. Feb. 27, 1904, New York, N.Y.—d. July 15, 2003, Northolt, Middlesex, Eng.), was known for her show-stopping performances in plays by Cole Porter, Ivor Novello, and Noël Coward. Welch began her career in New York City, where she created a sensation in 1931 with her rendition of Porter's “Love for Sale.” She was a cabaret singer in Paris before becoming

Zalau

2005-01-30T01:28:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Salaj judet (county), northwestern Romania. It is located in an isolated part of the country on the northwestern slopes of the Mezes Mountains. It is the terminal of a branch line railway and a local market centre for the district's agricultural produce. A furniture factory in Zalau uses timber from the surrounding hills. The town has an archaeological museum

Anderson, Maxwell

2005-01-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

Anderson was educated at the University of North Dakota and Stanford University. He collaborated with Laurence Stallings in the World War I comedy What Price Glory? (1924), his first hit, a realistically ribald and profane view of World War I. Saturday's

Asphyxia

2005-01-26T00:43:00.000-08:00

Asphyxia can be caused by injury to or obstruction of breathing passageways, as in strangulation or the aspiration of food (choking) or large quantities of fluid (near-drowning or drowning).

Crockett, Davy

2005-01-24T07:33:00.000-08:00

His father, having little means, hired him out to more prosperous backwoods farmers, and Davy's schooling amounted to 100 days of tutoring with a neighbour. Successive moves west to middle Tennessee brought him close to the area of the Creek War, in which

Montfaucon, Bernard De

2005-01-21T01:20:00.000-08:00

He joined the Benedictine Congregation of Saint-Maur in 1676 and in 1687 was sent to Paris to edit the works of the Church Fathers. His major publications in this field were editions of Athanasius, 3 vol. (1698) and John Chrysostom, 13 vol. (1718–38). As a student of manuscripts

Vysotsky, Vladimir

2005-01-19T03:30:00.000-08:00

Vysotsky's parents were divorced soon after his

Mason, James Murray

2005-01-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

Although raised a Tidewater aristocrat, Mason graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and, after studying law at the College of William and Mary, set up his practice in the Virginia back country. He served in

Duxbury

2005-01-15T05:27:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Plymouth county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on Duxbury Bay (an inlet of Cape Cod Bay), 33 miles (53 km) south of Boston, and includes the villages of Duxbury and South Duxbury. Settled about 1628, it counts among its founders the Pilgrim colonists Myles Standish, William Brewster, and John Alden. Named for Duxbury Hall in Lancashire, England, seat of the Standish

Bloch, Ernest

2005-01-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

Bloch studied with the noted Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and in Belgium with the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. From 1911 to 1915 he taught at the Geneva Conservatory.

Dyer, Sir Edward

2005-01-12T05:08:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Oxford, Dyer went to court under the patronage of the Earl of Leicester. Dyer was a friend of Sir Philip Sidney, on whose death he wrote an elegy

Literature

2005-01-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

The 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Toni Morrison (see NOBEL PRIZES), an American novelist who had been instrumental, proclaimed London's Daily Telegraph, in "breaking the male domination of Black American literature." She was only the eighth woman to win the prize, and her victory was unexpected. When Morrison's name was announced, Christopher Bigsby, professor

Dog, Hounds

2005-01-08T23:19:00.000-08:00

These also are hunting dogs but much more various than the Sporting dogs. There are scent hounds and sight hounds. They are a diverse group, ranging from the low-slung dachshund to the fleet-footed greyhound. However, they all are dedicated to the tasks for which they were bred, whether coursing over rough terrain in search of gazelles, such as the Afghan hound or the Saluki,

Sabin, Florence Rena

2005-01-06T01:27:00.000-08:00

Sabin was educated in Denver, Colorado, and in Vermont and graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts, in 1893. After teaching in Denver and at Smith to earn tuition money, she entered

New Clean Government Party

2005-01-03T04:44:00.000-08:00

After the 1962 elections to the upper house of the Japanese Diet, Soka-gakkai members held 15 seats and replaced the Democratic Socialist Party as the party or group with the third largest representation. In 1964 the Clean Government Party, or Komeito, was founded; and in July

Carlos María De Los Dolores De Borbón Y Austria-este, Duke (duque) De Madrid

2005-01-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

Don Carlos was the great-grandson of Charles IV (reigned 1788–1808) and the eldest son of the third Carlist pretender,

Ovule

2004-12-31T14:09:00.000-08:00

Plant structure that develops into a seed when fertilized. In gymnosperms (conifers and allies) the ovules lie uncovered on the scales of the cone. In angiosperms (flowering plants), one or more ovules are enclosed by the ovary (portion of the carpel, or female reproductive organ). Each ovule is attached by its base to the stalk (funiculus) that bears it. A mature angiosperm

Zip Code

2004-12-28T01:42:00.000-08:00

In full Zone Improvement Plan Code system of zone coding introduced by the U.S. Post Office Department (now the U.S. Postal Service) in 1963 to facilitate the sorting and delivery of mail. After an extensive publicity campaign, the department finally succeeded in eliciting from the public a widespread acceptance of the ZIP code. Users of the mails were requested to include in all addresses a five-number code,

United States, The European background

2004-12-26T23:18:00.000-08:00

During the years separating the failure of the Roanoke colony and the establishment in 1607 of the English settlement in Jamestown, English propagandists worked hard to convince the public that a colony in America would yield instant and easily exploitable wealth. Even men like the English geographer Richard Hakluyt were not certain that the Spanish colonization experience could or should be imitated but hoped nevertheless that the English colonies in the New World would prove to be a source of immediate commercial gain. There were, of course, other motives for colonization. Some hoped to discover the much-sought-after route to the Orient in North America. English imperialists thought it necessary to settle in the New World in order to limit Spanish expansion. Once it was proven that America was a suitable place for settlement, some Englishmen would travel to those particular colonies that promised to free them from religious persecution. There were also Englishmen, primarily of lower- and middle-class origin, who hoped the New World would provide them with increased economic opportunity in the form of free or inexpensive land. These last two motives, while they have been given considerable attention by historians, appear not to have been so much original motives for English colonization as they were shifts of attitude once colonization had begun.

Handa

2004-12-25T04:53:00.000-08:00

City, Aichi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. Handa lies on the Chita Peninsula, facing Chita Bay of the Pacific Ocean. It served as an important commercial port during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), when the local production of processed foods and cotton began. An irrigation system in the hills behind the city was opened in 1962. Vegetables, fruit, and flowers are raised in the vicinity

Cabriole Leg

2004-12-23T01:57:00.000-08:00

The early

Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor De

2004-12-20T09:26:00.000-08:00

After studying law, Jovellanos was appointed to judicial posts at Sevilla (1767) and Madrid (1778). He gained fame for his literary and scholarly activities and for his personal integrity, but from 1790 to 1797, after unsuccessfully intervening

Hydra

2004-12-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

In Greek legend, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, a gigantic monster with nine heads (the number varies), the centre one immortal. The monster's haunt was the marshes of Lerna near Argos. The destruction of Hydra was one of the 12 Labours of Heracles, which he accomplished with the assistance of Iolaus. As one head was cut off, two grew in its place; therefore, they finally

Mars, Canals Of

2004-12-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

Apparent systems of long, straight linear markings on the surface of Mars that are now known to be illusions caused by the chance alignment of craters and other natural surface features seen in telescopes near the limit of resolution. They were the subject of much controversy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and influenced popular thinking about the possibility

Italy, The revolutions of 1848

2004-12-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

The first of the revolutions of 1848 erupted in Palermo on January 9. Starting as a popular insurrection, it soon took on overtones of Sicilian separatism and spread throughout the island. Piecemeal reforms proved inadequate to satisfy the revolutionaries, both noble and bourgeois, who were determined to have a new and more liberal constitution. Ferdinand II of the Kingdom

Sweater

2004-12-12T02:38:00.000-08:00

Outer garment, usually knitted or crocheted, that is worn on the upper part of the body, either pulled over the head or buttoned down the front or back. Although hand knitting of wool had been practiced for about 2,000 years, it was not until the 15th century that the first knitted shirts or tunics were produced on the English Channel islands of Guernsey and Jersey; hence the English

Shabazz, Betty

2004-12-11T01:20:00.000-08:00

Sanders was raised in Detroit, Michigan, by adoptive parents in a comfortable middle-class home and was active in a Methodist church. Upon high school graduation, she left Detroit to study elementary

Chelmsford (of Chelmsford), Frederic John Napier Thesiger, 1st Viscount, Baron Chelmsford Of Chelmsford

2004-12-08T01:47:00.000-08:00

The eldest son of

Avoidance Behaviour

2004-12-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

Type of activity seen in animals exposed to adverse stimuli, in which the tendency to act defensively is stronger than the tendency to attack. The underlying implication that a single neural mechanism is involved (such as a specific part of the brain, which, under electrical stimulation, seems to inflict punishment) remains only a hypothesis. Clearly, the same kinds

Great Lake

2004-12-05T03:18:00.000-08:00

Largest natural freshwater lake in Australia, lying on Tasmania's Central Plateau at an elevation of 3,398 feet (1,036 m). It has an area of 61 square miles (158 square km), measures 14 miles (22 km) by 7 miles (11 km), and fills a shallow depression averaging 40 feet (12 m) in depth. The lake's original catchment basin of 150 square miles (390 square km) has been expanded to 400 square miles (1,040 square km) by the building of several

Pitcher Plant

2004-12-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

Any carnivorous plant with pitcher-shaped leaves. Old World pitcher plants are members of the family Nepenthaceae (order Nepenthales; q.v.). New World pitcher plants belong to the family Sarraceniaceae (q.v.; order Nepenthales). The fly-catcher plant (Cephalotus follicularis) of southwestern Australia is the only species of the family Cephalotaceae

Pereskia

2004-11-28T11:09:00.000-08:00

P. pititache, the native Mexican

Cynric

2004-11-27T00:26:00.000-08:00

King of the West Saxons, or Wessex (from 534). By some accounts he also reigned jointly (519–534) with his grandfather (or father?), Cerdic, founder of Wessex. The period was apparently one of consolidating gains climaxed by the Battle of Mount Badon (520) rather than a period of further expansion, though Cynric is said to have routed Britons in battle at least once, at a place called Searobyrg

Arabian Religion

2004-11-27T00:23:00.000-08:00

Knowledge of pre-Islamic Arabia rests mainly on original archaeological and epigraphic data from the region itself. Countless pre-Islamic sites are scattered over the whole Arabian Peninsula: ancient lines of circles of raised stones, cairns, graveyards, and so on. In addition there are more recent constructions such as fortified towns and ruins of temples and irrigation

Downing, Sir George

2004-11-26T06:48:00.000-08:00

The son of a Puritan lawyer, Downing was one of the first graduates of Harvard College,

Antiaircraft Gun

2004-11-24T23:20:00.000-08:00

Artillery piece that is fired from the ground or shipboard in defense against aerial attack. Antiaircraft weapons development began as early as 1910, when the airplane first became an effective weapon. In World War I, field artillery pieces up to about 90 mm (3.5 inches) in calibre were converted to antiaircraft use by mountings that enabled them to fire nearly vertically. Aiming

Santorio Santorio

2004-11-24T00:15:00.000-08:00

Santorio was a graduate of the University of Padua (M.D., 1582), where he later became professor of medical

Biblical Literature, The Psalms of Solomon

2004-11-23T08:33:00.000-08:00

Other Jewish apocalypses or books containing eschatological elements did not deal with the mysteries of celestial worlds but rather with the political aspect of apocalyptic thought and with the last days and the messianic age. This latter theme is one of the important motifs of the Psalms of Solomon, a book written originally in Hebrew; only the Greek translation

Interior Design, Origins in Western antiquity

2004-11-21T22:28:00.000-08:00

Excavations in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt suggest that the earliest equivalent of furniture consisted of platforms of bricks, which served as chairs, tables, and beds, no doubt spread with textiles or animal skins. There is also good reason to think that walls were painted and, in the case of more important buildings, decorated with mural paintings. Movable furniture

Wildlife Conservation

2004-11-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

The regulation of wild animals and plants in such a way as to provide for their continuance as a natural resource. The term stands for the husbandry and use of natural resources by the present and succeeding generations. Aesthetic, sporting, economic, and ethical use of landscapes, game, minerals, animals, plants, soils, and water is thus implied in the concept. The term

La Perouse Strait

2004-11-18T06:03:00.000-08:00

Russian Proliv Laperuza, Japanese Soya-kaikyo, international waterway between the islands of Sakhalin (Russia) and Hokkaido (Japan). The strait, named after the French explorer Jean-François de Galaup, Count de La Pérouse, separates the Sea of Okhotsk from the Sea of Japan. It is 27 miles (43 km) wide at its narrowest part, between Cape Krilon (Sakhalin) and Cape Soya (Hokkaido) and varies in depth from 167 to 387 feet (51 to 118 m). The strait is characterized

Flogging

2004-11-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

A beating administered with a whip or rod, usually on the person's back. Flogging was once a common method of punishing criminals and of preserving discipline in the home, school, armed forces, and prisons. In the Mosaic code flogging was a punishment for crime. Slaves in the ancient world were frequently flogged to death when they were sufficiently numerous to be of

Kikwit

2004-11-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

Town and river port, southwestern Congo (Kinshasa). It lies along the Kwilu River, which is a tributary of the Kasai River. European settlement of the site began in 1901, and the town became a colonial administrative centre about 1910. Kikwit is now the largest community in the area. The production of palm oil and kernels, cassava, peanuts (groundnuts), and corn (maize) has replaced rubber

Israel, Immigration and conflict

2004-11-16T00:40:00.000-08:00

The Zionist goal of Jewish statehood was violently opposed by the local Arab leaders, who saw the Ottoman defeat as an opportunity either to create their own state or to join a larger Arab entity—thus reviving the old Arab empire of early Islamic times. British efforts to bring the Zionists and the Arabs together in a cooperative government failed, and serious disorders,

Dow, Herbert H.

2004-11-15T23:39:00.000-08:00

Dow first became interested in brines (concentrated solutions of salts and water) while attending Case School of Applied Science (now Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland (B.S.; 1888). His analysis of brines from several sites revealed

Korfanty Line

2004-11-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

When the Allied powers concluded the Treaty of Versailles with defeated Germany, they provided for a plebiscite in Upper Silesia, which contained

Hevelius, Johannes

2004-11-12T23:29:00.000-08:00

(Latin), German Johann Hewel , or Johann Howelcke , Polish Jan Heweliusz astronomer who compiled an atlas of the Moon (Selenographia, published 1647) containing one of the earliest detailed maps of its surface as well as names for many of its features. A few of his names for lunar mountains (e.g., the Alps) are still in use, and a lunar crater is named for him. Hevelius also made a catalog of 1,564 stars, the most comprehensive of its time,

Power

2004-11-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

In science and engineering, time rate of doing work or delivering energy, expressible as the amount of work done W, or energy transferred, divided by the time interval t—or W/t. A given amount of work can be done by a low-powered motor in a long time or by a high-powered motor in a short time. Units of power are those of work (or energy) per unit time, such as foot-pounds per minute,

Bahram Iv

2004-11-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

One of the sons of Shapur II, Bahram first served as governor of Kerman before succeeding his brother Shapur III on the throne. Although the partition of Armenia with Rome is frequently ascribed to Bahram, it probably occurred in 387, during the reign of his brother Shapur.

Holguín

2004-11-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

Provincia, southeastern Cuba. It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean and by the provinces of Las Tunas on the west, Granma on the southwest, Santiago de Cuba on the south, and Guantánamo on the southeast. The province consists of hilly country that fronts the Sierra de Nipe and the Sierra del Cristal in the southeast and is traversed by tributaries of the Salado

Zambezi River

2004-11-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Zambesi, river draining a large portion of south-central Africa. Together with its tributaries, it forms the fourth largest river basin of the continent. The river flows eastward for about 2,200 miles (3,540 kilometres) from its source on the Central African Plateau to empty into the Indian Ocean. With its tributaries, it drains an area of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square kilometres). The Zambezi

Sensationalism

2004-11-07T04:18:00.000-08:00

In epistemology and psychology, a form of Empiricism that limits experience as a source of knowledge to sensation or sense perceptions. Sensationalism is a consequence of the notion of the mind as a tabula rasa, or “clean slate.” In ancient Greek philosophy, the Cyrenaics, proponents of a pleasure ethic, subscribed unreservedly to a sensationalist doctrine. The medieval

Indian Airlines

2004-11-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

The domestic and regional airline of India, founded in 1953. Whereas the airline Air-India provides a broader international service, Indian Airlines serves the Indian subcontinent—India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), and Sri Lanka. Headquarters are in New Dehli.

Japanese Yew

2004-11-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

Also called spreading yew (Taxus cuspidata) an ornamental evergreen shrub or tree of the yew family (Taxaceae), native to Japan and widely cultivated in the Northern Hemisphere. Rising to a height of 16 m (about 52 feet), it resembles the English yew but is hardier and faster-growing. Each leaf has two distinct, yellowish bands on its underside. There are many horticultural varieties of Japanese yew. Plants

Iris

2004-11-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the personification of the rainbow and a messenger of the gods. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, she was the daughter of Thaumas and the ocean nymph Electra. In Hesiod's works, at least, she had the additional duty of carrying water from the River Styx in a ewer whenever the gods had to take a solemn oath. The water would render unconscious for one year

Pankhurst, Dame Christabel Harriette

2004-11-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

A daughter of suffrage activist Emmeline Pankhurst and a sister of Sylvia Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst advocated the use of militant tactics to win the vote for women in England. With her mother she founded the Women's

K.c.b.

2004-11-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

Knight commander of the Bath, member of the second highest rank of knightly class in a British order of knighthood. See Bath, The Most Honourable Order of the.

Wilde, Cornel

2004-11-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

Wilde, a member of the 1936 Olympic fencing team, studied to become a physician at Columbia University in New York City, before finding

Xie He

2004-11-01T01:23:00.000-08:00

The “Six Principles” introduce Xie's Gu Huapin Lu (“Classified Record of Painters of Former Times”), which rates 27 painters in three classes of descending merit, each with three subdivisions. The “Six Principles” have inevitably

Backhaus, Wilhelm

2004-10-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

Backhaus studied piano in Leipzig and in Frankfurt am Main. His first concert appearance took place when he was eight years of age, and in 1905 he won the Rubinstein prize in Paris. He held teaching appointments at the Royal Manchester College

Fredericksburg, Battle Of

2004-10-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

(December 13, 1862), bloody engagement of the American Civil War fought at Fredericksburg, Virginia; its outcome—a crushing Union defeat—immeasurably strengthened the Confederate cause. General A.E. Burnside, newly appointed commander of the Northern forces, planned to cross the Rappahannock River with an army of more than 120,000 troops and advance on the Southern capital at Richmond.

Bohr Atomic Model

2004-10-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

Description of the structure of atoms, especially that of hydrogen, proposed (1913) by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr. The Bohr model of the atom, a radical departure from earlier, classical descriptions, was the first that incorporated quantum theory and was the predecessor of wholly quantum-mechanical models. The Bohr model and all of its successors describe the properties

Biblical Literature, Form criticism

2004-10-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Form criticism has become one of the most valuable tools for the reconstruction of the preliterary tradition. This discipline classifies the literary material according to the principal “forms”—such as legal, poetic, and other forms—represented in its contents, and examines these in order to discover how they were handed down and what their successive life settings

Mosaic

2004-10-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

In art, decoration of a surface with designs made up of closely set, usually variously coloured, small pieces of material such as stone, mineral, glass, tile, or shell. Unlike inlay, in which the pieces to be applied are set into a surface that has been hollowed out to receive the design, mosaic pieces are applied onto a surface that has been prepared with an adhesive. Mosaic

Sea Pen

2004-10-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

The central stalk of the animal consists of a lower part, the peduncle, which anchors the colony in mud or sand, and

Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle

2004-10-25T00:40:00.000-07:00

(TCA cycle), also called Krebs cycle and citric acid cycle, the second stage of cellular respiration, the three-stage process by which living cells break down organic fuel molecules in the presence of oxygen to harvest the energy they need to grow and divide. This metabolic process occurs in most plants, animals, fungi, and many bacteria. In all organisms except bacteria the TCA cycle is carried out in the matrix of intracellular

Hugh Of Lincoln, Little Saint

2004-10-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

The victim of an anonymous

Herat School

2004-10-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

15th-century style of miniature painting that flourished in Herat, western Afghanistan, under the patronage of the Timurids. Shah Rokh, the son of the Islamic conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), founded the school, but it was his son Baysunqur Mirza (died 1433) who developed it into an important centre of painting, bringing to his court artists from all over Persia and Afghanistan.

Bendix Corporation

2004-10-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

The company's founder, Vincent Bendix, himself an inventor, joined with French inventor Henri Perrot

Masaya

2004-10-20T01:13:00.000-07:00

City, southwestern Nicaragua, at the eastern foot of Masaya Volcano, just east of the small Lake Masaya in the rift valley between Lakes Nicaragua and Managua. Masaya serves as a commercial and manufacturing centre for the rich agricultural hinterland. The large Indian population is known for its handicraft industries and festivals; other manufactures include

Nicholas I

2004-10-19T00:53:00.000-07:00

Heir presumptive to his uncle Danilo II, who was childless, Nicholas came to the throne in August 1860 after Danilo's assassination. Educated abroad in Paris and Trieste, he was throughout his reign faced with

Neuserre

2004-10-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Nyuserre, sixth king of the 5th dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 BC) of Egypt; he is primarily known for his temple to the sun-god Re at Abu Jirab (Abu Gurab) in Lower Egypt. The temple plan, like that built by Userkaf (the first king of the 5th dynasty), consisted of a valley temple, causeway, gate, and temple court, which contained an obelisk (the symbol of Re) and an alabaster altar. The sun-temple reliefs revealed an exceptionally

Furrer, Jonas

2004-10-16T03:49:00.000-07:00

A doctor of jurisprudence and lawyer of national renown, Furrer became, after 1839, leader of the Zürich liberals but only reluctantly aspired to political office. In the cantonal assembly, he rose to the vice presidency (1842) and later the presidency (1846), serving also in 1846 as

Kazantzákis, Níkos

2004-10-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

Kazantzákis was born during the period of revolt of Crete against rule by the Ottoman Turks, and his family fled for a short time to the Greek island of Náxos. He studied

Murdoch, (keith) Rupert

2004-10-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

In 1998 one of the most talked-about conflicts in baseball took place off the field and in the boardroom. Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch revealed in late 1997 that he planned to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers for a record-high price of $350 million. Despite the protest of media giant and Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner, a longtime critic of Murdoch, on March 19, 1998, the sale was approved

Shidehara Kijuro, Danshaku

2004-10-12T03:39:00.000-07:00

Shidehara entered the diplomatic service in 1899 and served in Korea, London, Washington, and The

Aufklärung

2004-10-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

(German: “Enlightenment”), in Germany, the 17th- and 18th-century philosophical movement that emphasized rationalism. See Enlightenment.

Beach Grass

2004-10-11T02:44:00.000-07:00

American beach grass (A. breviligulata) grows along the Atlantic coast and in the Great Lakes region. European beach grass (A. arenaria) has been