NormalArmy

Orwell, George

2005-04-05T15:57:00.000-07:00

Born Eric Arthur Blair, Orwell never entirely abandoned his original name, but his first book (Down and Out in Paris and London) appeared as the work

Alatri

2005-04-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

Archaeologically

Amambaí Mountains

2005-04-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

Extending south-southwest initially as the Maracaju Mountains for approximately 200 miles (320 km) from Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul, they form the western side of the Brazilian Highlands and mark the divide between the tributaries of the Paraguay River and those of the Paraná

Alesia

2005-04-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

Ancient town situated on Mont Auxois, above the present-day village of Alise-Sainte-Reine in the département of Côte d'Or, France, famous as the site of the siege of Vercingetorix by Julius Caesar in 52 BC that was decisive in his conquest of Gaul. The Gallic town was succeeded on the same site by a Roman town.

Ossetic Language

2005-04-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

Eastern Iranian language spoken in the northern Caucasus by the Ossetes. There are two major dialects: (1) eastern, called Iron, and (2) western, called Digor. The majority of the Ossetes speak Iron, which is the basis of the literary language now written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Ossetic is the modern descendant of the language of the ancient Alani, a Sarmatian people, and the

Río De La Plata, Viceroyalty Of The

2005-04-02T05:32:00.000-08:00

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

Biblical Literature, Astrology

2005-04-01T22:04:00.000-08:00

There were elements in the Greek world that may have come from the East, partly Egyptian and Babylonian, which gave rise to astrology. The basic conviction of astrology was that the heavenly bodies were deities that in a direct way control life and events on earth. An older idea of tyche, or “fate,” originally signified the chance element in the universe, a capriciousness

Tigranes Ii The Great

2005-04-01T04:02:00.000-08:00

Tigranes was the son or brother of Artavasdes I and a member of the dynasty founded in the early 2nd century by Artaxias. He was given as a hostage to the Parthian king Mithradates II, but later he purchased his freedom by ceding 70 valleys bordering on Media, in northwestern

Aschelminth, Locomotion

2005-04-01T00:11:00.000-08:00

Nematodes have a characteristic sinuous movement in which waves travel along the body, which generally lies on its side, backward waves driving the body forward, forward waves driving it backward. These waves are brought about by successive contractions of longitudinal body wall muscles, in dorsal and ventral blocks, acting out of phase. The muscles increase the

Bulgar

2005-03-30T15:02:00.000-08:00

The Bulgars probably originated as a Turkic tribe of Central Asia and arrived in the European steppe west of the Volga River with the Huns about AD 370; retreating with the Huns, they resettled about 460 in an arc of country north and

Great Dismal Swamp

2005-03-29T02:31:00.000-08:00

Also called Dismal Swamp marshy region on the Coastal Plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, U.S., between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is densely forested and contains scattered natural elevations of 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 metres) above sea level. Along the western margin the Pamlico Formation (known as the Great Dismal Swamp Terrace) rises to 25 feet

Ammonite

2005-03-29T00:47:00.000-08:00

Any member of an ancient Semitic people whose principal city was Rabbath Ammon, in Palestine. The “sons of Ammon” were in perennial, though sporadic, conflict with the Israelites. After a long period of seminomadic existence, the Ammonites established a kingdom north of Moab in the 13th century BC. With difficulty, their fortress capital was captured by Israel's King David.

Biblical Literature, The Septuagint (LXX)

2005-03-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

This narrative, repeated

Trigonal System

2005-03-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

Components of crystals in the trigonal system, like those of the hexagonal system, are located by reference to four axes—three of equal length with 120° intersections and one perpendicular to the plane

Dominion

2005-03-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

Town, Cape Breton county, northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada, immediately northwest of Glace Bay and a few miles northeast of Sydney, on the northeast coast of Cape Breton Island. The town originally was named Dominion No. 1 and was developed in the 1890s around a colliery (now defunct) of the Dominion Coal Company. The name of the coal town was changed to Dominion in 1906. The first of

Fredegund

2005-03-26T10:18:00.000-08:00

Originally a servant, Fredegund became Chilperic's mistress after he had murdered his wife and queen, Galswintha (c. 568). Galswintha, however, was also the sister of Brunhild, the wife of Chilperic's half-brother Sigebert I, king of the eastern kingdom of Austrasia. Galswintha's murder engendered

Chaucer, Geoffrey

2005-03-26T01:16:00.000-08:00

The outstanding English poet before Shakespeare and “the first finder of our language.” His The Canterbury Tales ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in English. He also contributed importantly in the second half of the 14th century to the management of public affairs as courtier, diplomat, and civil servant. In that career he was trusted and

Gongola River

2005-03-25T03:43:00.000-08:00

Principal tributary of the Benue River, northeastern Nigeria. It rises in several branches (including the Lere and Maijuju rivers) on the eastern slopes of the Jos Plateau and cascades (with several scenic waterfalls) onto the plains of the Gongola Basin, where it follows a northeasterly course. It then flows past Nafada and takes an abrupt turn toward the south. Its

Spoonerism

2005-03-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

Reversal of the initial letters or syllables of two or more words, such as “I have a half-warmed fish in my mind” (for “half-formed wish”) and “a blushing crow” (for “a crushing blow”). The word was derived from the name of William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), a distinguished Anglican clergyman and warden of New College, Oxford, a nervous man who committed many “spoonerisms.” Such transpositions

Koda Rohan

2005-03-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

Rohan's early education was strong in the Japanese and Chinese classics, and although he was graduated from a technical school in 1884, before long

Dieppe

2005-03-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

In the old town many houses date back to the early 18th century. The castle, built in 1435, was damaged in 1944 but has been restored and now

Grunt

2005-03-22T22:33:00.000-08:00

Any of about 75 species of marine fishes of the families Pomadasyidae and Banjosidae (order Perciformes). Grunts are found along shores in warm and tropical waters of the major oceans. They are snapperlike but with weaker teeth and are named for the piglike grunts they can produce with their pharyngeal (throat) teeth. Some (genus Haemulon) are further

Grace

2005-03-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

Greek Charis, plural Charites, Latin Gratia, in Greek religion, one of a group of goddesses of fertility. The name refers to the “pleasing” or “charming” appearance of a fertile field or garden. The number of Graces varied in different legends, but usually there were three: Aglaia (Brightness), Euphrosyne (Joyfulness), and Thalia (Bloom). They are said to be daughters of Zeus and Hera (or Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus) or of

O'brien, Lawrence (francis, Jr.)

2005-03-21T02:43:00.000-08:00

O'Brien received a bachelor of law degree from Northeastern University, Boston (1942). A brilliant political strategist, he managed a victorious (1948) congressional campaign for his boyhood friend Foster Furcolo and then John F. Kennedy's 1952 and 1958 U.S. Senate

Tai Languages, Syntax

2005-03-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

Word order is generally subject–verb–object (SVO). The verb plus object may be called the verb phrase, which functions as predicate. Nouns also may be used as predicates; an example is wan-níi wan-sak ‘today (is) Friday.' A noun phrase consists of a noun, which may be followed by its modifiers (another noun, an adjective, or a verb phrase), which, in turn, are followed by a numeral with a

Antiarch

2005-03-20T00:18:00.000-08:00

Any of an order of extinct, mainly freshwater, jawed fishes, class Placodermi, abundant during Middle and Late Devonian times (387 to 360 million years ago). Members of such genera as Bothriolepis and Pterichthys were representative. Antiarchs were small and weak-jawed and had closely set eyes on top of the head. Armour shields covered the front part of the body, and armoured,

Nabokov, Vladimir

2005-03-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory (1967), the author's autobiography up to 1940; three books by Andrew Field, Nabokov: His Life in Art (1967), Nabokov: A Bibliography (1972), and Nabokov: His Life in Part (1977); C. Newman and Alfred Appel, Jr. (eds.), For Vladimir Nabokov on His Seventieth Birthday (1971), a Festschrift of reminiscences of Nabokov and critical articles and tributes; Alfred Appel Jr., Nabokov's Dark Cinema (1974), on Nabokov's work in film; Peter Quennell (ed.), Vladimir Nabokov, His Life, His Work, His World: A Tribute (1980).

Offenburg

2005-03-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

City, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, in the Kinzig River Valley, at the western edge of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). First mentioned in 1101, it was founded by the Zähringen margraves on the site of a Roman settlement and was an imperial free city from 1289 to 1802. In 1846–49 it was a centre of the revolutionary movement in Baden. Gothic and Baroque buildings and remains

Wagon

2005-03-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

Four-wheeled vehicle designed to be drawn by draft animals and known to have been used as early as the 1st century BC, incorporating such earlier innovations as the spoked wheel and metal wheel rim. Early examples also had such features as pivoted front axles and linchpins to secure the wheels. In its essential form, therefore, the wagon has been in common use for about

Sayyid

2005-03-18T09:06:00.000-08:00

In Pakistan and India

Tébessa

2005-03-17T05:47:00.000-08:00

Latin Theveste town, northeastern Algeria. It is located 146 miles (235 km) by road south of Annaba and 12 miles (19 km) west of the Tunisian frontier. Tébessa was an outpost of Carthage in the 7th century BC and a Roman garrison town in 146 BC. It declined in the 5th and 6th centuries AD and disappeared from history after the Arab invasion of the 7th century. The Turks stationed a small military garrison there, and, after

Pugwash Conferences

2005-03-17T02:04:00.000-08:00

In full Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs series of international meetings of scientists to discuss problems of nuclear weapons and world security. The first of the conferences met in July 1957 at the estate of the American philanthropist Cyrus Eaton in the village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia, in response to an appeal by Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, and other prominent scientific figures.

Kiangsi, The people

2005-03-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

The language

Eastern Africa, Irrigation

2005-03-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

The irrigation of arid areas is limited by the amount of water that can be brought in from outside the region, but not much of even this limited potential is utilized. For example, 70 percent of Kenya is cultivable only by irrigation, but only 3 percent receives more than 50 inches of rain, the minimal amount from which any considerable runoff can be expected. Only the Tana and

Xerox Parc

2005-03-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

In full Xerox Corporation Palo Alto Research Center division established in 1970 by Xerox Corporation in Palo Alto, California, U.S., to explore new information technologies that were not necessarily related to the company's core photocopier business. Many innovations in computer design were developed by PARC researchers, including the Alto, the first personal computer; the graphical user interface; the laser printer;

Mures

2005-03-15T04:16:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), north-central Romania, occupying an area of 2,585 square miles (6,696 square km). The eastern Carpathian Mountains, including the Calim and Gurghiu ranges, rise above settlement areas in the valleys. The Mures River and its tributaries flow southwestward through the district. Târgu Mures, a cultural and industrial centre, is the county capital. Its manufactures include

Hench, Philip Showalter

2005-03-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

American physician who with Edward C. Kendall in 1948 successfully applied an adrenal hormone (later known as cortisone) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. With Kendall and Tadeus Reichstein of Switzerland, Hench received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for discoveries concerning hormones of the adrenal

Lorain, John

2005-03-13T05:41:00.000-08:00

Lorain apparently went to the North American colony of Maryland when he was a child. After managing a farm there for many years; he moved in 1795 to

Epicurus

2005-03-13T00:39:00.000-08:00

Greek philosopher, author of an ethical philosophy of simple pleasure, friendship, and retirement. He founded schools of philosophy that survived directly from the 4th century BC until the 4th century AD.

Irnerius

2005-03-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

Originally a teacher of the liberal arts, Irnerius studied law in Rome at the insistence of Matilda of Canossa, countess of Tuscany, who later

Solar Deity

2005-03-12T01:09:00.000-08:00

God or goddess conceived of as sovereign, steady, and all-seeing, often identified with the supreme deity of a culture or with the king or ruler. See sun worship.

Sabinian

2005-03-11T15:55:00.000-08:00

Under Pope Gregory I the Great, he served as papal ambassador at Constantinople, trying to reconcile the Roman Church with Patriarch John IV the Faster, whose claim to the title of ecumenical patriarch was regarded by Gregory to be a threat to Christian unity. Elected in 604 as Gregory's successor, Sabinian seems to have been markedly

Tientsin

2005-03-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

Central Tientsin (the municipality's urban core)

Systole And Diastole

2005-03-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

Diastole, the opposite of systole, is the lengthening of a short quantity or syllable for metric irregularity. The

Earthquake

2005-03-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

Any sudden disturbance within the Earth manifested at the surface by a shaking of the ground. This shaking, which accounts for the destructiveness of an earthquake, is caused by the passage of elastic waves through the Earth's rocks. These seismic waves are produced when some form of stored energy, such as elastic strain, chemical energy, or gravitational energy, is

Furniture, China

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

Remarkably little systematic study has been made of Chinese furniture. Its origins remain comparatively obscure, its workshops mostly unrecorded, its designers unknown; consequently, its dating is extremely difficult. Most of the forms of Chinese furniture, such as the low table and the covered bed, are found in the oldest Chinese paintings in existence; the designs

Pantheism, Buddhist doctrines

2005-03-09T03:02:00.000-08:00

Some 600 years after Buddha, a new and more speculative school of Buddhism arose to challenge the 18 or 20 schools of Buddhism then in existence. One of the early representatives of this new school, which came to be known as Mahayana (Sanskrit “Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, was Asvaghosa. Like Sankara (whom he antedated by 700 years), Asvaghosa not only distinguished between the pure Absolute

Athol

2005-03-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Worcester county, north-central Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on the Millers River, north of Quabbin Reservoir. Settled in 1735, it was known by the Algonquian name of Pequoiag until it was incorporated in 1762 and renamed for Blair Atholl, the Scottish home of the dukes of Atholl. An early industrial centre, it had lumber, textile, and tanning mills. Its modern economy

Forbin, Claude De

2005-03-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

After becoming an experienced seaman, he went on a French mission to the king of Siam, whom he served as grand admiral for two years (1685–87). Returning to France as commandant of a frigate

Sorbon, Robert De

2005-03-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

Born into a poor rural family, Sorbon was educated in Reims and in Paris, where his piety and diligence drew the patronage of the comte d'Artois and King Louis IX. In 1251 he became canon

Avery, John

2005-03-07T00:31:00.000-08:00

Avery reputedly served in the Royal Navy and on merchantmen, as well as on buccaneer and slave ships, before beginning a life of piracy about 1691. In 1694, joining

Giraud, Henri (-honoré)

2005-03-06T23:54:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Saint-Cyr in 1900, Giraud first served in Morocco and was captured by the Germans during World War I. Returning to North Africa in 1922, he participated in the Rif War. Early in World War II, he commanded an army but was again captured in

Macarius

2005-03-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

A monk of the monastery of St. Paphnutius in Borovsk, southwest of Moscow, Macarius became archbishop of Novgorod in 1526. After his elevation in 1542 as metropolitan of Moscow and of all Russia, Macarius gathered a

Chase, Salmon P(ortland)

2005-03-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

Chase received part of his education from his uncle Philander Chase, the first Episcopal bishop of Ohio

Habshi

2005-03-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

Many Habshi rose to high office

Spaatz, Carl

2005-03-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

A graduate (1914) of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Spaatz served as a combat pilot during World War I and then acquired extensive staff and command experience between 1919 and 1942. He went to England in 1940 to evaluate German military

Azali

2005-03-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

Any member of the Babi movement (followers of a 19th-century Iranian prophet, the Bab) who chose to remain faithful to the Bab's teachings and to his chosen successor, Mirza Yahya, given the religious title Sobh-e Azal, after a split in the movement occurred in 1863. For about 13 years after the Bab's execution (1850), his followers acknowledged Sobh-e Azal as their lawful leader. In 1863, when Sobh-e Azal's half-brother

Dowie, John Alexander

2005-03-03T03:32:00.000-08:00

Dowie moved with his family to Australia as a boy but returned to Edinburgh to study theology. He entered the Congregational ministry in 1870 as a pastor in Alma, Australia, and spent the next several years campaigning against the use of

Biblical Literature, Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

2005-03-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

New literary documents from the intertestamental period were found in the caves of Qumran in the vicinity of the Dead Sea in the 1940s, but only a portion of them has yet been published. All the Dead Sea Scrolls were written before the destruction of the Second Temple; with the exception of small Greek fragments, they are all in Hebrew and Aramaic. The scrolls formed the library

Dong Nai River

2005-03-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

Also called Donnai River , Vietnamese Song Dong Nai river rising in the central highlands (Annamese Cordillera) of southern Vietnam, northwest of Da Lat. Near its source the river has rapids and is known as the Da Dung River. It flows west and southwest for about 300 miles (480 km), joining the Saigon River southwest of Bien Hoa. At the rapids of Tri An, west of Dinh Quan, it is joined by the Be River. The Nhim, an important upper tributary,

Vitalian, Saint

2005-03-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

Consecrated as St. Eugenius I's successor on July 30, 657, Vitalian soon dealt peacefully with monothelitism, a heresy maintaining that Christ had only one will. In 648 the Byzantine emperor Constans II had issued his Typos, an edict forbidding discussion of the monothelite question and attempting to impose unity

Allemande

2005-03-01T02:10:00.000-08:00

Processional couple dance with stately, flowing steps, fashionable in 16th-century aristocratic circles; also an 18th-century figure dance. The earlier dance apparently originated in Germany but became fashionable both at the French court (whence its name, which in French means “German”) and in England, where it was called almain, or almand. The French dancing master Thoinot

Conté Crayon

2005-02-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

French Crayon Conté, drawing pencil named after Nicolas-Jacques Conté, the French scientist who invented it late in the 18th century. The conté crayon is an especially hard pencil, made of an admixture of graphite and clay that can be varied for different degrees of hardness. It is usually made in black, red, or brown and is used as a drawing medium in any combination of these colours.

Averroës

2005-02-28T14:14:00.000-08:00

Medieval Latin Averrhoës , also called Ibn Rushd , Arabic in full Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd influential Islamic religious philosopher who integrated Islamic traditions with ancient Greek thought. At the request of the Almohad caliph Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, he produced a series of summaries and commentaries on most of Aristotle's works (1169–95) and on Plato's Republic, which exerted considerable influence in

Music, Western, Ancient Greece

2005-02-28T08:51:00.000-08:00

Of the eastern Mediterranean cultures, it was undoubtedly that of the Greeks that furnished the most direct link with musical development in western Europe, by way of the Romans, who defeated them but adopted much of Greek culture intact. Entering historical times relatively late, c. 1000 BC, the Greeks soon dominated their neighbours and absorbed many elements of earlier

Pyrrole

2005-02-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of organic compounds of the heterocyclic series characterized by a ring structure composed of four carbon atoms and one nitrogen atom. The simplest member of the pyrrole family is pyrrole itself, a compound with molecular formula C4H5N. The pyrrole ring system is present in the amino acids proline and hydroxyproline; and in coloured natural products,

Ahenobarbus, Lucius Domitius

2005-02-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

After the powerful generals Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompey, and Marcus Licinius Crassus formed an unofficial ruling triumvirate in 60 BC, Ahenobarbus repeatedly resisted their designs. As candidate for the consulate of 55, he

Scandinavian Literature, Poetic Realism

2005-02-26T04:13:00.000-08:00

About 1830, early Romanticism gave way to a less naive poetic realism, more contemplative and more concerned with form than with content. Johan Ludvig Heiberg, who led this movement, attempted to revivify Danish drama by importing French vaudeville, and in his serious romantic plays Elverhøj (1828; “The Elfinhill”) and Syvsoverdag (1840; “Day of the Seven Sleepers”) he juxtaposed poetic

Ay

2005-02-25T14:05:00.000-08:00

Ay began his career either owing to his prestige as a son of the parents of Queen Tiy, wife of Amenhotep III, or else with the aid of his own wife, who was the nurse of Nefertiti, Akhenaton's queen. As Akhenaton's

Alcalá De Henares

2005-02-25T06:39:00.000-08:00

City, Madrid provincia and comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), central Spain. Known under the Romans as Complutum, the city was destroyed in 1000 and rebuilt in 1038 by the Moors, who called it Al-Qal'ah al-Nahr. It was reconquered in 1088 by Alfonso VI and granted with the surrounding lands to the archbishop of Toledo. The city contains the unique Gothic church of San Justo (built

Näfels, Battle Of

2005-02-24T03:03:00.000-08:00

(April 9, 1388), major victory for the Swiss Confederation in the first century of its struggle for self-determination against Habsburg overlordship. Though the catastrophic defeat of the Austrians at Sempach in 1386 had been followed by a truce, hostilities against the Habsburgs were subsequently continued by the rebellious men of Glarus, a district that had adhered to the

Cypress

2005-02-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

Any of about 20 species of ornamental and timber evergreen conifers constituting the genus Cupressus of the family Cupressaceae, distributed throughout warm-temperate and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. Many resinous, aromatic evergreen trees called cypress belong to other genera of the same family, especially

Koch, Ilsa

2005-02-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

A sometime librarian, in 1936 Ilsa married SS Colonel Karl Koch, then commander of the Sachsenhausen camp. In 1939 he was transferred to Buchenwald, where she acquired the reputation of a sadist and nymphomaniac, beating

Ibn Miskawayh

2005-02-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Ibn Miskawayh's personal life. It is believed he converted to Islam from Zoroastrianism, the religion of pre-Islamic Iran. His interests included alchemy and

Canterbury Plains

2005-02-22T17:31:00.000-08:00

Organized settlement

Logic, History Of

2005-02-22T10:12:00.000-08:00

In 1900 logic was poised on the brink of the most active period in its history. The late 19th-century work of Frege, Peano, and Cantor, as well as Peirce's and Schröder's extensions of Boole's insights, had broken new ground, raised considerable interest, established international lines of communication, and formed a new alliance between logic and mathematics. Five projects

La Follette, Robert M

2005-02-22T02:10:00.000-08:00

In 1897 La Follette began to advocate programs that local-level progressives had popularized during the legislative session a few months earlier. Following their lead, he demanded tax reform, corporation regulation, and political democracy. In particular, he promoted steeper railroad taxes and a direct primary. Elected governor on this platform in 1900, he was reelected

Acriflavine

2005-02-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

Dye obtained from coal tar, introduced as an antiseptic in 1912 by the German medical-research worker Paul Ehrlich and used extensively in World War I to kill the parasites that cause sleeping sickness. The hydrochloride and the less irritating base, neutral acriflavine, both are odourless, reddish-brown powders used in dilute aqueous solutions primarily as topical

Outlaw Music

2005-02-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

Movement of American country music in the 1970s spearheaded by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings (b. June 15, 1937, Littlefield, Texas, U.S.—d. February 13, 2002, Chandler, Arizona). Sometimes called progressive country, outlaw music was an attempt to escape the formulaic constraints of the Nashville Sound (simple songs, the use of studio musicians, and lush production), country's dominant style

Ben-gurion, David

2005-02-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

Zionist statesman and political leader, the first prime minister (1948–53, 1955–63) and defense minister (1948–53; 1955–63) of Israel. It was Ben-Gurion who, on May 14, 1948, at Tel Aviv, delivered Israel's declaration of independence. His charismatic personality won him the adoration of the masses, and, after his retirement

Beissel, Conrad

2005-02-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

The posthumous son of a German baker, Beissel experienced a religious conversion at the age of 27 and migrated to America in 1720. He joined the Dunkers in Pennsylvania (1724) but withdrew from them when he became convinced that the day of worship should be the

Land Mine

2005-02-18T22:37:00.000-08:00

Stationary explosive charge used against military troops or vehicles. See mine.

France, History Of, The Treaty of Verdun

2005-02-18T21:38:00.000-08:00

Later the three brothers came to an agreement in the Treaty of Verdun (843). The empire was divided into three kingdoms arranged along a north–south axis: Francia Orientalis was given to Louis, Francia Media to Lothair, and Francia Occidentalis to Charles the Bald. The three kings were equal among themselves. Lothair kept the imperial title, but it had completely lost its

Celestine I, Saint

2005-02-18T01:24:00.000-08:00

He was a Roman deacon when elected on Sept. 10, 422, to succeed Boniface I. His pontificate is noted for its vigorous attack on Nestorianism, the unorthodox teaching of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, which stressed that Christ's human and divine natures were independent and which denounced

Botvinnik, Mikhail Moiseyevich

2005-02-17T20:49:00.000-08:00

Soviet chess grandmaster (b. Aug. 17 [Aug. 4, Old Style], 1911, Kuokkala, near St. Petersburg, Russia--d. May 5, 1995, Moscow, Russia), was the first Soviet world chess champion (1948-57, 1958-60, 1961-63). Botvinnik learned chess at the relatively advanced age of 12, but within two years he had defeated the reigning world champion, José Raúl Capablanca of Cuba, in an exhibition match. In 1931 he won the first of seven national championships.

Conservative Party

2005-02-17T02:32:00.000-08:00

Byname Tories in the United Kingdom, a political party whose guiding principles include the promotion of private property and enterprise, the maintenance of a strong military, and the preservation of traditional cultural values and institutions. Since World War I the Conservative Party and its principal opponent, the Labour Party, have dominated British political life.

Mcluhan, Marshall

2005-02-16T04:54:00.000-08:00

In full Herbert Marshall McLuhan Canadian communications theorist and educator, whose aphorism “the medium is the message” summarized his view of the potent influence of television, computers, and other electronic disseminators of information in shaping styles of thinking and thought, whether in sociology, art, science, or religion. He regarded

Bürgi, Joost

2005-02-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

Bürgi served as court watchmaker to Duke Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Kassel from 1579 to 1592 and worked in the royal observatory at Kassel, where he developed geometrical and astronomical instruments. Word of his exceptional instruments

Melbourne

2005-02-15T17:14:00.000-08:00

City, capital of the state of Victoria, Australia. It is located at the head of Port Phillip Bay, on the southeastern coast. Although the central city is the home of fewer than 100,000 people, it is the core of an extensive metropolitan area—the world's most southerly with a population of more than 1,000,000. In Australia it is second only to Sydney in population, and there is a good-natured

Newton

2005-02-15T02:20:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1846) of Jasper county, central Iowa, U.S., about 30 miles (50 km) east of Des Moines. It was settled in 1846 as the county seat and was named for John Newton, a soldier of the American Revolution. The railroad arrived in the 1860s and the community developed as a lumber-milling and agricultural trading centre. In 1898 the washing machine industry began there with the manufacture of ratchet-slat

Allen, Stephen Valentine Patrick William

2005-02-14T06:27:00.000-08:00

American entertainer, composer, and author (b. Dec. 26, 1921, New York, N.Y.—d. Oct. 30, 2000, Encino, Calif.), was a prolific, versatile, creative, and influential modern-day renaissance man. Although he could be considered to have made his greatest impact when he created and hosted what became The Tonight Show—the mold for television talk shows—he also composed thousands of songs (his best known:

Malik Ibn Anas

2005-02-14T03:39:00.000-08:00

Few details are known about Malik ibn Anas' life, most of which was spent in the city of Medina. He became learned in Islamic law and attracted a considerable number of students, his followers coming to be known as the Maliki school of law. His prestige

Stafford, Thomas P(atten)

2005-02-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

A graduate (1952) of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., Stafford transferred to the Air Force

Alain De Lille

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

Alain studied and taught at Paris, lived for some time at Montpellier, and later joined the Cistercians in Cîteaux. As a theologian, he shared in the mystic reaction of the second half of the 12th century against Scholastic

Arnim, Hans Georg Von

2005-02-12T08:47:00.000-08:00

Soldier and statesman prominent in German affairs during the Thirty Years' War. He served (1613–17) with the Swedes under Gustaf II Adolf, with the Poles (1621), with Wallenstein's imperial army (1626) as a field marshal, and with the Saxons (1631–35, 1638–41). A strict Lutheran, Arnim resigned his imperial commission in protest against the Edict

Turban

2005-02-12T02:09:00.000-08:00

Early Persians wore a conical cap sometimes encircled by bands of cloth, which perhaps may be considered one of the origins of the turban. The turban did not become common among the Turks, however, until after the capture of Constantinople in 1453, when the Ottoman sultan

National Museum Of Western Art

2005-02-11T21:29:00.000-08:00

The basis of the collection was a group of more than 400 French paintings, sculptures, and drawings that had been collected by Matsukata Kojiro but held by the French government during World War II.

Rawsthorne, Alan

2005-02-11T02:56:00.000-08:00

Rawsthorne studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music (1926–30) and in Berlin (1930–31) with Egon Petri. His early music with its pervasive linear counterpoint shows the influence

Gottschalk Of Orbais

2005-02-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Gottschalk was an oblate (i.e., a child dedicated to monastic life by its parents) in the Benedictine abbey of Fulda. Over the objection of his abbot and eventual lifelong enemy, Rabanus

Bürger, Gottfried August

2005-02-10T01:08:00.000-08:00

Bürger was educated in theology at the University of Halle and in law at the University of Göttingen. It was in Göttingen that he first