PastGun

Mignet, François

2005-04-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Educated at Avignon, Mignet became professor there in 1815; he returned to Aix for his law studies and was called to the bar in 1818. His first work, the Essai sur les institutions de Saint Louis, was acclaimed by the Academy of Inscriptions

Wild Mango

2005-04-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

Also called Dika (Irvingia gabonensis), tropical African tree, of the family Ixonanthaceae (Irvingiaceae), notable for its edible yellow fruit, which somewhat resembles the mango. The seed is rich in a fat used locally to make both bread and a type of butter. The wood is very hard and is used locally in building construction.

Gabor, Dennis

2005-04-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

A research engineer for the firm of Siemens and Halske in Berlin from 1927, Gabor fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and worked with the Thomson-Houston Company

Béjart, Maurice

2005-04-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

After studies in Paris, Béjart toured with the Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit (1947–49), the International Ballet (1949–50), and the Royal Swedish Ballet (1951–52). In 1954 he founded Les Ballets

Eugénie

2005-04-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

The daughter of a Spanish noble who fought on the French side during Napoleon I's Peninsular War in Spain, Eugénie went to Paris when Louis-Napoléon became president of the Second Republic in December 1848. They were married in

Grunt

2005-04-02T04:16:00.000-08:00

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

Bohemond V

2005-04-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

The son of Bohemond IV by his wife Plaisance, he succeeded his father in 1233 and carried on the struggle with Armenia until 1251, when the marriage of the future Bohemond VI to the sister of the Armenian king finally brought peace. By his first marriage (1225) with Alice, the widow of Hugh I of Cyprus, Bohemond V connected the history

Pacific Islands

2005-03-31T13:29:00.000-08:00

Geographic region of the Pacific Ocean. The term is commonly accepted as including all of those islands in the Pacific that are collectively referred to as Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, also sometimes known as Oceania. This usage rules out the Australian island continent, the Asia-related Indonesian, Philippine, and Japanese archipelagoes, and the Ryukyu,

China, Japanese aggression

2005-03-30T02:20:00.000-08:00

In September 1931 a group of officers in the Kwantung Army set in motion a plot to compel the Japanese government to extend its power in Manchuria. The Japanese government was drawn, step by step, into the conquest of Manchuria and the creation of a regime known as Manchukuo. China was unable to prevent Japan from seizing this vital area. In 1934, after long negotiations, Japan

Colebrook, Leonard

2005-03-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

Colebrook joined researcher Almroth Wright in 1907 at St. Mary's Hospital. In 1926 Colebrook became interested

Mengelberg, Willem

2005-03-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

Trained as a pianist at the Cologne Conservatory, he became a conductor at Luzern, Switz., in 1891. He became renowned as an interpreter of Beethoven, Mahler, and Richard

Biblical Literature, Late-2nd-century canons

2005-03-28T19:49:00.000-08:00

By the end of the 2nd century, Irenaeus used the four canonical Gospels, 13 letters of Paul, I Peter, I and II John, Revelation, Shepherd of Hermas (a work later excluded from the canon), and Acts. Justin Martyr (died c. 165), a Christian apologist, wrote of the reading of the Gospels, “the memoirs of the Apostles,” in the services, in which they were the basis for sermons. In his writings he quoted

Dissociation

2005-03-27T18:55:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, the breaking up of a compound into simpler constituents that are usually capable of recombining under other conditions. In electrolytic, or ionic, dissociation, the addition of a solvent or of energy in the form of heat causes molecules or crystals of the substance to break up into ions (electrically charged particles). Most dissociating substances

Tyrone, Conn O'neill, 1st Earl Of

2005-03-27T02:47:00.000-08:00

Conn, who was related through his mother to the Earl of Kildare (Fitzgerald), became chief of the Tyrone branch of the O'Neills (Cinel Eoghain) about 1520. When Kildare became viceroy in 1524, O'Neill consented to act as his swordbearer in ceremonies

Yamagata Aritomo, Koshaku

2005-03-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

Japanese soldier and statesman who exerted a strong influence in Japan's emergence as a formidable military power at the beginning of the 20th century. He was the first prime minister under the parliamentary regime, serving 1889–91 and 1898–1900.

Polanyi, Karl

2005-03-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

In college in Budapest Polanyi founded the radical Club Galilei, which would have far-reaching effects on Hungarian intellectual life. He qualified as a lawyer in 1912 and served as a cavalry officer during World War I. Once back home he founded the Radical Citizens

Lenin, Vladimir Ilich

2005-03-25T06:52:00.000-08:00

Original name Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov founder of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), inspirer and leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), and the architect, builder, and first head (1917–24) of the Soviet state. He was the founder of the organization known as Comintern (Communist International) and the posthumous source of “Leninism,

Ear, Human

2005-03-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hearing is the process by which the ear transforms sound vibrations in the external environment into nerve impulses that are conveyed to the brain, where they are interpreted as sounds. Sounds are produced when vibrating objects, such as the plucked string of a guitar, produce pressure pulses of vibrating air molecules, better known as sound waves. The ear can distinguish

Earth Sciences, Weather forecasting

2005-03-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

Efforts at incorporating numerical data on weather into mathematical formulas that could then be used for forecasting were initiated early in the century at the Norwegian Geophysical Institute. Vilhelm Bjerknes and his associates at Bergen succeeded in devising equations relating the measurable components of weather, but their complexity precluded the

Binomial Theorem

2005-03-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

In which n! (called n factorial) is the product of the first n natural numbers 1, 2, 3, . . . n (and where 0! is defined

Colenso, John

2005-03-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

Colenso became rector of Forncett St. Mary's Church, Norfolk, in 1846 and in 1853 bishop of Natal, where he served until his death.

Arabia, History Of, Qatabanians

2005-03-22T05:36:00.000-08:00

The heartland of the Qataban people was Wadi Bayhan, with the capital, Timna', at its northern end, and Wadi Harib, immediately west of Bayhan. As in the case of Ma'in, the earliest references are in Sabaean inscriptions; native Qatabanian inscriptions do not seem to antedate the 4th century BC. Timna' was destroyed by fire at a date not easy to fix; pottery evidence has been thought to suggest

Shih-ho-tzu

2005-03-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Shihezi, new city in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. The city is situated north of the Tien Shan range in the south-central Dzungarian Basin near the Ma-na-ssu River. Prior to 1949 the area was sparsely inhabited by Uighur, Kazak, and other Turkic pastoralists. The new Chinese government sent a colony of soldiers (later provided with wives), organized as a military construction

Theobald I

2005-03-19T21:14:00.000-08:00

He was the son of Theobald III of Champagne,

Malherbe, Daniel François

2005-03-19T09:48:00.000-08:00

South African novelist, poet, and dramatist whose work helped establish Afrikaans as the cultural language of South Africa. He published many volumes of poetry and drama but is known primarily as a novelist for such works as Vergeet nil (1913; “Don't Forget”), an extremely popular novel about the South African

Wicca

2005-03-18T23:34:00.000-08:00

A predominantly Western movement whose followers practice witchcraft and nature worship and who see it as a religion based on pre-Christian traditions of northern and western Europe. It spread through England in the 1950s and subsequently attracted followers in Europe and the United States.

Aldridge, Ira Frederick

2005-03-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Accounts of his life in the United States are conflicting. The great British-American actor James William Wallack is believed to have engaged him as a personal attendant while on a passage from the United States to England, where Aldridge established himself

Argentine Museum Of Natural Sciences

2005-03-16T22:57:00.000-08:00

The museum has about 2,000,000 exhibits and a library of more than 500,000 volumes. Areas of expertise include archaeology, botany, ecology, entomology, hydrobiology, mineralogy, paleontology, and zoology.

La Unión

2005-03-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

City, eastern El Salvador. It is located at the northern foot of Conchagua Volcano (about 4,100 feet [1,250 m]), on La Unión Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Fonseca. The city's economic activity centres on a tortoiseshell industry, beach-resort facilities, and the nearby port of Cutuco, one of the country's largest ports. Situated along a spur of the Inter-American Highway, a section of the Pan-American

Arabia, History Of, Postwar Arabia, to 1962

2005-03-15T05:49:00.000-08:00

The post-World War I settlement and centralization of power in the hands of Yahya, Ibn Sa'ud, and the British gave Arabia a large measure of internal peace and external security, which endured until 1962. A new factor in the 1930s was the discovery of immense quantities of petroleum in the deserts. In Bahrain oil was struck in June 1932. The American-owned Arabian Standard Oil Company (later

Paeonius

2005-03-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

Paeonius is famous for his statue of the Nike, or “Winged Victory” (c. 420 BC; Archaeological Museum, Olympia), which was found in Olympia in 1875. An inscription on its pedestal states that the statue commemorated a victory of the Messenians and the Naupactians over an unnamed enemy,

Dachlan, Kijai Hadji Ahmad

2005-03-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

Dachlan was a wealthy merchant who made the pilgrimage to Mecca shortly after 1900. On his return, he became active in religious reform activities, first in formalistic issues of ritual and subsequently

Fjord

2005-03-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Fiord, long narrow arm of the sea, commonly extending far inland, that results from marine inundation of a glaciated valley. Many fjords are astonishingly deep; Sogn Fjord in Norway is 1,308 m (4,290 feet) deep, and Canal Messier in Chile is 1,270 m (4,167 feet). The great depth of these submerged valleys, extending thousands of feet below sea level, is compatible only with a glacial origin. It is assumed

Quantum Computer

2005-03-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

As early as 1959 the American physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman noted that, as electronic components begin to reach microscopic scales, effects predicted by quantum mechanics occur—which, he suggested, might be exploited in the design of more powerful computers. In

Spalding, Mother Catherine

2005-03-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

Spalding was taken to frontier Kentucky by her widowed mother about 1799. She was later orphaned and reared by relatives. In December 1812 the Reverend (later Bishop)

Kerala

2005-03-10T22:22:00.000-08:00

State of India. It has an area of 15,005 square miles (38,863 square kilometres), only about 1 percent of the total area of the country. The state stretches for 360 miles (580 kilometres) along the Malabar Coast on the southwestern side of the Indian peninsula; its width varies from 20 to 75 miles. It is bordered by the states of Karnataka (formerly Mysore) to the north and Tamil Nadu to the east and by the Arabian

Biblical Literature, The Gothic version

2005-03-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

The Gothic version was produced in the mid-4th century by Ulfilas, a Christian missionary who also invented the Gothic alphabet. It constitutes practically all that is left of Gothic literature. The translation of the Old Testament has entirely disappeared except for fragments of Ezra and Nehemiah. Though a Greek base is certain, some scholars deny the attribution

Nagarakrtagama

2005-03-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

Javanese epic poem written in 1365 by Prapañca. Considered the most important work of the vernacular literature that developed in the Majapahit era, the poem venerates King Hayam Wuruk (reigned 1350–89) and gives a detailed account of life in his kingdom. It also includes information about King Kertanagara (reigned 1268–92), great-grandfather of Hayam Wuruk.

Man, Isle Of

2005-03-08T03:30:00.000-08:00

The Isle of Man

Scheveningen

2005-03-08T00:34:00.000-08:00

Seaside resort and fishing port, Zuid-Holland provincie, western Netherlands, on the North Sea. Fishing has been an occupation there since the 14th century. Charles II embarked from Scheveningen to return to England at the Restoration (1660), and King William I landed nearby in 1813. Scheveningen's wide sandy beaches have made it the most popular of the Dutch coastal resorts since

Lever Art Gallery

2005-03-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

In full Lady Lever Art Gallery, in Port Sunlight, a model village founded for workers in Bebington, Cheshire (now in Merseyside), Eng. The museum was a gift to the public of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme, as a memorial to his wife, who died in 1913. The building was begun in 1914 and opened in December 1922. The collection of works exhibited at the gallery was formed by Lord Leverhulme and records his personal taste, which

Malagasy Languages

2005-03-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

A cluster of languages spoken on Madagascar and adjacent islands and belonging to the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) family of languages. The various Malagasy dialects are all closely related, having diversified only in the last 2,000 years when Madagascar was settled by an Indonesian people. The languages contain some words of Bantu, Swahili, Arab, English, and French

Ajanta Caves

2005-03-06T04:32:00.000-08:00

The group of some 30 caves was excavated

World War Ii, The Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the North Sea, 194245

2005-03-05T04:33:00.000-08:00

The year 1942 was, on the whole, a favourable one for the German U-boats. First, the U.S. entry into the war entitled them to infest the U.S. coast of the North Atlantic; and it was not until the middle of the year that the Allies' introduction of the convoy system from the Caribbean northward constrained the raiders to go so far afield as the waters between Brazil and West Africa. Second,

Pietro Della Vigna

2005-03-04T02:35:00.000-08:00

Born in the mainland part of the kingdom of Sicily to a poor family (his parents were said to have been

Cinnamus, John

2005-03-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Greek Ioánnis Kínnamos Byzantine historian, secretary (grammatikos) to the emperor Manuel I Comnenus, whom he accompanied on campaigns in Europe and Asia Minor. Cinnamus's history of the period 1118–76, continuing the Alexiad of Anna Comnena, covers the reigns of John II and Manuel I, down to the unsuccessful campaign against the Turks of Iconium when the Byzantines were routed (1176) at Myriocephalon.

China, Antiforeign movement and the Arrow, or second Opium, War

2005-03-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

At the signing of the Treaty of Nanking there was a difference between China and Britain as to whether foreigners were allowed to enter the walled city of Canton. Though Canton was declared open in July 1843, the British faced Cantonese opposition. After 1847 trouble rapidly grew, and as a result of an incident at nearby Fo-shan, a promise was given the British that they would

Italian Literature, Poetry after World War II

2005-03-02T04:03:00.000-08:00

Paradoxically, of all the forms of writing, poetry seems to be the form most thriving, although one late 20th-century critic remarked that there may be more poets in Italy than readers of poetry. Furthermore, the more recent the author, the more arguable his or her place in the canon. An authoritative 1,200-page anthology by two experts in the field, poet Maurizio Cucchi and critic

Vihari

2005-03-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Vehari, town, south-central Punjab province, Pakistan. The town lies on a flat alluvial plain bordered by the Sutlej River on the southeast. It is a market and processing centre for cotton and oilseeds. Wheat, rice, sugarcane, and vegetables are also grown nearby, and there are rice and flour mills in the area. Vihari lies on the main road between Multan and Lahore. Pop. (1981) town, 53,799.

Theaceae

2005-03-01T01:28:00.000-08:00

The tea family of plants in the order Theales. The Theaceae comprises about 40 genera of trees or shrubs native to temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres, including several ornamental plants, one that is the source of tea. Members of the family have evergreen leaves and flowers with five sepals (leaflike structures) and petals and numerous stamens inserted

Mammal, Skeleton

2005-02-28T18:13:00.000-08:00

The mammalian skeletal system shows a number of advances over that of lower vertebrates. The mode of ossification of the long bones is characteristic. In lower vertebrates each long bone has a single center of ossification, the diaphysis, and replacement of cartilage by bone proceeds from the center toward the ends, which may remain cartilaginous, even in adults.

Hudud, Al-

2005-02-27T18:32:00.000-08:00

Singular Al-hadd, in the Druze religion, five cosmic principles that are emanations from God, the One. Al-Hakim, the 11th-century Fatimid caliph of Egypt deified by the Druzes, stands at the centre of the universe as the embodiment of the One. Hamzah ibn 'Ali, a contemporary of al-Hakim, systematized the Druze religion and presented himself as the direct human link to the One; he then established a hierarchy

Hyderabad

2005-02-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

Former princely state of south-central India, founded by Nizam-ul-Mulk (Mir Qamar-ud-Din), who was intermittently viceroy of the Deccan under the Mughal emperors from 1713 to 1721 and who resumed the post again under the title Asaf Jah in 1724, at which time he became virtually independent. He founded the dynasty of the Nizams of Hyderabad. The British and the French participated in the wars of succession

Arts, Central Asian, Neolithic and Metal Age cultures

2005-02-26T04:36:00.000-08:00

Many Neolithic (New Stone Age) sites were discovered in what was formerly Soviet Central Asia, and the number of Bronze Age sites is even higher. The majority were found on the middle reaches of the Yenisey River, especially in the Minusinsk Basin, where metallurgy developed early. They testify to the existence of three main, basically successive, yet often overlapping

Cadenza

2005-02-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

(Italian: “cadence”), unaccompanied bravura passage introduced at or near the close of a movement of a composition and serving as a brilliant climax, particularly in solo concerti of a virtuoso character. Until well into the 19th century such interpolated passages were often improvised by the performer at suitable openings left for that purpose by the composer. They

Waterberg Series

2005-02-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

Also called Waterberg System, major division of rocks in southern Africa. The age of the Waterberg is in doubt; it is possible that the Waterberg is late Precambrian or Early Paleozoic (older or younger than 540 million years, respectively). Waterberg rocks consist of several thousand feet of brown, red, and purple sandstones and some rather minor shales. Sedimentary structures such as ripple marks,

Halepa, Pact Of

2005-02-24T11:48:00.000-08:00

Also called Treaty Of Halepa, Halepa also spelled Khalépa, convention signed in October 1878 at Khalépa, a suburb of Canea, by which the Turkish sultan Abdülhamid II (ruled 1876–1909) granted a large degree of self-government to Greeks in Crete as a means to quell their insurrection against Turkish overlords. It supplemented previous concessions to the Cretans—e.g., the Organic Law Constitution (1868) and the Cyprus Convention (July 4, 1878), which had been

Milyukov, Pavel Nikolayevich

2005-02-24T00:33:00.000-08:00

As a contributor to a clandestinely circulated journal, Osvobozhdeniye (“Liberation”), founded in 1902, Milyukov did much to swing the moderate members of the zemstvos (local government bodies) to the left. During the revolutionary year 1905, he was active in forming the Union of Unions, a broad alliance of professional associations, and subsequently the Constitutional Democratic,

Performing Arts, Canada.

2005-02-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

Unusually, one of the most highly profiled North American films of the year was a documentary, Michael Moore's devastating study of American gun culture, Bowling for Columbine. With Ararat, Atom Egoyan investigated the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in 1915 through the eyes of a filmmaker (played by Charles Aznavour) researching a film. In Spider, David Cronenberg abandoned

Harun Ar-rashid

2005-02-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

The fabulous descriptions of Harun and his court in The Thousand and One Nights are idealized and romanticized, yet they had a considerable basis in fact. Untold wealth had flowed into the new capital of Baghdad since its foundation in 762. The leading men, and still more their wives, vied in conspicuous consumption, and in Harun's reign this reached levels unknown before. His

Lockout

2005-02-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

In the United States, lockouts became a common

Hadar

2005-02-21T00:36:00.000-08:00

The Hadar remains include partial skeletons of Australopithecus afarensis, a key species in human evolution. Major archaeological work began at Hadar in the early

Cypress Pine

2005-02-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

About 16 species constitute the genus Callitris; they are native to Australasia and grow best in arid localities. The mature leaves of the trees are borne in whorls of three; their tips are often thickened and curve inward. Callitris

Priestly Code

2005-02-19T23:06:00.000-08:00

Also called Priestly Source, or P, biblical source that, according to the document hypothesis, is one of the four original sources of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament). The priestly writings are so named because they emphasize the priestly tradition or interest, giving detailed explanations and descriptions of ritual laws and procedures.

Babahoyo

2005-02-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

City, west central Ecuador, on the southern shore of the Río Babahoyo, a major branch of the Río Guayas. A processing and trade centre for the surrounding agricultural region, the city handles rice, sugarcane, fruits, balsa wood, and tagua nuts (vegetable ivory). Rice and sugar are milled, and there is also a government-owned distillery making alcohol, ether, and perfume. A

Lipetsk

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

City and administrative centre of Lipetsk oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along both banks of the Voronezh River in the Don Basin. A fortified settlement existed on the site in the 13th century, until its destruction by Tatars in 1284. The town was founded in 1703 as an ironworking centre by Peter I the Great. It also served as a spa resort; its natural springs and mineral-laden

Spain, The independent emirate

2005-02-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

'Abd ar-Rahm

Patristic Literature, Monastic literature

2005-02-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

Both Anthony (c. 250–355), the founder of eremitical, or solitary, monasticism in

Manala

2005-02-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

The Finnish underworld and related concepts among other Finno-Ugric peoples, such as the yabme-aimo of the Sami, are the

Differentiator

2005-02-15T04:44:00.000-08:00

A device or set of components for performing the mathematical operation of differentiation—i.e., supplying an output proportional to the derivative of the input with respect to one or more variables. The many common examples of mechanical differentiators in which a displacement is differentiated with respect to time include speedometers and generators. In

Christian Ii

2005-02-15T01:52:00.000-08:00

After serving as viceroy in Norway (1502, 1506–12), Christian succeeded his father, John, king of Denmark and Norway, in 1513. He obtained office by agreeing to a royal charter that granted extensive privileges to the nobility,

Akita

2005-02-14T23:45:00.000-08:00

Ken (prefecture), northwestern Honshu, Japan, on the Sea of Japan coast. Its area of 4,483 square miles (11,612 square km) is divided between lowlands (west) and a plateau region (east). The Hachiman Plateau is dotted with volcanoes such as Mount Komaga (5,371 feet [1,637 m]), near the eastern border with Iwate prefecture. The plateau is covered with white fir trees and alpine plants that grow amid

Francis I

2005-02-13T00:30:00.000-08:00

From

Einstein's Massenergy Relation

2005-02-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

In physical theories prior to that of special relativity, mass and energy were viewed as distinct entities. Furthermore, the energy of a body at rest could be assigned an arbitrary

Lancaster, Burt

2005-02-11T05:36:00.000-08:00

One of five children born to a New York City postal worker, Lancaster exhibited considerable athletic prowess as a youth. At age 19 he joined the circus and performed in an acrobatic act with partner Nick Cravat,

Torez

2005-02-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1964) Chistyakovo city, Donetsk oblast (province), Ukraine. Torez is a typical coal-mining centre of the Donets Basin coalfield, but in Soviet times its industrial base was considerably widened. It is now a centre for engineering industries, especially electrical engineering, and for building materials. The city of Torez has been replanned in modern style, and its streets have been widened.

Essex

2005-02-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

County, extreme northeastern Massachusetts, U.S., bordered by New Hampshire to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its topography is largely hilly, with coastal lowlands in the east that include several islands in the Atlantic. The principal streams are the Merrimack, Ipswich, Parker, Shawsheen, and Sauqus rivers. Recreational areas include Bradley Palmer

Udmurtiya

2005-02-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

From the republic's highest point, a low (1,080 feet [330 m]) outlier of the Ural Mountains

Williams, Marion

2005-02-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

U.S. gospel singer (b. Aug. 29, 1927, Miami, Fla.--d. July 2, 1994, Philadelphia, Pa.), drew on blues, jazz, folk, and calypso music as inspirations for her innovative vocals, which included octave-spanning leaps from contralto to spine-tingling falsetto tones; her exceptional artistry was often compared to that of Mahalia Jackson. As a child Williams began singing with the congregation at her

Butler, R(ichard) A(usten), Baron Butler Of Saffron Walden

2005-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Educated at Cambridge (1921–25), Butler lectured at that university on French history until 1929, when he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative. During the 1930s he worked successively in the ministries governing Indian, labour,

Dawson Creek

2005-02-07T03:28:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The city lies along Dawson Creek near the Alberta border. It has the Mile “Zero” post marking the beginning of the Alaska Highway and is a terminus of the British Columbia Railway from Vancouver (741 miles [1,193 km] south-southwest) and the Northern Alberta Railway from Edmonton (360 miles [580 km] southeast). The economy depends largely on agriculture

Spalatin, Georg

2005-02-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

As a student Spalatin came in contact with various humanists, and he followed their custom in choosing a last name that reflected his birthplace. In 1505 he joined

Scandinavian Literature, The literary Renaissance in Denmark

2005-02-06T05:45:00.000-08:00

The literary Renaissance reached Denmark in the 1600s, giving rise to a strict adherence to classical patterns and blind belief in authority in political, religious, and literary matters. In religious literature Latin dogmatics and pamphlets reflecting the superstitions of the century were dominant. It was, however, a great era of scholarship. Ole Worm is famous for

National Socialism

2005-02-05T19:31:00.000-08:00

German Nationalsozialismus , also called Nazism or Naziism totalitarian movement led by Adolf Hitler as head of the Nazi Party in Germany. In its intense nationalism, mass appeal, and dictatorial rule, National Socialism shared many elements with Italian fascism. However, Nazism was far more extreme both in its ideas and in its practice. In almost every respect it was an anti-intellectual and atheoretical movement, emphasizing

Yü Ch'ien

2005-02-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

With the emperor held hostage and the Mongol armies only 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the capital of Peking, the government was in a state of panic. Yü Ch'ien acted by placing

Computers, The personal computer revolution

2005-02-03T02:25:00.000-08:00

Michael S. Malone, The Big Score: The Billion-Dollar Story of Silicon Valley (1985), explains how the invention of the semiconductor transformed Silicon Valley.

Shabonee

2005-02-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

By birth an Ottawa Indian, Shabonee married the daughter of a Potawatomi chief and succeeded him as tribal leader. Although an adherent

Malacostracan, Excretion

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

Malacostracans excrete waste fluids mainly through the ducts of the nephridial glands, which are present in the body segments of the second antennae and the maxillae. The ducts open on the basal segments of those head appendages. Antennal nephridial glands are present in the adult stages of eucaridans, mysidaceans, and amphipods and in the larval stages of stomatopods

Tigris-euphrates River System

2005-02-01T00:49:00.000-08:00

Great river system of Southwest Asia, comprising the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have their sources within 50 miles (80 km) of each other in eastern Turkey and travel southeast through northern Syria and Iraq to the head of the Persian Gulf. The lower portion of the region that they define, known as Mesopotamia (Greek: “Land Between the Rivers”), was one of the cradles of

Carlos Luis De Borbón, Count (conde) De Montemolín

2005-01-30T21:46:00.000-08:00

Montemolín, grandson of Charles IV (reigned 1788–1808), was given the Carlist

Lodge

2005-01-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

The lodge became a more permanent type of house as the lands around European

Augustine, Saint

2005-01-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

As outlined above, the story of Augustine's life will seem in numerous ways unfamiliar to readers who already know some of it. The story of his early life is exceedingly well known—better known than that of virtually any other Greek or Roman worthy. Augustine's Confessions recounts that early life with immense persuasiveness, and few biographers can resist abridging

Maharaja

2005-01-29T19:25:00.000-08:00

The title seems to have been introduced sometime in the first century BC by the Kushans. They had been

Bar Code

2005-01-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

A printed series of parallel bars or lines of varying width that is used for entering data into a computer system. The bars are typically black on a white background, and their width and quantity vary according to application. The bars are used to represent the binary digits 0 and 1, sequences of which in turn can represent numbers from 0 to 9 and be processed by a digital computer.

Interior Design, Crete

2005-01-28T16:20:00.000-08:00

The most important buildings of the pre-Hellenic Minoan and Mycenaean periods were the citadel complexes, housing the entire court of the ruler. The palace of King Minos at Knossos in Crete (c. 1700–1400 BC) gives evidence of a small but sophisticated society with a taste for luxury and entertainment and a corresponding skill in applied decoration. Frescoes (paintings executed

Uttar Pradesh, Cultural institutions

2005-01-27T00:04:00.000-08:00

Among the prominent art museums in Uttar Pradesh are the State Museum at Lucknow, the Archaeological Museum at Mathura, the Sarnath Museum specializing in Buddhist antiquities, the Bharat Kala Bharan at Varanasi, and the Municipal Museum at Allahabad. Colleges of arts and Hindustani music at Lucknow and the Prayag Sangeet Samiti at Allahabad have contributed immensely

Dan

2005-01-26T23:50:00.000-08:00

One of the 12 tribes of Israel that in biblical times comprised the people of Israel who later became the Jewish people. The tribe was named after the first of two sons born to Jacob (also called Israel) and Bilhah, the maidservant of Jacob's second wife, Rachel. Nine of the other 11 tribes were also named after sons of Jacob, while two bear the names of Jacob's grandsons, children

Nivkh

2005-01-26T10:11:00.000-08:00

The Nivkh economy was traditionally based

Mountain

2005-01-25T07:08:00.000-08:00

Detailed introductions to the European Alps are E.R. Oxburgh, The Geology of the Eastern Alps (1968), concentrating on Austria; and R. Trümpy, An Outline of the Geology of Switzerland, vol. 1 of Geology of Switzerland: A Guide-Book, ed. by the Schweizerische Geologische Kommission (1980). Introductory articles on other mountain belts of the world are found in Scientific American, including the following: Don L. Anderson, “The San Andreas Fault,” 225(5):52–68 (November 1971); Peter Molnar and Paul Tapponnier, “The Collision Between India and Eurasia,” 236(4):30–41 (April 1977), describing the evolution of mountain belts in eastern Asia; and David L. Jones et al., “The Growth of Western North America,” 247(5):70–84 (November 1982), describing the accretion of exotic terrains to that area. Two useful articles in Geological Society of America Bulletin are Tanya Atwater, “Implications of Plate Tectonics for the Cenozoic Tectonic Evolution of Western North America,” 81(12):3513–35 (December 1970), a classic article that changed the way geologists view that region; and John F. Deway et al., “Plate Tectonics and the Evolution of the Alpine System,” 84(10)3137–80 (October 1973), a summary of motions of lithospheric plates and mountain building in the Mediterranean area. See also Peter Molnar, “The Geologic History and Structure of the Himalaya,” American Scientist, 74(2):144–154 (March-April 1986), describing how the structure of the Himalayas allows the chain to achieve its great height.

Aryballos

2005-01-24T23:08:00.000-08:00

Small, narrow-necked, spherical or globular Greek vase. Commonly used as a scent or oil bottle, particularly by athletes at the baths, the aryballos derives from the globular wine pourer (oinochoe) of the Geometric style (9th century BC), evolving its distinctive shape in the early Proto-Corinthian style (8th century BC). From the many aryballoi that have been found dating from