SadEgg

Ogier The Dane

2005-04-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

French Ogier De Danemarche , Danish Holger Danske an important character in the French medieval epic poems called chansons de geste. His story is told in a cycle of these poems known as Geste de Doon de Mayence, which deals with the wars of the feudal barons against the emperor Charlemagne. The character of Ogier has a historical prototype in Autcharius, a follower of Carloman, Charlemagne's younger brother, whose

Chernogorsk

2005-04-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Cernogorsk, city, Khakassia republic, south-central Russia, situated just west of the port of Podkunino on the Yenisey River. The city is the centre of mining in the Minusinsk coal basin, which has been in operation since before 1917. Consumer-goods industries are also important. Chernogorsk became a city in 1936. A mining college is located there. Pop. (1993 est.) 80,000.

F-16

2005-04-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

Also called Fighting Falcon, single-seat, single-engine jet fighter built by the General Dynamics Corporation (now part of the Lockheed Martin Corporation) for the United States and more than a dozen other countries. The F-16 originated in an order placed in 1972 for a lightweight, cost-effective air-to-air fighter; current models are also all-weather capable, and it is effective for ground attack as well.

Aeon

2005-04-01T22:59:00.000-08:00

The first aeon was said to emanate directly

Arabia, History Of, The life of Muhammad

2005-03-31T21:24:00.000-08:00

Muhammad was born in 570 of the Hashimite (Banu Hashim) branch of the noble house of 'Abd Manaf; though orphaned at an early age and, in consequence, with little influence, he never lacked protection by his clan. Marriage to a wealthy widow improved his position as a merchant, but he began to make his mark in Mecca by preaching the oneness of Allah. Rejected by the Quraysh lords, Muhammad

Pinar Del Río

2005-03-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

Provincia, western Cuba, bounded on the north by the Gulf of Mexico, on the west by the Yucatán Channel, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, on the southeast by the Gulf of Batabanó, and on the east by La Habana province. Low mountain ranges, including the Sierra de los Órganos and the Sierra del Rosario, form the backbone of the territory, which has an area of 4,218 square miles (10,925 square

Mordvin Language

2005-03-30T01:12:00.000-08:00

Member of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family, spoken in Mordvinia and neighbouring areas. The third largest Uralic language in number of speakers, ranking after Hungarian and Finnish, it has two major dialects: Erzya, spoken in the eastern portion of Mordvinia and the surrounding territory; and Moksha, spoken in the west. Although both dialects are

Actinomycosis

2005-03-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

Rye

2005-03-27T04:24:00.000-08:00

The Village of Rye, which was separately incorporated in 1904 and already a popular

Fractal

2005-03-26T11:04:00.000-08:00

In mathematics, any of a class of complex geometric shapes that commonly have “fractional dimension,” a concept first introduced by the mathematician Felix Hausdorff in 1918. Fractals are distinct from the simple figures of classical, or Euclidean, geometry—the square, the circle, the sphere, and so forth. They are capable of describing many irregularly shaped objects

Arachne

2005-03-25T06:15:00.000-08:00

Arachne was a weaver who acquired such skill in her art that she ventured to challenge Athena, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason. Athena wove a tapestry depicting the gods in majesty, while that of Arachne showed their amorous adventures. Enraged at the perfection of her rival's

Pyrochlore

2005-03-24T22:58:00.000-08:00

A complex oxide mineral composed of niobium, sodium, and calcium (NaCaNb2O6F) that forms brown to black, glassy octahedral crystals and irregular masses. Tantalum atoms replace niobium atoms in the chemical structure, so that pyrochlore forms a solid-solution series with the mineral microlite [(Na,Ca)2Ta2O6(O,OH,F)]. For detailed physical properties, see oxide mineral

Arts, Central Asian, Khitans

2005-03-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

The figural style is believed to have been transmitted to the Mongols by the Khitans when the latter were living on the middle reaches of the Yenisey. The wealth of the Khitan princes is reflected in the furnishings of burial mounds discovered at Kopeni, some 200 miles (300 kilometres) to the south of Krasnoyarsk. Dating from the 7th to 8th century, these mounds were similar in

Cádiz

2005-03-22T09:54:00.000-08:00

City, capital and principal seaport of Cádiz provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Andalusia, southwestern Spain, on a long narrow peninsula extending into the Gulf of Cádiz (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean). With a 6- to 7-mile (9.5- to 11-kilometre) circumference, hemmed in by the sea from which it is protected by walls, the city has only one land exit. Traditionally

Filarete

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

Filarete is thought to have been trained under Lorenzo Ghiberti in Florence. From 1433 to 1445 he was employed by Pope Eugenius IV to execute the bronze central doors of Old St. Peter's in Rome

Ailly, Pierre D'

2005-03-19T01:19:00.000-08:00

D'Ailly studied at the College of Navarre of the

General Will

2005-03-18T18:26:00.000-08:00

Theory of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 18th-century French political philosopher, that in a democratic society the state represents the general will of the citizens, and that in obeying its laws each citizen is pursuing his own real interest. Rousseau distinguished the “general will” from particular wills. The general will is a moral will, a will that aims at the common

Kearny, Stephen Watts

2005-03-18T08:17:00.000-08:00

After serving in the War of 1812, Kearny spent most of the next 30 years on frontier duty. At the beginning of the Mexican War, he was ordered to lead an expedition from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to seize New Mexico and California for the United States. Lacking

Rabelais, François

2005-03-18T03:54:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym Alcofribas Nasier French writer and priest who for his contemporaries was an eminent physician and humanist and for posterity is the author of the comic masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel. The four novels composing this work are outstanding for their rich use of Renaissance French and for their comedy, which ranges from gross burlesque

Daily Telegraph, The

2005-03-17T21:21:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier, the paper has consistently combined a high standard of reporting with the selection of interesting feature subjects and editorial presentation. Its appeal is a conservative and middle-class

Saaremaa

2005-03-16T15:35:00.000-08:00

German and Swedish Ösel , Russian Sarema largest of the islands in the Muhu archipelago that divides the Baltic Sea from the Gulf of Riga. It constitutes the bulk of the Estonian county of Saaremaa (Saare) and has an area of 1,032 square miles (2,674 square km). The island is low-lying and is composed largely of limestones and dolomites. Some of the places with poorer soils are characterized by the alvary—poor bushy vegetation,

Becker, Gary S.

2005-03-16T04:44:00.000-08:00

Becker was educated at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, where

Schmidt, Arno

2005-03-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

In full Arno Otto Schmidt novelist, translator, and critic, whose experimental prose established him as the preeminent Modernist of 20th-century German literature. With roots in both German Romanticism and Expressionism, he attempted to develop modern prose forms that correspond more closely to the workings of the conscious and subconscious mind

Andreani, Andrea

2005-03-15T00:40:00.000-08:00

Andreani was active in Florence (1584–85), in Siena (1586–93), and in Mantua (1599). Between 1602 and 1610 he appears in contemporary

Biblical Literature, The Letter of Paul to Philemon

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

From Ephesus, where he was imprisoned (c. 53–54), Paul wrote his shortest and most personal letter to a Phrygian Christian (probably from Colossae or nearby Laodicea) whose slave Onesimus had run away, after possibly having stolen money from his master. The slave apparently had met Paul in prison, was converted, and was being returned to his master with a letter from Paul appealing

La Orotava

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

Town, northern Tenerife island, Santa Cruz de Tenerife provincia, Canary Islands comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), Spain, just southwest of Santa Cruz de Tenerife city. The town is a health resort with its port, Puerto de la Cruz, on the coast immediately to the northwest. It lies in the Orotava Valley, known for its luxuriant vegetation and called the most beautiful

B.e.m.

2005-03-13T01:58:00.000-08:00

Recipient of the British Empire Medal. See British Empire, The Most Excellent Order of the.

Architecture And Civil Engineering

2005-03-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

Privatization of power generation and its impact on dam building was under way in many countries. Zimbabwe was inviting private investment to

Earthenware

2005-03-12T01:27:00.000-08:00

Pottery that has not been fired to the point of vitrification and is thus slightly porous and coarser than stoneware and porcelain. The body can be covered completely or decorated with slip (a liquid clay mixture applied before firing) or it can be glazed. For both practical and decorative reasons, earthenware is usually glazed. To overcome its porosity

Cyrillic Alphabet

2005-03-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Writing system developed in the 9th–10th century AD for Slavic-speaking peoples of the Eastern Orthodox faith; it is the alphabet currently used for Russian and other languages of the republics that once formed the Soviet Union and for Bulgarian and Serbian. Based on the medieval Greek uncial script, the Cyrillic alphabet was probably invented by later followers of

Tibet, Customs

2005-03-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

Traditional marriage ceremonies involve consultations with both a lama and an astrologer in order to predict the compatibility of a couple. The signing of a marriage contract is followed by an official ceremony at the home of the bridegroom. Appearance in a temple or before a civil authority is not required. After a couple is officially wedded, prayer flags are

B.e.m.

2005-03-11T03:25:00.000-08:00

Founded in New York City in 1976 as little more than a social club, the charter organization of the AWU grew into a major clearinghouse and support agency for Asian and Pacific American women in the United States. Having absorbed several scattered

La Trémoille, Georges De

2005-03-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

At first allied with the duke of Burgundy in the power struggle that continued for many years during Charles VI's madness, La Trémoille switched his loyalty when the rival faction, the Armagnacs, came into power in 1413. He was a member of the pleasure-loving group that surrounded the dauphin,

Ibn Al-haytham

2005-03-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

Latinized as Alhazen, in full, Abu 'Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the principles of optics and the use of scientific experiments.

Deggendorf

2005-03-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

City, Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany, on the Danube River, 2.5 miles (4 km) above its confluence with the Isar River. It lies at the western foot of the Bavarian and Bohemian forests, east of Straubing. Founded about 750, it passed to the dukes of Bavaria in 1242 and was chartered in 1316. The river and the forested mountains form a picturesque setting for the city, which retains its

Monclova

2005-03-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

During the colonial period, Monclova served as the capital of Nueva Extremadura

Rubinstein, Anton

2005-03-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

In 1835 Rubinstein's father opened a small factory in Moscow, and there in the same year his brother Nikolay was born. Both boys were taught piano, first by their mother and then by Aleksandr Villoing. Anton gave his

Mahalwari System

2005-03-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

For revenue purposes the name was applied to any compact area containing one or more villages, which were called “estates.” The

Quicklime

2005-03-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

Calcium oxide, an alkaline inorganic compound of calcium (q.v.).

La Hontan, Louis-armand De Lom D'arce, Baron De

2005-03-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

La Hontan went to Canada in 1683 as a marine lieutenant. He participated in an unsuccessful campaign against the Iroquois Indians on Lake Ontario in 1684 and commanded

Conductor

2005-03-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

In music, a person who conducts an orchestra, chorus, opera company, ballet, or other musical group in the performance and interpretation of ensemble works. At the most fundamental level, a conductor must stress the musical pulse so that all the performers can follow the same metrical rhythm. The keeping of this rhythmic beat is accomplished by a stylized set of arm

Likasi

2005-03-05T23:36:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1966) Jadotville, city, southeastern Congo (Kinshasa). It lies along the Likasi River, 86 miles (138 km) northwest of Lubumbashi, to which it is connected by road and rail. In 1892 Belgians discovered copper deposits at Likasi and at Kambove, 15 miles (24 km) northwest. Likasi was founded in 1917 and was designated an urban district in 1943. It is now one of the nation's most important mineral-processing centres, with plants

Asahi Shimbun

2005-03-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

Founded in Osaka in 1879, Asahi has been in the hands of the Murayama and Ueno families since 1881. Asahi is particularly noted for its political coverage and its foreign news.

Closed Shop

2005-03-04T05:09:00.000-08:00

By the 1930s the closed shop had become a commonly negotiated agreement meant to protect labour organizations. This and other

Huygens' Principle

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

A surface

Ogre

2005-03-03T06:46:00.000-08:00

Feminine ogress a hideous giant represented in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings. The word gained popularity from its use in the late 17th century by Charles Perrault, the author of Contes de ma mère l'oye (Tales of Mother Goose). Since then, ogres have appeared in many works, including “Tom Thumb”; “Hansel and Gretel,” where the witch is a type of ogre because she intends to eat

Termez

2005-03-03T03:48:00.000-08:00

City and administrative centre of Surkhandarya oblast (province), Uzbekistan, and a port of the Amu Darya (river) on the frontier of Afghanistan. The ancient town of Termez, a little to the north, flourished in the 1st century BC and was finally destroyed at the end of the 17th century AD. The present city originated as a Russian fort built in 1897 beside the small settlement of Pattagissar.

Boise

2005-03-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

Boise was named by early 19th-century French-Canadian trappers for the tree-lined river (French boisé, “wooded

Euripides

2005-03-01T21:01:00.000-08:00

Last of classical Athens' three great tragic dramatists, following Aeschylus and Sophocles.

Kazak Uplands

2005-03-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

Kazak Saryarqa , Russian Kazakhsky Melkosopochnik , also spelled Kazachskij Melkosopocnik hilly upland in central and eastern Kazakstan, occupying about one-fifth of the republic. It is a peneplain, the mountainous Paleozoic foundation of which had already been worn down into an undulating plain by the beginning of the Mesozoic Era, beginning about 245 million years ago. Low hills are characteristic, and there are extensive depressions occupied by saline

Saudi Arabia

2005-03-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

Since the bomb attack against the U.S. military housing complex at Al-Khubar in 1996, United States investigators had expressed frustration at the poor cooperation between American and Saudi investigators. The Saudis proposed and later dropped plans to extradite from Canada a

Trachyte

2005-03-01T09:22:00.000-08:00

Light-coloured, very fine-grained extrusive igneous rock that is composed chiefly of alkali feldspar with minor amounts of dark-coloured minerals such as biotite, amphibole, or pyroxene. Compositionally, trachyte is the volcanic equivalent of the plutonic (intrusive) rock syenite. Most trachytes show porphyritic texture in which abundant, large, well-formed crystals

Clonorchiasis

2005-02-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Chronic infection caused by Clonorchis sinensis, or liver fluke, a parasitic worm some 10 to 25 mm (0.4 to 1 inch) long that lives in the bile ducts of the liver in humans and other mammals. Clonorchiasis is a common disease in China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan and is acquired by eating freshwater fish containing the fluke larvae. The fish are themselves infected by swallowing the

Euripides

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

It is possible to reconstruct only the sketchiest biography of Euripides. His mother's name was Cleito; his father's name was Mnesarchus or Mnesarchides. One tradition states that his mother was a greengrocer who sold herbs in the marketplace. Aristophanes joked about this in comedy after comedy; but there is better indirect evidence that Euripides came of a well-off

Game Theory

2005-02-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

Branch of applied mathematics fashioned to analyze certain situations in which there is an interplay between parties that may have similar, opposed, or mixed interests. In a typical game, decision-making “players,” who each have their own goals, try to outsmart one another by anticipating each other's decisions; the game is finally resolved as a consequence of the players'

Mckellen, Sir Ian (murray)

2005-02-26T21:41:00.000-08:00

McKellen attended St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, where as a student actor he was often directed by John Barton, later of the Royal Shakespeare Company. After receiving a bachelor's degree in 1961, McKellen made his professional

Interior Design, Walls

2005-02-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

Every wall is a material in itself; and ideally no material, if it is properly used, needs to be covered up. Some elegant buildings constructed since 1960 have used concrete in its natural texture—i.e., showing the formwork left by wooden forms as a conscious expression of the material. During the 19th century, fakery in design was very popular, and part of the concern with the true

Toprakkala

2005-02-25T17:46:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Topraq-qal'ah, or Toprak Kale, site of a Khwarezmian walled city near modern Dashhowuz in Uzbekistan. The city was inhabited from about the 1st century BC until the 6th century AD, a period during which Khwarezm was an independent feudal state. A palace at Toprakkala, which may have been the capital of that state, contained lifelike paintings and sculptures executed in a style reflecting the influence

Earth

2005-02-25T02:57:00.000-08:00

The works by William K. Hartmann and Ron Miller, The History of Earth: An Illustrated Chronicle of an Evolving Planet (1991), lavishly illustrated; Preston Cloud, Oasis in Space: Earth History from the Beginning (1988); and Jonathan Weiner, Planet Earth (1986), the companion volume to a PBS television series, are good introductions to the planet for the general reader. An older but excellent summary of the historical development of plate tectonics is the book by Ursula B. Marvin, Continental Drift: The Evolution of a Concept (1973). Virgil L. Sharpton and Peter D. Ward (eds.), Global Catastrophes in Earth History: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Impacts, Volcanism, and Mass Mortality (1990), is a technical but definitive collection of papers on the role of giant impacts in the Earth's history. Earth (bimonthly), published in Waukesha, Wis., is for the general reader.

Anti-atlas

2005-02-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

Also called Lesser Atlas, mountain range in Morocco running parallel to and southward of the central range of the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. Although it has a mean elevation of 5,000 feet (1,500 m), some peaks and passes exceed 6,000 feet (1,800 m). This rugged, arid region, which encloses the Sous lowland and reaches the Atlantic coast at Sidi Ifni, is linked to the Haut (High) Atlas by Mount Siroua, a volcanic peak rising

Wakan

2005-02-24T07:22:00.000-08:00

Also called Wakonda, or Wakanda, among various American Indian groups, a great spiritual power of supernatural origin belonging to some natural objects. Wakan may be conceived of as a weak or strong power; the weak powers can be ignored, but the strong ones must be placated. Poisonous plants and reptiles can contain wakan, as can intoxicating drinks. Wakan beings are the immortal supernatural powers

Hind

2005-02-24T05:12:00.000-08:00

Any of certain species of fishes in the sea bass family, Serranidae (order Perciformes). All species referred to as hinds are in the genus Epinephelus, which also includes many groupers. They are found in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico along the North American coast, with the exception of the red hind (E. guttatus), which ranges from the Carolinas to Brazil. The rock

Batabanó, Gulf Of

2005-02-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

Spanish Golfo De Batabanó, inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting southwestern Cuba. The gulf stretches from the shore of eastern Pinar del Río province approximately 80 miles (130 km) to the southwestern coast of Matanzas province and the Zapata Peninsula. At its northern edge lies La Habana province; 50 miles (80 km) to the south is the Isle of Juventud. The shallow gulf, economically important for sponge

Olsen, Tillie

2005-02-22T13:14:00.000-08:00

Olsen's early adult life was devoted to political activism and to rearing a family. Her first novel, begun at the age of 19, was set aside for 35 years. Though she never finished it, Olsen eventually published the reconstructed manuscript as Yonnondio:

Mclean, Jackie

2005-02-22T07:51:00.000-08:00

From a musical family, McLean became known as a fine altoist in his teens and first recorded in 1951, with Miles Davis, playing “Dig” (also called “Donna”), a McLean theme that became a jazz standard. McLean played in Charles Mingus' and Art Blakey's groups, then

Tapestry, General works

2005-02-21T06:11:00.000-08:00

W.G. Thomson, A History of Tapestry from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 3rd ed. rev. and ed. by F.P. Thomson and E.S. Thomson (1973), a standard work on the history of tapestry, which has been updated by F.P. Thomson, Tapestry: Mirror of History (1980); M.J. Guiffrey, E. Muntz, and A. Pinchart, Histoire generale de la tapisserie, 3 vol. (1978–85), French tapestries discussed by Guiffrey, Italian tapestries by Muntz, Flemish tapestries by Pinchart; M. Fenaille, État general des tapisseries de la manufacture des Gobelins depuis son origine jusqu'a nos jours, 1600–1900, 6 vol. (1903–23), a work of primary importance, presenting a detailed history of the Gobelins factory; J. Badin, La Manufacture de tapisseries de Beauvais, depuis ses origines jusqu'a nos jours (1909), a basic reference for the history of tapestry production at the Beauvais factory; Wandteppiche, 6 vol. (1923–34; Eng. trans. of pt. 1, Tapestries of the Lowlands, 1924), a general worldwide treatment of tapestry, with numerous black and white illustrations, although many of the European medieval attributions have been questioned or rejected; G.L. Hunter, The Practical Book of Tapestries (1925), precise and useful descriptions, with numerous reproductions; C.G. Janneau, Évolution de la tapisserie (1947), illustrations and technical information on collections of European tapestries, some of which have been subsequently disbanded with works relocated; D. Heinz, Europäische Wandteppiche, vol. 1, Von den Anfängen der Bildwirkerei bis zum Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts (1963), a thorough treatment of tapestry up to the end of the 16th century, with a typological index, an extensive bibliography, and numerous illustrations; R.A. Weigert, La Tapisserie et le tapis en France (1964), a scholarly discussion of the history of French tapestry; P. Verlet et al., La Tapisserie: histoire et technique du 14e au 20e siecle (1977; Eng. trans., The Book of Tapestry: History and Technique, 1978), a well-illustrated volume on Western tapestry from the Middle Ages to the 20th century; Madeleine Jarry, La Tapisserie des origines a nos jours (1968; Eng. trans., World Tapestry, 1969), a well-documented study of tapestry throughout the world, including an extensive bibliography and many black and white and colour illustrations, and La Tapisserie: art du 20e siecle (1974), a study of the worldwide renascence of tapestry during the 20th century; V. Fougre, Tapisseries de notre temps (1969), a brief study of contemporary French tapestry, with an index of tapestry artists and illustrated with black and white and colour reproductions; R.A. d'Hulst, Flemish Tapestries (1967), an elaborate study of Flemish tapestry from the Middle Ages to the Baroque periods, with many colour illustrations; R. Kaufmann, The New American Tapestry (1968), a well-illustrated text dealing with technique as well as with the works of leading American tapestry designers and weavers; G. Sutherland, Coventry Tapestry (1964), an interesting account of the design, weaving, and installation of Sutherland's tapestry for Coventry cathedral; M.B. Freeman, The Unicorn Tapestries (1976), a detailed and well-illustrated history of these tapestries, which are housed at the Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; P. Ackerman, Tapestry: The Mirror of Civilization (1933, reprinted 1970), one of the classic works in English dealing with the historical development of European tapestry. Laya Brostoff, Weaving a Tapestry (1982), is a brief overview with bibliography.

Albalag, Isaac

2005-02-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

Jewish philosopher who rendered a Hebrew translation of parts of the Maqasid al-falasifah (“Aims of the Philosophers”), a review of doctrines of earlier thinkers by the Arabic philosopher al-Ghazali, to which Albalag added his own views and comments. In defending philosophy against the accusation that it undermined religion,

Mitiaro

2005-02-20T07:52:00.000-08:00

Island in the lower Cook Islands, a dependency of New Zealand, southwest Pacific Ocean. It is a raised coral atoll, with a land area of 8.6 sq mi (22.3 sq km), and is encircled by a reef. Its interior of fertile volcanic soil, ringed by swamps and limestone, supports copra and citrus fruits. Stands of sandalwood occur. Pop. (1981) 256.

Zamoyski, Jan

2005-02-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

Educated in France and Italy, he returned to Poland in 1565 and was appointed secretary to King Sigismund II. After Sigismund's death (1572), he became one of the best-liked

Aniakchak National Monument And Preserve

2005-02-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

Large wilderness area in southwestern Alaska, U.S., on the southern shore of the Alaska Peninsula, about 450 miles (720 km) south of Anchorage. Proclaimed a national monument in 1978, the area underwent boundary changes in 1980 when the national preserve was established. The monument covers an area of 214 square miles (554 square km), while the preserve covers an additional 725 square miles (1,878 square

Obstetrics And Gynecology

2005-02-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

The medical care of pregnant women (obstetrics) and of female genital diseases (gynecology) developed along different historical paths. Obstetrics had for a long time been the province

Drug Use, Amphetamines

2005-02-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

These stimulants are of three types having closely related actions on the nervous system: amphetamine proper (Benzedrine), one of its isomers (Dexedrine), and methamphetamine (Methedrine). The amphetamines have been used to alleviate depression, fatigue, the hyperkinetic behaviour disturbances of children, postencephalitic Parkinsonism, enuresis, nausea of pregnancy,

Ahtisaari, Martti

2005-02-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

Ahtisaari graduated from the University of Oulu in 1959 and in the early 1960s worked in Pakistan on an educational project for the Swedish Agency for International Development. He returned to Finland and joined the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1965; eight years later he was

Mürren

2005-02-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

Alpine village, Bern canton, south central Switzerland, situated high above the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Bernese Oberland (highland), opposite the Jungfrau (13,642 ft [4,158 m]). It is the highest village in the canton (elevation 5,450 ft) that is inhabited all the year round. A noted health and international winter-sports resort, it is also a ballooning centre with an annual international

Alkalai, Judah Ben Solomon Hai

2005-02-16T03:40:00.000-08:00

Alkalai was taken to Jerusalem at an early age, and there he was reared and educated for the rabbinate. At 25 he went to Semlin, in Croatia, as a rabbi and found himself teaching Hebrew to the young men of his congregation,

Anthony, Katharine (susan)

2005-02-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

A college teacher of geometry, Anthony was deeply interested in psychiatry. Eventually this interest came to shape her approach to biography,

Akhmadulina, Bella

2005-02-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

Akhmadulina completed her education at the Gorky Literary Institute in 1960, after which she traveled in Central Asia. She was eventually admitted to the Soviet Writers' Union, although her uncompromisingly individualistic work elicited official

Kagoshima

2005-02-14T21:42:00.000-08:00

City and ken (prefecture), southernmost Kyushu, Japan, including the island groups of Osumi, Tokara, and Amami. It occupies an area of 3,539 square miles (9,167 square km). Its southern coast is deeply indented by Kagoshima Bay. The active volcano, On-take, was an island in the bay until an eruption in 1914 connected it to the eastern shore. Rough topography, volcanic-ash soil, and relative isolation

Jevons, William Stanley

2005-02-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

English logician and economist whose book The Theory of Political Economy (1871) expounded the “final” (marginal) utility theory of value. Jevons's work, along with similar discoveries made by Karl Menger in Vienna (1871) and by Léon Walras in Switzerland (1874), marked the opening of a new period in the history of economic

Anatoli, Jacob

2005-02-14T00:43:00.000-08:00

Anatoli was especially interested in the works of the 12th-century Arab physician Averroës' and translated some of them from the Arabic. Anatoli probably shared Averroës belief that religion and philosophy move in similar directions, even though they are outwardly different in many respects,

Finney, Charles Grandison

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

After teaching school briefly, Finney studied law privately and entered the law office of Benjamin Wright at Adams, N.Y. References in his

Dungarpur

2005-02-11T19:40:00.000-08:00

Town, administrative headquarters of Dungarpur district, Rajasthan state, northwestern India. An agricultural market centre, it is linked by road with Udaipur, as well as with Vadodara, Ahmadabad, and Indore via Godhra (Gujarat). Dungarpur, former capital of the Dungarpur princely state, was founded in the 14th century and was named after Dungaria, an independent chieftain

Literature, Canada.

2005-02-11T06:39:00.000-08:00

Though the French literary community in Canada viewed itself as a society distinct from the rest of the country, its tastes remained entirely global in 2001. The third installation of Pierre Godin's ongoing biography about the late René Lévesque, the popular provincial politician, attracted attention among

Ob River

2005-02-11T00:20:00.000-08:00

Although paleo-Asiatic peoples have inhabited the Ob basin for millennia, Russian explorers and adventurers first penetrated the area only toward the end of the 16th century. During the reign of Ivan IV (the Terrible), the Cossack folk hero Yermak led an expedition into the Ob basin (1581–84/85) that claimed vast expanses for the tsar. Settlements and forts were established at Tyumen

Actuary

2005-02-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

Most actuaries are

Florida Agricultural And Mechanical University

2005-02-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Byname Florida A&M University public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. It is a historically black, land-grant institution and part of the State University System of Florida; its enrollment remains predominantly African American. The university includes colleges of arts and sciences, education, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, and engineering

Abacha, Sani

2005-02-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

Abacha received his formal military training at Nigerian and British military training colleges. He rose through the ranks in the Nigerian military and by 1983 had achieved the rank of brigadier when he assisted Ibrahim Babangida in overthrowing Shehu Shagari, who had been elected

Hypoxia

2005-02-09T01:13:00.000-08:00

Condition of the body in which the tissues are starved of oxygen. In its extreme form, where oxygen is entirely absent, the condition is called anoxia. There are four types of hypoxia: (1) the hypoxemic type, in which the oxygen pressure in the blood going to the tissues is too low to saturate the hemoglobin; (2) the anemic type, in which the amount of functional hemoglobin is too

Sable Antelope

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

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

Monazite

2005-02-08T15:51:00.000-08:00

Phosphate mineral, cerium and lanthanum phosphate [(Ce, La)PO4], that is the major commercial source of cerium. Occurring as small, brown, resinous, rather heavy crystals in granitic and gneissic rocks and their detritus (called monazite sands), monazite frequently contains 10–12 percent thorium dioxide (ThO2) and thus represents a major commercial source of thorium as well.

Baseball

2005-02-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

The United States is credited with developing several popular sports, including some (such as baseball, gridiron football, and basketball) that have large fan bases and, to varying degrees, have been adopted internationally. But baseball, despite the spread of the game throughout the globe and the growing influence of Asian and Latin American leagues and players,

O'mahony, John

2005-02-07T01:25:00.000-08:00

O'Mahony was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and became a respected Irish scholar. He took part in the unsuccessful Young Ireland rebellion

Moraceae

2005-02-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

The mulberry family of the nettle order (Urticales), with about 40 genera and some 1,000 species of deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. Plants of the family contain a milky latex and have alternate or opposite leaves and small, petalless male or female flowers. The fruits of many species are multiple because fruits

Jupiter, Other satellites

2005-02-06T07:58:00.000-08:00

The only other Jovian satellite that was close enough to the trajectories of the Voyager spacecraft in 1979 to allow surface features to be seen was Amalthea. So small that its gravitational field is not strong enough to deform it into a sphere, it has an irregular, oblong shape (see Table). Like Io, its surface exhibits a reddish colour that may result from a coating of sulfur

Calais And Zetes

2005-02-05T03:40:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the winged twin sons of Boreas and Oreithyia. On their arrival with the Argonauts at Salmydessus in Thrace, they liberated their sister Cleopatra, who had been thrown into prison by her husband, Phineus, the king of the country. According to another story, they delivered Phineus from the Harpies. They were slain by Heracles near the island of Tenos,

Gulag

2005-02-05T03:37:00.000-08:00

Abbreviation of Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey (Russian: “Chief Administration of Corrective Labour Camps”), the system of Soviet labour camps and accompanying detention and transit camps and prisons that from the 1920s to the mid-1950s housed the political prisoners and criminals of the Soviet Union. At its height the Gulag imprisoned millions of people. The name Gulag had been largely unknown in the West until the publication

Austin, John Langshaw

2005-02-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

After receiving early education at Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford, he became a fellow at All Souls College (1933) and Magdalen College (1935), where he studied traditional Greco-Roman

Stein, Edith

2005-02-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

Born into an Orthodox Jewish family, Stein renounced her faith in 1904 and became

Wolf Snake

2005-02-03T08:58:00.000-08:00

The Cape wolf snake (Lycophidion capense), abundant from Egypt to South Africa, is a small, drab species with a metallic sheen and lives chiefly

Chicago And North Western Transportation Company

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

The railroad was incorporated in 1859 as a successor to the foreclosed Columbus, Hocking Valley and Toledo Railway. Its first president was William Butler Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago. A constituent company that was acquired