SeriousEar

Cadman, Charles Wakefield

2005-04-04T01:26:00.000-07:00

By age 13 Cadman was studying the piano and organ. At about age 19 he met Nellie Richmond Eberhart, who would write most of his song lyrics and opera librettos. In his early 20s he held various jobs, pursuing music studies as he could.

Saint Bernard

2005-04-03T04:21:00.000-07:00

Working dog credited with saving the lives of some 2,500 people in 300 years of service as pathfinder and rescue dog at the hospice founded by St. Bernard of Montjoux in Great St. Bernard Pass in the Pennine Alps. Probably descended from mastifflike dogs that were introduced from Asia to Europe by the Romans, the St. Bernard appears to have been brought to the hospice in the late

Chuuk Islands

2005-04-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

Formerly Truk Islands, or Hogoleu, cluster of 14 much-eroded high volcanic islands in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia, in the western Pacific Ocean. Forming part of the eastern Caroline Islands, the Chuuk Islands are enclosed within an encircling barrier bank composed of some 69 sand and coral islets. The bank (often referred to as a reef) encloses a lagoon of 822 square miles (2,129 square km) in area and

New Delhi

2005-04-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

The capital of India, constituting part of the city and union territory of Delhi (q.v.).

Mason, James Murray

2005-04-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

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

Iron Meteorite

2005-04-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

Any meteorite consisting mainly of iron, usually combined with small amounts of nickel. When such meteorites, called irons, fall through the atmosphere, a thin, black crust of iron oxide may form that quickly weathers to rust. Though irons constitute only about 5 percent of meteorite falls, they are relatively easy to distinguish from terrestrial rock and last longer

Aegirine

2005-03-31T13:02:00.000-08:00

A pyroxene mineral, sodium and iron silicate (NaFe+3Si2O6), that is commonly found in alkaline igneous rocks, particularly in syenites and syenite pegmatites. It also occurs in crystalline schists. Aegirine forms a continuous chemical series with aegirinaugite, in which calcium replaces sodium, and magnesium and aluminum replace iron. In this series, the name acmite

Essen, Louis

2005-03-31T10:28:00.000-08:00

Essen studied physics at Nottingham University College, where he earned a University of London physics degree

Mueller, Sir Ferdinand Von

2005-03-29T01:12:00.000-08:00

After an apprenticeship as pharmacist, Mueller began the study of botany at the University of Kiel. Soon after receiving his Ph.D., he left Germany for Adelaide, South Australia (1847), where

John Birch Society

2005-03-29T00:27:00.000-08:00

Private organization founded in the United States on Dec. 9, 1958, by Robert H.W. Welch, Jr. (1899–1985), a retired Boston candy manufacturer, for the purpose of combating Communism and promoting various ultraconservative causes. The name derives from John Birch, an American Baptist missionary and U.S. Army intelligence officer who was killed by Chinese Communists on Aug. 25, 1945, making him, in

Probus, Marcus Aurelius

2005-03-28T03:31:00.000-08:00

The son of a Balkan military officer, Probus served with distinction in the army and apparently was eastern praetorian prefect when his troops proclaimed him emperor in opposition to Florian, who was soon killed by his own men. Probus' reign was spent in continual frontier warfare against hostile tribes on the Rhine and Danube, complicated

Integration

2005-03-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

With a and b called the limits of integration, is

Dent, Edward John

2005-03-26T16:02:00.000-08:00

Dent learned the clockmaker's trade from Richard Rippon and, during the period 1815–29, established a reputation as a builder of accurate chronometers. His reputation for precision eventually brought requests from the Admiralty and the East India Company. Dent confirmed

Heredity, DNA repair

2005-03-26T13:50:00.000-08:00

A variety of agents in the cell's environment, both chemical and physical, can damage DNA. Organisms have developed a variety of mechanisms for repairing copying errors produced by damaged DNA, usually by enzymatically excising them. The enzyme DNA polymerase then catalyzes the replacement of the excised segment with the correct nucleotides, using the undamaged

Neurogenic Arthropathy

2005-03-25T09:18:00.000-08:00

Also called Charcot's joint (after Jean-Martin Charcot, a 19th-century French neurologist), massive destruction of a stress-bearing joint, with development of large flanges and spurs of new bone at the sides of the joint. The condition eventually causes inability to use the joint but is accompanied by little or no sensation of pain or discomfort. The disorder accompanies damage to the nervous system

American Literature, Fiction

2005-03-24T05:12:00.000-08:00

The little magazines that helped the growth of the poetry also contributed to a development of the fiction of the era. They printed daring or unconventional short stories and published attacks upon established writers. The Dial (1880–1929), the Little Review (1914–29), the Seven Arts (1916–17), and others encouraged modernist innovation. More potent were two magazines edited by the ferociously

Kidney Stone

2005-03-24T02:55:00.000-08:00

Also called Renal Calculus, plural Renal Calculi, concretion of minerals and organic matter that forms in the kidneys. Such stones may become so large as to impair normal renal function. Urine contains many salts in solution and if the concentration of mineral salts becomes excessive, the excess salt precipitates as solid particles called stones. Kidney stones are classified as primary if they form without apparent

Silane

2005-03-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Silicon Hydride, any of a series of covalently bonded compounds containing only the elements silicon and hydrogen, having the general formula SinH2n + 2, in which n equals 1, 2, 3, and so on. The silanes are structural analogues of the saturated hydrocarbons but are much less stable. The term silane is extended to include compounds in which any or all of the hydrogen atoms have been replaced by

World War I, The Far East

2005-03-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

China's entry into the war in 1917 on the side of the Allies was motivated not by any grievance against the Central Powers but by the Peking government's fear lest Japan, a belligerent since 1914, should monopolize the sympathies of the Allies and of the United States when Far Eastern affairs came up for settlement after the war. Accordingly, in March 1917 the Peking government severed

Digestive System, Vertebrate, Vitamin D

2005-03-22T01:09:00.000-08:00

Vitamin D is essentially a hormone and is available from two sources. First, under the influence of photosynthesis made possible by ultraviolet rays from the Sun, a sterol compound from the liver (dehydrocholesterol) is converted to vitamin D3. This supplies enough vitamin D3 for human needs. In the absence of contact between sunlight and skin, dietary supplements

Cluster, Structure

2005-03-21T16:54:00.000-08:00

The abundance distributions for several kinds of clusters show that there are certain sizes of clusters with exceptional stability, analogous to the exceptional stability of the atoms of the inert gases helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon and of the so-called magic number nuclei—i.e., the sequence of unusually stable atomic nuclei beginning with the a-particle,

Hydra

2005-03-20T17:55:00.000-08:00

Genus of invertebrate freshwater animals of the class Hydrozoa (phylum Cnidaria). The body of such an organism consists of a thin, usually translucent tube that measures up to about 30 millimetres (1.2 inches) long but is capable of great contraction. The body wall is comprised of two layers of cells separated by a thin, structureless layer of connective tissue called the

Bulimia

2005-03-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

Bulimia generally begins during adolescence or early adult life and is more prevalent in

Wellesley (of Norragh), Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess

2005-03-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

British statesman who, as governor of Madras and governor general of Bengal (both 1797–1805), greatly enlarged the British Empire in India and who, as lord lieutenant of Ireland (1821–28, 1833–34), attempted to reconcile

Cradle Mountain

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

Mountain situated at the northern boundary of the 622-square-mile (1,611-square-kilometre) Cradle Mountain–Lake St. Clair National Park, in northwest-central Tasmania, Australia. Located on Tasmania's central plateau, its lava basalt peak rises to 5,069 feet (1,545 m). It is an arête (narrow ridge) that resembles a cradle, hence the name. The mountain was reportedly first scaled either by Henry

Medicine, United States

2005-03-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

Whereas in Britain the doctor of first contact is regularly a general practitioner, in the United States the nature of first-contact care is less consistent. General practice in the United States has been in a state of decline in the second half of the 20th century, especially in metropolitan areas. The general practitioner, however, is being replaced to some degree

Nixon, Pat

2005-03-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

Richard Nixon was forced to resign as president for his involvement in the Watergate affair, and on August 9, 1974, the Nixons retired, first to California and then to New Jersey. She died of lung cancer in 1993 at her New Jersey home and was buried at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California.

Fyodor Ii

2005-03-17T06:43:00.000-08:00

The son of Boris Godunov (reigned 1598–1605), Fyodor received an excellent education and was well acquainted with state affairs when his father unexpectedly died and he ascended the Russian throne (April 13 [April 23], 1605). His rule was immediately challenged, however, by the first False

La Fontaine, Jean De

2005-03-17T06:23:00.000-08:00

Biographical and critical studies include Marie-Odile Sweetser, La Fontaine (1987); Agnes Ethel Mackay, La Fontaine and His Friends: A Biography (1972); John C. Lapp, The Esthetics of Negligence: La Fontaine's Contes (1971); and Richard Danner, Patterns of Irony in the Fables of La Fontaine (1985).

Christian-jaque

2005-03-16T18:56:00.000-08:00

Christian-Jaque was educated at the School of Fine Arts and the School of Decorative Arts, both in Paris. He started his career as a journalist and film critic and in 1926 entered the film industry

Lok Sabha

2005-03-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

(Hindi: “House of the People”), the lower chamber of India's bicameral parliament. Under the constitution of 1950, it is elected for a term of five years by universal suffrage for citizens 18 and older. Members are elected directly from territorial constituencies in the states. In the early 1990s the Lok Sabha had 543 elected members; 13 of these represented the union territories. Two additional

Mid Sussex

2005-03-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of West Sussex, historic county of Sussex, southeastern England. It occupies an area in central Sussex. Mid Sussex extends from The Weald, a sandstone area of hilly grasslands and woodlands in the north, across undulating grasslands of the Ouse and Adur river valleys in the centre, to the steep chalk scarps of the north-facing South

Alfonso Vi

2005-03-15T05:20:00.000-08:00

Byname Alfonso the Brave , Spanish Alfonso el Bravo king of Leon (1065–70) and king of reunited Castile and Leon (1072–1109), who by 1077 had proclaimed himself “emperor of all Spain” (imperator totius Hispaniae). His oppression of his Muslim vassals led to the invasion of Spain by an Almoravid army from North Africa (1086). His name is also associated with the national hero of Spain, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid), who was alternatively

Ancón

2005-03-14T03:21:00.000-08:00

City, central Panama, just northeast of Balboa city. It is a residential and medical centre. As Balboa and Panama City have grown, Ancón has become virtually a suburb of the latter. It is noted for the Gorgas Hospital for tropical diseases, named after Colonel William Crawford Gorgas, a U.S. Army surgeon who eradicated yellow fever from the Canal Zone. Ancón is also the site

Domestication

2005-03-14T00:52:00.000-08:00

The process of hereditary reorganization of wild animals and plants into domestic and cultivated forms according to the interests of people. In its strictest sense it refers to the initial stage of human mastery of wild animals and plants. The fundamental distinction of domesticated animals and plants from their wild ancestors is that they are created by human

Tabora

2005-03-13T21:43:00.000-08:00

Formerly Kazeh, town, west-central Tanzania. Lying on the Central Plateau at an elevation of 4,000 feet (1,200 m), it has a mean annual temperature of 73° F (23° C). The town has been the capital of the Nyamwezi people and was the major trade link between the coast and the Congo River basin prior to European colonial rule. As the junction point of the east-west (Dar es-Salaam–Ujiji) railway and the north-south railway

Toccata

2005-03-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

In the late 16th century in Venice such composers as Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Merulo wrote organ toccatas (many with such titles as Fantasia and Intonazione), often

Muscovy Company

2005-03-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

Also called Russia Company, body of English merchants trading with Russia. The company was formed in 1555 by the navigator and explorer Sebastian Cabot and various London merchants and was granted a monopoly of Anglo-Russian trade. It was the first English joint-stock company in which the capital remained regularly in use instead of being repaid after every voyage. In 1553 Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard

Cabrera Infante, Guillermo

2005-03-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

In the 1940s Cabrera Infante moved to Havana with his impoverished

Yamazaki Ansai

2005-03-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

A Buddhist monk early in life, Ansai began to study Confucianism and gradually turned against

Argentina, Agriculture

2005-03-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

Argentina is one of the world's major exporters of soybeans and wheat, as well as meat. It is also one of the largest producers of wool and wine, but most of its wine is consumed domestically. Although agriculture is an important source of export earnings, it now accounts for a small percentage of the overall GDP, and it employs only a tiny portion of the nation's

Giles, H.a.

2005-03-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

Educated at Charterhouse school, London, Giles joined the consular service and spent the years 1867–92 in various posts in China. Upon his return, he lived in Aberdeen, Scot.,

Wolf, Hugo

2005-03-10T05:37:00.000-08:00

Wolf studied at the Vienna Conservatory (1875–77) but had a moody and irascible temperament and was expelled from the conservatory following his outspoken criticism of his masters. In 1875 he met the composer Richard

Mole

2005-03-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

The mole designates an extremely large number of units, 6.0221367 ´ 1023, which is the number of atoms determined experimentally to be found in 12 grams of carbon-12. Carbon-12 was chosen arbitrarily to serve as the reference standard of the

Maderna, Bruno

2005-03-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

Maderna studied with well-known teachers, including the Italian composer Gian Francesco Malipiero and the German conductor Hermann Scherchen. In 1941 he received his degree in composition at Rome from the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia. He expanded

Hennebique, François

2005-03-09T01:58:00.000-08:00

At the Paris Exposition of 1867, Hennebique saw Joseph Monier's tubs and tanks built of concrete reinforced with wire mesh and was stimulated to seek a way to apply this new material to building construction. He began with reinforced-concrete

Kern, Johann Conrad

2005-03-08T03:42:00.000-08:00

A lawyer and doctor of jurisprudence, Kern was, after 1837, the guiding spirit of Thurgau's cantonal government, especially in the administration of justice. As deputy to the national Diet, he was almost alone in opposing (1838) the extradition

Godfree, Kitty

2005-03-07T23:10:00.000-08:00

Godfree lost the 1923 All-England final to Suzanne Lenglen of France, but

Mithan

2005-03-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

Cattle species also known as gayal (q.v.).

Averno, Lake Of

2005-03-06T22:54:00.000-08:00

Italian Lago D'averno, Latin Lacus Avernus, crater lake in Napoli province, Campania region, southern Italy, in the Campi Flegrei volcanic region, west of Naples. It is 7 ft (2 m) above sea level, 118 ft deep, and nearly 2 mi (more than 3 km) in circumference, with no natural outlet. Its Greek name, Aornos, was interpreted as meaning “without birds,” giving rise to the legend that no bird could fly across it and live because of its poisonous

Anticosti Island

2005-03-06T04:56:00.000-08:00

The

Earth Sciences, Desalinization, tidal power, and minerals from the sea

2005-03-05T23:18:00.000-08:00

For ages a source of food and common salt, the sea is increasingly becoming a source of water, chemicals, and energy. In 1967 Key West, Fla., became the first U.S. city to be supplied solely by water from the sea, drawing its supplies from a plant that produces more than 2,000,000 gallons of refined water daily. Magnesia was extracted from the Mediterranean in the late 19th century; at present

China, Agriculture

2005-03-05T08:21:00.000-08:00

Neofeudal land-tenure developments of late Sung and Yüan times were arrested with the establishment of the Ming dynasty. Great landed estates were confiscated by the government, fragmented, and rented out; and private slavery was forbidden. In the 15th century, consequently, independent peasant landholders dominated Chinese agriculture. But the Ming rulers were

Yoshiyuki, Junnosuke

2005-03-05T04:57:00.000-08:00

Japanese novelist and short-story writer (b. April 1, 1923, Okayama, Japan--d. July 26, 1994, Tokyo, Japan), explored human sexuality and prostitution as a means of understanding human relationships. His prize-winning works include the short story "Shuu" (1954; "Sudden Shower," 1972), and the novels Anshitsu (1969: The Dark Room, 1975) and Yugure made (1978: "Until Evening"), the latter of which won the Noma Literary Prize. Yoshiyuki,

Gumilyov, Nikolay Stepanovich

2005-03-05T00:37:00.000-08:00

The son of a naval surgeon, Gumilyov was educated at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where he was influenced by the poet and teacher Innokenty Annensky. Gumilyov's earliest published volumes

Resolution

2005-03-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, any process by which a mixture called a racemate (q.v.) is separated into its two constituent enantiomorphs. (Enantiomorphs are pairs of substances that have dissymmetric arrangements of atoms and structures that are nonsuperposable mirror images of one another.) Two important methods of resolution were employed by Louis Pasteur. The first of these,

Namib, Animal life

2005-03-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

The plains and dunes of the Inner Namib support large numbers of several varieties of antelope, especially gemsbok (oryx) and springbok, as well as ostriches and some zebras. Elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, hyenas, and jackals are found in the northern Namib, especially along the rivers that flow from the interior highlands to the Atlantic. The dunes of the Outer Namib

Maya Languages

2005-03-02T01:26:00.000-08:00

The family may be subdivided into the Huastec, Yucatec, Western Maya, and Eastern Maya groups. The most important Eastern Maya languages are Quiché and Cakchiquel; but there are also Mam, Teco,

Macdonald, Sir John (alexander)

2005-03-02T00:54:00.000-08:00

Macdonald emigrated from Scotland to Kingston, in what is now Ontario, in 1820. He was called to the bar in 1836. After the British Parliament united Upper and Lower

Xanthophyta

2005-03-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

Division or phylum of algae commonly known as yellow-green algae (q.v.).

Rouergue

2005-03-01T00:13:00.000-08:00

Ancient province of south central France, corresponding to much of the modern départements of Aveyron and Tarn-et-Garonne. It was bounded on the north by Auvergne, on the south and southwest by Languedoc, on the east by Gévaudan and the Cévennes mountains, and on the west by Quercy. It derived its name from the Gallic tribe of Rutheni. Administratively it formed first

Cabot, George

2005-02-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

After studying at Harvard, Cabot went to sea. He became a shipowner and successful merchant, retiring from business in 1794. Cabot was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention (1779–80), of the state Senate (1783), and of the Massachusetts convention that ratified the Federal

Gonorrhea

2005-02-27T17:37:00.000-08:00

Venereal disease characterized by inflammation of the mucous membranes of the genital tract and urethra. It is caused by the gonococcus, Neisseria gonorrhoeae—a bacterium with a predilection for the type of mucous membranes found in the genito-urinary tract and adjacent areas. All gonococcal infections except eye infections in newborn infants (ophthalmia

Swan Theatre

2005-02-26T10:11:00.000-08:00

Elizabethan theatre built about 1595 by Francis Langley in Bankside, London. A description and a sketch of the Swan made by Johann DeWitt of Utrecht (the sketch copied by Arend van Buchell) have proved most useful in attempts to reconstruct the form of the Elizabethan theatre. The last known mention of the Swan Theatre was in 1632.

Waterford

2005-02-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

Town (township), New London county, southeastern Connecticut, U.S., on Long Island Sound just west of the city of New London. The area, settled about 1653, was separated from New London and incorporated as a town in 1801. Drained by the Thames and Niantic rivers, it has a name descriptive of local fordable shallows. Early industries included paper mills and a granite quarry, which was

Gymnasium

2005-02-26T06:23:00.000-08:00

In Germany, state-maintained secondary school that prepares pupils for higher academic education. This type of nine-year school originated in Strassburg in 1537. Although the usual leaving age is 19 or 20, a pupil may terminate his studies at the age of 16 and enter a vocational school. In Germany the Gymnasium is differentiated into three main types, according to curriculum:

Literature

2005-02-25T03:36:00.000-08:00

Strict ideological censorship by the government continued in 1994 to be the background against which all discussions of the literary scene in Iran had to be conducted. In this regard the most sensational event of the year was the death, probably in November, of the noted essayist and satirist 'Ali Akbar Sa`idi Sirjani, who died in custody, under unexplained circumstances,

Saijo

2005-02-25T01:27:00.000-08:00

City, Ehime ken (prefecture), Shikoku, Japan, in the Kamo River delta. A castle town in the 17th century, it served later as a local administrative and commercial centre. The construction of two large power plants was followed rapidly by the establishment of pulp and paper mills and textile factories. The city, one of the core cities of the East Ehime Industrial City Program

Molde

2005-02-24T22:35:00.000-08:00

Town and seat of Møre og Romsdal fylke (county), western Norway. It lies along Molde Fjord, an inlet of the Norwegian Sea. A port since the 15th century, Molde was partially destroyed by fire in 1916, damaged during World War II, then rebuilt completely. During April 1940 it was the temporary home of the Norwegian government. Local industry includes fish export, textile mills, and furniture

Spoils System

2005-02-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

Also called patronage system practice in which the political party winning an election rewards its campaign workers and other active supporters by appointment to government posts and by other favours. The spoils system involves political activity by public employees in support of their party and the employees' removal from office if their party loses the election. A change in party control

Puerto Montt

2005-02-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1853, the settlement was named for Manuel Montt, then president of Chile. Early German settlers have given it a distinctive appearance. Puerto Montt is a commercial centre for an agricultural

Halicarnassus

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

Ancient Greek city of Caria, situated on the Gulf of Cerameicus. According to tradition, it was founded by Dorian Troezen in the Peloponnese. Herodotus, a Halicarnassian, relates that in early times the city participated in the Dorian festival of Apollo at Triopion, but its literature and culture appear thoroughly Ionic. The city, with its large sheltered harbour

Cambon, Paul

2005-02-22T20:28:00.000-08:00

A law graduate (1870) and an ardent republican, Cambon served as secretary to the future statesman Jules Ferry, then mayor of Paris. Sent to the département of Bouches-du-Rhône as secretary-general of the prefecture

Presbyterian Church (u.s.a.)

2005-02-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Presbyterian Church traces its beginnings to the earliest Presbyterian

Sinn Féin

2005-02-21T03:28:00.000-08:00

Political wing of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Sinn Féin, organized in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is a Nationalist party in Northern Ireland, representing Roman Catholics who want to achieve a united Ireland through whatever means are necessary, including violence. The party was led by Gerry Adams from 1983.

Saint Bartholomew's Hospital

2005-02-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

Byname Bart's or Saint Bart's, oldest hospital in London. It lies just southeast of the Central Markets in the Smithfield area of the City of London. It was founded in 1123 by the Augustinian monk Rahere, who also founded the adjacent priory (the surviving part of which is now the church of Saint Bartholomew-the-Great). In 1381 Wat Tyler, the leader of the Peasant's Revolt, was brought to the hospital for treatment

Los Angeles

2005-02-20T16:56:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Los Angeles county, southern California, U.S. A semitropical metropolis of palm trees and swimming pools, television studios and aerospace factories, Los Angeles has become the second most populous city and metropolitan area (after New York) in the United States. The city sprawls across a broad coastal plain agreeably situated between the San Gabriel

Heinse, (johann Jakob) Wilhelm

2005-02-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

A law student at Erfurt, Heinse met the Romantic writer Christoph

Kirikkale

2005-02-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

Town, central Turkey, on the Ankara-Kayseri railway near the Kizil River. Formerly a village, it owes its rapid rise in population mainly to the establishment of steel mills in the 1950s. These works, among the largest in the country, specialize in high-quality alloy steel and machinery. In the 1960s chemical plants were added. Electricity is provided by a generating plant that is

Anschluss

2005-02-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

In July 1934 Austrian and German Nazis together attempted a coup but were unsuccessful. An authoritarian

Visby

2005-02-19T09:33:00.000-08:00

A Stone Age settlement and port existed (c.

Mathematics, Foundations Of, Abstraction in mathematics

2005-02-18T17:35:00.000-08:00

One recent tendency in the development of mathematics has been the gradual process of abstraction. The Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–29) proved that equations of the fifth degree cannot, in general, be solved by radicals. The French mathematician Évariste Galois (1811–32), motivated in part by Abel's work, introduced certain groups of permutations to determine

Colegate, Isabel

2005-02-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

At the age of 19 Colegate began working as an assistant to literary agent Anthony Blond; when Blond became a publisher, one of the first books he brought out was Colgate's first novel, The Blackmailer (1958). Her next novel, A Man of Power (1960), portrays a newly rich businessman

Bohemond Iv

2005-02-17T02:10:00.000-08:00

The younger son of Bohemond III and Orguilleuse, he became count of Tripoli in 1187 and succeeded his father in the principality of Antioch to the exclusion of his nephew Raymond Ruben in 1201. In 1216 Raymond seized control while Bohemond was off in Tripoli, but he was deposed in 1219 and died the following year. Bohemond reigned in Antioch and

Giurgiu

2005-02-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), southeastern Romania, occupying an area of 1,471 square miles (3,810 square km) bounded on the south by the Danube River and Bulgaria. The county, consisting mostly of lowlands, was formed in 1981 from a portion of Ilfov district. Besides the eastward-flowing Danube, the county is also drained southward by the Arges and Dimobovita rivers. At the junction of the Câlnistea and

Navas De Tolosa, Battle Of Las

2005-02-16T04:41:00.000-08:00

Immobilized for several years by his crushing defeat at Alarcos (1195) at the hands

Earplug

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

The Ainu of northern Japan have used plugs of fabric; in the New World, Mayan earplugs have been found made of thin jade, stone, bone, shell, wood, and metal in many sizes. The Berawan people

Chemical Banking Corporation

2005-02-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

The holding company's principal subsidiary was Chemical Bank, which was chartered in 1824 in New York City as a division of the New York Chemical Manufacturing Company. Manufacturing activities were dropped in 1832. In 1844 the company was reconstituted as a state bank, and the chemical

Anderson, Sherwood

2005-02-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

Author who strongly influenced American writing between World Wars I and II, particularly the technique of the short story. His writing had an impact on such notable writers as Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner, both of whom owe the first publication of their books to his efforts. His prose style, based on everyday speech

Shah Jahan

2005-02-13T22:48:00.000-08:00

He was the third son of the Mughal emperor Jahangir and the Rajput princess Manmati. Marrying in 1612 Arjumand Banu Baygam, niece of Jahangir's wife Nur Jahan, he became, as Prince Khurram, one of the influential Nur Jahan clique of the middle period of Jahangir's reign. In 1622 Shah Jahan, ambitious to win the succession, rebelled,

Cellular Respiration

2005-02-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

One objective of the degradation of foodstuffs is to

Malabo

2005-02-12T02:53:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1973) Santa Isabel, capital of Equatorial Guinea. It lies on the northern edge of the island of Bioko (or Fernando Po) on the rim of a sunken volcano. With an average temperature of 77° F (25° C) and an annual rainfall of 75 inches (1,900 mm), it has one of the more onerous climates in the Bight of Biafra (Gulf of Guinea). Malabo is the republic's commercial and financial centre. Its harbour can dock several ships, and

Padauk

2005-02-12T01:01:00.000-08:00

Any of several species of tropical trees of the genus Pterocarpus. Padauks of the Indo-Malaysia region have a tendency to be larger than related species elsewhere. They are highly prized as shade trees and for their red or reddish brown wood. The blood-red sap is used commercially; a red dyewood, “Red Saunders,” which is obtained from the padauk, was formerly exported in

Chaco

2005-02-11T02:40:00.000-08:00

Provincia, northeastern Argentina, between the northwestern Argentine highlands and the Paraná River and bounded on part of the east by Paraguay. It has an area of 38,468 square miles (99,633 square km), most of which is low hardwood forest with patches of savanna trending to thorn scrub and savanna in the drier northwest. Heavy rainfall, in combination with the flat terrain, produces

Beilby, Sir George Thomas

2005-02-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the University of

Mission Indians

2005-02-10T05:49:00.000-08:00

The role of the missions, in addition to spreading the Roman Catholic faith, was to act as “civilizing agents” for the Spanish monarchy;

Reid, Whitelaw

2005-02-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

U.S. journalist, diplomat, and politician, successor to Horace Greeley in 1872 as editor in chief (until 1905) and publisher (until his death) of the New York Tribune, which, during much of that period, was perhaps the most influential newspaper in the United States. He was minister to France from 1889 to 1892, unsuccessful candidate for vice president on the

Furniture Industry

2005-02-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

The modern manufacture of furniture, as distinct from its design, is a major mass-production industry in Europe, the U.S., and other advanced regions. It is very largely a 20th-century industry, its development having

Austin College

2005-02-09T02:30:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher education in Sherman, Texas, U.S. Austin, a liberal arts college, is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The college offers bachelor's degree programs in humanities, math and science, and social sciences, as well as interdisciplinary and area studies programs. A master's degree in education is also available. Students

Kirkland, Lane

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

Kirkland graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1942 and then served as an officer on American merchant ships throughout World War II. He settled in Washington,