BadKettle

Estate Agent Fitzrovia

2006-10-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services. They are a specialist in estate agent fitzrovia, amongst other London areas such as Soho and Oxford Circus.

Gehry, Frank O.

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

Gehry's family immigrated to Los Angeles in 1947. He studied architecture at the University of Southern California (1949–51; 1954) and city planning at Harvard University (1956–57). After working for several architectural firms, he established his

Russell, Ken

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

The son of a shoe-store owner, Russell became a cadet at the Nautical College at Pangbourne and subsequently joined the British Merchant Navy. After training as an electrician in the

Moscow

2005-03-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1888) of Latah county, northwestern Idaho, U.S. The city is situated on Paradise Creek, in the Palouse country just north of Lewiston, near the Washington border. The area was settled in 1871 and developed as a stagecoach station. Local farmers called the area Hog Heaven. The origins of the name Moscow are disputed; some hold that the town was named by Jonathan Neff, a homesteader

Corbin, Margaret

2005-03-11T00:31:00.000-08:00

Margaret Cochran, having lost both her parents in an Indian raid when she was five, grew up with relatives and, in 1772, married John Corbin. When

Berenice I

2005-03-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

Berenice arrived in Egypt in the retinue of Eurydice, Ptolemy's second queen, whom he married as part of a political agreement with her father, Antipater of Macedonia. About 317 Ptolemy married Berenice. Probably because she was not of royal blood, a genealogy was fabricated

Sacramento Mountains

2005-03-07T23:51:00.000-08:00

Segment of the southern Rockies, extending southward for 160 mi (260 km) from Ancho, in south central New Mexico, into Culberson County, western Texas, U.S. They include the Sierra Blanca and the Guadalupe and Jicarilla mountains, with heights averaging from 8,000 to 10,000 ft (2,400 to 3,000 m). The Sierra Blanca Peak (12,003 ft) is the highest in the group, and Guadalupe Peak (8,749 ft) is the highest in Texas. Features include

Cottonwood

2005-03-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Several fast-growing trees of North America, members of the genus Populus, in the family Salicaceae, with triangular, toothed leaves and cottony seeds. The dangling leaves clatter in the wind. Eastern cottonwood (P. deltoides), nearly 30 metres (100 feet) tall, has thick glossy leaves. Perhaps natural hybrids between this and Eurasian black poplar (P.

Theaceae

2005-03-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

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

Fujiwara Tokihira

2005-03-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

Japanese Imperial minister who checked the efforts of the emperor Uda (reigned 887–897) to halt the domination of the Japanese government by the Fujiwara family. Tokihira's father, Fujiwara Mototsune, had created and occupied the post of kampaku, or chancellor, a position that gave him virtual control of Japan by allowing him to issue commands on behalf of

Middle Eastern Religion

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

Any of the religious beliefs, attitudes, and practices developed in the ancient Middle East (extending geographically from Iran to Egypt and from Anatolia and the Aegean Sea to the Arabian Peninsula and temporally from about 3000 to 330 BC, when Alexander the Great conquered much of the area). They have had an enduring influence on Western civilization. While this article treats

Alienation

2005-02-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

In social sciences, the state of feeling estranged or separated from one's milieu, work, products of work, or self. Despite its popularity in the analysis of contemporary life, the idea of alienation remains an ambiguous concept with elusive meanings, the following variants being most common: (1) powerlessness, the feeling that one's destiny is not under one's own control

Franc

2005-02-22T04:09:00.000-08:00

Originally a French coin but now the monetary unit of a number of countries, notably Switzerland, most French and former Belgian overseas territories, and some African states; at one time it was also the currency of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The name was first applied to a gold coin minted by King John II of France in 1360, which bore on one face the Latin legend Johannes

Clodion

2005-02-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

In 1755 Clodion went to Paris and entered the workshop of Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, his uncle. On his uncle's death, he became a pupil of J.B. Pigalle. In 1759 he won the grand prize for sculpture at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, and in 1762 he went to Rome. Catherine II was

Gaines's Mill, Battle Of

2005-02-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

In the American Civil War, one of the Seven Days' Battles, which ended the Peninsular Campaign. See Cold Harbor, battles of.

Waldteufel, Emil

2005-02-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

In 1865 he became court pianist to Empress Eugénie and the following

Harald Iii Sigurdsson

2005-02-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

The son of Sigurd Sow (Syr), a chieftain in eastern Norway, and of Estrid, mother of the Norwegian king Olaf II Haraldsson (St. Olaf), Harald fought at the age of 15 against the Danes

'abd Al-rahman Iii

2005-02-16T03:42:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, 'Abd al-Rahman also had to check threats from the Christian north. The main danger came from the kingdom of Leon. An expedition commanded by Ordoño II, then vassal king of Galicia and later king of Leon, into Muslim territory in the summer of 913, especially his sack of Evora (Talavera) and the massacre of its Muslim population, produced widespread resentment in Muslim

Overweg, Adolf

2005-02-15T08:13:00.000-08:00

In 1849 Overweg joined an expedition, headed by the English explorer James

Catalan Literature

2005-02-14T06:40:00.000-08:00

The oldest extant text in Catalan is the Homilies d'Organyà, a collection of sermons dating from the 12th or early 13th century but now appreciated more for their linguistic than for their literary value. Early kings of Aragon and counts

Arts, East Asian, Architecture

2005-02-12T00:59:00.000-08:00

The Sui capital, Ta-hsing, was designed in 583 on Imperial order by the great architect Yü-wen K'ai; renamed Ch'ang-an, it was further developed by the T'ang after 618. This vast city, six times the size of present-day Sian, was laid out in nine months on a grid plan, with eastern and western markets and the Imperial City placed in the central northern section, a plan later followed at Peking.

Catalan Literature

2005-02-11T21:55:00.000-08:00

Largest trade-union federation in India. INTUC was established in 1947 in cooperation with the Indian National Congress, which favoured a less militant union movement than the All-India Trade Union Congress. INTUC is largely anticommunist; it is affiliated with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Salghurid Dynasty

2005-02-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

The Salghurids were one of the several dynasties of atabegs (notables who acted as guardians and tutors of infant Seljuq princes) who were deputized to govern Iranian provinces on behalf of Seljuq kings. The Salghurids in origin belonged to the Salor

Bonaparte Family

2005-02-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

Italian Buonaparte, a family made famous by Napoleon I (q.v.), emperor of the French (1804–1814/15). The French form Bonaparte was not commonly used, even by Napoleon, until after the spring of 1796. The original name was Buonaparte, which was borne in the early Middle Ages by several distinct families in Italy. One of these, which settled at Florence before the year 1100, was divided in the 13th century into the two branches

Cracticidae

2005-02-09T17:21:00.000-08:00

Songbird family, of the order Passeriformes, that includes species of the bell-magpie, butcherbird, and currawong (qq.v.) groups of Australia. They are sometimes collectively called songshrikes, from their vocal powers and their shrikelike behaviour.

Clapper

2005-02-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

Clappers

Hevesy, Georg Charles Von

2005-02-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

Educated at the Technische

Baalbek

2005-02-05T03:18:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known of Baalbek earlier than the Greek conquest of Syria (332 BC). After the death of Alexander the Great (323), the region fell to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, under which the town was called Heliopolis, probably after its Egyptian namesake.

Cradle Mountain

2005-02-03T05:09:00.000-08:00

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

Albanian Language

2005-02-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

The origins of

La Romana

2005-02-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

City and port, southeastern Dominican Republic, on the Caribbean Sea opposite Catalina Island. Founded near the end of the 19th century, La Romana grew rapidly after the establishment of a large sugar mill in 1911. In addition to sugarcane, the surrounding region produces coffee, tobacco, beeswax, cattle, and hides. The city has food-processing and soap, shoe, and furniture plants.

Sabae

2005-01-31T11:36:00.000-08:00

City, Fukui ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the northern end of the Takefu basin. The city first formed around the Buddhist Josho temple and became a post town after 1720. An administrative centre in the late 19th century, it gained importance as a centre for the production of silk and synthetic fibres. Specialized industries, such as the manufacture of optical frames and roof

Biblical Literature, Types of biblical hermeneutics

2005-01-31T07:41:00.000-08:00

As has been said, the importance of biblical hermeneutics has lain in the Bible's status as a sacred book in Judaism and Christianity, recording a divine revelation or reproducing divine oracles. The “oracles” are primarily prophetic utterances, but often their narrative setting has also come to acquire oracular status. Quite different hermeneutical principles,

Northwest Spitsbergen National Park

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

Norwegian Nordvest-spitsbergen Nasjonalpark, national park and bird sanctuary established in 1973 by Norway on the northwestern corner of the island of Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. With an area of 1,268 square miles (3,283 square km), the park typifies a high-arctic-tundra biologic community. The glaciated uplands of Albert I Land and Haakon VII Land, together with offshore islands, constitute

Action Française

2005-01-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

The Action Française movement originated at the close of the 19th century to champion the antiparliamentarian, anti-Semitic, and

Q

2005-01-28T11:58:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym of Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (q.v.).

Abdera

2005-01-26T01:29:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greece, town on the coast of Thrace near the mouth of the Néstos River. The people of Teos, evacuating Ionia when it was overrun by the Persians under Cyrus (c. 540 BC), succeeded in establishing a colony there that developed a brisk trade with the Thracian interior. Abdera was a prosperous member of the Delian League in the 5th century but was crippled early in the 4th

Catastasis

2005-01-25T14:07:00.000-08:00

Plural catastases the dramatic complication that immediately precedes the climax of a play or that occurs during the climax of a play. Compare catastrophe.

Furniture, Historical forms and styles

2005-01-25T05:32:00.000-08:00

Round stone tables on low pedestal legs are known in Egypt from the time of the pyramids (c. 2700 BC). Egyptian limestone reliefs also show tables of normal height. Dating from the later dynasties, crude wooden tables with architectonic molding have been preserved. No tables have survived from ancient Greece. From the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, however, there are

Yamana Mochitoyo

2005-01-24T22:11:00.000-08:00

Yamana's attempts to increase his family's rank and influence brought him into conflict with a rival clan in eastern Japan and resulted in the Onin War (1467–77), which was followed by a century of internecine strife. As a Buddhist monk, he took the name Sozen, and, because of his quick temper

Babel, Tower Of

2005-01-23T03:19:00.000-08:00

In biblical literature, structure built in the land of Shinar (Babylonia) some time after the Deluge. The story of its construction, given in Genesis 11:1–9, appears to be an attempt to explain the existence of diverse human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and a tower “with its top in the heavens.” God

R.e.m.

2005-01-21T03:54:00.000-08:00

Earth Sciences, The chemical analysis of rocks and minerals

2005-01-21T03:31:00.000-08:00

The successive stages in the plate-tectonic cycle (see below) produce igneous rocks that have geochemical patterns distinctive for each stage. Consequently, the igneous petrologist is able to use both the major and trace element abundances of rocks to define the possible tectonic environment in which they formed. The metamorphic petrologist can use the bulk

Grable, Betty

2005-01-19T07:55:00.000-08:00

Grable was set on the road to stardom by her mother,

Smith, Jessie Willcox

2005-01-19T00:59:00.000-08:00

At age 16 Smith entered the School of Design for Women in Philadelphia, and from 1885 to 1888 she studied with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of

Alzira

2005-01-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Alcira, city, Valencia provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Valencia, eastern Spain. It lies in the Ribera district, south of the city of Valencia. It originated as the Iberian settlement of Algezira Sucro (“Island of Sucro”), so named because of its insular position between two branches of the Sucro (Júcar) River. It became the Saetabicula of the Romans

Grable, Betty

2005-01-17T01:25:00.000-08:00

Interleukins are a subset of a larger group of cellular messenger molecules called cytokines, which are modulators

John Hyrcanus Ii

2005-01-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

When his father, Alexander Jannaeus, died in 76, Hyrcanus was appointed high

Yessentuki

2005-01-15T02:07:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Jessentuki , or Essentuki city, Stavropol kray (region), southwestern Russia, in the valley of the Podkumok River. It was founded in 1798, developed as a fortress in the 1830s, and became a city in 1917. It is located at mineral springs at the base of the Caucasus Mountains. The city is composed of an old Cossack village in the southern sector and a newer city in the north. It is a major health resort, with sanatoriums

Atl, Doctor

2005-01-14T04:59:00.000-08:00

Educated in Mexico City, Rome, and Peru, he founded the journal Action d'Art in Paris in 1913 and edited it for three years. The paintings he created during that period generally imitated popular European trends such as Post-Impressionism

Algebra, Quaternions and vectors

2005-01-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

Remaining doubts about the legitimacy of complex numbers were finally dispelled when their geometric interpretation became widespread among mathematicians. This interpretation, initially and independently conceived by the Norwegian surveyor Caspar Wessel and the French bookkeeper Jean-Robert Argand (see Argand diagram), was made known to a larger audience

Daimlerchrysler Ag

2005-01-11T07:20:00.000-08:00

The origins of Chrysler Corporation lie in Maxwell Motor Company, Inc. (first formed in 1913). The first Maxwell car was made in 1904 by Jonathan Maxwell and Benjamin Briscoe, who in 1909 joined the short-lived United States Motor Company. With the collapse of this combine in 1913, Maxwell continued on alone until the postwar recession, when Walter P. Chrysler was brought in to revitalize

Selkirk

2005-01-10T04:31:00.000-08:00

Royal burgh (town), Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Selkirkshire, Scotland, lying on a hillside overlooking the river known as Ettrick Water. A Benedictine abbey founded in the early 12th century was later removed to Kelso. Selkirk's 12th-century castle was captured by the English under Edward I (reigned 1272–1307). It was retaken by the Scottish national leader William

Adaptive Radiation

2005-01-10T01:26:00.000-08:00

Evolution of an animal or plant group into a wide variety of types adapted to specialized modes of life. A striking example is the radiation, beginning in the Tertiary period (beginning 66.4 million years ago), of basal mammalian stock into forms adapted to running, leaping, climbing, swimming, and flying.

Argentina

2005-01-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

Carlos Menem's 10-year tenure as Argentine president ended on Dec. 10, 1999. Menem was constitutionally prohibited from seeking reelection; nevertheless, he spent the first half of 1999 attempting to clear the constitutional and political obstacles preventing him from seeking a third term. Menem was driven primarily by a desire to maintain control of his Justicialist Party

Ba'al Shem Tov

2005-01-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

Byname of Israel Ben Eliezer, acronym Besht charismatic founder (c. 1750) of Hasidism, a Jewish spiritual movement characterized by mysticism and opposition to secular studies and Jewish rationalism. He aroused controversy by mixing with ordinary people, renouncing mortification of the flesh, and insisting on the holiness of ordinary bodily existence. He was also responsible

Christians Of Saint Thomas

2005-01-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

The origins of the Christians of St. Thomas are uncertain, though they seem to have been in existence before the 6th century AD and probably

Degenerate Gas

2005-01-06T02:51:00.000-08:00

In physics, a particular configuration, usually reached at high densities, of a gas composed of subatomic particles with half-integral intrinsic angular momentum (spin). Such particles are called fermions, because their microscopic behaviour is regulated by a set of quantum mechanical rules—Fermi-Dirac statistics (q.v.). These rules state, in particular, that there

China, Royal burials

2005-01-05T06:22:00.000-08:00

The royal cemetery lay less than two miles northwest of Hsiao-t'un, at Hsi-pei-kang. The hierarchy of burials at this and other cemeteries in the area reflected the social organization of the living. Large pit tombs, some nearly 42 feet deep, were furnished with four ramps and massive grave chambers for the kings. Retainers who accompanied their lords in death lay in or near

Ilos

2005-01-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the founder of Ilion (Troy). Ilos (or Zacynthus, a Cretan name) has been identified either as the brother of Erichthonius or as the son of Tros and grandson of Erichthonius. According to legend, the King of Phrygia gave Ilos a spotted cow as a wrestling prize, with the advice that he found a city wherever the cow first lay down. The animal chose the hill of

Alexander Ii

2005-01-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

He studied under Lanfranc at Bec. As bishop of Lucca he worked for the abolition of simony and the enforcement of clerical celibacy. Though he was elected pope, the German court nominated Peter Cadalus of Parma as Honorius II, and Alexander was not recognized by the empire until 1064. In 1062 the antipope was dropped by the German regents, and

Biblical Literature, Gospels

2005-01-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

A few papyrus fragments come from gospels not known by name (e.g., Egerton Papyrus 2, Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 840, Strasbourg Papyrus 5–6). There are also the Gospel produced in the 2nd century by Marcion (a “semi-Gnostic” heretic from Asia Minor), who removed what he regarded as interpolations from the Gospel According to Luke; the lost Gnostic Gospel of Perfection; and the Gospel of

Ligase

2005-01-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

Also called Synthetase any one of a class of about 50 enzymes that catalyze reactions involving the conservation of chemical energy and provide a couple between energy-demanding synthetic processes and energy-yielding breakdown reactions. They catalyze the joining of two molecules, deriving the needed energy from the cleavage of an energy-rich phosphate bond (in many cases, by the simultaneous

Distribution Function

2004-12-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

Mathematical expression that describes the probability that a system will take on a specific value or set of values. For example, the probability (dP) that a molecule of gas will be found with velocity components u, v, and w in the x, y, and z directions, respectively, is given by the product of the distribution function and the infinitesimal volume du dv dw; i.e., dP = f (u, v, w) du dv

Smith, Abby Hadassah; And Smith, Julia Evelina

2004-12-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

The Smith sisters, the youngest of five children, lived almost their entire lives at the Connecticut

Benedetti, Mario

2004-12-29T22:25:00.000-08:00

Benedetti was born to a prosperous family of Italian immigrants. His father was a viniculturist and a chemist. At age four the boy was taken to Montevideo, where he received a superior education at a private school. He was deeply affected by his early experience of the capital

Sea-urchin Cactus

2004-12-27T18:29:00.000-08:00

Any of the genus Echinopsis, family Cactaceae, about 30 species native to South America at medium elevations in desert shrublands or grasslands. Several species, but most especially the Easter lily cactus (E. multiplex), are valued for their ease of growth and large flowers on tubes up to 25 centimetres (10 inches) long. Most are hardy outdoors in Mediterranean

Paulding, James Kirke

2004-12-26T23:45:00.000-08:00

At 18 he went to New York City, where he formed a lasting friendship with the Irving brothers. This association aroused his enthusiasm for literature, and he, with William and Washington Irving,

Alaric Ii

2004-12-25T15:18:00.000-08:00

His dominions comprised Spain (except the kingdom of Galicia), Aquitaine, Languedoc, and western Provence. Alaric, like his father, was an Arian Christian, but he mitigated the persecution of Catholics and authorized the Catholic council at Agde in 506. To provide a law code for his Roman subjects, he appointed a

Wicksteed, Philip Henry

2004-12-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

Wicksteed, who was for some years a Unitarian minister, was a writer on literature, classics, theology, and philosophy, and his fame at the time of his death was greater in these contexts than as an economist. He wrote, among many works, Dante and

Moreau River

2004-12-22T23:46:00.000-08:00

River, formed by the confluence of several headstreams in Butte and Harding counties, northwestern South Dakota, U.S. It flows about 290 mi (470 km) east through the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, where it receives several north-bank tributaries (including Thunder Butte and Little Moreau), to the Missouri River south of Mobridge. The lower Moreau Basin was inundated by

Beyer, Jinny

2004-12-22T22:58:00.000-08:00

Beyer received a B.A. in speech and French from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, and an

Mesopotamia, History Of, Adad-nirari III and his successors

2004-12-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

Shamshi-Adad V died while Adad-nirari III (810–783) was still a minor. His Babylonian mother, Sammu-ramat, took over the regency, governing with great energy until 806. The Greeks, who called her Semiramis, credited her with legendary accomplishments, but historically little is known about her. Adad-nirari later led several campaigns against the Medes and also against Syria and

Computers, The Jacquard loom

2004-12-19T05:12:00.000-08:00

Calculators such as the Arithmometer remained a fascination after 1820, and their potential for commercial use was well understood. Many other mechanical devices built during the 19th century also performed repetitive functions more or less automatically, but few had any application to computing. There was one major exception: the Jacquard loom, invented in 1804–05 by a French

Integrated Circuit

2004-12-18T23:27:00.000-08:00

(IC), also called microcircuit, an assembly of electronic components, fabricated as a single unit, in which active semiconductor devices (transistors and diodes) and passive devices (capacitors and resistors) and their interconnections are built up on a chip of material called substrate. The circuit thus consists of a unitary structure with no connecting wires. The individual circuit elements

Constantia

2004-12-18T02:33:00.000-08:00

Residential area, Western Cape province, South Africa, near Cape Town. It is located in Constantia Valley, famous since the 18th century for wines produced on both government and private farms. The Groot Constantia homestead there was built about 1685 by Governor Simon van der Stel and named for his wife, Constance; a fine example of Cape Dutch architecture, it has been restored

Clare, John

2004-12-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

Clare grew up in extreme poverty and began work as a herder at the age of seven. Though he had little access to books, he had a prodigious memory, and his poetic gift, which revealed itself early, was nourished by his parents' store of

Lightning Rod

2004-12-15T02:55:00.000-08:00

Metallic rod (usually copper) that protects a structure from lightning damage by intercepting flashes and guiding their currents into the ground. Because lightning tends to strike the highest object in the vicinity, rods are typically placed at the apex of a structure and along its ridges; they are connected to the ground by low-impedance cables. In the case of a building,

Ligurian Republic

2004-12-14T23:17:00.000-08:00

French République Ligurienne, Italian Repubblica Ligure, republic created by Napoleon Bonaparte on June 15, 1797, organizing the conquered city of Genoa and its environs. The government was modeled on that of the Directory in France, and the republic was tied to France by alliance. In 1803 it became also a military district, closely linked to France, and its chief of state became appointable by Napoleon. In May 1805 the Ligurian Republic was

Spring Tide

2004-12-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

Tide of maximal range, near the time of new and full moon when the Sun and Moon are in syzygy—i.e., aligned with the Earth. Conjunction is the time during new moon when the Sun and Moon lie on the same side of the Earth. The other syzygy condition, opposition, occurs during full moon when the Sun and Moon are positioned on opposite sides of the Earth. In either case of syzygy, the

Hipparchus

2004-12-13T02:52:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hipparchos Greek astronomer and mathematician who made fundamental contributions to the advancement of astronomy as a mathematical science and to the foundations of trigonometry. Although he is commonly ranked among the greatest scientists of antiquity, very little is known about his life, and only one of his many writings

Gazelle Peninsula

2004-12-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

Peninsula extending northeast from the island of New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, southwestern Pacific. It is about 50 miles (80 km) wide but tapers to 20 miles (32 km) at the isthmus joining it to the main part of the island. From coastal plains its surface rises as high as 7,999 feet (2,438 m) at Mount Sinewit of the central Baining Mountains. The area is actively volcanic (Mount

Murad, Ferid

2004-12-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

Murad

Hadad

2004-12-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Had, Hadda , or Haddu the Old Testament Rimmon, West Semitic god of storms, thunder, and rain, the consort of the goddess Atargatis. His attributes were identical with those of Adad of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon. He was the chief baal (“lord”) of the West Semites (including both sedentary and nomadic Aramaeans) in north Syria, along the Phoenician coast, and along the Euphrates River. As Baal-Hadad

Telescope, Gamma-ray telescopes

2004-12-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

These instruments require the use of grazing-incidence techniques similar to those employed with X-ray telescopes. Gamma rays are the shortest (about 0.1 angstrom or less) known waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. As mentioned above, HEAO-3 was developed to collect data from cosmic gamma-ray sources. NASA and collaborative international agencies have numerous

Crommelynck, Fernand

2004-12-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

Crommelynck, who was the child of a French mother and a Belgian father, came from a family connected with the theatre and was himself trained as an actor. After some early successes in Belgium, including such

Arabian Religion

2004-12-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

Beliefs of Arabia comprising the polytheistic beliefs and practices that existed before the rise of Islam in the 7th century AD. Arabia is here understood in the broad sense of the term to include the confines of the Syrian desert. The religion of Palmyra, which belongs to the Aramaic sphere, is excluded from this account. The monotheistic religions that had already spread

Hooton, Earnest A(lbert)

2004-12-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

American physical anthropologist who investigated human evolution and racial differentiation, classified and described human populations, and examined the relationship between personality and physical type, particularly with respect to criminal behaviour. He established Harvard University as a principal

China, The end of Mongol rule

2004-12-04T16:54:00.000-08:00

The basic dilemma of Mongol rule in China—the Mongols' inability to achieve a durable identification with Chinese civilian institutions and to modify the military and colonialist character of their rule—became more apparent under Kublai's successors and reached a maximum under Togon-temür, the last Yüan ruler. Togon-temür was not unfriendly toward Chinese civilization,

Wells, Emmeline Blanche Woodward

2004-12-03T02:25:00.000-08:00

Emmeline Woodward followed her widowed mother in converting to Mormonism in 1842. She moved with her first husband to the Mormon settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois,

Basil

2004-12-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

Albanian in origin, Basil acceded to the throne of Moldavia in the spring of 1634. He intrigued throughout his reign to acquire the Walachian throne as well, and in 1637 and 1639 led unsuccessful expeditions against the ruling prince

Portico

2004-11-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

The portico is a principal feature of Greek temple architecture and thus a prominent element in Roman and all subsequent classically inspired structures. The types of portico furnish the main terms

World War Ii, The encirclement of Rabaul

2004-11-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

Allied moves to isolate the large Japanese garrison on Rabaul proceeded by land and air. The encirclement of Rabaul by land began during October and November 1943 with the capture by New Zealand troops of the Treasury Islands in the Solomons and was accompanied on November 1 by a U.S. landing at Empress Augusta Bay on the west of Bougainville. U.S. reinforcements subsequently

Carnivore, Importance to humans

2004-11-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

The raccoon is the only procyonid of major economic significance. Raccoon hunting has been a sport of substantial importance in the United States, and in some parts of the United States many people own dogs trained to hunt raccoons. The coatimundi also is hunted with dogs and its flesh is also eaten. Meat of the raccoon is in more demand as food than that of any other

Cambridge, George William Frederick Charles, 2nd Duke Of

2004-11-28T05:55:00.000-08:00

After brief service in the Hanoverian army, George William became a colonel in the British army in 1837 and inherited his father's dukedom in 1850. At the beginning of the

Küçük Kaynarca, Treaty Of

2004-11-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

The territorial provisions of the treaty extended the Russian frontier to the southern Bug River,

Antarctica, General works

2004-11-25T02:40:00.000-08:00

F.M. Auburn, Antarctic Law and Politics (1982), provides a comprehensive discussion of the legal aspects of the Antarctic Treaty, jurisdictional problems of crime, ecology, and tourism. Gillian D. Triggs (ed.), The Antarctic Treaty Regime: Law, Environment, and Resources (1987), discusses current aspects of issues raised by the Antarctic Treaty. Anthony Parsons, Antarctica: The Next Decade (1987), addresses the history of the Antarctic Treaty and its future as well as current and projected uses of the continental region.

Paarl

2004-11-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

Town, Western Cape province, South Africa, east of Cape Town, on the Groot-Berg River between the Paarl Mountain and the Drakenstein Range. Settled in 1688 by Huguenots, who introduced viticulture, it is still known for its vineyards and wine making; it also produces citrus fruits, tobacco, and olives. Manufactures include cigarettes, textiles, and processed foods. Paarl is

Extrusive Rock

2004-11-22T03:00:00.000-08:00

Any rock derived from magma (q.v.; molten silicate material) that is poured out or ejected at the Earth's surface. By contrast, intrusive rocks are formed from magma that is forced into older rocks at depth within the Earth's crust; the molten material then slowly solidifies below the Earth's surface, where it may later be exposed owing to erosion. Extrusive rocks are usually

Nagarjuna

2004-11-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

Indian Buddhist monk-philosopher and founder of the Madhyamika (“Middle Path”) school whose clarification of the concept of sunyata (“emptiness”) is regarded as an intellectual and spiritual achievement of the highest order. He is recognized as a patriarch by several later Buddhist schools. The two basic works that are substantially his and that have remained available