SuddenHospital

Floodgate

2005-04-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

Gate for shutting out or releasing the flow of water over spillways, in connection with the operation of a dam. Vertical lift, or radial, gates rise to permit flow under the gate but over the spillway crest. Drum gates rotate backward, lowering their tops and permitting a measured flow over the top of the gate. Drum gates present the fewest problems in the passage of ice

Rockwell International Corporation

2005-04-04T02:19:00.000-07:00

The main company was incorporated in 1928 as North American Aviation, Inc., a holding company for a number of aviation companies, but it switched to aircraft manufacturing when it received a contract

Le Maistre De Sacy, Isaac-louis

2005-04-02T01:40:00.000-08:00

Important figure in the Jansenist religious movement in France, a member of the Arnauld family (q.v.).

France, History Of, Germans and Gallo-Romans

2005-04-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

The settlement of Germanic peoples in Roman Gaul brought people from two entirely different backgrounds into contact. Linguistic barriers were quickly overcome, for the Germans adopted Latin. At the same time, German names were preponderant. Although there were religious difficulties in those regions settled by peoples converted to Arianism (Visigoths, Burgundians),

Ma-wang-tui

2005-04-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

In tomb number one was found the almost

Fiske, Bradley Allen

2005-03-30T21:23:00.000-08:00

Fiske graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1874. As the navigator of the gunboat Petrel, he used one of his inventions, a stadimeter range finder, to communicate the ranges of enemy ships to American gunners

Grignard, Victor

2005-03-30T10:38:00.000-08:00

In 1898, while a student under Philippe Barbier at Lyon, Grignard began his prizewinning work with a study of the alkylzinc compounds

West Covina

2005-03-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

City, Los Angeles county, California, U.S. It lies at the eastern end of the San Gabriel Valley and is about 20 miles (32 km) east of the city centre of Los Angeles. Settled in 1905, it began as an agricultural community surrounded by citrus and walnut groves. After World War II it experienced rapid growth with the urbanization of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. West Covina consists

Margaret I

2005-03-29T22:42:00.000-08:00

Regent of Denmark (from 1375), of Norway (from 1380), and of Sweden (from 1389), who, by diplomacy and war, pursued dynastic policies that led to the Kalmar Union (1397), which united Denmark, Norway, and Sweden until 1523 and Denmark and Norway until 1814.

China, Sun Yat-sen and the United League

2005-03-29T09:41:00.000-08:00

Sun's leadership in the league was far from undisputed. His understanding that the support of foreign powers was indispensable for Chinese revolution militated against the anti-imperialist trend of the young intellectuals. Only half-heartedly accepted was the principle of people's livelihood, or socialism, one of his Three Principles. Though various evaluations

Yale, Frankie

2005-03-29T03:10:00.000-08:00

Yale graduated from youth gangs to bootlegging and rum-running

Ricca, Paul

2005-03-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

Ricca grew up in Naples and was convicted of murder there

Stafford, Jean

2005-03-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder (B.A., 1936; M.A., 1936), Stafford studied at Heidelberg University in Germany (1936–37). When she returned to the United States and settled in Boston, she painstakingly completed a four-year

Brisbane, Sir Thomas Makdougall, Baronet

2005-03-26T06:15:00.000-08:00

Brisbane

âli Pasa, Mehmed Emin

2005-03-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

The son of a shopkeeper, Âli Pasa entered government service as a boy. Without

Menippus

2005-03-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

Menippus was allegedly a slave by birth who became rich by begging or by usury, afterward

Triglyceride

2005-03-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

Any one of an important group of naturally occurring lipids (fat-soluble components of living cells). Triglycerides are esters in which three molecules of one or more different fatty acids are linked to the alcohol glycerol; they are named according to the fatty acid components; e.g., tristearin contains three molecules of stearic acid, and oleodistearin, one of oleic

Guna

2005-03-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Goona city, northwestern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. A road and rail junction, Guna is a major agricultural distribution centre. Cotton ginning, oilseed milling, and handloom weaving are important industries. The city has several colleges affiliated with Jiwaji University. Wheat, sorghum, legumes, corn (maize), and oilseeds are the major crops grown in the surrounding

Tall Oil

2005-03-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

Dark, odorous liquid by-product of the sulfate (kraft) process of paper manufacture, used after refining to make coatings, sizing for paper, paint, varnish, linoleum, drying oils, emulsions, lubricants, and soaps. Tall oil is principally a mixture of resin acids, such as abietic acid, and fatty acids, such as oleic and linoleic acids, with some sterols and other compounds. It

Narbonne

2005-03-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

Narbonne was the site of Narbo Martius (Narbo), the first colony founded by the Romans in Gaul (118 BC), from which the town derived its name. Then on the Mediterranean, it became a flourishing port. In 413 it was seized by

Wu-kung Mountains

2005-03-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

Wade–Giles romanization Wukung Shan, Pinyin Wugong Shan, mountain range, chiefly in west-central Kiangsi Province, China, forming a part of the frontier area between Kiangsi and Hunan provinces. The range is about 80 miles (130 km) long and extends northeastward from Ch'a-ling in Hunan to near I-ch'un in Kiangsi, being divided from the Chiu-ling Mountains farther north by the valley route between Chu-chou and I-ch'un. The western section

Osage

2005-03-21T04:34:00.000-08:00

North American Indian tribe of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan linguistic stock. They are now concentrated on a reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. Like other members of this subgroup (the Omaha, Ponca, Kansa, and Quapaw), the Osage migrated westward from the Atlantic coast, settling first in the Piedmont Plateau between the James and Savannah rivers in Virginia

Distillation

2005-03-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

Process involving the conversion of a liquid into vapour that is subsequently condensed back to liquid form. It is exemplified at its simplest when steam from a kettle becomes deposited as drops of distilled water on a cold surface. Distillation is used to separate liquids from nonvolatile solids, as in the separation of alcoholic liquors from fermented materials,

Switzerland, Industry

2005-03-19T22:26:00.000-08:00

Switzerland's transformation into an industrial state began during the second half of the 19th century. Today the major exports are machinery and equipment, chemicals and drugs, watches, and textiles and apparel. Lacking mineral and agricultural raw materials, Switzerland is forced to import raw materials, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods by rail, truck, and barge;

Anorthite

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

A feldspar mineral, calcium aluminosilicate (CaAl2Si2O8), that occurs as white or grayish, brittle, glassy crystals. Primarily a rock-forming mineral, it is used in the manufacture of glass and ceramics. Anorthite occurs in basic igneous rocks, as at Trentino, Italy; Södermanland, Swed.; Tamil Nadu, India; Miyake, Japan; and Franklin, N.J. For detailed physical properties, see feldspar

Sangrur

2005-03-18T04:22:00.000-08:00

City, in southeastern Punjab state, northwestern India. The city was founded in the 17th century and became the capital of the former independent state of Jind. In 1948 it became part of India. Sangrur is an agricultural market with some light industry, including handloom weaving and handicrafts. There are good road and rail connections with the rest of Punjab and with neighbouring

Ribot, Théodule-armand

2005-03-17T02:52:00.000-08:00

Ribot received his doctorate from the École Normale Supérieure.

Chanson De Roland, La

2005-03-16T16:07:00.000-08:00

English The Song of Roland Old French epic poem that is probably the earliest (c. 1100) and certainly the masterpiece of chanson de geste (q.v.). The poem's probable author was a Norman poet, Turold, whose name is introduced in the last line of the poem. The song deals with the historical Battle of Roncesvalles (Roncevaux) in 778. Though the encounter was actually an insignificant skirmish against the Basques,

Gomberg, Moses

2005-03-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

At age 18 Gomberg migrated with his family to the United States because his father's antitsarist activities made them unwelcome in Russia.

Chamberlain, Owen

2005-03-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

Chamberlain worked on the U.S. atom bomb project from

Earth, Faults

2005-03-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

Faults are fractures along which movement has occurred. They are produced by compression, tension, or shearing of the Earth's crust. Faults can be characterized by the direction of movement along the fault plane. A dip-slip fault is a fracture in which the movement is parallel to the dip (direction of tilt) of the fault plane. A strike-slip is one in which the movement is

Gaspé Current

2005-03-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

Outflow from the St. Lawrence River, which moves around the Gaspé Peninsula and along the southern shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It merges with a cold branch of the Labrador (Cabot) Current before flowing through the Cabot Strait and into the North Atlantic Ocean. The current responds to the river's flow, being strong and warm in the summer and cold and weak in the winter.

Abbott, George Francis

2005-03-15T01:13:00.000-08:00

U.S. theatrical director, producer, playwright, actor, and motion-picture director (b. June 25, 1887, Forestville, N.Y.--d. Jan. 31, 1995, Miami Beach, Fla.), as the dean of Broadway showmen, brought a no-nonsense approach, a flair for establishing pacing and humour, and an exceptional ability to maintain action effectively to the staging of some of the most popular Broadway musicals and farces that

Gracchus, Gaius Sempronius

2005-03-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

Gaius Sempronius was the son of a Roman aristocrat whose family had regularly held the highest offices of state for the past century and was connected to the most

Gymnasium

2005-03-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

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:

Mime And Pantomime

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

Under the Victorians the subjects

Yukon River

2005-03-12T04:45:00.000-08:00

Major North American river that flows through the central Yukon Territory of Canada and central Alaska. It measures 1,980 miles (3,190 kilometres) from the headwaters of the McNeil River (a tributary of the Nisutlin River). The Yukon discharges into the Bering Sea after flowing northwestward and then generally southwestward through a low plateau that slopes down across Alaska.

Veneti

2005-03-12T01:38:00.000-08:00

The chief Venetic settlement was Este (later the Roman colony of Ateste), which was

Subduction Zone

2005-03-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

Oceanic trench area marginal to a continent in which, according to the theory of plate tectonics, older seafloor underthrusts the continental mass, dragging downward into the Earth's upper mantle the accumulated trench sediments. The subduction zone, accordingly, is the antithesis of the mid-oceanic ridge; new seafloor is generated from the upper mantle at the

Tribe

2005-03-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

Latin Tribus, plural Tribi, in Roman history, a unit of the Roman state. The first Roman tribes were probably ethnic in origin and consisted of the Titienses (Tities), Ramnenses (Ramnes), and Luceres. They were superseded by the creation of new local tribes (date uncertain) consisting of 4 urban tribes and 16 rural, or rustic, tribes. The latter were probably named after pagi (country districts) that were,

Antaeus

2005-03-11T04:06:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, a giant of Libya, the son of the sea god Poseidon and the Earth goddess Gaea. He compelled all strangers who were passing through the country to wrestle with him. Whenever Antaeus touched the Earth (his mother), his strength was renewed, so that even if thrown to the ground, he was invincible. Heracles, in combat with him, discovered the source of his strength

Nemean Games

2005-03-11T01:12:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greece, athletic and musical competitions held in honour of Zeus, in July, at the great Temple of Zeus at Nemea, in Argolis. They occurred biennially, in the same years as the Isthmian Games, i.e., in the second and fourth years of each Olympiad. Their origin was attributed to such legendary figures as Heracles and Adrastus of Argos. The presidency of the games was

Light Rail Transit

2005-03-09T02:48:00.000-08:00

System of railways usually powered by overhead electrical wires and used for medium-capacity local transportation in metropolitan areas. Light rail vehicles (LRVs) are a technological outgrowth of streetcars (trams). Light rail transit lines are more segregated from street traffic than are tramways (particularly in congested urban areas) but less so than are

West Chester University Of Pennsylvania

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

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in West Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S. It is part of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education. The university comprises the College of Arts and Sciences and schools of Education, Health Sciences, Music, and Business and Public Affairs. In addition to undergraduate studies, West Chester offers some 70 master's

Albanian Literature

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

The development of Albanian literature was seriously hindered by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Albania from the 15th to the late 19th century and prohibited publications in the Albanian language for most of that time. The oldest fragment of writing in Albanian

Felling

2005-03-08T05:59:00.000-08:00

Town, Gateshead metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Tyne. The town grew rapidly at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century with the extension of coal mining and later with the expansion of riverside industries such as shipbuilding and the manufacture of glass and heavy chemicals. New

Allegany

2005-03-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

County, western Maryland, U.S. It consists of an irregular neck of land between Pennsylvania to the north and West Virginia to the south (the North Branch Potomac River constituting the border with West Virginia). The county rests on part of the Allegheny Plateau and includes Rocky Gap State Park, Green Ridge State Forest, and the scenic gorge of Cumberland Narrows (1,000 feet

Schechter, Solomon

2005-03-07T05:36:00.000-08:00

Schechter studied the Talmud, the authoritative rabbinical compendium of Jewish law, lore, and commentary, in Vienna, Berlin, and London. In 1890 he became lecturer in Talmudic

China, The international alliance against Japan

2005-03-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

The United States had broken the Japanese diplomatic code, and by July 1941 it knew that Japan hoped to end the undeclared war in China and was preparing for a southward advance toward British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, planning first to occupy southern Indochina and Thailand even at the risk of war with Britain and the United States.

Mauriac, François

2005-03-06T05:09:00.000-08:00

Novelist, essayist, poet, playwright, journalist, and winner in 1952 of the Nobel Prize for Literature. He belonged to the lineage of French Catholic writers who examined the ugly realities of modern life in the light of eternity. His major novels are sombre, austere psychological dramas set in an atmosphere of unrelieved tension. At the heart

Advisory Opinion

2005-03-05T22:18:00.000-08:00

In law, the opinion of a judge, a court, or a law official, such as an attorney general, upon a question of law raised by a public official or legislative body. Advisory opinions adjudicate nothing and are not binding, though courts sometimes cite them as evidence of the law. Federal courts in the United States will not issue advisory opinions, but such opinions are issued

Nervous System, Human, Facial nerve (CN VII or 7)

2005-03-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

From the facial nucleus in the pons, facial motor fibres enter the internal auditory meatus, pass through the temporal bone, exit the skull via the stylomastoid foramen, and fan out over each side

Balboa, Vasco Núñez De

2005-03-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

Spanish conquistador and explorer, who was head of the first stable settlement on the South American continent (1511) and who was the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean (on Sept. 25 [or 27], 1513, from “a peak in Darién”).

Blueberry

2005-03-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

Blueberries grow only in highly acidic and well-drained but moist soils. About 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares) of the high-bush blueberry

Waitaki River

2005-03-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

River in central South Island, New Zealand. Streams issuing from Lakes Ohau, Pukaki, and Tekapo in the Southern Alps form the Waitaki (Maori: “Weeping Waters”), which, draining a 4,565-square-mile (11,823-square-kilometre) basin, flows southeast for 130 miles (209 km) to enter the Pacific at Glenavy, about 70 miles (113 km) north of Dunedin. The Waitaki River Power Development, which includes several large

Elmira

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

City, seat (1836) of Chemung county, southern New York, U.S. It lies on the Chemung River, near the Pennsylvania border, 60 miles (97 km) west of Binghamton. The first European settlement (1787) was incorporated as the village of Newtown in 1815. Renamed Elmira in 1828 for the daughter of an early settler, Nathan Teall, it grew after the completion in 1832 of the Chemung Canal to Seneca Lake (20 miles [32 km] north) and

Anderson, Leroy

2005-03-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

The son of Swedish immigrants, Anderson studied composition under Walter Piston and Georges Enesco at Harvard University (B.A., 1929; M.A., 1930), where

Bridgettine

2005-03-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Brigittine , member of Order of the Most Holy Savior (O.SS.S.) a religious order of cloistered nuns founded by St. Bridget of Sweden in 1344 and approved by Pope Urban V in 1370. Bridget believed that she was called by Christ to found a strictly disciplined religious order that would contribute to the reform of monastic life. She went to Rome to gain approval of her order and died there in 1373. Her foundation began to grow and contributed greatly

Interior Design, Final drawings and specifications

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

The next stages of the design may consist of a series of drawings done by professional draftsmen or by the interior designer himself, if he works as an

Chronology, Peoples of Oaxaca and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec

2005-03-01T00:35:00.000-08:00

Pictorial books of the Mixtec of Oaxaca record events in the lives of ruling families covering seven centuries, but, again, happenings are fixed only by the day on which each occurred and the year in which the day fell. Sequence is usually clear, but at times there is doubt as to which 52-year period is meant when parenthetical material, such as life histories of secondary

Cellophane

2005-02-28T03:11:00.000-08:00

In the manufacturing process, an alkaline

Plainview

2005-02-28T01:27:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1888) of Hale county, northwestern Texas, U.S. It lies on the Llano Estacado, a portion of the High Plains between Amarillo and Lubbock (40 miles [65 km] south). The site was surveyed in 1887 by Z.T. Maxwell and E.L. Lowe, who named it Plainview because of the unbroken view to the horizon. The settlement remained a trading post for cattlemen until the railroad arrived in 1907, when it was incorporated

Anderson, Lindsay

2005-02-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

Anderson received a degree in English from the University of Oxford and in 1947 became a founding editor of the film magazine Sequence, which lasted until 1951. Subsequently he wrote for Sight and Sound and other journals. Anderson began directing in 1948, making documentaries

Empiricism, In contemporary philosophy

2005-02-27T14:41:00.000-08:00

The most influential Empiricist of the 20th century was the great British philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), who at first was Lockean in his theory of knowledge—admitting both synthetic a priori knowledge and concepts of unobservable entities. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), the influential pioneer of the school of Linguistic Analysis, convinced Russell that

Lagrangian Point

2005-02-26T22:02:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, a point in space at which a small body, under the gravitational influence of two large ones, will remain approximately at rest relative to them. The existence of such points was deduced by the French mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange in 1772. In 1906 the first examples were discovered: these were minor planets moving in Jupiter's orbit, under the

Maso Di Banco

2005-02-26T03:25:00.000-08:00

Florentine painter who was the most talented of Giotto's pupils. Maso's work displays a style that effectively and intelligently incorporated the teachings of the master. It was the work of Maso that Ghiberti singled out in the 15th century for praise. Maso is mentioned in connection with the Bardi family in a document of 1341. It was a member of this family that provided

Canadian Literature

2005-02-25T23:46:00.000-08:00

The body of written works produced by Canadians. Reflecting the country's dual origin and linguistic distribution, the literature of Canada falls into two divisions: English and French. This article provides a brief historical account of each of these literatures.

Gauteng

2005-02-25T02:48:00.000-08:00

Province, northeastern South Africa. It consists of the cities of Pretoria, Johannesburg, Germiston, and Vereeniging and their surrounding metropolitan areas in the eastern part of the Witwatersrand region. Gauteng is the smallest South African province. It is bordered by the provinces of Northern on the north, Mpumalanga on the east, Free State on the south, and

Gehry, Frank O.

2005-02-24T19:29:00.000-08:00

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

Vajpayee, Atal Bihari

2005-02-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

Vajpayee was first elected to Parliament in 1957 as a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a forerunner of the BJP. In 1977 the BJS joined three other parties to form the Janata Party, which led a government that lasted until July 1979. As foreign minister

Canadian Literature

2005-02-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

Organization that evolved out of an international protest against atmospheric nuclear testing held on November 1, 1961. On that day between 12,000 and 50,000 women in various nations demonstrated to protest nuclear testing and to voice concern, in particular, about the hazards posed by such testing to children's health. In the United States some 1,500 women marched in Washington, D.C., to make

Pachisi

2005-02-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Ludo, or Parcheesi, board game, sometimes called the national game of India. Four players in opposing partnerships of two attempt to move pieces around a cross-shaped track. Moves are determined by throws of cowrie shells or dice. Each player has four pieces, which begin at the centre space, move down the middle track nearest the player, and counterclockwise around the outer track of the

Yung-ho

2005-02-22T23:04:00.000-08:00

Shih (municipality), T'ai-pei hsien (county), northern Taiwan, 1 mi (1.6 km) south of Taipei city, in the northern part of the island's western coastal plain. Situated on the east bank of Shuang Hsi (river), the city flourished in the early 18th century. It is a market centre for the tea and rice produced in the surrounding region. Glass and glass products, and small machinery manufacturing

Thun Und Hohenstein, Leo, Count (graf) Von

2005-02-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

Pro-Czech Austrian statesman and administrator who improved the educational establishments of the Austrian Empire, sought to resolve the antagonisms between Czechs and Germans in Bohemia, and favoured the conversion of the Habsburg monarchy into a federal

Zola, émile

2005-02-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

In full Émile-édouard-charles-antoine Zola French novelist, critic, and political activist who was the most prominent French novelist of the late 19th century. He was noted for his theories of naturalism, which underlie his monumental 20-novel series Les Rougon-Macquart, and for his intervention in the Dreyfus Affair through his famous open letter, “J'accuse.”

Fulda

2005-02-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

City, Hesse Land (state), central Germany, situated on the Fulda River between the Rhön and Vogelsberg mountains. It developed around a Benedictine abbey founded in 744 by Sturmi, a disciple of St. Boniface. The abbey became a missionary centre, and its school was one of Europe's important seats of learning during the early Middle Ages, after Rabanus Maurus (q.v.) became its director

Cadmus

2005-02-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the son of Phoenix or Agenor (king of Phoenicia) and brother of Europa. Europa was carried off by Zeus, king of the gods, and Cadmus was sent out to find her. Unsuccessful, he consulted the Delphic oracle, which ordered him to give up his quest, follow a cow, and build a town on the spot where she lay down. The cow guided him to Boeotia (Cow Land), where he founded

Yahya (mahmud Al-mutawakkil)

2005-02-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

When Yahya was a child, Yemen was a province of the Ottoman Empire. His youth was spent in the service of his father's administration, and, when his father died in 1904, Yahya succeeded him as imam. The Yemenis had always resented Turkish rule, and Yahya was soon able to assemble a potent military force. Sporadic warfare lasted until 1911, when he was

Babbitt, Milton

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

Babbitt attended public schools in Jackson, Miss., and later studied at New

Mancini, Pasquale Stanislao

2005-02-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

As a deputy in the Neapolitan parliament of 1848–49 and as a journalist and lawyer, Mancini fought for democracy and constitutionalism until forced into exile by the reactionary Bourbon government.

Farad

2005-02-19T03:01:00.000-08:00

Unit of electrical capacitance (ability to hold an electric charge), in the metre–kilogram–second system of physical units, named in honour of the English scientist Michael Faraday. The capacitance of a capacitor is one farad when one coulomb of electricity changes the potential between the plates by one volt. In terms of ordinary electric and electronic equipment,

épinal

2005-02-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of the Vosges département, Lorraine région, eastern France, on the Moselle River, south-southeast of Nancy. The town, located on two arms of the Moselle, is divided into four parts. The town proper, known as the grande ville (“large town”), or vieille ville (“old town”), stands on the right bank of the main river. The petite ville (“little town”) is on an island between the two

Aalto, Alvar

2005-02-17T03:30:00.000-08:00

Aalto's commissions after 1950, in addition to being greater in number, were more varied and widely dispersed: a high-rise apartment building in Bremen, W.Ger. (1958), a church in Bologna, Italy (1966), an art museum

Abraham

2005-02-17T00:10:00.000-08:00

Hebrew Avraham , originally called Abram or, in Hebrew, Avram first of the Hebrew patriarchs and a figure revered by the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to the biblical book of Genesis, Abraham left Ur, in Mesopotamia, because God called him to found a new nation in an undesignated land that he later learned was Canaan. He obeyed unquestioningly the commands

Babbitt, Milton

2005-02-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

The monkeys

Berlin Painter

2005-02-16T00:25:00.000-08:00

Stylistically, the Berlin amphora is decorated on a new principle of design. It had been customary to frame the groups of figures on each side with pattern bands. The Berlin Painter eliminated

Baikalsky Nature Reserve

2005-02-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

Natural area set aside for research in the natural sciences, on the southern shore of Lake Baikal, southeastern Russia. The reserve was established in 1969 and has an area of 640 square miles (1,657 square km). It includes part of the Khamar-Daban mountain range. The park's vegetation includes poplar forests in the lowlands; taiga of spruce, fir, and larch on the mountain slopes; and thickets

France, History Of, The cities

2005-02-14T23:19:00.000-08:00

Urban society was also troubled. The walled town stood out ever more starkly against the countryside as siege warfare intimidated or destroyed the suburbs that had been built in a less anxious day. Royal taxation, often inequitably administered, exacerbated old tensions in the towns; fiscal policy or the regulation of wages or supplies was largely at issue in the

Scandinavian Literature, Developments in Finno-Swedish literature

2005-02-14T04:06:00.000-08:00

The second flourishing of Finno-Swedish literature occurred in the 1920s, with the development of modernism in lyric poetry. This trend was initiated by Edith Södergran, whose visionary, dreamlike poems proved influential throughout much of Scandinavia. After her came such poets as Gunnar Björling, noted for his impressionistic pictures of nature; Rabbe

Muar

2005-02-14T00:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Bandar Maharani, town and port on the southwestern coast of West Malaysia (Malaya). It lies along the strait of Malacca, at the mouth of the Muar River. An old town, it was occupied by the end of the 14th century AD by Parameswara, founder of the Malay kingdom of Malacca (Melaka). Naval battles involving neighbouring sultanates and kingdoms were fought at Muar in 1517, 1615, and 1616. The present town of Muar was

Gyumri

2005-02-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kumayri , (1924–90) Leninakan , or (until 1924) Alexandropol city, western Armenia. It is believed to have been founded by the Greeks in 401 BC, but it did not have a continuous existence. A fortress was constructed on the site by the Russians in 1837, and in 1840 the town of Alexandropol was founded nearby. Alexandropol was a trading and administrative centre but subsequently underwent industrial development and was renamed Leninakan for

Niven, David

2005-02-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

Born to a longtime military family, Niven attended Sandhurst Military Academy. He made his way to Hollywood in the mid-1930s and began performing as an extra. His first major roles were in Dawn Patrol (1938) and Wuthering Heights (1939). He rapidly became known

Chiang Kai-shek

2005-02-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

Chiang was born into a moderately prosperous merchant and farmer family in the coastal province of Chekiang. He prepared for a military career first (1906) at

North Germanic Languages, Reformation and Renaissance

2005-02-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

The many local dialects that exist today developed in the late Middle Ages, when the bulk of the population was rural and tied to its local village or parish, with few opportunities to travel. The people of the cities developed new forms of urban speech, coloured by surrounding rural dialects, by foreign contacts, and by the written languages. The chanceries in which

Middle Ages

2005-02-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

The period in European history from the collapse of Roman civilization in the 5th century AD to the period of the Renaissance (variously interpreted as beginning in the 13th, 14th, or 15th century, depending on the region of Europe and on other factors). The term and its conventional meaning were introduced by Italian humanists with invidious intent; the humanists were engaged

Theobald, Lewis

2005-02-11T10:12:00.000-08:00

When in 1726 Theobald brought out his Shakespeare Restored; or, A Specimen of the Many Errors As Well Committed As Unamended by Mr. Pope, in His Late Edition of This Poet, Alexander Pope, whose edition

Peresvetov, Ivan Semenovich

2005-02-11T01:00:00.000-08:00

In 1549 he presented his Two Books (Dve Knigi) to Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. These works were ostensibly an account of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople

Philipp, Isidor

2005-02-11T00:51:00.000-08:00

Philipp was brought to Paris as an infant. As a piano student of Georges Mathias at the Conservatoire, he won the first prize in 1883. After study with Saint-Saëns and Stephen Heller, he began a brief solo concert career, making his London debut in 1890. From 1903 to 1934 he was professor

Computers, Grace Murray Hopper

2005-02-09T22:56:00.000-08:00

While the high cost of computer resources placed a premium on fast hand-coded machine-language programs, one individual worked tirelessly to promote high-level programming languages and their associated compilers. Grace Murray Hopper taught mathematics at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, from 1931 to 1943 before joining the United States Naval Reserve. In 1944 she

Gaddis, William Thomas

2005-02-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

American writer of complex satiric works who was considered one of the most important post-World War II modernist novelists and whose first novel, The Recognitions (1955), became an underground classic; he published only three more novels--JR (1975), Carpenter's Gothic (1985), and A Frolic of His Own (1994)--and had finished another, Agape Agape, which was to be published posthumously (b. Dec. 29, 1922, New