ShortWall

Lepsius, Richard

2005-04-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Following studies in archaeological philology and comparative languages, Lepsius became a lecturer at the University

Nabuco De Araújo, Joaquim Aurelio Barreto

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

Nabuco was a member of an old aristocratic family in northeastern Brazil. Both in the national Chamber of Deputies (from 1878) and in the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society, which he founded, he worked tirelessly for the emancipation of Brazil's

Andalusia

2005-04-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1841) of Covington county, southern Alabama, U.S., near the Conecuh River, about 85 miles (135 km) south of Montgomery. It originated in 1841 as New Site, when the county seat of Montezuma relocated to higher ground because of floods, at a point along the Three Notch Trail (used by Andrew Jackson on his way to New Orleans in 1813). Renamed Andalusia in 1844, probably for the Spanish province, it

Bloodfin

2005-04-02T03:56:00.000-08:00

Freshwater fish, a species of characin (q.v.).

Adelaide

2005-03-31T22:33:00.000-08:00

Capital of the state of South Australia. Situated at the base of the Mount Lofty Ranges, 9 miles (14 km) inland from the centre of the eastern shore of the Gulf St. Vincent, it has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers (February mean temperature 74° F [23° C]), mild winters (July mean 54° F [12° C]), and an average annual rainfall of 21 inches (530 mm). The site, chosen in 1836 by William Light (the colony's first surveyor

Kidderminster

2005-03-31T04:04:00.000-08:00

Town, Wyre Forest district, administrative and historic county of Worcestershire, England. It is situated along the River Stour and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Recorded as Stour-in-Usmere in 736 CE, it was given to the comes (count) Cyneberght by King Aethelbald (reigned 716–757). Later it passed to the bishop of Worcester and thence to Cenwulf, king of Mercia (816), and it

Powhatan

2005-03-30T10:32:00.000-08:00

Powhatan was the son of an Algonkin chief whose tribe had migrated to Virginia during the 16th century. His father had vanquished five of the resident tribes and established a six-tribe confederacy. After Powhatan succeeded his father, he brought two dozen other tribes into the confederacy; at the peak

Powell, Eleanor

2005-03-29T08:16:00.000-08:00

Powell studied ballet at age six and began dancing in Atlantic City nightclubs before she was a teenager. She joined the Co-Optimists

Great Britain

2005-03-28T03:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Britain

Mid Bedfordshire

2005-03-27T06:34:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of Bedfordshire, south-central England. The district lies almost entirely within the historic county of Bedfordshire, but a small area north of Sandy belongs to the historic county of Cambridgeshire. Predominantly rural, Mid Bedfordshire extends across a broad valley within the River Ouse catchment basin and is crossed by a low

Palenque

2005-03-25T21:17:00.000-08:00

Ruined ancient Mayan city of the Late Classic period (c. AD 600–900) in what is now Chiapas state, Mexico, about 80 miles (130 km) south of Ciudad del Carmen. Its original name was lost, and thus it was named for the neighbouring village of Santo Domingo del Palenque. The Palenque builders used plaster to obtain a smooth finish unlike the usual Mayan tooled-limestone construction. They used

Mcgwire, Mark

2005-03-25T01:21:00.000-08:00

As a senior in high school, McGwire attracted more attention with his

Loy, Myrna

2005-03-24T21:47:00.000-08:00

Loy was the daughter

Maupeou, René-nicolas-charles-augustin De

2005-03-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

Chancellor of France who succeeded in temporarily (1771–74) depriving the Parlements (high courts of justice) of the political powers that had enabled them to block the reforms proposed by the ministers of King Louis XV. By rescinding Maupeou's measures, King Louis XVI (reigned 1774–92) lost his opportunity to institute fundamental reforms that might

Aschelminth, Behaviour

2005-03-22T16:08:00.000-08:00

Although their nervous systems are simple, aschelminths can respond to a range of environmental stimuli by, for example, attraction, avoidance, feeding, or copulation. They respond to touch, temperature gradients, chemicals, and light. Some species in each class have two or more pairs of simple eyes capable of indicating the direction and intensity of light but unable

Durango

2005-03-21T13:54:00.000-08:00

Although first settled in 1556, it was not officially founded until 1563. It was the political and ecclesiastical capital of Nueva Vizcaya,

Olympic Games, Antwerp, Belgium, 1920

2005-03-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

The city, plagued by bad weather and economic woes, had a very short time to clean up the rubble left

Haakon V Magnusson,

2005-03-19T19:37:00.000-08:00

The younger son of Magnus VI Lawmender, Haakon succeeded his older brother, Erik II Magnusson, in 1299. Determined to reduce the

Mosan School

2005-03-18T04:51:00.000-08:00

Regional style of Romanesque manuscript illumination, metalwork, and enamelwork that flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries and was centred in the Meuse River valley, especially at Liège and the Benedictine monastery of Stavelot. Two of the most important artists associated with the Mosan school were Godefroid de Claire, a goldsmith from Huy, and Nicholas of

Abacha, Sani

2005-03-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

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

Ahl Al-kitab

2005-03-17T03:37:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “People of the Book”), in Islamic thought, those religionists such as Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians who are possessors of divine books (i.e., the Torah, the Gospel, and the Avesta), as distinguished from those whose religions are not based on divine revelations. The latter are an imprecisely identified group referred to as Sabaeans but also considered “People of

Romanino, Il

2005-03-16T03:03:00.000-08:00

In 1521 Romanino

Lagrange, Marie-joseph

2005-03-16T01:52:00.000-08:00

Lagrange became a Dominican in 1879 and was ordained in 1883. After teaching church history at Toulouse (1884–88), he studied Oriental languages at the University of Vienna before his order sent him to Jerusalem in 1890 to establish the School of Biblical Studies. There he also

Brunel, Olivier

2005-03-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

The first Flemish navigator of the Arctic Ocean, Brunel sailed beyond Lapland in 1565 in search of a northeast

Antarctic Circumpolar Current

2005-03-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

Also called West Wind Drift, surface oceanic current encircling Antarctica and flowing from west to east. Affected by adjacent landmasses, submarine topography, and prevailing winds, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is irregular in width and course. Its motion is further complicated by continuous exchange with other water masses at all depths. The volume of transport south of latitude

Alexis, Willibald

2005-03-14T03:34:00.000-08:00

Alexis grew up in Berlin. After service as a volunteer in the campaign of 1815, he studied law at Berlin and Breslau but abandoned his legal career for writing after the success of his literary hoax Walladmor (1824), a parody

Qeshm

2005-03-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Qishm, Persian Jazireh-e-qeshm, Arabic Jazirat At-tawilah, largest island in the Persian Gulf, belonging to Iran. The Arabic name means “long island.” It lies parallel to the Iranian coast, from which it is separated by Clarence Strait. With an area of 460 square miles (1,200 square km), it has an irregular outline and a generally rocky coast except for sandy bays and mud flats fringing the northwest. Irregular table-topped hills almost cover

Webb, Sidney And Beatrice

2005-03-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

In full respectively Sidney James Webb, Baron Passfield of Passfield Corner , and Martha Beatrice Webb, née Potter English Socialist economists (husband and wife), early members of the Fabian Society, and co-founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Sidney Webb also helped reorganize the University of London into a federation of teaching institutions and served in

Arabia, History Of, Postwar Arabia, to 1962

2005-03-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

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

Ahmed, Fakhruddin Ali

2005-03-11T02:13:00.000-08:00

The son of an army doctor from Assam, Ahmed was educated in India and studied history at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 1927. After returning to India, he was elected to the Assam legislature (1935). As Assam's minister of finance and revenue in 1938, he was responsible for some radical taxation measures.

Bach, Johann Sebastian, The Arnstadt period

2005-03-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

At Arnstadt, on the northern edge of the Thuringian forest, where he remained until 1707, Bach devoted himself to keyboard music, the organ in particular. While at Lüneburg, he had apparently had no opportunity of becoming directly acquainted with the spectacular, flamboyant playing and compositions of Dietrich Buxtehude, the most significant exponent of the north

Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson

2005-03-10T04:45:00.000-08:00

Seligman was the son of a New York banker and had the distinction of being tutored by Horatio Alger. He was educated at Columbia University (Ph.D., 1885) and in Germany and France. Seligman served as professor of political economy at Columbia for 40 years (1891–1931). On his retirement he was chief

Grafton

2005-03-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1878) of Taylor county, northern West Virginia, U.S., on the Tygart Valley River, north of Tygart Lake. Settled in 1852 by construction crews of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, it is thought to be named for the “graftin' on” (junction) point for branch rail lines. It was chartered in 1856. During the American Civil War it was a key rail centre and was occupied by both Confederate and

Abbott, George Francis

2005-03-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

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

Dahmer, Jeffrey

2005-03-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

While Dahmer was a teenager, he experienced fantasies of killing and mutilating men. He committed his first murder in Bath township, Ohio, in 1978. A second murder followed in 1987, and during the next five years he

Ambartsumian, Viktor Amazaspovich

2005-03-07T01:50:00.000-08:00

Ambartsumian was born of Armenian parents. His

Argentina, Trade

2005-03-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

In the 19th century Argentine beef and grain helped feed Britain's rapidly rising urban population, and

Bone Disease

2005-03-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

Bone diseases and injuries were formerly

Acuff, Roy

2005-03-05T02:12:00.000-08:00

Turning his attention to music after an aborted baseball career, Acuff gained

Dell, Floyd

2005-03-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

A precocious poet, Dell grew up in an impoverished family and left high school at age 16 to work in a factory. Moving to Chicago in 1908, he worked as a newspaperman and soon was a leader of the

Aratus Of Sicyon

2005-03-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

After liberating Sicyon in 251, he established a democracy there and united it with the Achaean League for defense against Macedonia. As general of the league (a post he normally held each alternate year after 245), he captured

Kadamba Family

2005-03-01T22:59:00.000-08:00

Their chroniclers claim that the family migrated from northern India, but other records suggest that they were indigenous to Kuntala (Northern Kanara). An early inscription, the accuracy of which is unknown, describes the dynastic

Armenia, Flag Of

2005-02-28T01:33:00.000-08:00

Long without an independent state of their own, 19th-century Armenians also lacked a national flag around which they could rally to support their language and culture. Armenians in exile in France looked to a scholar at the Armenian Institute in Venice, Ghevont Alshin, for a flag in 1885. He recommended the “rainbow flag given to the Armenians when Noah's Ark came to rest on

Homophony

2005-02-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

Homophony does

Horace

2005-02-25T17:59:00.000-08:00

Latin in full Quintus Horatius Flaccus outstanding Latin lyric poet and satirist under the emperor Augustus. The most frequent themes of his Odes and verse Epistles are love, friendship, philosophy, and the art of poetry.

Monaghan

2005-02-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

Irish Muineachán (Place of Thickets) one of the three counties of Ireland forming part of the historic province of Ulster. It projects northward into Northern Ireland, and has an area of 498 sq mi (1,291 sq km). Most of the northern boundary winds through cultivated lowlands except on Slieve (mountain) Beagh, a desolate upland rising to 1,221 ft (372 m). For many miles the boundary with Northern Ireland runs along the River

Ear, Human, Detection of angular acceleration: dynamic equilibrium

2005-02-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

Because the three semicircular canals—superior, posterior, and horizontal—are positioned at right angles to one another, they are able to detect movements in three-dimensional space (see Anatomy of the human ear: Inner ear: Semicircular canals). When the head begins to rotate in any direction, the inertia of the endolymph causes it to lag behind, exerting pressure that

Sorrento

2005-02-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

Latin Surrentum, town and archiepiscopal see, Napoli provincia, Campania regione, southern Italy. It lies on a peninsula separating the Bay of Naples, which it faces, from the Gulf of Salerno, south-southeast of Naples. The backbone of the peninsula is formed by the Lattari Mountains, which culminate in Mount Sant'Angelo (4,734 feet [1,443 m]). Probably of Greek origin, the town was the ancient Surrentum,

David, Eduard Heinrich (rudolph)

2005-02-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

As a young grammar school teacher, David founded (1893) the Socialist Mitteldeutsche Sonntagszeitung (“Mid-German Sunday News”); but his affiliation with the Social Democrats soon

Circulation, Mammals

2005-02-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

Mammals also evolved from reptiles, but not from the same group as did birds, and must have developed their double circulation independently from early reptiles. Nevertheless, several parallel changes occurred, such as the common incorporation of the sinus venosus into the right auricle. The most striking manifestation of different origins is seen in the mammalian

Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, 1st Baronet

2005-02-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

A brother-in-law of the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, Buxton, in

Zamora

2005-02-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern Ecuador. It lies in the forested jungles east of the main Andean ranges and is situated at the southeastern foot of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) de Zamora, just south of the Zamora River. The Roman Catholic Church has established a Vicar Apostolic in Zamora, which is considered to be a missionary settlement; the population is almost entirely

Adam's Bridge

2005-02-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Rama's Bridge, chain of shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry, and nowhere are the shoals deeper than 4 feet (1 m); thus, they seriously hinder navigation. Dredging operations,

Itapetininga

2005-02-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

City, in the highlands of east-central São Paulo estado (“state”), Brazil. It lies at 2,200 feet (670 m) above sea level, near the Itapetininga River. Formerly called Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres de Itapetininga, it was given town status in 1770 and was made the seat of a municipality in 1771. Agriculture and industry both contribute to Itapetininga's economy. The principal crops in the region are

General Semantics

2005-02-18T20:57:00.000-08:00

A philosophy of language-meaning that was developed by Alfred Korzybski (1879–1950), a Polish-American scholar, and furthered by S.I. Hayakawa, Wendell Johnson, and others; it is the study of language as a representation of reality. Korzybski's theory was intended to improve the habits of response to environment. Drawing upon such varied disciplines as relativity theory, quantum

Pueblo Rebellion

2005-02-18T14:16:00.000-08:00

(1680), carefully organized revolt of Pueblo Indians (in league with Apaches), who succeeded in overthrowing Spanish rule in New Mexico for 12 years. A traditionally peaceful people, the Pueblos had endured much after New Mexico's colonization in 1598. Catholicism was forced on them by missionaries who burned their ceremonial pits (kivas), masks, and other sacred objects. Indians

Cambria

2005-02-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

County, central Pennsylvania, U.S. It consists of a mountainous region on the Allegheny Plateau, with the Allegheny Mountains along the eastern edge. The principal waterways are the Conemaugh and Little Conemaugh rivers, Glendale Lake, and Beaverdam Run, in addition to Clearfield, Stony, and Blacklick creeks. Parklands include Prince Gallitzin and Laurel Ridge state

Ibn Al-haytham

2005-02-17T21:02:00.000-08:00

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

Abreu, Capistrano De

2005-02-16T00:21:00.000-08:00

After serving at the National Library of Rio de Janeiro (1875–83), Abreu became professor of history at the Colégio Dom Pedro II in 1883. Influenced by the sociology of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer and the historical enterprises of Henry

Diesel Engine

2005-02-15T23:02:00.000-08:00

Any internal-combustion engine in which air is compressed to a temperature sufficiently high to ignite fuel injected into the cylinder, where combustion and expansion actuate a piston. It converts the chemical energy stored in the fuel into mechanical energy, which can be used to power freight trucks, large tractors, locomotives, and vessels. A limited number of

Ryle, Sir Martin

2005-02-14T23:30:00.000-08:00

British radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems and used them for accurate location of weak radio sources. With improved equipment, he observed the most distant known galaxies of the universe. Ryle and Antony Hewish shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974, the first Nobel prize

Costa Brava

2005-02-14T05:32:00.000-08:00

Coastal region of the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain, extending for about 75 miles (120 km) along the Mediterranean Sea from the French border at Port-Bou to the Spanish bathing resort of Blanes, thus coinciding with the coast of Gerona province. This part of the Spanish coast was almost unknown to tourists until the 1920s, when the

Anckarsvärd, Carl Henrik, Greve(count)

2005-02-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

Unlike many other “men of 1809,” Anckarsvärd did not retreat from his liberal principles when a democratization of society became a practical possibility.

Biblical Literature, Literary criticism

2005-02-13T13:30:00.000-08:00

Literary criticism endeavours to establish the literary genres (types or categories) of the various documents and to reach conclusions about their structure, date, and authorship. These conclusions are based as far as possible on internal evidence, but external evidence is also very helpful, especially where date is concerned. If the document under consideration

Hooded Shrimp

2005-02-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

Any member of the order Cumacea (superorder Peracarida), a group of small, predominantly marine crustaceans immediately recognizable by their unusual body shape. The head and thorax are wide and rounded, in sharp contrast to the slender, cylindrical, flexible abdomen from which extends a long, forked tail. About 1,000 species are known. The body of most hooded shrimp measures

Aldrich, Bess Genevra Streeter

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

Bess Streeter graduated from Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) in 1901 and then taught school for five years. In 1907 she married Charles S. Aldrich. From an early age she had been

Beja

2005-02-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

City, capital, and concelho (township), Beja distrito (“district”), southern Portugal, southeast of Lisbon. According to legend, Beja was founded by Ulysses, and it was named Pax Julia by Julius Caesar in 48 BC to commemorate the peace treaty signed in Beja by the Romans and Lusitanians. The city is partly enclosed by walls of Roman origin with two Roman gateways. Afonso I captured

Caucasian Languages, Languages of the group

2005-02-11T17:09:00.000-08:00

The Kartvelian (South Caucasian or Iberian) language family comprises Georgian, Mingrelian (Megrelian), Laz (or Chan), and Svan. The speakers of these languages constitute the Georgian nation and numbered 4.2 million in the mid-1990s.

Kodaira Kunihiko

2005-02-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

Kodaira attended the University of Tokyo (Ph.D., 1949). His dissertation attracted the attention of Hermann Weyl, who invited Kodaira to join him at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New

Lace

2005-02-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

Ornamental, openwork fabric formed by looping, interlacing, braiding (plaiting), or twisting threads. The dividing line between lace and embroidery, which is an ornamentation added to an already completed fabric, is not easy to draw; a number of laces, such as Limerick and filet lace, can be called forms of embroidery upon a more or less open fabric. On the other hand, fancy

Bald Cypress

2005-02-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

A young bald cypress is symmetrical and pyramidal;

Bridgnorth

2005-02-09T04:46:00.000-08:00

The town of Bridgnorth lies mainly on a high red sandstone rock along the River Severn and has been a bridging point since Saxon times. Aethelflaed, lady of Mercia, rebuilt

Tertiary Period, Subdivisions

2005-02-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

The Tertiary faunas of western Europe that were known to 19th-century natural scientists consisted primarily of mollusks exhibiting varying degrees of similarity with modern types. At the same time, the science of stratigraphy was in its infancy, and the primary focus of its earliest practitioners was to use the newly discovered sequential progression of fossils

Vitamin B Complex

2005-02-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

Most of the B vitamins have been recognized

Sashimi

2005-02-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

Specialty of Japanese cuisine, fresh fish served raw. The fish, which must be utterly fresh, is sliced paper thin or alternately one-quarter to one-half inch (0.75–1.5 centimetres) thick, cubed, or cut in strips, according to the nature of the fish. The sashimi is accompanied by wasabi (green horseradish paste) and soy sauce. Sashimi is always part of a formal Japanese meal, served early

Local Church, The

2005-02-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

The Local Church grew out of the ministry of Watchman Nee (1903–72), a Chinese Christian who had been strongly influenced by the Plymouth Brethren, a British fundamentalist free church. In the 1930s Nee wrote several books presenting his beliefs

Pumpkin

2005-02-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

Fruit of certain varieties of Cucurbita pepo or of C. moschata, members of the family Cucurbitaceae. The names pumpkin and squash, especially in the United States, are applied inconsistently to certain varieties of both these species. The quick-growing, small-fruited bush, or nontrailing, varieties of C. pepo are called squash (q.v.) in America, while the long-season, long-trailing,

Sashimi

2005-02-06T10:47:00.000-08:00

In electronics, a semiconductor device that emits infrared or visible light when charged with an electric current. Visible LEDs are used in many electronic devices as indicator lamps, in automobiles as rear-window and brake lights, and on billboards and signs as alphanumeric displays or even full-colour posters. Infrared LEDs are employed in autofocus cameras

Plainview

2005-02-05T22:37:00.000-08:00

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

Roman Road System

2005-02-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

The first of the great Roman roads, the Via Appia (Appian Way), begun by the censor Appius

Alyattes

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

Soon after succeeding his father, King Sadyattes, Alyattes started five consecutive years of raids that devastated the farmland around the Greek city of Miletus on the southwestern coast of Anatolia. He moved eastward, battling the Medes for five

Essequibo River

2005-02-04T04:13:00.000-08:00

River in east central Guyana, the largest river between the Amazon and the Orinoco. It rises in the Acarai Mountains on the Brazilian border and flows northward for approximately 630 miles (1,010 km) through savannas and forests to the Atlantic Ocean. It reaches the Atlantic Ocean 13 miles (21 km) west-northwest of Georgetown, the national capital. Its estuary, 20 miles (32 km) wide, is obstructed

Taconic Orogeny

2005-02-04T03:02:00.000-08:00

A mountain-building event that affected the Appalachian Geosyncline along the eastern coast of the United States. Evidence for the orogeny is most pronounced in the northern Appalachians, but its effects can be noted in the Ridge and Valley Province as far south as Tennessee and in the Piedmont Province as far south as Georgia. Originally thought to have occurred

Roman De Fauvel

2005-02-03T13:34:00.000-08:00

A manuscript of the poem dated

Delibes, (clément-philibert-)léo

2005-02-03T03:55:00.000-08:00

French opera and ballet composer who was the first to write music of high quality for the ballet. His pioneering symphonic work for the ballet opened up a field for serious composers, and his influence can be traced in the work of Tchaikovsky and others who wrote for the dance. His own music—light, graceful, elegant, with a tendency

Abbotsford

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

Former home of the 19th-century novelist Sir Walter Scott, situated on the right bank of the River Tweed, Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Roxburghshire, Scotland. Scott purchased the original farm, then known as Carley Hole, in 1811 and transformed it (1817–25) into a Gothic-style baronial mansion now known as Abbotsford House. Still the home of Scott's direct descendants,

Euripides

2005-02-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

The Greek fleet is becalmed at Aulis and is thus unable to convey the expeditionary force against Troy. Agamemnon learns that he must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia as a means of appeasing the goddess Artemis, who has caused the unfavourable weather. Agamemnon lures his daughter into coming to Aulis to be sacrificed by pretending that she will marry Achilles.

Gray

2005-02-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation, defined in the 1980s by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements. One gray is equal approximately to the absorbed dose delivered when the energy per unit mass imparted to matter by ionizing radiation is one joule per kilogram. As a unit of measure, the gray is coherent with the units of measure in the

Aschelminth, Distribution and abundance

2005-01-31T23:08:00.000-08:00

Nematodes are the most abundant of all multicellular animals and are found wherever life can be supported. They reach their greatest numbers in estuarine mud flats, up to 20,000,000 per square metre, decreasing in density in marine muds and sands but often reaching one to several million per square metre. Typical densities for terrestrial soils, including forests, grasslands,

Grünewald, Matthias

2005-01-31T20:26:00.000-08:00

Original name Mathis Gothardt one of the greatest German painters of his age, whose works on religious themes achieve a visionary expressiveness through intense colour and agitated line. The wings of the altarpiece of the Antonite monastery at Isenheim, in southern Alsace (dated 1515), are considered to be his

Staff

2005-01-31T06:11:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Stave, in the notation of Western music, five parallel horizontal lines that, with a clef, indicate the pitch of musical notes. The invention of the staff is traditionally ascribed to Guido of Arezzo in about the year 1000, although there are earlier manuscripts in which neumes (q.v.; signs from which musical notes evolved) are arranged around one or two lines in order to orient the

Shamanism

2005-01-30T23:49:00.000-08:00

Among the peoples of northern Asia, shamanism developed into a more definitely articulated and specialized form than among other peoples. Shamanism as practiced there is distinguished by its special clothing, accessories, and rites as well as by the specific worldview connected with them. North Asiatic shamanism in the 19th century, which may be taken as the classical

Mauguin, Charles

2005-01-30T21:37:00.000-08:00

Mauguin was educated at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and in 1919 he joined the Faculty of Sciences

Athabaska, District Of

2005-01-29T03:13:00.000-08:00

Part of the original Northwest Territories in Canada. The district was created in 1882 and enlarged by an eastward extension in 1895. It was abolished in 1905. Its area comprised the northern parts of present Alberta and Saskatchewan and a small portion of northwestern Manitoba.

Japanese Baseball Leagues

2005-01-28T08:57:00.000-08:00

The two main leagues in Japan are the Central League and the Pacific League. Each league is composed

Baqdash, Khalid

2005-01-28T01:24:00.000-08:00

As a young man Baqdash went to law school in Damascus but was expelled for illegal political activity. In 1930 he joined the Communist Party and began to acquire a reputation for skillful public debate, dedication

Italy, Tourism

2005-01-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

Italy's tourist industry has flourished under both national and international patronage. The most popular locations, apart from the great cultural centres of Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples, are the coastal resorts and islands or the Alpine hills and lakes of the north; the Ligurian and Amalfi rivieras; the northern Adriatic coast; the small islands in the Tyrrhenian

Ataxite

2005-01-27T06:09:00.000-08:00

Any iron meteorite containing less than about 6 percent nickel (nickel-poor ataxites) or more than about 11 percent nickel (nickel-rich ataxites). Ataxites, containing plessite, troilite, and kamacite as their main minerals, show neither the Widmanstätten pattern nor Neumann lines. Nickel-poor ataxites generally have the same nickel content as hexahedrites but have

Painting, Western

2005-01-27T01:34:00.000-08:00

In the Metal Age, western Mediterranean cultures were similar at many points. The area occupied by them extended from Illyria (the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula) in the east to the Atlantic shores of the Iberian Peninsula in the west and from the shores along the Gulf of Lion and the Ligurian Sea (i.e., the coasts of what are now southern France and northwestern

Balchin, Nigel

2005-01-26T07:16:00.000-08:00

After studying natural science at the University of Cambridge, Balchin divided his time between research work in science and industry (as an industrial psychologist) and writing. During World War II he was deputy scientific adviser to the Army