SolidPlate

Silicone

2005-03-23T00:08:00.000-08:00

Also called Polysiloxane, any of a diverse class of chemical polymers manufactured in the form of fluids, resins, or elastomers. Although they are partially organic in composition, the molecules of silicones differ from those of most polymers in that the backbone of their structure does not contain carbon, the characteristic element of organic compounds, but is a polysiloxane chain, in which

Saint Martin

2005-03-22T04:01:00.000-08:00

The island was named by Christopher Columbus in honour of the saint on whose feast day he sighted it. Valued for its natural lakes

Niuafo'ou

2005-03-20T03:38:00.000-08:00

Northernmost island of Tonga, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The generally wooded land area of 19 square miles (49 square km) includes a volcanic peak 853 feet (260 m) high, a crater lake, and numerous hot springs. During a particularly violent eruption in 1946, the island's inhabitants were evacuated to 'Eua, several hundred miles to the south. They began returning to Niuafo'ou in 1958. Because

Shieldtail Snake

2005-03-18T02:20:00.000-08:00

The

Jewelry, 19th century

2005-03-15T05:58:00.000-08:00

The Industrial Revolution destroyed forever the ancient role of jewelry as a symbol of social rank. The social evolution created a market for a vast quantity of jewelry at prices the middle class could afford; and so jewelry, too, succumbed to the machine. Hundreds of different components for ornaments were produced by machines, an electric gold-plating technique

Turgot, Anne-robert-jacques, Baron De L'aulne

2005-03-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

French economist, who was an administrator under Louis XV and served as the comptroller general of finance (1774–76) under Louis XVI. His efforts at instituting financial reform were blocked by the privileged classes.

Uthagamandalam

2005-03-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

Formerly Ootacamund, town, administrative headquarters of Nilgiri district, Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, in the Nilgiri Hills, at about 7,500 ft (2,300 m) above sea level. It is sheltered by several peaks, including Doda Betta (8,652 ft), the highest point in Tamil Nadu. Founded by the British in 1821, it was used as the official government summer headquarters for the Madras Presidency until Indian independence

Naevius, Gnaeus

2005-03-10T00:22:00.000-08:00

Second of a triad of early Latin epic poets and dramatists, between Livius Andronicus and Ennius. He was the originator of historical plays (fabulae praetextae) that were based on Roman historical or legendary figures and events. The titles of two praetextae are known, Romulus and Clastidium, the latter celebrating the

Molfetta

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

Town and episcopal see, Bari provincia, Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy. It lies along the Adriatic Sea, northwest of Bari city. An important port in the Middle Ages and a free city for a time, it was sacked by the French in 1529. Although Molfetta is mainly modern, its outstanding Romanesque–Apulian-style Duomo Vecchio (“Old Cathedral”), a national monument, dates from

Metatexis

2005-03-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

The process in which the magma-like portion of migmatites (mixed rocks that have granitic layers or veinlike bodies) is emplaced within a host rock of different composition. Migmatites may form by the injection of granitic magma (the metatect) into the host or by the partial fusion of the host itself; they form under the most extreme temperatures and pressures reached

Charles, Ray

2005-03-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

When Charles was an infant his family moved to Greenville, Florida, and he

Frederick, Pauline

2005-03-02T03:15:00.000-08:00

After receiving her A.M. degree in international law from American University, Washington, D.C., Frederick worked as a free-lance reporter on so-called women's issues. She used this experience to gain a foothold in journalism, and after the end of World War II she reported on

Verdi, Giuseppe

2005-02-28T18:40:00.000-08:00

In full Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his Requiem Mass (1874).

Zaharoff, Sir Basil

2005-02-26T01:07:00.000-08:00

He was the son of poor Greek parents who had Russified the family name during years spent in exile in Russia. As a young man he worked for his uncle in the cloth trade in Istanbul. In

Nagai Kafu

2005-02-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

Edward Seidensticker, Kafu the Scribbler (1965, reprinted 1990), a biographical and critical study, also includes a number of translations of Kafu's works.

Bregenz

2005-02-20T15:33:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Bundesland (federal province) Vorarlberg, western Austria, on the eastern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee). The town lies at the foot of the Pfänder Mountain (3,487 ft [1,063 m]; ascended by suspension railway). Inhabited in prehistoric times, it was later the site of a Celtic settlement and then of a Roman camp (Brigantium). Settled by the Alemanni, a Germanic people, in

Alabama, Flag Of

2005-02-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

During the Civil War (1861–65) an unofficial flag of blue with a yellow or white star represented the separation of Alabama from the Union. Another blue flag flew over the state capitol; its obverse side showed the state seal flanked by a woman holding the unofficial flag, while its reverse side featured a cotton plant and a coiled snake. Following the Civil War, many wished to

Fly

2005-02-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

Any of several thousand species of insects belonging to the order Diptera and characterized by the use of only one pair of wings for flight and the reduction of the second pair of wings to knobs (called halteres) used for balance. The term fly is commonly used for almost any small flying insect. In entomology, however, the name refers specifically to the approximately

Sunfish

2005-02-13T02:32:00.000-08:00

Any of numerous species of North American freshwater fishes placed with the crappies and black basses in the family Centrarchidae (order Perciformes). The family contains about 30 species, all native to North America and all, with the exception of the Sacramento perch (Archoplites interruptus), native to waters east of the Rocky Mountains. Several species, such as the

Bonar, Horatius

2005-02-12T05:45:00.000-08:00

Ordained minister of North Parish church in Kelso, Roxburghshire (1837), Bonar remained there until appointed minister of the Chalmers Memorial Church in Edinburgh (1866). At the disruption of 1843, when the Evangelical party left

Hindi Language

2005-02-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Official language of the Republic of India, a central Indo-Aryan language claimed as a mother tongue by some 180,000,000 speakers in India. There are also significant numbers of Hindi speakers outside of India, including nearly 1,000,000 in South Africa, 700,000 in Mauritius, 350,000 in Bangladesh, 235,000 in Yemen, and 150,000 in Uganda. Many more hundreds of thousands speak Hindi as a second language. Literary Hindi, written

Carpenter, John Alden

2005-02-08T21:22:00.000-08:00

Carpenter studied at Harvard University under the conservative, German-influenced composer John Knowles Paine but then joined his father's shipping supply firm, of which he was vice president (1909–36). In 1906 he studied music under

Gruppe 47

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

English Group 47 informal association of German-speaking writers that was founded in 1947 (hence its name). Gruppe 47 originated with a group of war prisoners in the United States who were concerned with reestablishing the broken traditions of German literature. Feeling that Nazi propaganda had corrupted their language, they advocated a style of sparse, even cold, descriptive realism

Earth

2005-02-04T00:19:00.000-08:00

The mean distance of the Earth from the Sun is approximately 1.5 ´ 108 kilometres. The planet orbits the Sun in a path that is presently more nearly a circle than are the orbits of most other planets. The direction of the Earth's revolution—counterclockwise as viewed down from the north—is in the same sense (direction) as the rotation of the Sun; the Earth's spin, or rotation about

Boian

2005-02-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

Neolithic culture (c. 7000 BC) centred in what is now southern Romania; it was characterized by terrace settlements, consisting at first of mud huts and later of fortified promontory settlements. The Boian phase was marked by the introduction of copper axes, the extension of agriculture, and the breeding of domestic animals. The distinctive Boian pottery was decorated by

Ambrose D'évreux

2005-01-30T19:21:00.000-08:00

Norman poet and chronicler who accompanied Richard I of England as a minstrel on the Third Crusade. Nothing more is known of him than that he was probably a native of Évreux and was a noncombatant making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His account of the Crusade is preserved in the Estoire de la guerre sainte (“History of the Holy War”), a poem of over 12,000 lines extant in an Anglo-Norman

Jewelry

2005-01-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

Throughout the centuries and from culture to culture, the materials considered rare and beautiful have ranged from shells, bones, pebbles, tusks, claws, and wood to so-called precious metals, precious and semiprecious stones,

Agribusiness

2005-01-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

In highly industrialized countries, many activities essential to agriculture are carried on separately from the farm. These include the development and production of

Thom, René Frédéric

2005-01-24T06:45:00.000-08:00

Thom graduated from the École Normale Supérieure (now part of the Universities of Paris) in 1946, spent four years at the nearby National Centre for Scientific Research, and in 1951 was awarded a doctorate

Wiener Neustadt

2005-01-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

City, Niederösterreich Bundesland (federal state), northeastern Austria. It lies near the Leitha River south of Vienna. Founded in 1194 by the Babenberg duke Leopold V, it was chartered in 1277 and had a mint at that time. It was most prosperous in the 15th century, when it was the residence of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III, but it declined to such an extent in the 17th century that

Phibunsongkhram, Luang

2005-01-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

He was educated at the royal military academy, and in 1914 he entered the Siamese artillery corps. In 1924–27 he took advanced military training in France, where he became involved with Thai students who

Academic Freedom

2005-01-18T06:27:00.000-08:00

The freedom of teachers and students to teach, study, and pursue knowledge and research without unreasonable interference or restriction from law, institutional regulations, or public pressure. Its basic elements include the freedom of teachers to inquire into any subject that evokes their intellectual concern; to present their findings to their students,

Teapot Dome Scandal

2005-01-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

Also called the Oil Reserves, or Elk Hills, Scandal, in American history, scandal of the early 1920s surrounding the secret leasing of federal oil reserves by the secretary of the interior, Albert B. Fall. After President Warren G. Harding transferred supervision of the naval oil reserve lands from the navy to the Department of the Interior in 1921, Fall secretly granted to Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Company exclusive

Themis

2005-01-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

(Greek: Order), in Greek religion, personification of justice, goddess of wisdom and good counsel, and the interpreter of the gods' will. According to some sources, she was the daughter of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth), although at times she was apparently identified with Gaea. She was Zeus's second consort and by him the mother of the Horae (see Hora), the Moirai, and, in some traditions,

Submarine Mine

2005-01-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

Underwater weapon designed to explode when a target presents itself. See mine.

Aelle

2005-01-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Aella, or Aelli first king of Deira in northern England, whose people threw off the Bernician overlordship upon the death of Ida, king of Bernicia. Aelle became king in 559, while Ida's descendants continued to reign in the northern kingdom. On Aelle's death the Bernician king Aethelric again subdued Deira, but Aelle's son Edwin (q.v.) would return to rule as the most powerful English ruler

Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard

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

American inventor of the smooth-bore cannon that was, from its shape, familiarly known as the “soda-water bottle.” The shape resulted from a design in which the thickness of metal was varied to match the differences in internal pressure occurring when the cannon was fired. The pressures were determined by boring holes in the

Fusion Reactor

2005-01-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

Since the 1930s, scientists have known that the Sun and other stars generate their energy by nuclear fusion. They realized that if fusion energy generation could be replicated in a controlled manner on Earth, it might very well provide a safe, clean, and inexhaustible source of

Silbermann, Gottfried

2005-01-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

Gottfried worked in Strasbourg in the shop of his brother Andreas, also a noted builder, before moving to Freiberg in 1710. There he made spinets, clavichords, and harpsichords and experimented in

Zile

2005-01-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

The town is an important local commercial

Bona Dea

2005-01-01T17:35:00.000-08:00

(Latin: “Good Goddess”), in Roman religion, deity of fruitfulness, both in the earth and in women. She was identified with various goddesses who had similar functions. The dedication day of her temple on the Aventine was May 1. Her temple was cared for and attended by women only, and the same was the case at a second celebration, at the beginning of December, in the house of a sovereign

Malvaceae

2004-12-30T14:42:00.000-08:00

The mallow family, a large group of flowering plants, in the order Malvales, containing about 95 genera of herbs, shrubs, and trees. Representatives occur in all except the coldest parts of the world but are most numerous in the tropics. Economically, the most important member of the family is cotton (q.v.; Gossypium). Several species of Hibiscus produce fibres that are of lesser

Novello, Ivor

2004-12-27T05:38:00.000-08:00

Novello, the son of the celebrated Welsh singing teacher, Dame Clara Novello Davies, was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and served with the Royal Naval Air Service during World War I. He became famous with a

Eckhel, Joseph Hilarius

2004-12-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

Eckhel was educated at the Jesuit gymnasium in Vienna, where he had entered the Jesuit order at age 14. He taught grammar at various collegiate schools, but because of poor health he gave up teaching to

Sarajevo

2004-12-22T02:23:00.000-08:00

Capital and cultural centre of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies in the narrow valley of the Miljacka River at the foot of Mount Trebevic. The city retains a strong Muslim character, having many mosques, wooden houses with ornate interiors, and the ancient Turkish marketplace (the Bašcaršija); much of the population is Muslim. The city's principal mosques are the Gazi Husreff-Bey's

Isidore Of Kiev

2004-12-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

Abbot of St. Demetrius

Earth, Intraplate activity

2004-12-19T20:06:00.000-08:00

Although most tectonic activity takes place along plate boundaries, some occurs within plates. Much of this intraplate activity occurs along aulacogens and plume traces. An aulacogen can be defined as a failed third arm of a spreading ridge. Aulacogens commonly intersect a divergent plate margin at an angle of about 120°, and they form just as two continents begin to

Allen, Phog

2004-12-19T08:14:00.000-08:00

Allen succeeded James Naismith, who created the sport, as basketball coach in 1908–09 at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Allen's Kansas teams of 1920–56 won 771 games and lost 233; his 1951–52 Kansas team won the championship of the National Collegiate Athletic

Essaouira

2004-12-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

Formerly Mogador, Atlantic port city, western Morocco, midway between Safi and Agadir. The site was occupied by Phoenicians and then Carthaginians and was mentioned in the chronicles of the Carthaginian explorer Hanno (5th century BC). Medieval charts show it as Mogador, a corruption of a Berber word for “safe anchorage.” It stands on a peninsula 10–20 feet (3–7 m) above sea level and at times with heavy

Armour, Philip Danforth

2004-12-18T04:54:00.000-08:00

Armour earned his first capital in California mining endeavours and cofounded a grain-dealing and meatpacking business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1863. Anticipating a

Este

2004-12-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

Town and episcopal see of Padova province, in the Veneto region of northern Italy at the southern foot of the Colli (hills) Euganei southwest of Padua. Known in antiquity as Ateste (q.v.), it was for long the principal seat of the Veneti (q.v.), before being absorbed by Rome c. 200 BC. Originally on the Adige River, it was completely abandoned after the river (now 9 mi [14 km] to the south) changed

Tiwanaku

2004-12-15T00:49:00.000-08:00

Some scholars date the earliest remains found at the site to the early part of the Early Intermediate Period (c. 200 BC–AD 200); others suggest that the culture is evident in artifacts

Spooner Amendment

2004-12-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

Filipinos fought the imposition of American rule, and it was believed in the United States that their

Trademark

2004-12-13T19:27:00.000-08:00

Any visible sign or device used by a business enterprise to identify its goods and distinguish them from those made or carried by others. Trademarks may be words or groups of words, letters, numerals, devices, names, the shape or other presentation of products or their packages, colour combinations with signs, combinations of colours, and combinations of any of the

Earth, Study of waveforms

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

In addition to the measurements of travel times, the determination of velocity distributions by body waves has been greatly enhanced since the late 1960s by the quantitative study of waveforms—the actual ground displacements as a function of time at each seismometer. The detailed character of these displacements, which might typically amount to a few to tens of micrometres

Sea Crayfish

2004-12-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

Any of several lobster species of the family Palinuridae. See lobster.

Francia

2004-12-10T20:15:00.000-08:00

Original name Francesco Di Marco Di Giacomo Raibolini Italian Renaissance artist and the major Bolognese painter of the late 15th century. He was much influenced by such Ferrarese painters as Lorenzo Costa, Francesco del Cossa, and Ercole de' Roberti, but his later works clearly show the influence of the Umbrians, Perugino, and Raphael. Francia's mature style is seen in such works as his “Assumption

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Renaissance and modern allegory

2004-12-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

Douglas Bush, Mythology and the Renaissance Tradition in English Poetry, rev. ed. (1963); Walter Benjamin, Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels (1928); Harold Bloom, The Visionary Company (1961); A.S. Fletcher, The Prophetic Moment: An Essay on Spenser (1971); Alastair Fowler, Triumphal Forms: Structural Patterns in Elizabethan Poetry (1970); Northrop Frye, Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake (1947); U.M. Kaufman, The Pilgrim's Progress and Traditions in Puritan Meditation (1966); Michael Murrin, The Veil of Allegory: Some Notes Toward a Theory of Allegorical Rhetoric in the English Renaissance (1969); Jean Seznec, La Survivance des dieux antiques (1939; Eng. trans., The Survival of the Pagan Gods, rev. ed., 1953); E.M.W. Tillyard, The Elizabethan World Picture (1943); Edgar Wind, Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance, new ed. (1968).

Orbigny, Alcide Dessalines D'

2004-12-08T20:51:00.000-08:00

During eight years of travel in South America (1826–34) Orbigny studied the people, natural history, and geology of the continent. He summarized these studies in Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale, 10 vol., (1834–47; “Journey into South America”) and proceeded to draw up the first comprehensive map of that

Halibut

2004-12-08T04:01:00.000-08:00

The Atlantic halibut (H. hippoglossus) is found on both sides

Marquand, J(ohn) P(hillips)

2004-12-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

Marquand grew up in New York City and suburban Rye in comfortable circumstances until his father's business failure, when he was sent to live with relatives in Newburyport. This experience of reduced status and

Madeira Islands

2004-12-06T03:02:00.000-08:00

Also called Funchal Islands, Portuguese Arquipélago Da Madeira, archipelago of volcanic origin in the North Atlantic Ocean, belonging to Portugal and comprising two inhabited islands, Madeira and Porto Santo, and two uninhabited groups, the Desertas and the Selvagens. The islands are the summits of mountains that have their bases on an abyssal ocean floor. Administratively they form the autonomous region of Madeira. The islands

Earth Exploration, Seismic refraction methods

2004-12-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

Seismic methods are based on measurements of the time interval between initiation of a seismic (elastic) wave and its arrival at detectors. The seismic wave may be generated by an explosion, a dropped weight, a mechanical vibrator, a bubble of high-pressure air injected into water, or other sources. The seismic wave is detected by a Geophone on land or by a hydrophone

Karadzic, Vuk Stefanovic

2004-12-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

Karadzic learned to read and write in the old monastery Tronosha (near his native village). Mostly in the

Muar

2004-12-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

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

Medicine, Naval and air force medicine

2004-12-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

Naval medical services are run on lines similar to those of the army. Junior medical officers are attached to ships or to shore stations and deal with most cases of sickness in their units. When at sea, medical officers have an exceptional degree of responsibility in that they work alone, unless they are on a very large ship. In peacetime, only the larger ships carry a

Durham

2004-11-30T13:20:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1881) of Durham county, north-central North Carolina, U.S. It is situated about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Chapel Hill and 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Raleigh, the three cities forming one of the state's major urban areas—the Research Triangle. The first settlement (about 1750) in what is now Durham was called Prattsburg for William Pratt, a landowner. When Pratt refused to give land

Mina

2004-11-30T02:51:00.000-08:00

The earliest of all known units of weight, created by the Babylonians and used by the Hittites, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks. Its weight and relationship to its major subdivisions varied at different times and places in the ancient world. In one surviving form, from the Babylonian period, the mina weighs about 640 grams, while in another it weighs

Mignet, François

2004-11-27T22:33:00.000-08:00

Educated at Avignon, Mignet became professor there in 1815; he returned to Aix for his law studies and was called to the bar in 1818. His first work, the Essai sur les institutions de Saint Louis, was acclaimed by the Academy of Inscriptions

Tag

2004-11-27T08:35:00.000-08:00

Also called touch , or tig children's game in which, in its simplest form, one player (“it,” or “he”) chases the others and tries to touch one of them, making the person touched “it.” The game is known by many other names. In some games, it is pretended that the touch carries some form of contagion—e.g., plague (Italy), leprosy (Madagascar), fleas (Spain), or “lurgy fever” (Great Britain). In others, a method of achieving immunity

Yezhov, Nikolay Ivanovich

2004-11-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known of his early life (he was nicknamed the “Dwarf” because he was but five feet tall and lame). Joining the Communist Party in March

Moses, Robert

2004-11-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

U.S. state and municipal official whose career in public works planning resulted in a virtual transformation of the New York landscape. Among the works completed under his supervision were a network of 35 highways, 12 bridges, numerous parks, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Shea Stadium, many housing projects, two hydroelectric

G.c.m.g.

2004-11-23T00:47:00.000-08:00

Knight grand cross, or dame grand cross, of St. Michael and St. George, member of the highest rank of a British order of knighthood. See Saint Michael and Saint George, The Most Distinguished Order of.

Yang-chou

2004-11-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

In the 4th and 3rd centuries BC Yang-chou was a fief known as Kuang-ling in the state of Ch'u. After the Ch'in unification of the empire in 221 BC, it became the seat of a county. Under the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), it was the seat

Mercoeur, Philippe-emmanuel De Lorraine, Duke (duc) De

2004-11-21T05:31:00.000-08:00

Philippe was the son of Nicolas de Lorraine, who became Duke de Mercoeur in 1569, and was a half brother to Louise de Vaudémont, wife of Henry III of France. He succeeded to his father's duchy in 1577. Mercoeur

Charadriiform, Shorebirds (suborder Charadrii)

2004-11-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

Female jacanas are larger and more aggressive than males; after laying, females of some species show no interest in the nest or young, leaving incubation and care of chicks to the male. The nest is a shallow, sodden pile of vegetation that floats among aquatic plants. Chicks are downy and run well when a day old. Both chicks and adults may dive to escape danger and remain

Robert I

2004-11-19T07:37:00.000-08:00

Original name Robert VIII de Bruce, or Robert the Bruce king of Scotland (1306–29), who freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and ultimately confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328).

Ricimer

2004-11-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

Ricimer's father was a chief of the Suebi (a Germanic people) and his mother was a Visigothic princess. Early in his military career he befriended the future emperor Majorian. After turning back an attempted Vandal invasion of Sicily at Agrigentum (modern Agrigento) in 456, Ricimer was appointed master

Metabolic Disease, Tissue lipid disorders

2004-11-17T02:13:00.000-08:00

Complex molecules composed of long-chain fatty acids linked with various sugars, phosphate, and sulfate groups form essential components of cell membranes and are vital to the normal functioning of the nervous system. These molecules are degraded and resynthesized in the normal course of tissue turnover. Defects in the enzymes that regulate this process cause

Powhatan

2004-11-16T23:06:00.000-08:00

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

Malachite Green

2004-11-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

Malachite green also is used as a direct dye for silk, wool, jute, and leather and to dye

San Fernando

2004-11-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

City and enclave within the city of Los Angeles, southern California, U.S., in the northeastern San Fernando Valley. Named for the Mission San Fernando Rey de España (established 1797 by Father Fermín de Lasuén), it was promoted in 1874 by two land developers, G.K. Porter and Senator Charles Maclay (who also founded a college of theology there in 1887). The San Fernando Reservoir (just northwest)

Chiang-tzu

2004-11-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Also called Chi-yang-tse , Pinyin Jiangzu , or Jiyangze , Tibetan Gyangzê town in the southern part of the Tibetan autonomous ch'ü (region), China. It is situated on the Nien-ch'u River some 45 miles (70 km) southeast of Jih-k'a-tse and about halfway between Lhasa, capital of Tibet, and the border town of Ya-tung between the frontiers with India and the Himalayan state of Bhutan. Chiang-tzu is an important route centre for traffic from Lhasa to India, Bhutan,

Bothe, Walther

2004-11-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

Bothe taught at the universities of Berlin (1920–31), Giessen (1931–34), and Heidelberg (1934–57). In 1925 he and Hans Geiger used two Geiger counters to gather data on the Compton

Nichinan

2004-11-10T21:38:00.000-08:00

City, Miyazaki Prefecture (ken), Kyushu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. Japanese (Obi) cedar has been cultivated in the area since the early 19th century and forms the basis of the city's shipbuilding, timber, paper, and pulp industries. Nichinan's two ports—Aburatsu and Oodotsu—are the main centres for coastal fishing (bonito, yellowtail, tuna) in southern Kyushu. Agricultural

Piura

2004-11-10T04:07:00.000-08:00

Capital of Piura department, northwestern Peru, on the Piura River in the warm coastal desert. San Miguel de Piura was the first city founded (1532) in Peru by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro. The original site proved unhealthful, and several other locations were occupied before the present site was settled in 1588. Piura retains a colonial flavour, especially in the church

Sublime Porte

2004-11-08T05:07:00.000-08:00

Also called Porte, the government of the Ottoman Empire. The name is a French translation of Turkish Bâbiâli (“High Gate,” or “Gate of the Eminent”). which was the official name of the gate giving access to the block of buildings in Constantinople, or Istanbul, that housed the principal state departments. Early in the history of the Ottoman Empire, the grand viziers became powerful, but only in

Nägeli, Karl Wilhelm Von

2004-11-08T01:19:00.000-08:00

Nägeli received his earliest training from the German nature-philosopher Lorenz Oken and later studied botany under Augustin Pyrame de Candolle at the University of Geneva. He continued his botanical studies under Matthias Jakob Schleiden at the University of Jena and began

Tachycardia

2004-11-06T03:24:00.000-08:00

In physiology and medicine, a heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute. Tachycardia occurs normally during and after exercise or during stress and represents no danger to healthy individuals. In some cases, however, tachycardia occurs without apparent cause and is an arrhythmia, i.e., a pathological deviation from the normal heartbeat rhythm. Most arrhythmias are

Eisenstaedt, Alfred

2004-11-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

Eisenstaedt served in the German army in World War I from 1916 to 1918, sustaining injuries in both legs. He became an enthusiastic

Daniel Romanovich

2004-11-03T05:47:00.000-08:00

Son of Prince Roman Mstislavich, Daniel was only four years old when his father, who had united Galicia and Volhynia, died in a battle against the Poles (1205). Not until 1221 did Daniel begin to overthrow other pretenders

Sothern, Edward Hugh

2004-11-02T03:39:00.000-08:00

The son of the English comedian Edward Askew Sothern, he made his first stage appearance with his father's company in New York City in 1879. He toured England in 1882 and 1883 and became leading comedian in John

Prosper Of Aquitaine, Saint

2004-10-31T23:31:00.000-08:00

Latin Prosper Tiro early Christian polemicist famous for his defense of Augustine of Hippo and his doctrine on grace, predestination, and free will, which became a norm for the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. Prosper's chief opponents were the Semi-Pelagians, who believed in the power of man's innate will to seek God, but at the

Jackson, Andrew

2004-10-31T03:48:00.000-08:00

Byname Old Hickory military hero and seventh president of the United States (1829–37). He was the first U.S. president to come from the area west of the Appalachians and the first to gain office by a direct appeal to the mass of voters. His political movement has since been known as Jacksonian Democracy. (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America. See also Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson.)

Theatrical Production, Dramatist and director domination

2004-10-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

During certain periods the work of the dramatist, regardless of his subsequent involvement, determined the creative process in production. In ancient Greece the selection of a play was the first step in production. In the 19th and 20th centuries the acquisition of a script was also the preliminary step in establishing the single-show association. Only occasionally,

Póros

2004-10-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Island of the Saronic group, lying close to the Argolis peninsula of the Peloponnese, part of the nomós (department) of Attikí, Greece. It actually comprises two islands totaling 9 square miles (23 square km), the larger of which is the wooded, limestone island of Kalávria, separated from the village of Galatás on the mainland by a narrow channel, or poros, whence the collective

Ambrosian Chant

2004-10-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

The Ambrosian Ordinary (chants of the

Hyderabad

2004-10-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

Hyderabad was founded by the Qutb Shahi sultans of Golconda, under whom the kingdom of Golconda attained a position of importance second only to that of the Mughal Empire in the north. The old fortress town of Golconda had proved inadequate as the kingdom's capital, and so

Syria, The Ayyubids and Mamluks

2004-10-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

After Saladin's death his kingdom was split up among members of his family, the Ayyubids, who established principalities in Aleppo, Hamah, Hims, Damascus, Ba'labakk, and Transjordan and ruled them until 1260. The period of Nureddin, Saladin, and their successors was of great importance. Thanks largely to the establishment of Italian trading centres on the coast and better security,

Danapur

2004-10-25T00:52:00.000-07:00

Also called Dinapore , or Dinapur town, northern Bihar state, northeastern India, on the Ganges River. It is a major road and rail junction and agricultural trade centre. Industries include printing, oilseed milling, and metalworks. There is a college affiliated with Magadh University and an army cantonment. Danapur was constituted a municipality in 1887. Pop. (1981) 58,684.