PresentNose

Argentina, Perón in power

2005-03-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

Perón campaigned for the presidency in the elections of 1946. He organized the Labour Party, which was resisted by all the old parties and by the major vested-interest groups. His victory, though narrow, gave him control of both houses of Congress and all the provincial governorships. Perón's political strategy and tactics were authoritarian and personalistic. He politically

Biblical Literature, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles

2005-03-17T01:13:00.000-08:00

The final books of the Hebrew Bible are the books of Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah, which once formed a unitary history of Israel from Adam to the 4th century BCE, written by an anonymous Chronicler. That these books constituted a single work—referred to as the Chronicler's history, in distinction to the Deuteronomic history and the elements of history from the priestly

Ibycus

2005-03-15T02:17:00.000-08:00

Ibycus left Sicily for the Aegean island of Samos, where the tyrant Polycrates became his patron. Ancient authorities found it hard to distinguish his early work from that of Stesichorus, but even in the few surviving

Susak, Gojko

2005-03-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

Croatian government official who was instrumental in the attainment and preservation of Croatia's independence and from 1991 served as the country's defense minister (b. April 16, 1945, Siroki Brijeg, western Herzegovina, Yugoslavia--d. May 3/4, 1998, Zagreb, Croatia).

Sports

2005-03-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

Recreational or competitive activities that involve a degree of physical strength or skill. At one time, sports were commonly considered to include only the outdoor recreational pastimes, such as fishing, shooting, and hunting, as opposed to games, which were regarded as organized athletic contests played by teams or individuals according to prescribed rules.

Jackson, Marjorie

2005-03-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

Jackson, known as the “Lithgow Flash” after her home town, was just 17 years old when she twice outran the great Dutch

Chang Chü-cheng

2005-03-06T00:58:00.000-08:00

Chang gained power through his position as tutor

Livestock Farming

2005-03-05T03:51:00.000-08:00

Probably first domesticated in the East, perhaps during prehistoric times, the goat has long been used as a source of milk, cheese, mohair, and meat. Its skin has been valued as a source for leather. In China, Great Britain, Europe, and North America, the goat is primarily a milk producer. By good management its limited (six months per year) breeding season and the consequent

Progressive Party

2005-03-03T22:41:00.000-08:00

(1924), in the United States, a short-lived independent political party assembled for the 1924 presidential election by forces dissatisfied with the conservative attitudes and programs of the Democrats and Republicans. The Progressive Party included liberals, agrarians, Republican progressives, socialists, and labour representatives. It chose as its presidential candidate Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, who in 1911 had organized what became an independent party formally called the Progressive but generally known as the Bull Moose Party (q.v.). The 1924 Progressives pledged a “housecleaning” of executive departments, public control of natural resources, public ownership of railways, and tax reduction. The party polled only some 17 percent of the popular vote and did not influence the election, in which President Calvin Coolidge and the Republicans won a majority. The Progressive Party dissolved when La Follette died the following year.

Kubera

2005-02-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

In Hindu mythology, the king of the yaksas (nature spirits) and the god of wealth. He is associated with the earth, mountains, all treasures such as minerals and jewels that lie underground, and riches in general. According to most accounts he first lived in Lanka (Sri Lanka), but his palace was taken away from him by his half brother, Ravana, and he now resides in a beautiful mountain

Jacobin Club

2005-02-26T18:38:00.000-08:00

The Jacobins originated as the Club Breton at Versailles, where the deputies from Brittany to the Estates-General (later the National Assembly) of 1789 met with deputies from other parts

Dovekie

2005-02-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

Also called little auk (Alle alle) small, black and white seabird of the North Atlantic. The dovekie belongs to the family Alcidae (order Charadriiformes). It is about 20 centimetres (8 inches) long, with a short bill. Its legs and wings are short, and its feet are webbed. It is a proficient diver, feeding on fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. Dovekies breed on rocky coasts and islands of the Arctic Ocean, from Greenland

Francis I

2005-02-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

From

Deggendorf

2005-02-19T20:16:00.000-08:00

City, Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany, on the Danube River, 2.5 miles (4 km) above its confluence with the Isar River. It lies at the western foot of the Bavarian and Bohemian forests, east of Straubing. Founded about 750, it passed to the dukes of Bavaria in 1242 and was chartered in 1316. The river and the forested mountains form a picturesque setting for the city, which retains its

Alienation Effect

2005-02-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

Examples of such techniques include explanatory captions or illustrations projected

Ovington, Mary White

2005-02-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

Born three days before the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Ovington was reared in an upper-middle-class home by abolitionist

Spiny-finned Fish

2005-02-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

The atheriniform (q.v.) is the best known of the spiny-finned group, including flying fishes, guppies, mollies, swordtails, and California grunion. Beryciforms

Süssmayr, Franz Xaver

2005-02-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

Süssmayr was educated at Kremsmünster, a monastery school. In 1788 he settled in Vienna and became a music teacher. He became acquainted with Mozart in 1790/91 and sometimes collaborated with him. From 1792 to 1794 Süssmayr

Doris

2005-02-09T21:16:00.000-08:00

The alleged mother country of the Dorian conquerors of the Peloponnese. It was a small district in central Greece, lying between Mounts Oeta (modern Oiti) and Parnassus and consisting of a narrow valley nowhere exceeding 4 miles (6 km) in breadth, with only four small townships. Doris had some importance because it commanded the road from Heraclea in Trachis to Amphissa,

Lahnda Language

2005-02-07T05:16:00.000-08:00

Also called Jatki, or Western Panjabi, language belonging to the western group of Indo-Aryan languages and spoken mainly in the western Punjab, Pakistan. One of the most important of its numerous dialects is Multani. Lahnda has a large number of Persian and Arabic loanwords and shares features with Kashmiri and Sindhi. There is little recorded literature in the language. The Muslims use the Persian form

Stefan, Josef

2005-02-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

Austrian physicist who in 1879 formulated a law which states that the radiant energy of a blackbody—a theoretical object that absorbs all radiation that falls on it—is proportional to the fourth power of its temperature. His law was one of the first important steps toward the understanding of blackbody radiation, from which sprang

Kediri

2005-02-03T14:25:00.000-08:00

Ancient Kadiri city, Jawa Timur provinsi (“province”), eastern Java, Indonesia. It is situated on the Brantas River, at the foot of Mount Wilis, 65 miles (105 km) southwest of Surabaya. It is the centre of a sugar industry and of trade in such agricultural products as coffee, tobacco, rice, and cassava. The city's light manufacturing includes textile and lumber mills and machine shops. The surrounding

Fadeyev, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

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

Fadeyev passed his youth in the Ural Mountains and in eastern Siberia, receiving his schooling in Vladivostok. He joined the Communist

Ibn Tumart

2005-01-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

In full Abu 'abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Tumart Berber spiritual and military leader who founded the al-Muwahhidun confederation in North Africa (see Almohads). The doctrine he taught combined a strict conception of the unity of God with a program of juridical and puritanical moral reform, based on a study of the Qur'an and of tradition.

Teófilo Otoni

2005-01-25T05:57:00.000-08:00

City, east central Minas Gerais state, Brazil, on the Rio Todos os Santos in the Rio Mucuri Valley, at 1,047 ft (319 m) above sea level. It was given city status in 1878. Teófilo Otoni is a trade centre for an agricultural hinterland in which coffee is the principal crop. Livestock raising is also of some importance, and the city has manufacturing and food-processing plants. Extensive mining

Farm Management

2005-01-24T02:14:00.000-08:00

Making and implementing of the decisions involved in organizing and operating a farm for maximum production and profit. Farm management draws on agricultural economics for information on prices, markets, agricultural policy, and economic institutions such as leasing and credit. It also draws on plant and animal sciences for information on soils, seed, and fertilizer,

Bonaparte, Louis

2005-01-21T23:50:00.000-08:00

After attending military school at Châlons, France, Louis accompanied Napoleon on the Italian campaign of

Graça Aranha, José Pereira Da

2005-01-19T17:46:00.000-08:00

Brazilian novelist and diplomat, best remembered for his novel Canaã (1902; Canaan, 1920), in which he explored the conflicts of the Brazilian ethnic melting pot through the varied perspectives and problems of two German immigrants. With its philosophical digressions and lyrical descriptions, Canaã, a “novel of ideas,” was influential in

Symbolist Movement

2005-01-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

Dramatists also took their lead from the French Symbolist poets, especially from Mallarmé. As drama critic for La Dernière Mode during the 1870s, Mallarmé opposed the dominant Realist theatre and called for a poetic theatre that would evoke the hidden mystery of man and the universe. Drama, for Mallarmé, should be a sacred rite in which the poet-dramatist revealed the

Aprey Faience

2005-01-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

Tin-glazed earthenware produced by the factory of Jacques Lallemant de Villehaut, Baron d'Aprey, established in 1744 on his estate at Aprey, near Dijon, Fr. The early pieces, which are heavy and rather crude, recall blue-and-white earthenware in the Rouen style or have Rococo forms decorated with chinoiseries (motifs influenced by the Chinese), flowers, and birds. From about

Galaxy, Clusters of galaxies as radio and X-ray sources

2005-01-13T02:35:00.000-08:00

Some clusters of galaxies contain a widespread intergalactic cloud of hot gas that can be detected as a diffuse radio source or as a large-scale source of X rays. The gaseous cloud has a low density but a very high temperature, having been heated by the passage of the galaxies of a cluster through it and by the emission of high-energy particles from active galaxies within

Social Behaviour In Animals, Dominance hierarchies and division of labour

2005-01-11T18:26:00.000-08:00

Social interaction in time and space is sometimes shown to the ethologist by patterns of following and leadership, although neither of these is necessarily social; following occurs in a dog tracking a rabbit, and leading is seen in an anglerfish luring a smaller fish for dinner by dangling a fleshy protuberance on the snout. In the Eurasian red deer (Cervus

Uzlovaya

2005-01-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Uzlovaja, city and centre of a rayon (sector), Tula oblast (province), western Russia. In Soviet times it developed as a centre of coal mining on the Moscow–Donets Basin railway; it was incorporated in 1938. Lignite (brown coal) is mined there. The city also has chemical industries and manufactures machinery for the mining industry. Pop. (1993 est.) 62,900.

Sackville, Thomas, 1st Earl Of Dorset

2005-01-05T02:17:00.000-08:00

Sackville settled in London in 1553. In 1558 he became a barrister and entered Parliament. He began an extended

Cole, Fay-cooper

2005-01-03T03:34:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Northwestern University in 1903, Cole did postgraduate work at the University of

Fin De Siècle

2005-01-01T03:22:00.000-08:00

Of, relating to, characteristic of, or resembling the late 19th-century literary and artistic climate of sophistication, escapism, extreme aestheticism, world-weariness, and fashionable despair. When used in reference to literature, the term essentially describes the movement inaugurated by the Decadent poets of France and the movement called Aestheticism in

Arts, Central Asian, The study of Central Asian music

2004-12-31T23:41:00.000-08:00

In the West the study of Central Asian music has until recently been restricted largely to travellers' accounts and analyses of small samples of music. By far the bulk of collection and study of Central Asian music of Turkistan and Siberia lay in the domain of Soviet scholars, who instituted systematic fieldwork as early as the 1920s; this literature remains largely

Naqshbandiyah

2004-12-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

Orthodox fraternity of Muslim mystics (Sufis) found in India, China, the Central Asian republics, and Malaysia. It claims a lineage extending back to Abu Bakr, the first caliph. Baha' ad-Din (d. 1384), founder of the order at Bukhara, Turkistan, was called an-naqshband, “the painter,” because of the impression of God that the repetition of his prescribed ritual prayer (dhikr) should leave upon

Sari

2004-12-26T21:10:00.000-08:00

Situated

Lamb, Willis Eugene, Jr.

2004-12-24T03:47:00.000-08:00

Lamb joined the faculty of Columbia University, New York City, in 1938 and worked in the Radiation Laboratory there during World War II. Though the quantum

Saw-scaled Viper

2004-12-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

The saw-scaled viper is irritable and aggressive and commonly hides under stones and in rodent runs. It is sand-coloured or gray,

Luria, Salvador

2004-12-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

Luria graduated from the University of Turin in 1935 and became a radiology specialist. He fled Italy for France in 1938 and went to the United States

Avoirdupois Weight

2004-12-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Traditional system of weight in the British Imperial System and the United States Customary System of weights and measures. The name derives ultimately from French avoir de pois (“goods of weight” or “property”). The avoirdupois pound contains 7,000 grains, or 256 drams of 27.344 grains each, or 16 ounces of 437 1/2 grains each. It is used for all products not subject to apothecaries' weight (for pharmaceutical

Hindu Kush

2004-12-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

The Hindu Kush is one of the great watersheds of Central Asia, forming part of the vast Alpine zone that stretches across Eurasia from east to west. It runs northeast to southwest and divides the valley of the Amu Darya (the ancient Oxus River) to the north from the Indus

Hunter, David

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

Hunter graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1822 and served in the Mexican War (1846–48). In 1862, while in command of Federal troops along the South Atlantic coast, he proclaimed the

Distribution Theory

2004-12-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

The theory of distribution involves three distinguishable sets of questions.

Yi Chong

2004-12-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

The great-great-grandson of King Sejong (1397–1450), Yi is said to have personified the ideal Korean aristocrat. He is as famous for his regal and generous disposition and his scholarly tastes as he is for his painting, and he is also well known as a poet and calligrapher.

Hawaii, Flag Of

2004-12-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

In 1793 Captain George Vancouver from Great Britain presented the Union Jack to the conquering king Kamehameha I, who was then uniting the islands into a single state; the Union Jack flew unofficially as the flag of Hawaii until 1816. That year Western advisers to the king recommended the addition of red, white, and blue stripes to the Union Jack, thus creating a distinctive

Palaeologus Family

2004-12-04T11:48:00.000-08:00

Palaeologus also spelled Palaiologos Byzantine family that became prominent in the 11th century, the members of which married into the imperial houses of Comnenus, Ducas, and Angelus. Michael VIII Palaeologus, emperor at Nicaea in 1259, founded the dynasty of the Palaeologi in Constantinople in 1261. His son Andronicus II (reigned 1282–1328) and his grandson Michael IX (died 1320) succeeded him as coemperors. Michael IX's son Andronicus

Quidde, Ludwig

2004-12-03T03:48:00.000-08:00

During 1889–96 he was editor of the Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft and in 1890 became professor and secretary of the Prussian Historical Institute

Latin Averroism

2004-12-01T05:50:00.000-08:00

The teachings of a number of Western Christian philosophers who, in the later Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, drew inspiration from the interpretation of Aristotle put forward by Averroës, a Muslim philosopher. The basic tenet of Latin Averroism was the assertion that reason and philosophy are superior to faith and knowledge founded on faith. The Latin

La Mothe Le Vayer, François De

2004-11-29T15:51:00.000-08:00

La Mothe Le Vayer became an avocat in the Parlement of Paris, taking over his father's seat, but soon resigned when the attraction of belles lettres became stronger. His work La

Bog

2004-11-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

Type of wetland ecosystem characterized by wet, spongy, poorly drained peaty soil. Bogs can be divided into three types: (1) typical bogs of cool regions, dominated by the growth of bog mosses, Sphagnum, and heaths, particularly Chamaedaphne (northern bogs with trees growing on them are often called muskegs); (2) fens, dominated by grasslike plants, grasses, sedges, and reeds;

Tonga

2004-11-25T05:17:00.000-08:00

Officially Kingdom of Tonga, Tongan Pule'anga Fakatu'i 'o Tonga, also called Friendly Islands, country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of 169 islands divided into three main island groups: Tongatapu in the south, Ha'apai in the centre, and Vava'u in the north. Isolated islands include Niuafo'ou, Niuatoputapu, and Tafahi in the far north and 'Ata in the far south. Tonga's total land area of 290 square miles (750 square kilometres) is dispersed between latitudes 15° to

Morante, Elsa

2004-11-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

Morante early exhibited literary talent, and, although her formal education remained incomplete, her marriage to the novelist Alberto

Raabe, Wilhelm

2004-11-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

After leaving school in Wolfenbüttel in 1849, Raabe was apprenticed for four years to a Magdeburg book dealer, during which time he read widely. Although he attended lectures at Berlin University, the important product of his time

Zahir Shah, Mohammad

2004-11-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

The sons of Mohammed Nader Shah, Zahir Shah and his brothers reasserted central government control during a period of anarchy and banditry in the late 1920s. Zahir Shah came to the throne at the age of 19, after the assassination of his father in November 1933, having previously served as

Rzeszów

2004-11-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Rzeszów województwo (province), southeastern Poland. It lies along the Wislok River at the juncture of the Carpathian Mountains and the Sandomierz Basin. The town lies on the main Kraków-Lviv (Ukraine) road and rail line. The city's economy has expanded greatly since World War II, and some of Poland's largest metal-production plants are located there, as

Abstract Poem

2004-11-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

A term coined by Edith Sitwell to describe a poem in which the words are chosen for their aural quality rather than specifically for their sense or meaning. An example from “Popular Song” in Sitwell's Façade (1923) follows: The red retriever-haired satyrCan whine and tease her and flatter,But Lily O'Grady,Silly and shady,In the deep shade is a lazy lady;Now Pompey's dead, Homer's

Amphion And Zethus

2004-11-10T15:21:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the twin sons of Zeus by Antiope. When children, they were left to die on Mount Cithaeron but were found and brought up by a shepherd. Amphion became a great singer and musician, Zethus a hunter and herdsman. After rejoining their mother, they built and fortified Thebes, huge blocks of stone forming themselves into walls at the sound of Amphion's lyre.

Economist, The

2004-11-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

Weekly magazine of news and opinion published in London and generally regarded as one of the world's preeminent journals of its kind. It provides wide-ranging coverage of general news and particularly of international and political developments and prospects bearing on the world's economy. It was founded in 1843 by Scotsman James Wilson as a voice against grain import

Alcorn State University

2004-11-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning near Lorman, Mississippi, U.S. It is a land-grant university consisting of schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Psychology, Nursing, and Agriculture and Applied Sciences. The university's School of Nursing is located in Natchez. In addition to undergraduate studies, Alcorn State offers several

Capture

2004-11-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

In nuclear physics, process in which an atomic nucleus absorbs a smaller particle. See beta decay; neutron capture.

Mughal Painting

2004-11-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Mogul, style of painting, confined mainly to book illustration and the production of individual miniatures, that evolved in India during the reigns of the Mughal emperors (16th–18th century). In its initial phases it showed some indebtedness to the Safavid school of Persian painting but rapidly moved away from Persian ideals. Probably the earliest example of Mughal painting

Cheever, Ezekiel

2004-10-31T14:32:00.000-08:00

Cheever was the son of a weaver and was educated at Christ's Hospital in London and in the classics at the University of Cambridge. Cheever came to America in 1637 as a Puritan in search of religious freedom. In 1638 he settled in New Haven, Conn., as master of the public school. Active in both civil

Arnauld, Antoine

2004-10-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

Arnauld was the youngest of the 10 surviving children of Antoine Arnauld, a Parisian lawyer, and Catherine Marion de Druy (see Arnauld family). He studied theology at

Anne

2004-10-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Queen of Great Britain from 1702 to 1714. The last Stuart monarch, she wished to rule independently, but her intellectual limitations and chronic ill health caused her to rely heavily on her ministers, who directed England's efforts against France and Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). The bitter rivalries between Whigs and Tories

F-16

2004-10-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

Also called Fighting Falcon, single-seat, single-engine jet fighter built by the General Dynamics Corporation (now part of the Lockheed Martin Corporation) for the United States and more than a dozen other countries. The F-16 originated in an order placed in 1972 for a lightweight, cost-effective air-to-air fighter; current models are also all-weather capable, and it is effective for ground attack as well.

Gaudin, Martin-michel-charles, Duc (duke) De Gaëte

2004-10-23T01:53:00.000-07:00

From 1773 Gaudin worked in those bureaus of the Contrôle Générale des Finances that handled the collection of taxes, and he eventually rose to be a head of the tax department. In 1791, during the French Revolution, he was made a

Spooner Amendment

2004-10-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

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

Ufj Holdings, Inc.

2004-10-19T04:22:00.000-07:00

Japanese bank holding company that became one of the world's largest banking institutions through the merger of Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank, and Toyo Trust in 2001. With headquarters in Osaka, UFJ operates banks, issues credit cards, provides venture capital funding, and offers other banking and financial management services.

Akhlame

2004-10-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Akhlamû, ancient Semitic nomads of northern Syria and Mesopotamia and traditional enemies of the Assyrians. They are first mentioned about 1375 BC in an Egyptian source (one of the Tell el-Amarna letters), in which they are said to have advanced as far as the Euphrates River; about the same time there was also evidence of them in Assyria, at Nippur, and around the Persian Gulf. During the

Tapestry, Eastern Asia

2004-10-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Called k'o-ssu (cut silk), tapestry has long been produced in China, traditionally being made entirely of silk; Chinese tapestries are extremely fine in texture and light in weight. The weave is finished perfectly on both sides so that the tapestries are reversible. The warps are vertical in relation to the pattern, rather than horizontal as in European weaving. Sometimes

Kielland, Alexander Lange

2004-10-13T03:04:00.000-07:00

The scion of an aristocratic family, Kielland took a law degree in 1871 and purchased a brickyard, which he managed for nine years. Discontented, he went to Paris in 1878 and the next year published a collection

Braconid

2004-10-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Many species are valuable in the control

Tooke, John Horne

2004-10-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Born John Horne, the son of a poultry dealer, he assumed (1782) the additional surname Tooke to honour his friend

Isidore Of Sevilla, Saint

2004-10-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Saint Isidore of Seville , Latin Isidorus Hispalensis theologian, last of the Western Latin Fathers, archbishop, and encyclopaedist, whose Etymologies, an encyclopaedia of human and divine subjects, was one of the chief landmarks in glossography (the compilation of glossaries) and was for many centuries one of the most important reference

Bricriu's Feast

2004-10-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

Middle Irish Fled Bricrenn in early Irish literature, a comic, rowdy account of rivalry between Ulster warriors. One of the longest hero tales of the Ulster cycle, it dates from the 8th century and is preserved in The Book of the Dun Cow (c. 1100). Bricriu, the trickster, promises the hero's portion of his feast to three different champions, Lóegaire Buadach, Conall Cernach, and Cú Chulainn. A violent dispute

Crab Spider

2004-10-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

The body of the crab spider is gray or brown in colour and is about 12 mm (0.5 inch) long. Members of Misumena

Islam, The legacy of Muhammad

2004-09-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

From the very beginning of Islam, Muhammad had inculcated a sense of brotherhood and a bond of faith among his followers, both of which helped to develop among them a feeling of close relationship that was accentuated by their experiences of persecution as a nascent community in Mecca. The strong attachment to the tenets of the Qur'anic revelation and the conspicuous

Hyde De Neuville, Jean-guillaume, Baron

2004-09-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

Devoted to Louis XVI, Hyde de Neuville remained a royalist agent after the outbreak of the Revolution. After taking part in a royalist insurrection in Berry (1796), he attempted first to discredit the Directory, then to convince Napoleon to reestablish the Bourbons on the

Scandinavian Literature, Denmark

2004-09-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

The 18th century was a fertile period in Danish literature. The great name in the first half of the century was that of Ludvig Holberg, a Norwegian by birth. His most important contributions, written for the Danish theatre, which opened in 1722, were 32 comedies of character and manner, including some moral allegories in his old age. His aim was to create a modern Danish literature

Scharoun, Hans (bernhard)

2004-09-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

Scharoun received his training at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin from 1912 to 1914. After World War I he became a follower of the Berlin architect Bruno Taut,

Rocky Mountains, Mineral resources

2004-09-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Minerals have been of economic significance since the mid-19th century, although worldwide market fluctuations often have caused mine closures. Copper, easily the most valuable of the many metallic resources of the Rocky Mountains, has been extracted from large mines in British Columbia, Montana, Utah, and Arizona. The Rockies are more noted for their many underground

Lebed, Aleksandr Ivanovich

2004-09-19T23:16:00.000-07:00

Soviet general and politician (b. April 20, 1950, Novocherkassk, near Rostov, Russian S.F.S.R., U.S.S.R.—d. April 28, 2002, Abakan, Russia), was a decorated military hero who made headlines in 1991 when he refused to lead troops against Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin in the aborted coup against Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev; in 1996 he unsuccessfully ran against Yeltsin in the Russian Federation's presidential

Henze, Hans Werner

2004-09-18T05:24:00.000-07:00

Henze was a pupil of the noted German composer Wolfgang Fortner and of René Leibowitz, the leading French composer of 12-tone music. One of Henze's early works, the Violin Concerto (1947), demonstrated his mastery

Nabatiyah At-tahta, An-

2004-09-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Town, southern Lebanon. It is the major centre of tobacco growing in Lebanon. Other agricultural products are grapes, olives, figs, and grains. Most of the inhabitants of the town are Shi'ite Muslims. A main road crosses the region connecting an-Nabatiyah at-Tahta to Sidon via the road along the Mediterranean Coast, to Marj 'Uyun, and southeastward to the Israeli border and the

Alastor

2004-09-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

Any of certain avenging deities or spirits, especially in Greek antiquity. The term is associated with Nemesis, the goddess of divine retribution who signified the gods' disapproval of human presumption. Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude (1816) was a visionary work in which he warned idealists (like himself) not to abandon “sweet human love” and

1054, Schism Of

2004-09-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

The relation of the Byzantine Church to the Roman may be described as

Sa'adia Ben Joseph

2004-09-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

Arabic Sa'id Ibn Yusuf Al-fayyumi Jewish exegete, philosopher, and polemicist whose influence on Jewish literary and communal activities made him one of the most important Jewish scholars of his time. His unique qualities became especially apparent in 921 in Babylonia during a dispute over Jewish calendrical calculations. He produced his greatest

Earth, Structure and composition of the solid Earth

2004-09-08T03:08:00.000-07:00

David G. Smith (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences (1981), is a highly readable, illustrated collection of articles on the Earth's surface and interior. Two collections of articles from Scientific American are The Dynamic Earth (1983), on the geologic processes occurring inside and around the planet; and Robert Decker and Barbara Decker (eds.), Volcanoes and the Earth's Interior (1982), on volcanoes and the rocks occurring in the mantle. Minoru Ozima, The Earth: Its Birth and Growth (1981; originally published in Japanese, 1979), gives a general account of the evolution of the Earth based on geochemical research. Martin H.P. Bott, Interior of the Earth: Its Structure, Constitution, and Evolution, 2nd ed. (1982), provides a thorough summary of the nature of the Earth's interior. Two works with a more technical slant are Jean-Claude De Bremaecker, Geophysics, the Earth's Interior (1985), an introductory textbook; and Donald L. Turcotte and Gerald Schubert, Geodynamics: Applications of Continuum Physics to Geological Problems (1982), a mathematical text on processes occurring within the Earth. See also G.C. Brown and A.E. Mussett, The Inaccessible Earth (1981), on both geophysics and geochemistry.

Fischer, Kuno

2004-09-05T03:51:00.000-07:00

With other writings on Gotthold Lessing, Friedrich Schiller, and J.W. von Goethe, Fischer contributed to the philosophy of aesthetics. Eventually he subscribed to Hegelian

Heterochlorid

2004-09-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

Any protozoan of the plantlike flagellate order Heterochlorida. Heterochlorids have two flagella of unequal length and chromatophores whose pigments vary from yellow to yellow-green. Food reserves are stored as leucosin (probably a carbohydrate) and lipids. Some genera may be amoeboid during part of the life cycle; others may include a palmella stage, a condition

Sarangpur

2004-09-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

City, northwestern Madhya Pradesh state, central India, just east of the Kali Sindh River. Sarangpur is located on an ancient site. It has a number of Jaina and Hindu ruins, including a 12th-century Jaina statue. It rose to importance in the 13th century under Sarang Singh Khichi, after whom it is named, and was a chief Mughal trade centre. It passed to Dewas princely state by treaty

Calasso, Roberto

2004-08-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

While a student at the University of Rome, where he received a degree in English literature, Calasso began working for Adelphi Edizioni, a publisher of classic and modern literature.

Awoonor, Kofi

2004-08-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

Awoonor studied at the University College of Ghana (B.A., 1960), University College, London (M.A., 1970), and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Ph.D., 1972). He lectured in English and African literature at the University of Ghana, directed the Ghana Film Corporation,

Jib

2004-08-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

In sailing ships, triangular sail rigged to a stay extending from the foremast, or foretopmast, to the bowsprit or to a spar, the jibboom, that is an extension of the bowsprit. The jib is first known to have been used on one-masted vessels. Its use began to spread about 1600 and extended to larger war vessels about 1700. Jibs proved handy in helping to steer and were much valued—e.g., on

Aethra

2004-08-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

Later she guarded Helen after she had been stolen from Sparta by Theseus; in retribution

Jouhaux, Léon

2004-08-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

A worker in a match factory from the age of 16, Jouhaux soon became one of the leading propagandists of revolutionary syndicalism. He was national secretary of the matchworkers' union

Armour, Philip Danforth

2004-08-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

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