SafeClock

Bohr, Aage N.

2005-04-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

Bohr was educated at the University of Copenhagen, where he received his doctorate in 1954. During the 1940s he worked as assistant to his father, Niels Bohr (1922 Nobel physics laureate),

Gray, Robert

2005-04-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

Gray went to sea at an early age, and after serving in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War, he entered the service of a Massachusetts trading company. In command first of the “Lady Washington” and later of the “Columbia,

Guadalajara

2005-04-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

Guadalajara was founded in 1531 and was relocated several times in the following decade, under pressure from Indians. During the 16th century

Aerospace Industry, Inspection technologies

2005-04-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

The most critical portion of maintenance work is inspection to detect cracks, flaws, debonds, delamination, corrosion, and other detrimental changes before they threaten the aircraft. Inspectors do much of their work visually, often using nothing more sophisticated than a flashlight and a mirror. For most of the remainder, they use ultrasound, X-rays, eddy currents,

Caccia

2005-04-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

(Italian: “hunt,” or “chase”), one of the principal Italian musical forms of the 14th century. It consisted of two voices in strict canon at the unison (i.e., in strict melodic imitation at the same pitch), and often of a non-canonic third part, composed of long notes that underlay the canonic voices, followed by a ritornello. Caccia texts were typically realistic, animated scenes such

New Castle

2005-04-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1822) of Henry county, eastern Indiana, U.S. It lies along the Blue River, 50 miles (80 km) east of Indianapolis. Founded in 1819 and named by Ezekiel Leavell for his hometown in Kentucky, it was incorporated in 1839. In 1900 a decade of expansion began when automobile and piano manufacturing, as well as other industries, were started there. During this same period, the large-scale commercial

Fiscal Policy

2005-04-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

The usual goals of both fiscal and monetary policy are to achieve or maintain full employment, to achieve or

Ritchie, Michael

2005-03-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

American film director (b. Nov. 28, 1938, Waukesha, Wis.—d. April 16, 2001, New York, N.Y.), directed a number of notable films, including The Candidate (1972), Prime Cut (1972), and Smile (1975). Ritchie achieved prominence with his first feature film, Downhill Racer (1969), which starred Robert Redford. Redford later played the title role in The Candidate. Among Ritchie's other films were The Bad News Bears (1976), Fletch (1985), and The

Biofeedback

2005-03-31T06:45:00.000-08:00

Information supplied instantaneously about an individual's own physiological processes. Data concerning a person's cardiovascular activity (blood pressure and heart rate), temperature, brain waves, or muscle tension is monitored electronically and returned, or “fed back,” to that person by a gauge on a meter, a light, or a sound. Though such activity of the autonomic

Francescatti, Zino

2005-03-30T18:33:00.000-08:00

A child prodigy, he studied violin from age three. He made his debut at five, soloed successfully in Beethoven's Violin Concerto at 10, and was an

Arnauld, Antoine

2005-03-30T04:41:00.000-08:00

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

Aung San Suu Kyi

2005-03-29T00:15:00.000-08:00

Aung San Suu Kyi was two years old when her father, then the de facto prime minister of what would shortly become independent Burma, was assassinated.

Caldas

2005-03-28T04:44:00.000-08:00

Departamento, west-central Colombia. It is situated in the Cordillera Central of the Andes Mountains and is bounded by the Magdalena River on the east and the Cauca River on the west. Penetrated by Spaniards early in the 16th century, Caldas gained prominence as a gold-mining region. It was created a department in 1905. Coffee is the chief product, but other agricultural products

Moline

2005-03-28T01:46:00.000-08:00

City, Rock Island county, northwestern Illinois, U.S. It lies just above the upper rapids of the Mississippi River (there crossed by the Twin Bridges to Iowa). With East Moline, Rock Island, and Davenport (qq.v.), Iowa, it forms the Quad Cities. The site was laid out in 1843 by a milling firm. Its name is apparently from the French moulin (“mill”). John Deere, inventor of an improved steel plow,

Chamber Music

2005-03-27T02:12:00.000-08:00

For well over a century after its inception about 1600, chamber music was supported primarily by the nobility. Aristocratic establishments customarily employed groups of musicians who served as composers, conductors, and performers of a variety of operatic, orchestral, and chamber music; and traditionally the audiences were restricted to the patrons and their guests.

Amroha

2005-03-26T21:11:00.000-08:00

Town, northwestern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, west-northwest of Moradabad town, on the Sot River. A marketplace for agricultural produce, its chief industries are hand-loom weaving, pottery making, and sugar milling. Colleges of Agra University are located there, as is the shrine of Sheikh Saddu, a Muslim saint. Amroha is connected by rail with Moradabad and Delhi. Pop.

Wellman, William (augustus)

2005-03-25T21:40:00.000-08:00

Wellman left secondary school in Newton, Mass., to take up professional ice hockey. In 1917 he volunteered for ambulance duty in France, soon joined the French air corps, flew in combat, and was shot down. He returned to the United States

Guadalquivir River

2005-03-25T11:39:00.000-08:00

The Guadalquivir is the second longest river of Spain (after the Ebro), and it has several distinctive characteristics.

Dietz, Robert S.

2005-03-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Dietz was educated at the University of Illinois (B.S., 1937; M.S., 1939; Ph.D., 1941). After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, he became a civilian scientist with the U.S. Navy. In this capacity, he supervised the oceanographic research on

Azaïs, Pierre-hyacinthe

2005-03-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

Philosopher whose optimism was rooted in the idea that human experience is imbued with a natural and harmonious balance between joy and sadness and that it is in this balance that meaning can be discovered. He advocated the idea in the work that first brought him fame, Des compensations dans les destinées humaines, 3 vol. (1809). In a following work,

Cabimas

2005-03-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Zulia estado (“state”), northwestern Venezuela. It lies on the northeastern shore of Lake Maracaibo and is an important centre for the Ambrosio oil fields. Just to the south of the city is La Salina refinery. Cabimas is linked by highway to other oil centres on the lakeshore and, via the General Urdaneta Bridge, to Maracaibo, 20 miles (30 km) to the northwest across

Stingray

2005-03-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

The dasyatid

Monarch

2005-03-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

In all monarchines

Botulism

2005-03-21T11:25:00.000-08:00

Poisoning by the toxin, called botulinus toxin, or botulin, produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. This poisoning results most frequently from the eating of improperly sterilized canned foods containing the toxin. C. botulinum bacteria cannot survive in the presence of oxygen and normally live in the soil, where they form heat-resistant spores that may contaminate

Beast Fable

2005-03-20T22:47:00.000-08:00

A prose or verse fable or short story that usually has a moral. In beast fables animal characters are represented as acting with human feelings and motives. Among the best-known examples in Western literature are those attributed to the legendary Greek author Aesop. The best-known Asian collection of beast fables is the Pañca-tantra of India.

Suez Canal

2005-03-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

Arabic Qanat as-Suways, sea-level waterway running north-south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean and the Red seas. The canal separates the African continent from Asia, and it provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around the Indian and western Pacific oceans. It is one of the world's most heavily used shipping lanes. The canal

Carleton, Mount

2005-03-19T10:54:00.000-08:00

Highest point (2,680 feet [817 m]) in the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) of Canada, 70 miles (110 km) east of Edmundston, N.B., near Nictau and Nepisiguit lakes. Structurally it is a monadnock, or erosional remnant, rising above the 1,000-foot (305-metre) level of the surrounding highlands, which are an extension of the Appalachian region. The mountain, focus of a

Cosmetic

2005-03-18T09:51:00.000-08:00

The earliest cosmetics known to archaeologists were in use in Egypt in the fourth millennium BC, as evidenced by

Religious Symbolism And Iconography, Diagrammatic and emblematic

2005-03-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

Symbolic representations are usually depicted in diagrammatic or ideographic modes as signs, abbreviations, images, and objects of all kinds that indicate a larger context. In this category belong the simplified or abstract forms of objects of nature or other objects and geometrical forms, as well as colours, letters, and numbers. The circle, the disk, the rosette,

Anne Of Brittany

2005-03-17T15:09:00.000-08:00

Daughter of Duke Francis II of Brittany and Margaret of Foix, Anne succeeded to her father's duchy on Sept. 9, 1488. The future of the duchy depended on her marriage. In desperation Anne allied herself with

Great Fire Of London

2005-03-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, September 2, 1666, the fire began accidentally in the house of the king's baker in Pudding Lane near London Bridge. A violent east wind encouraged the flames, which raged during

Cell

2005-03-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

In biology, the basic unit of which all living things are composed. As the smallest units retaining the fundamental properties of life, cells are the “atoms” of the living world. A single cell is often a complete organism in itself, such as a bacterium or yeast. Other cells, by differentiating in order to acquire specialized functions and cooperating with other specialized

Reptile, The embryo

2005-03-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

The embryo of a reptile develops a thin sac, the amnion, that envelops the embryo and becomes filled with a watery fluid. The entire structure serves to protect the embryo from desiccation and mechanical injury. A parchment-like shell, which also contributes mechanical protection, is produced by the female parent and surrounds the amnion; between the shell and the

Great Australian Bight

2005-03-15T11:26:00.000-08:00

The head of

Aluminum Processing

2005-03-15T06:50:00.000-08:00

Aluminum, or aluminium (Al), is a silvery white metal with a melting point of 660° C (1,220° F) and a density of 2.7 grams per cubic centimetre. The most abundant metallic element, it constitutes 8.1 percent of the Earth's crust. In nature it occurs chemically combined with oxygen and other elements. In the pure state it is soft and ductile, but

Hawke, Robert

2005-03-14T04:54:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the University of Western Australia with a degree in law, Hawke spent three years at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He was briefly an economics researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra and in 1958 joined the Australian

New Zealand, Annexation and further settlement

2005-03-14T02:06:00.000-08:00

In 1838 the British government decided upon at least partial annexation. In 1839 it commissioned William Hobson, a naval officer, as lieutenant governor and consul to the Maori chiefs, and he annexed the whole country, the North Island by the right of cession from the Maori chiefs and the South Island by the right of discovery. At first New Zealand was legally part of New South

A-erh-chin Mountains

2005-03-13T02:52:00.000-08:00

The range falls into three divisions. The southwest

Computers, Minicomputers

2005-03-12T18:14:00.000-08:00

Around 1965, roughly coterminous with the development of time-sharing, a new kind of computer came on the scene. Small and relatively cheap (typically 1/10 the cost of the Big Iron machines), the new machines were stored-program computers with all the generality of the computers then in use but stripped down. The new machines were called minicomputers. (About the same time, the

Rausing, Gad Anders

2005-03-12T15:40:00.000-08:00

Swedish industrialist (b. May 19, 1922, Bromma, near Stockholm, Swed.—d. Jan. 28, 2000, Lausanne, Switz.), was the son of the developer of a sealed, laminated paperboard beverage box that did not require refrigeration and thus revolutionized the milk and juice industries. Rausing (with his younger brother, Hans) built the family business, Tetra Pak (later Tetra Laval Group), from a small Scandinavian

Automotive Industry, The industry in the United States

2005-03-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

At the end of World War II the American automobile industry had intact facilities, somewhat enlarged by construction for military needs. There was also a great demand for automobiles. This situation invited several attempts by newcomers to enter the industry, but all proved unsuccessful. The most promising, Kaiser-Frazer Corporation, lasted some 10 years but lacked

Nebuchadrezzar Ii

2005-03-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

Nebuchadrezzar II was the oldest son and successor of Nabopolassar, founder of the Chaldean empire. He is known from cuneiform inscriptions, the Bible and later Jewish sources,

Augustine Of Canterbury, Saint

2005-03-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

Probably of aristocratic birth, Augustine was prior of the Benedictine monastery of St. Andrew, Rome, when Pope St. Gregory I the Great chose him to lead an unprecedented mission

Jefferson, Thomas, Life at Monticello

2005-03-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

The domestic context at Monticello is the subject of several important books. Sarah N. Randolph, The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson (1871, reprinted 1978), provides an affectionate portrait by his descendants. Jack McLaughlin, Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder (1988, reissued 1990), goes beyond architectural issues to explore the daily lives of all the residents on the mountain. Elizabeth Langhorne, Monticello: A Family Story (1987, reissued 1989), focuses on the white residents. Edwin Morris Betts (ed.), Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book (1953, reprinted 1987), reproduces Jefferson's plantation records. Susan R. Stein, The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello (1993), recovers the material objects Jefferson gathered inside the mansion. Merrill D. Peterson (ed.), Visitors to Monticello (1989), reproduces the accounts of firsthand observers.

Foster, Stephen

2005-03-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

Foster grew up on the urban edge of the Western frontier. Although formally untutored in music, he had a natural musical bent and began to write songs as a young

Gte Corporation

2005-03-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

General Telephone was founded in 1926 as Associated Telephone Utilities by Sigurd Odegard, a Wisconsin phone-company owner who wanted to acquire small independent phone companies.

Moselle River

2005-03-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

German Mosel, river, a west-bank tributary of the Rhine River, flowing for 339 miles (545 km) across northeastern France and western Germany. Rising on the forested slopes of the Vosges massif, the river meanders past Épinal, Pont-Saint-Vincent, Toul, Frouard, Metz, and Thionville before leaving France to form the frontier between Germany and Luxembourg for a short distance. The river enters

Pyrgos

2005-03-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Pírgos, chief town and capital of the nomós (department) of Ilía, western Peloponnese, Greece, situated on the agricultural plain of the lower Alpheus River. Its port, Katákolon, to the west, was founded in 1857 to handle the export of Corinth raisins (currants). Pyrgos lies near ancient Letrinoi, a town on the Sacred Way from Elis to Olympia. The town is linked by rail to Pátrai and Kalá

Ouro Prêto

2005-03-08T11:32:00.000-08:00

Within a decade of its founding in 1698 as a mining settlement, Ouro Prêto became the centre of the greatest gold and silver rush in the Americas to that date. It still resembled a

Bradlaugh, Charles

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

Son of a poor legal clerk, Bradlaugh served in the British army (1850–53), followed his father's occupation for a time, and then became

Murieta, Joaquín

2005-03-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

A Joaquín Murieta was recorded as baptized in Sonora, Mex., in 1830; while still a teenager, he married and migrated with his wife to California (1848). In the Gold Rush he tried prospecting,

Cloisonnism

2005-03-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

Painting method used in the style known as Synthetism (q.v.).

Tulancingo

2005-03-05T03:35:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Hidalgo estado (“state”), north-central Mexico. Tulancingo lies along the Río Grande de Tulancingo, at 7,290 feet (2,222 m) above sea level. It was taken from the Toltec Indians by the Spaniards in the 1520s. The city, which contains several colonial churches, became the seat of a bishopric in 1862. It is an agricultural (barley and alfalfa) and industrial centre and has several

General Motors Corporation

2005-03-05T01:10:00.000-08:00

(GM) American corporation that became the world's largest vehicle manufacturer in 1931 and maintained that status into the 21st century. It also ranks among the world's largest industrial corporations. GM was founded in 1908 to consolidate several motorcar companies and today operates manufacturing and assembly plants and distribution centres throughout the United States

Charpak, Georges

2005-03-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

Charpak's family moved from Poland to Paris when he was seven years old. During World War II Charpak served in the resistance and was imprisoned by Vichy authorities in 1943. In 1944 he was deported

Wu-han

2005-03-04T00:45:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Wuhan fifth largest city of the People's Republic of China, in Hupeh Province, located at the confluence of the Han and Yangtze rivers. It is a conurbation of three adjacent cities—Han-k'ou (Hankow), Han-yang, and Wu-ch'ang; the last is the capital of Hupeh Province. Han-k'ou lies on the north bank of the Yangtze at the mouth of the Han. Immediately across the Han from it is the older city

Sea Fan

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

(Gorgonia), any of a genus of invertebrate marine animals of the order Gorgonacea (class Anthozoa, phylum Cnidaria). It is a variety of coral composed of polyps, cylindrical sessile (attached) forms, that grow together in a flat, fanlike pattern; hence, the name sea fan. Each polyp in the colony has some multiple of six tentacles, as opposed to the eightfold symmetry of the similar

Swabian Alp

2005-03-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

German Swäbische Alb, continuation of the Jura Mountains in Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. The upland plateau extends approximately 100 miles (160 km) from the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) to the Wörnitz River at an average elevation of about 2,300 feet (700 m). The plateau rises in a steep northwestern scarp some 1,300 feet (400 m) above the valleys of the Neckar, Rems, and Fils rivers to its highest

Zama, Battle Of

2005-03-03T05:53:00.000-08:00

(202 BC), victory of the Romans led by Scipio Africanus over the Carthaginians commanded by Hannibal. It was the last and decisive battle of the Second Punic War. The battle took place at a site identified by the Roman historian Livy as Naraggara (now Saqiyat Sidi Yusuf, Tunisia). The name Zama was given to the site (which modern historians have never precisely identified) by the Roman

Frederick, Pauline

2005-03-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

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

United Kingdom, The beginning of the Wars of the Roses

2005-03-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

The so-called Wars of the Roses was the struggle between the Yorkist and Lancastrian descendants of Edward III for control of the throne and of local government. The origins of the conflict have been the subject of much debate. It can be seen as brought about as a result of Henry VI's inadequacy and the opposition of his dynastic rival Richard, Duke of York, but local feuds

Egypt, World War I and independence

2005-03-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

In November 1914 Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire and in December proclaimed a protectorate over Egypt, deposed 'Abbas, and appointed his uncle, Husayn Kamil, with the title of sultan. Kitchener was succeeded by Sir Henry MacMahon, and he by Sir Reginald Wingate, both with the title of high commissioner. Although Egypt was not required to provide troops, the people,

Anath

2005-02-28T20:06:00.000-08:00

Considered a beautiful young girl, she was often designated “the Virgin” in ancient texts. Probably one of the best-known of the Canaanite deities, she was famous for her youthful vigour and ferocity in battle; in that respect she was adopted as a special favourite by the Egyptian king Ramses

Aschelminth

2005-02-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

Phylum name Aschelminthes, or Nemathelminthes, phylum of wormlike invertebrates, mostly of microscopic size. The phylum includes five diverse classes: Nematoda (or Nemata), Rotifera, Gastrotricha, Kinorhyncha (or Echinodera), and Nematomorpha. The American zoologist Libbie H. Hyman, in her classic textbooks on the invertebrates, originally included Priapulida as a class of the aschelminths, but Priapulida are

Hypochondriasis

2005-02-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

Mental disorder characterized by an excessive preoccupation with one's own health and a tendency to fear or believe that one has a serious disease based on the presence of insignificant physical signs or symptoms. A hypochondriac may become convinced that he is ill even though such physical signs are completely absent, or he may exaggerate the medical significance

Saint Vincent And The Grenadines

2005-02-26T17:05:00.000-08:00

In June 1998 the New Democratic Party (NDP), headed by Sir James Mitchell, narrowly won a fourth straight term in the general election. The NDP obtained 8 of the 15 House of Assembly

Paradoxides Series

2005-02-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

Rocks deposited during the Middle Cambrian Period in western Europe and Scandinavia and in eastern North America (the Middle Cambrian Period lasted from 520 to 512 million years ago). The Paradoxides Series is characterized by the fossil occurrence of trilobites of the family Paradoxididae and other trilobites, such as the genera Agnostus and Eodiscus.

Baal

2005-02-26T07:33:00.000-08:00

God worshiped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, especially among the Canaanites, who apparently considered him a fertility deity and one of the most important gods in the pantheon. As a Semitic common noun baal (Hebrew ba'al) meant “owner” or “lord,” although it could be used more generally; for example, a baal of wings was a winged creature, and, in the plural, baalim

O'flaherty, Liam

2005-02-25T23:55:00.000-08:00

O'Flaherty abandoned his training

Rhyme

2005-02-25T00:20:00.000-08:00

Also spelled rime the correspondence of two or more words with similar-sounding final syllables placed so as to echo one another. Rhyme is used by poets and occasionally by prose writers to produce sounds appealing to the reader's senses and to unify and establish a poem's stanzaic form. End rhyme (i.e., rhyme used at the end of a line to echo the end of another line) is most common, but internal,

Shan

2005-02-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

Shan Tai Southeast Asian people who live primarily in eastern and northwestern Myanmar (Burma) and also in Yunnan province, China. The Shan are the largest minority group in Myanmar, making up nearly one-tenth of the nation's total population. In the late 20th century they numbered more than 4 million. Their language, commonly known as Shan, belongs to the Tai linguistic group, which

Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard

2005-02-24T07:06:00.000-08:00

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

Setter

2005-02-23T06:07:00.000-08:00

The English setter has served as a hunter for more than 400 years and has been bred in its present form since about 1825. Characteristically

Kammerer, Paul

2005-02-22T23:14:00.000-08:00

The results of Kammerer's experiments with salamanders and other amphibians were widely published in technical papers and books, the first of these appearing in 1904 and the last published posthumously

Hyesan

2005-02-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

City, northern North Korea. As a frontier city lying on the upper stream of the Yalu River (Amnok-kang), it was a fortress during the Yi dynasty (1392–1910), under the name of Hyesanjin. In winter it is one of the coldest places in Korea; a temperature of -44° F (-42° C) was recorded in 1915. It is the starting point of water transportation on the Yalu. Logs from the nearby Paektu Mountain area, which contains

Social Protection, "Truth Commissions."

2005-02-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

Increasing use was made of "truth commissions" as a method for identifying and documenting human rights violations and helping to bring perpetrators of abuses to justice. Although these fact-finding bodies had no authority to prosecute crimes, they were designed to obtain and publicize information about past atrocities as a first step toward acknowledging

Adelaide, Saint

2005-02-21T08:50:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Rudolf II (d. 937), king of Burgundy, and Bertha of Swabia, Adelaide was married (947) to Lothair, who succeeded his father, Hugh of Arles, as king of Italy

Bulbil

2005-02-20T19:49:00.000-08:00

Also spelled bulbel , also called bulblet, in botany, tiny secondary bulb that forms in the angle between a leaf and stem or in place of flowers on certain plants. Bulbils, called offsets when full-sized, fall or are removed and planted to produce new plants. They are especially common among such plants as onions and lilies.

Abbott, Berenice

2005-02-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

Hank O'Neal, Berenice Abbott: American Photographer (1982); Bonnie Yochelson, Berenice Abbott: Changing New York (1997).

Tsuruga

2005-02-19T06:56:00.000-08:00

City, Fukui ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It faces Tsuruga Bay of the Sea of Japan. A flourishing port since early historic times, it was one of the main centres of communication with the Asian mainland and a major shipment centre for the former national capitals of Nara and Kyoto. Tsuruga's industrial base was developed after World War II with factories producing synthetic

Feng Tao

2005-02-19T00:24:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Feng Dao Chinese Confucian minister generally given credit for instigating the first printing of the Confucian Classics, in 932. As a result, Confucian texts became cheap and accessible, the number of scholars and the knowledge of literature greatly increased throughout the nation, and the number of people able to compete in the

Grant, Bernie

2005-02-18T20:47:00.000-08:00

In full Bernard Alexander Montgomery Grant British politician who, with Paul Boateng and Diane Abbott, was one of the first persons of African descent to win election to the House of Commons. The son of educators, he attended St. Stanislaus College, one of the finest schools in British Guiana. In the early 1960s he moved to the United Kingdom and became

Hoover, J. Edgar

2005-02-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hoover studied law at night at George Washington University, where he received degrees as bachelor of laws in 1916 and as

Rinehart, Mary Roberts

2005-02-17T01:08:00.000-08:00

Mary Roberts graduated from the Pittsburgh Training School for Nurses in 1896. That same year she married physician Stanley M. Rinehart. She and her husband started a family, and she took up writing in 1903 as a result of difficulties created by financial

Anaya, Rudolfo A.

2005-02-16T01:31:00.000-08:00

Anaya graduated from the University of New Mexico (B.A., 1963; M.A., 1968; M.A. 1972). He worked as a public school teacher in Albuquerque (1963–1970) before becoming director of counseling

Allen, Elizabeth Anne Chase Akers

2005-02-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Chase grew up in Farmington, Maine, where she attended Farmington Academy (later Maine State Teachers College). She is said to have had a poem published in the Boston Olive

Talbot, Mary Anne

2005-02-15T00:48:00.000-08:00

Talbot's mother died at her birth, and she believed herself to be the illegitimate child of William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot. She was seduced in 1792 by Captain Essex Bowen and accompanied him to Santo Domingo in the Caribbean, disguised

South American Indian Languages, Quechumaran

2005-02-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Quechumaran, which is composed of the Quechuan and Aymaran families, is the stock with the largest number of speakers—7,000,000 for Quechuan and 1,000,000 for Aymaran—and is found mainly in the Andean highlands extending from southern Colombia to northern Argentina. The languages of this group have also resisted displacement by Spanish, in addition to having gained in numbers of

Platinum Group, Assaying

2005-02-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

Assaying ores and concentrates for platinum-group metals is extremely difficult, since the concentration of any particular metal may be less than one part per million. Initial concentration is achieved by fire assay. The assay bead is dissolved in aqua regia and the metals separated and concentrated, often by solvent extraction. Dissolution of the bead is complicated

Resting Potential

2005-02-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

The imbalance of electrical charge that exists between the interior of electrically excitable nerve cells and their surroundings. The resting potential of electrically excitable cells lies in the range of -60 to 95 millivolts (1 millivolt = 0.001 volt), with the inside of the cell negatively charged. If the inside of a cell becomes more electronegative (i.e., if the potential is

Medicine, United States

2005-02-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

Whereas in Britain the doctor of first contact is regularly a general practitioner, in the United States the nature of first-contact care is less consistent. General practice in the United States has been in a state of decline in the second half of the 20th century, especially in metropolitan areas. The general practitioner, however, is being replaced to some degree

'arab, Shatt Al-

2005-02-11T07:44:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “Stream of the Arabs”), river in southeastern Iraq, formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at the town of Al-Qurnah. It flows southeastward for 120 miles (193 km) and passes the Iraqi port of Basra and the Iranian port of Abadan before emptying into the Persian Gulf. For about the last half of its course the river forms the border between Iraq and Iran; it

Aerospace Industry, Building of subassemblies

2005-02-11T02:31:00.000-08:00

Assembly of aerospace vehicles at the prime contractor or systems integrator begins with the accumulation of subassemblies. An example of a typical subassembly for a transport aircraft is the rear fuselage section, which is itself composed of several segments. (These segments are often built by subcontractors, who in turn deal with their own suppliers of the

General Foods Corporation

2005-02-11T00:18:00.000-08:00

The company was incorporated in 1922, having developed from the earlier Postum Cereal Co. Ltd., founded by C.W. Post (1854–1914) in 1895 in Battle Creek, Mich. After a number of experiments, Post marketed his first product—the cereal beverage called Postum—in 1895. Other profitable products followed, notably Grape Nuts (1897), Post Toasties

International Trade, The European Community

2005-02-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

The EEC remained a leading proponent of economic integration until 1993, when, renamed the European Community (EC), it became the principal component of the European Union (EU), a broader entity seeking economic and political cooperation. The EC was formed by the Maastricht Treaty (formally known as the Treaty on European Union; 1991), which went into force on November 1, 1993. The treaty

Earth, Radar altimetry of the ocean surface

2005-02-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

As noted above, the geoid over the oceans coincides with mean sea level provided that the dynamic effects of winds, tides, and currents are removed. The surface of the sea acts as a reflector for radar waves, and a satellite equipped with a radar altimeter can be used to sound from the satellite's instantaneous position to the sea. The accuracy with which the sea surface

Signoret, Simone

2005-02-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

Born in Germany to French nationals, Signoret was reared from the age

China, Social changes

2005-02-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

Many measures had been taken to make the educational system

Levi Ben Gershom

2005-02-08T03:40:00.000-08:00

In 1321 Levi wrote his first work, Sefer ha-mispar (“Book of the Number”), dealing with arithmetical operations, including extraction of roots. In De sinibus, chordis et arcubus (1342; “On Sines, Chords, and Arcs”) he presented an original derivation of the sine theorem for plane triangles

Pyramus And Thisbe

2005-02-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hero and heroine of a Babylonian love story related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. Though their parents refused to consent to their union, the lovers at last resolved to flee together and agreed to meet under a mulberry tree. Thisbe, first to arrive, was terrified by the roar of a lioness and took to flight. In her haste she dropped her veil, which the lioness tore to pieces