WiseBag

Graham, Martha

2005-04-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

Influential American dancer, teacher, and choreographer of modern dance, whose ballets and other works were intended to “reveal the inner man.” Over more than 50 years she created more than 180 works, from solos to large-scale works, in most of which she herself danced. She gave modern dance new depth as a vehicle for

China, The chariot

2005-04-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

The light chariot, with 18 to 26 spokes per wheel, first appeared, according to the archaeological and inscriptional record, around 1200 BC. Glistening with bronze, it was initially a prestigious command car used primarily in hunting. The 16 chariot burials found at Hsiao-t'un raise the possibility of some form of Indo-European contact with China, and there is little doubt that the

Stuttgart Ballet

2005-04-02T18:03:00.000-08:00

German Stuttgarter Ballett, resident ballet company of Stuttgart, Ger., that emerged in the 1960s as an internationally prominent group. The modern Stuttgart Ballet evolved from the royal ballet that resided at the court of the Duke of Württemberg as early as 1609. A municipally supported company under the royal patronage from the 17th through the 19th century, it occasionally attracted such prominent

Artabanus

2005-04-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Ardaban minister of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I of Persia, whom he murdered in 465. According to one Greek source, Artabanus had previously killed Xerxes' son Darius and feared that the father would avenge him; other sources relate that he killed Xerxes first and then, pretending that Darius had done so, induced Darius' brother Artaxerxes I to avenge the “parricide.” Artabanus was

Schauspiel

2005-03-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

Any spectacle or public performance. In late 18th-century German literature the word took on the more specific meaning of a play that has characteristics of both a tragedy and a comedy in that it is a serious play with a happy ending and in which the hero does not die.

Cushing, Caleb

2005-03-30T21:16:00.000-08:00

After serving in the state legislature and the U.S. Congress (1835–43), Cushing was appointed U.S. commissioner to China. There he negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia (1844) establishing the principle of extraterritoriality. In 1852 he became an associate

Anazarbus

2005-03-29T03:57:00.000-08:00

In full Caesarea ad Anazarbus , modern Agaçli , formerly Çeçenanavarza former city of the ancient province of Cilicia in Anatolia that was important in the Roman and Byzantine periods. It was located in what is now south-central Turkey. The original native settlement was refounded by the Romans in 19 BC, following a visit by Augustus. It rivaled Tarsus, the Cilician capital, in the 3rd century AD, and under Diocletian became the seat of the separate

Iceland, The status of women

2005-03-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

Outwardly the feminist movement may seem uniquely strong in Iceland. A woman, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, served as president of the republic for four terms (1980–96), enjoying great popularity. A Women's Alliance has been represented in the parliament since 1983. However, the Icelandic president typically is not influential in politics, and the Women's Alliance has yet to participate

Nitrogen Fixation

2005-03-27T19:22:00.000-08:00

Under ordinary conditions nitrogen does not react with other elements. Yet nitrogenous compounds are found in all fertile soils,

Insurance, Japan

2005-03-26T00:54:00.000-08:00

Insurance in Japan is mainly in the hands of private enterprise, although government insurance agencies write crop, livestock, forest fire, fishery, export credit, accident and health, and installment sales credit insurance as well as social security. Private insurance companies are regulated under various statutes. Major classes of property insurance written

Dual Alliance

2005-03-25T14:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Franco-russian Alliance, a political and military pact that developed between France and Russia from friendly contacts in 1891 to a secret treaty in 1894; it became one of the basic European alignments of the pre-World War I era. Germany, assuming that ideological differences and lack of common interest would keep republican France and tsarist Russia apart, allowed its Reinsurance Treaty (q.v.) with

Altare Glass

2005-03-24T14:42:00.000-08:00

Type of Italian glassware produced in the town of Altare, near Genoa. The Altare glass industry was established in the 11th century by glassmakers from Normandy and developed independently of the much better known glassworks of Venice. During the 15th century the great demand for Venetian glass and, consequently, its profitability led the Venetians to confine glassmakers

Radiation Measurement, Pair production

2005-03-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

A third gamma-ray interaction process is possible when the incoming photon energy is above 1.02 MeV. In the field of a nucleus of the absorber material, the photon may disappear and be replaced by the formation of an electron-positron pair. The minimum energy required to create this pair of particles is their combined rest-mass energy of 1.02 MeV. Therefore, pair production

Kantor, Mackinlay

2005-03-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

After finishing high school, Kantor became a reporter for The Webster City Daily News, of which his

San Francisco Conference

2005-03-21T19:01:00.000-08:00

The conference was attended by delegations from the 46 nations that had signed

Yamagata

2005-03-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

Prefecture (ken), northern Honshu, Japan, on the Sea of Japan. Much of its 3,601 sq mi (9,327 sq km) is mountainous. Bandai-Asahi National Park, stretching from north to south, includes the Dewa Sangan (Three Mountains of Dewa [Gassan, Yudono-san, Haguro-san]), which are sacred to the Shugen-do sect of Buddhism; the granite mountains associated with Asahi-dake (6,135 ft [1,870 m]); and Iide-san (6,906 ft). In the northwest,

Blood Analysis

2005-03-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Laboratory examination of a sample of blood to obtain information on its physical and chemical properties and on its components. Hundreds of hematological tests and procedures have been developed, and many can be carried out simultaneously on one sample of blood with such instruments as autoanalyzers. Blood analysis includes the following areas of study: (1) determination

Earthshine

2005-03-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

At this time an observer on the Moon would see the Earth as a bright body, four times the diameter of the Moon as seen from Earth, almost completely illuminated

China, The Ch'ing Empire

2005-03-18T02:14:00.000-08:00

After 1683 the Ch'ing rulers turned their attention to consolidating control over their frontiers. Taiwan became part of the empire, and military expeditions against perceived threats in north and west Asia created the largest empire China has ever known. From the late 17th to the early 18th century Ch'ing armies destroyed the Oyrat Empire based in Dzungaria and incorporated

Naber, John

2005-03-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

At the 1976 Olympics, Naber became the first swimmer to break the 2-minute barrier

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler

2005-03-17T01:05:00.000-08:00

Ella Wheeler from an early age was an avid reader of popular literature, especially the novels of E.D.E.N. Southworth, Mary Jane Holmes, and Ouida

Benavente Y Martínez, Jacinto

2005-03-16T01:10:00.000-08:00

One of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1922. He returned drama to reality by way of social criticism: declamatory verse giving way to prose, melodrama to comedy, formula to experience, impulsive action to dialogue and the play of minds. Benavente showed a preoccupation with

Bonaparte, Napoléon-joseph-charles-paul

2005-03-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

After the French Revolution of 1848, he was elected to the National Assembly as a representative of Corsica and assumed the name of Jérôme. Notwithstanding his ostensible

Switzerland

2005-03-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

Many Swiss were considerably startled in 1997 at finding themselves being buffeted by an onslaught of criticism, some of it from within Switzerland itself, concerning their country's actions during and after World War II. (See Sidebar

Alabama, Soils

2005-03-15T01:53:00.000-08:00

There are four main soil zones found in Alabama. In the far north, the Tennessee valley contains the dark loams and red clays that add vivid dashes of colour to the landscape when exposed. Farther south lie the varied soils of a mineral belt, and these are succeeded by the rich limestone and marl soils of the Black Belt. Along the coast of Alabama there are sandy loams and

Yukaghir

2005-03-12T18:47:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Yukagir or Jukagir , self-name Odul remnant of an ancient human population of the tundra and taiga zones of Arctic Siberia east of the Lena River in Russia, an area with one of the most severe climates in the inhabited world. Brought close to extinction by privation, encroachment, and diseases introduced by other groups, they numbered some 1,100 in the late 20th century. Although they still generally inhabit

Antarctic Ocean

2005-03-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

Also called Southern Ocean, the southern portions of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans and their tributary seas surrounding Antarctica. Unbroken by any other continental landmass, the Antarctic Ocean's narrowest constriction is the Drake Passage, 600 miles (1,000 km) wide, between South America and the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The structure of the ocean floor includes a continental shelf

U2

2005-03-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

Irish postpunk band that by the end of the 1980s had established itself not only as one of the world's most popular bands but also as one of the most innovative. The members are Bono (byname of Paul Hewson; b. May 10, 1960, Dublin, Ireland), the Edge (byname of David Evans; b. August 8, 1961, Barking, Essex [now in Greater London], England), Adam Clayton (b. March 13, 1960, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England), and Larry Mullen,

Poynting Vector

2005-03-11T08:14:00.000-08:00

Where m is the permeability of the medium through which the radiation passes, E is the electric field intensity, and B is the magnetic induction. Thus,

Wigglesworth, Sir Vincent (brian)

2005-03-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

English entomologist, noted for his contribution to the study of insect physiology. His investigations of the living insect body and its tissues and organs revealed much about the dynamic complexity of individual insects and their interactions with the environment. His Insect Physiology (1934) is often

Maha-sivaratri

2005-03-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “Great Night of Siva”), the most important sectarian festival of the year for devotees of the Hindu god Siva. The 14th day of the dark half of each lunar month is specially sacred to Siva, but when it occurs in the month of Magha (January-February) and, to a lesser extent, in the month of Phalguna (February-March), it is a day of particular rejoicing. The preceding day the participant

Carter Family

2005-03-09T15:54:00.000-08:00

Singing group consisting of Alvin Pleasant Carter, known as A.P. Carter (b. April 15, 1891, Maces Spring, Va., U.S.—d. November 7, 1960, Kentucky),his wife Sara, née Dougherty (b. July 21, 1898, Flatwoods, Virginia—d. Jan. 8, 1979, Lodi, Calif.), and his sister-in-law Maybelle Carter, née Addington (b. May 10, 1909, Nickelsville, Va.—d. Oct. 23, 1978, Nashville, Tenn.), a leading force in the spread and popularization of Appalachian Mountain folk

Industrial Glass

2005-03-09T02:11:00.000-08:00

Solid material that is normally lustrous and transparent in appearance and that shows great durability under exposure to the natural elements. These three properties—lustre, transparency, and durability—make glass a favoured material for such household objects as windowpanes, bottles, and lightbulbs. However, neither any of these properties alone nor all of

Finnish Literature

2005-03-08T02:10:00.000-08:00

Although a number of talented poets wrote in Finnish in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was only with Aleksis Kivi that a genuine

Chechnya

2005-03-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia republic in southwestern Russia, situated on the northern flank of the Greater Caucasus range. Chechnya is bordered by Russia proper on the north, Dagestan republic on the east and southeast, Georgia on the southwest, and Ingushetia republic on the west. Chechnya falls into three physical regions from south to north. In the south is the Greater Caucasus, the crest

Puerto Montt

2005-03-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1853, the settlement was named for Manuel Montt, then president of Chile. Early German settlers have given it a distinctive appearance. Puerto Montt is a commercial centre for an agricultural

Ballooning

2005-03-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

Ballooning began in 1783 with the flight of the Montgolfier brothers' balloons in France, but the earliest uses were scientific and military. Sport ballooning began

Navas De Tolosa, Battle Of Las

2005-03-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

Immobilized for several years by his crushing defeat at Alarcos (1195) at the hands

Chelmsford

2005-03-04T17:03:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Middlesex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies 24 miles (39 km) north of Boston; the city of Lowell is adjacent to the northeast. Settled in 1633, it was named for Chelmsford, England, and incorporated in 1655. An iron foundry using local bog ore was built there in 1656. During the early 19th century, the production of lumber, textiles, and granite was important. Services,

Yoccoz, Jean-christophe

2005-03-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

Yoccoz was awarded the Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Zürich,

Spoon River

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

River in west-central Illinois, U.S. It rises in southwestern Bureau county and flows south and southwest to a point near Lewistown, where it turns southeast, joining the Illinois River opposite Havana after a course of 160 miles (257 km). The Dickson Mounds, a rich archaeological area, are near the confluence of the two rivers. Spoon River was made famous by Edgar Lee Masters, the

Kagoshima

2005-03-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

City and ken (prefecture), southernmost Kyushu, Japan, including the island groups of Osumi, Tokara, and Amami. It occupies an area of 3,539 square miles (9,167 square km). Its southern coast is deeply indented by Kagoshima Bay. The active volcano, On-take, was an island in the bay until an eruption in 1914 connected it to the eastern shore. Rough topography, volcanic-ash soil, and relative isolation

Kean, Ellen

2005-03-02T01:58:00.000-08:00

Ellen was born of English parents and first appeared at Covent Garden, London, in 1823 as Olivia in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. She then performed at Bath (1824–26), at Drury Lane Theatre, London (1826–29), and at Covent Garden (1829–36), where

Jhering, Rudolf Von

2005-02-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

Jhering taught Roman

Gabon, Finance and trade

2005-02-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

Membership in the Franc Zone gives Gabon considerable stability. The CFA (Communauté Financière Africaine) franc is automatically convertible to French francs, giving trading partners confidence in Gabonese currency. The government has also encouraged foreign investors with its policy of economic liberalism, although there is governmental direction and

Polar Bear Provincial Park

2005-02-28T02:49:00.000-08:00

Wilderness park, northern Ontario, Canada, on Hudson and James bays. A huge undeveloped area of 9,300 square miles (24,087 square km), it is the largest of Ontario's provincial parks; it was established in 1970. Polar Bear Provincial Park is accessible only by plane or boat, and travel within the park is restricted in order to help preserve the abundant wildlife, which includes caribou, bearded

Yang Ti

2005-02-26T22:12:00.000-08:00

He acceded to the throne in 604, and it is generally agreed that he did so after assassinating his father and his elder brother. Embarking on a costly program of construction and conquest, in 608 he built a great canal between the rice-producing areas

Jhering, Rudolf Von

2005-02-26T19:23:00.000-08:00

French Organisation De L'unité Africaine (OUA) labour organization founded in 1973 at Addis Ababa, Eth., on the initiative of the Organization of African Unity and replacing the former All-African Trade Union Federation (AATUF; founded in 1961) and the African Trade Union Confederation (ATUC; founded in 1962). The ATUC from its founding had encouraged member affiliation with other international union organizations, while the

Bry, Theodor De

2005-02-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

De Bry fled the Spanish persecution of Flemish Protestants and lived in Strassburg (Strasbourg) from 1570 to 1578 and then in Frankfurt am Main, where he established an engraving and publishing business. He twice visited London, where he executed such works as 12 plates for The Procession

Jabal Shammar

2005-02-25T23:13:00.000-08:00

Mountainous area, northwestern Saudi Arabia, bounded by the regions of Hejaz on the west and Ash-Sharqiyah on the east. The principal features of the region are the two great mountain ranges of Aja' (granites) and Salma (basalts) and the immense rolling sand dunes of An-Nafud. The oasis town of Ha'il is situated on the southern flank of the Aja', while an older capital, Fayd, lies in the

Earth Sciences, Ore deposits and mineralogy

2005-02-25T13:54:00.000-08:00

The German scientist Georgius Agricola has with much justification been called the father of mineralogy. Of his seven geologic books, De natura fossilium (1546; “On Natural

Africa

2005-02-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

Initially, the province comprised the territory that had been subject to Carthage in 149 BC; this was an area of about 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km), divided from the kingdom of

Medicine, History Of, Hellenistic and Roman medicine

2005-02-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

In the following century the work of Aristotle, regarded as the first great biologist, was of inestimable value to medicine. A pupil of Plato at Athens and tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle studied the entire world of living things. He laid what can be identified as the foundations of comparative anatomy and embryology, and his views influenced scientific thinking

Great Hall

2005-02-22T14:27:00.000-08:00

Main apartment in a medieval manor house, monastery, or college, in which meals were taken. In large manor houses it also served other purposes: justice was administered there, entertainments given, and often at night the floor was strewn with rushes so that many of the servants could sleep there.

Ghat

2005-02-22T07:12:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Gat, oasis, southwestern Libya, near the Algerian border. Located on an ancient Saharan caravan route, it was a slave-trading centre and the object of European exploration in the 19th century. Ghat lies west of the Wadi (watercourse) Tanezzuft in hilly sandstone country, near the Jibal Akakus (mountains) and the Tadrart plateau. A nearby offshoot of the mountains, Idinen, is a legendary

Xanthus

2005-02-21T23:31:00.000-08:00

Modern Kinik principal city of ancient Lycia. It is situated on a cliff above the mouth of the Koca (Xanthus) River in what is now western Turkey. The early history of Xanthus is unclear: although it is mentioned in early Lycian inscriptions, no Bronze Age remains have been found within the city. According to the Iliad, the Lycians, led by the hero Sarpedon, were the most prominent allies

Florence Of Worcester

2005-02-21T02:02:00.000-08:00

English monk, usually accepted as the author of Chronicon ex chronicis, which is valuable for late Anglo-Saxon and early post-Conquest history. Its basis is the universal history (from the creation to 1082) compiled by Marianus Scotus, an Irish recluse at Mainz. The author of the Chronicon, like Marianus, was a careful annalist with a marked interest in chronology. He supplements

Paleography, Abbreviations

2005-02-20T01:52:00.000-08:00

Abbreviations are the principal problem confronting paleographers. They were extensively used in Roman times by lawyers to avoid repetition of technical terms and formulas. Abbreviations fall into two classes, suspension and contraction. Suspension, omission of the end of a word and indication by a point or sign, was used in Roman public inscriptions—e.g., IMP.(ERATOR),

Biblical Literature, Early theories about the Synoptic problem

2005-02-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

Since the 1780s, Matthew, Mark, and Luke have been referred to as the Synoptic Gospels (from synoptikos, “seen together”). The extensive parallels in structure, content, and wording of Matthew, Mark, and Luke make it even possible to arrange them side by side so that corresponding sections can be seen in parallel columns. John Calvin, the 16th-century Reformer, wrote a commentary

Wainganga River

2005-02-19T02:33:00.000-08:00

River, tributary of the Godavari River, western India. It rises in the Mahadeo Hills in south-central Madhya Pradesh state and flows 360 miles (580 km) south to join the Wardha River (a headwater of the Godavari) northeast of Kagaznagar in Maharashtra state. Along the final 142 miles (229 km) of its course, the river forms the boundary between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh states and is known as

Feminine Ending

2005-02-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

In prosody, a line of verse having an unstressed and usually extrametrical syllable at its end. In the opening lines from Robert Frost's poem “Directive,” the fourth line has a feminine ending while the rest are masculine: Back out of all this now too much for us,Back in a time made simple by the lossOf detail, burned, dissolved, and broken off Like graveyard marble sculpture

Kuldja

2005-02-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kulja, Chinese (Wade-Giles) I-ning, or (Pinyin) Gulja, or Yining, city in western Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. It is the chief city, agricultural market, and commercial centre of the I-li River valley, which is a principal route from the Sinkiang region into Central Asia. The valley is far wetter than any other part of Sinkiang and has rich grazing land. Kuldja has been a strategic centre since early times, being known

Clark, Mark

2005-02-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

A graduate (1917) of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Clark served overseas in World War I. Early in 1942 he became chief of staff of army ground forces. Later that year, as deputy commander in chief

Beinum, Eduard (alexander) Van

2005-02-17T04:59:00.000-08:00

At 17 van Beinum entered the Amsterdam Conservatory after a year of playing in the string section of the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra. A series of minor appointments led to conductorships of the Haarlem Orchestra and Haarlem Roman Catholic

Rinzai

2005-02-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

One of two major Zen Buddhist sects in Japan; it stresses the abrupt awakening of transcendental wisdom, or enlightenment. Among the methods it practices are shouts (katsu) or blows delivered by the master on the disciple, question-and-answer sessions (mondo), and meditation on paradoxical statements (koan), all intended to accelerate a breakthrough of the normal boundaries

Moraine

2005-02-15T16:13:00.000-08:00

A ground moraine consists of an irregular blanket of till deposited under

Catalufa

2005-02-15T03:39:00.000-08:00

Any of certain fishes of the bigeye (q.v.) group.

Khalaf, Salah

2005-02-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

Khalaf's family fled to the Gaza Strip in 1948 during the conflict that accompanied Israel's independence. In 1951 he went to study at the

Canastra Mountains

2005-02-13T07:49:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Serra Da Canastra, mountain range on the Planalto Central (Brazilian Highlands) in western Minas Gerais estado (“state”), southeastern Brazil. Extending 150 miles (240 km) from the Goías state border in the north to the upper Grande River in the south, the Canastra Mountains rise to an average elevation of 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and form the eastern border of the Triângulo Mineiro, a grassland region between the

Henry Vii

2005-02-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

Also called (1457–85) Henry Tudor, Earl Of Richmond king of England (1485–1509), who succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and founded the Tudor dynasty.

Chondrichthian, Annotated classification

2005-02-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

Guatemala, Settlement patterns

2005-02-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

Approximately 60 percent of the population of Guatemala is concentrated within the volcanic uplands and adjacent Pacific coastal plain to the south and west of Guatemala City. A little more than 10 percent live to the east and south, while only about 2 percent reside within the Petén. The remaining populace resides in the region of the sierras. Of the urban dwellers who

Lennox, Charlotte

2005-02-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

Charlotte Ramsay was the daughter of a British army officer who was said to have been lieutenant governor of the colony of New York.

Ambassador

2005-02-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, ambassadors were one of the four classes of diplomatic agents who were formally defined and recognized. Ambassadors were deemed to represent the person and dignity of the sovereign (or head of state) and were entitled to personal access to the sovereign

Uzbek Language

2005-02-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

In Uzbek roughly two main dialect groups can be distinguished. One includes

Ritual, The history of religions approach

2005-02-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

A third approach to the study of ritual is centred on the studies of historians of religion. The distinction between this approach and the first two is that though many historians of religions agree with functionalists that the origin-evolutionary theories are useless as hypotheses, they also reject functionalism as an adequate explanation of ritual. Most historians

Dance, African

2005-02-09T08:20:00.000-08:00

Performing art deeply woven into the social fabric of Africa and generally involving aspects of music and theatre as well as rhythmic bodily movement. See also music, African, and mask.

Econometrics

2005-02-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

The statistical and mathematical analysis of economic relationships, often serving as a basis for economic forecasting. Such information is sometimes used by governments to set economic policy and by private business to aid decisions on prices, inventory, and production. It is used mainly, however, by economists to study relationships between economic

X Club

2005-02-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ruth Barton, “ ‘Huxley, Lubbock, and Half a Dozen Others': Professionals and Gentlemen in the Formation of the X Club, 1851–1864,” Isis, 89(3):410–444 (September 1998), discusses the interests and purposes that brought the group together. Two articles survey the importance of the club: Roy MacLeod, “The X-Club: A Social Network of Science in Late-Victorian England,” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 24(2):305–322 (April 1970), is the fuller account; J. Vernon Jensen, “The X Club: Fraternity of Victorian Scientists,” The British Journal for the History of Science, vol. 5, part 1, no. 17, pp. 63–72 (June 1970), is also useful. Ruth Barton, “ ‘An Influential Set of Chaps': The X-Club and Royal Society Politics 1864–85,” The British Journal for the History of Science, vol. 23, part 1, no. 76, pp. 53–81 (March 1990), details how club members achieved and used power within the Royal Society.

Anatolia

2005-02-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

This article discusses the history and cultures of ancient Anatolia beginning

Goa

2005-02-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

State of India. Comprising a mainland district on the country's western coast and an offshore island, it is located 250 miles (400 kilometres) south of Bombay. It is bounded by the states of Maharashtra on the north and Karnataka on the east and south and by the Arabian Sea on the west. The total area is 1,429 square miles (3,702 square kilometres). The capital is Panaji (Panjim). Formerly a Portuguese

Adams, Franklin Pierce

2005-02-06T03:26:00.000-08:00

Adams' newspaper career began in 1903, with the Chicago Journal. The next year he went to New York, where

Ramcaritmanas

2005-02-05T05:44:00.000-08:00

(“Sacred Lake of the Acts of Rama”), version, written in a dialect of Hindi, of the Sanskrit epic poem the Ramayana, one of the masterpieces of medieval Hindu literature and a work with significant influence on modern Hinduism. Written in the 16th century by the poet Tulsidas (q.v.), the poem is distinguished both by its great expression of love for a personal god and by its exemplification

Bulgarus

2005-02-05T01:06:00.000-08:00

Although popular tradition claims that all four doctors—Bulgarus, Martinus Gosia, Hugo da Porta Ravennate, and Jacobus

Pachacamac

2005-02-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Large pre-Columbian ruin located in the Lurin Valley on the central coast of present-day Peru. The earliest major occupation and construction of Pachacamac dates to the Early Intermediate Period (c. 200 BC–AD 600) and to a culture generally known as Early Lima (Maranga, Interlocking style). The terraced adobe pyramid and temple known as the Temple of Pachacamac belongs to this time

Kammatthana

2005-02-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Sanskrit Karmasthana in Theravada Buddhist tradition, one of the objects of mental concentration or a stage of meditation employing it. According to Visuddhi-magga (a 5th-century CE Pali text by Buddhaghosa), there are 40 kammatthanas; an individual should choose the object of mental concentration that is in accordance with his own character or inclination. Each type of disposition has its

China, Seizure of power

2005-02-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

The period from mid-1966 to early 1969 constituted the Red Guard phase of the Cultural Revolution, and these years in turn included several important turning points. The latter half of 1966 witnessed not only the Red Guard mobilization (including Red Guard reviews of more than 1,000,000 youths at a time by Mao Zedong and Lin Biao in Peking) but also the removal from power of key Political Bureau

Albert, Heinrich

2005-02-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

Albert studied composition with his cousin Heinrich Schütz at Dresden. While he attended the University of Leipzig his musical activities were encouraged

Aurangzeb

2005-02-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

Aurangzeb was the third son of the emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (for whom the Taj Mahal was built). He grew up as a serious-minded and devout youth, wedded to the Muslim orthodoxy of the day and free from the royal Mughal traits of sensuality and drunkenness. He early showed signs of military and administrative ability; and these qualities, combined with a taste for power,

Anthraquinone Dye

2005-02-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

Anthraquinone acid dyes contain sulfonic acid groups that render them soluble in water and substantive for wool and silk; that is, they have an affinity for these fibres

Lance

2005-02-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

The combination of lance and stirrup gave the armoured knights of the European

Social War

2005-02-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

The allies in central and southern Italy had fought side by side with Rome in several wars and had grown restive under Roman autocratic rule, wanting instead Roman citizenship and the privileges it conferred. In 91 BC the Roman tribune Marcus Livius

Valentinian Iii

2005-02-01T03:59:00.000-08:00

Latin in full Flavius Placidius Valentinianus Roman emperor from 425 to 455. At no time in his long reign were the affairs of state personally managed by Valentinian. He was the son of the patrician Flavius Constantius (who ruled as Constantius III in 421) and Galla Placidia. When his uncle, the emperor Honorius, died in 423, the usurper John ruled for two years before he was deposed. Then Placidia controlled

Cystinosis

2005-02-01T00:17:00.000-08:00

Inborn error of metabolism resulting in the deposition of crystals of the amino acid cystine in various body tissues. Tissues that are particularly affected include the bone marrow, liver, cornea (where the crystals can be seen), and kidney. When they are about six to nine months old, infants with cystinosis refuse to eat, grow poorly, and urinate excessively; these symptoms

Zion

2005-01-30T22:10:00.000-08:00

City, Lake county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It lies along Lake Michigan, near the Wisconsin border. Zion was founded in 1901 by John Alexander Dowie as the headquarters of his Christian Catholic Church. Until 1935 it was theocratically governed, and the church controlled all business activities. The church schools were closed in 1939, after which a modern educational system was

Sungari River

2005-01-30T16:53:00.000-08:00

The Sungari rises in the Ch'ang-pai Mountains in the border area between Kirin and North Korea. Its upper course runs north through rugged

Nitrite

2005-01-29T04:34:00.000-08:00

Any member of either of two classes of compounds derived from nitrous acid. Salts of nitrous acid are ionic compounds containing the nitrite ion, NO-2, and a positive ion such as Na+ in sodium nitrite (NaNO2). Esters of nitrous acid are covalent compounds having the structure R-O-N-O, in which R represents a carbon-containing combining group such as ethyl (C2H5) in ethyl nitrite.

Computers, Integrated circuits

2005-01-29T00:33:00.000-08:00

William Shockley, a coinventor of the transistor, started Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories in 1955 in his hometown of Palo Alto, California. In 1957 his eight top researchers left to form Fairchild Semiconductor Company, funded by Fairchild Camera and Instrument Company. Along with Hewlett-Packard, another Palo Alto firm, Fairchild Semiconductor was the seed of what

Kirkland, Joseph

2005-01-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

Kirkland, who readily acknowledged his indebtedness to the English realist Thomas Hardy, was also affected by his own personal experiences as a publisher's clerk, railroad auditor, soldier, coal-mine operator,

China, KMT opposition to radicals

2005-01-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

The two parties competed for direction of nationalist policy, control of mass organizations, and recruitment of new members. Under Comintern coaching, the Communist strategy was to try to split the KMT, drive out its conservative members, and turn it to an ever more radical course. In August 1925, KMT conservatives in Canton tried to stop the leftward trend. One of the strongest