LooseChain

Stahl, Franklin W.

2005-04-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

Educated at Harvard (A.B., 1951) and the University of Rochester (Ph.D., 1956), Stahl pursued his research

Bulimia

2005-04-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

Bulimia generally begins during adolescence or early adult life and is more prevalent in

Hoceima, Al-

2005-04-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

Spanish Alhucemas, city, northern Morocco. The city, founded by Spaniards in 1926 as Villa Sanjurjo, still has a large Spanish population. Situated on Al-Hoceima Bay, it is a small fishing port, food-processing centre, and beach resort just northwest of the islets of the Spanish plaza (enclave) of Alhucemas. It is connected by road with Nador and Tétouan. Pop. (1982) mun., 41,662.

Adams, Herbert Baxter

2005-04-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

The son of a successful merchant and manufacturer, Adams graduated from Amherst College, Massachusetts, in 1872 and attended lectures in Germany between 1874 and 1876 at Göttingen,

Kubrick, Stanley

2005-04-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

Having become interested in photography in high school, Kubrick became a staff photographer

Azeotrope

2005-04-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, a mixture of liquids that has a constant boiling point because the vapour has the same composition as the liquid mixture. The boiling point of an azeotropic mixture may be higher or lower than that of any of its components. The components of the solution cannot be separated by simple distillation.

Sogetsu

2005-03-31T21:16:00.000-08:00

20th-century Japanese school of floral art that introduced the zen'ei (“avant-garde”) ikebana style in which freedom of expression is preeminent. Founded by Teshigahara Sofu in 1927, the school rose to prominence after World War II. It appeals to contemporary tastes by largely disregarding the classic formal rules; containers of any shape and material are used, and man-made materials

Tectonic Landform

2005-03-30T23:13:00.000-08:00

Whereas erosion shapes landforms, their origins lie in tectonic processes that build the major structures of the Earth. The word tectonic is derived from the Greek word tekton, which

Bute

2005-03-30T16:10:00.000-08:00

Island, Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Buteshire, Scotland. It is the most important of a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean inlet known as the Firth of Clyde. It is separated from the mainland by the Kyles of Bute, a narrow winding strait. To the south the Sound of Bute separates Bute from the larger island of Arran. Bute is about 15 miles (24 km) long and covers

Smith, Bernard

2005-03-29T01:11:00.000-08:00

Smith was an apprentice of the German organ builder Christian Förmer but adapted easily to the English style of building after his emigration there in 1660. Some years after building an instrument for the Chapel Royal at London, Smith was named king's organ maker (1681). Thereafter he built many important

Pacific Islands, The island ecosystem

2005-03-28T04:25:00.000-08:00

To know what it is like to live on a Pacific island, the intermixture of physical and biological characteristics of the particular island must be considered. Each of the myriad ecological systems in the Pacific is a unique complex of living organisms and their nonliving environment. Each is a functional system of interacting components that tends toward an equilibrium

Essex

2005-03-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

Administrative, geographic, and historic county of eastern England, extending along the North Sea coastline between the Thames and Stour estuaries. The administrative county covers an area within the larger geographic county, which in turn covers a part of the original historic county of Essex. The administrative county comprises 12 districts: Basildon, Braintree

Decroly, Ovide

2005-03-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

Belgian pioneer in the education of handicapped and normal children. He was a physician who became involved in a school for abnormal children and consequently became interested in education. One outcome of this interest was his establishment in 1901 of the Institute for Abnormal Children in Uccle, Belg., a school that provided a homelike

Esteban Echeverría

2005-03-26T05:32:00.000-08:00

Partido (county) at the southern limits of Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, in Buenos Aires provincia. Created in 1913 from portions of the partidos of Lomas de Zamora and San Vicente, Esteban Echeverría is an agricultural (and, more recently, low-income suburban) zone with an area of 146 square miles (377 square km), characterized by green villas that support dairy farms and orchards

Dactyl

2005-03-25T01:51:00.000-08:00

Metrical foot consisting of one long (classical verse) or stressed (English verse) syllable followed by two short, or unstressed, syllables. Probably the oldest and most common metre in classical verse is the dactylic hexameter, the metre of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and of other ancient epics. Dactylic metres are fairly rare in English verse, one difficulty being that

Shih Ta-k'ai

2005-03-24T19:54:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Shi Dakai one of the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion, the widespread uprising that gripped South China between 1850 and 1864. The most literate of the Taipings, Shih was an avowed enemy of the alien Ch'ing (Manchu) rulers of China. In the early part of the 20th century, he came to be revered as a hero of the Chinese nationalist

Skamander

2005-03-24T00:29:00.000-08:00

Group of young Polish poets who were united in their desire to forge a new poetic language that would accurately reflect the experience of modern life. Founded in Warsaw about 1918, the Skamander group took its name, and the name of its monthly publication, from a river of ancient Troy. The group was founded by Julian Tuwim and other poets. Tuwim, a lyrical poet of emotional

China, Attacks on cultural figures

2005-03-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

As the Cultural Revolution

Laterality

2005-03-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

The most obvious example of laterality is handedness, the tendency to use one hand or the other to perform activities. It is the usual practice to classify persons as right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous (two-handed).

Nyaya

2005-03-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

Like the other systems, Nyaya is both a philosophy and a religion; its ultimate concern is to bring an

Top

2005-03-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

A toy having a body of conical, circular, or oval shape, often hollow, with a point or peg on which it turns or is made to whirl. If given a knock, a spinning top will go around in a circle at a slant; if spun with a slant at the start, it will quickly stand upright until halted by friction. Its physical properties are similar to those of the gyroscope. Some tops, as the common peg top,

Biblical Literature, The rise and fall of Saul

2005-03-20T23:24:00.000-08:00

The man selected to become the first monarchical ruler of Israel was Saul, son of Kish, a wealthy Benjamite landowner. Because Kish had lost some donkeys, Saul was sent in search of them. Unsuccessful in his search, he went to the seer-prophet Samuel at Ramah. In the early source, from which this narrative comes, he did not know Samuel's name. The day before Saul went to Ramah,

Davie, Donald Alfred

2005-03-20T01:28:00.000-08:00

Davie served in the Royal Navy during World War II and obtained bachelor's (1947) and doctoral (1951) degrees from the University of Cambridge. He taught at Trinity College, Dublin (1950–57), Cambridge (1958–64), the University of Essex (1964–68), and Stanford

Basavan

2005-03-19T22:42:00.000-08:00

An outstanding Mughal painter, renowned as a superb colourist and as a sensitive observer of human nature. His name indicates that he may have been a member of the Ahir, or cowherders' caste, in the region of modern Uttar Pradesh. He was most active between about 1580 and 1600, and his name appears on the margins of more than 100 paintings, most often as the designer, in

Chi-lin

2005-03-19T15:55:00.000-08:00

Chi-lin is one of the most ancient cities in the Northeast.

Rondeau

2005-03-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

The earliest rondeaux had stanzas of two or three lines; later, especially

Anode

2005-03-17T23:01:00.000-08:00

The terminal or electrode from which electrons leave a system. In a battery or other source of direct current the anode is the negative terminal, but in a passive load it is the positive terminal. For example, in an electron tube electrons from the cathode travel across the tube toward the anode, and in an electroplating cell negative ions are deposited at the anode.

Dee, River

2005-03-17T07:05:00.000-08:00

Welsh Afon Dyfrdwy, river in northern Wales and England, approximately 70 miles (110 km) long. It rises in the county of Gwynedd on the slopes of Dduallt, in Snowdonia National Park, and falls rapidly to Bala Lake. Its valley then runs northeast to Corwen and eastward past Llangollen. The Vale of Llangollen contains Thomas Telford's aqueduct (1805) for the Shropshire Union Canal. Leaving the mountains,

Permafrost, Ice wedges

2005-03-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

The most conspicuous and controversial type of ground ice in permafrost is that formed in large ice wedges or masses with parallel or subparallel foliation structures. Most foliated ice masses occur as wedge-shaped, vertical, or inclined sheets or dikes 2.5 centimetres to 3 metres wide and 0.3 to 9 metres high when viewed in transverse cross section. Some masses seen on the

Western Literature

2005-03-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

Diverse as they are, European literatures, like European languages, are parts of a common heritage. Greek, Latin, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic, Celtic, and Romance languages

Charles, Ray

2005-03-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

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

enoa, August

2005-03-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

Introducing the historical novel to Croatian literature, Šenoa contributed to the growing sense of national identity among the Croatian people.

Integument

2005-03-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

Among unicellular organisms, such as bacteria and protozoans,

Levitt, Helen

2005-03-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

Levitt began her career in photography at age 18 working in a portrait studio in the Bronx. After seeing the works of French photographer Henri-Cartier Bresson, she was inspired to purchase a 35-mm Leica camera and began to scour the poor

Alaska Range

2005-03-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

Segment of the Pacific Coast Ranges that extends generally northward and eastward in an arc for about 400 miles (640 km) from the Aleutian Range to the Yukon boundary in southern Alaska, U.S. Mount McKinley (20,320 feet [6,194 m]), near the centre of the range, in Denali National Park, is the highest point in North America. Many nearby peaks exceed 13,000 feet (3,960 m), including Mounts Silverthrone, Hunter, Hayes,

Interior Design, Other components

2005-03-12T13:42:00.000-08:00

The detailing referred to in connection with the handling of doors is one of the most important factors in interior design. Every architectural component must be detailed well. Poor details make for poor design. The meaning of detailing in a design sense is more than the graphic explanation of certain components on a drawing. It means the way materials are put together,

Muhammad Xi

2005-03-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

Instigated by his mother, a jealous wife, Boabdil rebelled against his father, the sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali (called in Spanish sources Muley Hacén, or Alboacen); and with the aid of the Abencerrajes

Wroclaw

2005-03-11T19:41:00.000-08:00

German Breslau, city, capital of Wroclaw województwo (province), southwestern Poland. It lies along the Oder River at its confluence with the Olawa, Sleza, Bystrzyca, and Widawa rivers. A large industrial centre situated in Dolny Slask (Lower Silesia), Wroclaw is the fourth largest city in Poland. It contains Poland's largest flour mills, a modern electronics and data-processing industry, foundries,

France, History Of, Republican factions

2005-03-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

With the republican regime apparently safe from outside attack, rival factions developed among the republicans. During the 1880s the labels Radical and Opportunist began to be attached to the two wings of the republican movement. On the left, the Radicals saw themselves as heirs to the Jacobin tradition: they stood for a strong centralized regime, intransigent anticlericalism,

Wildfowl Trust, The

2005-03-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

Centre of the world's largest collection of waterfowl. It was established in 1946 by Sir Peter Scott on 418 acres (169 hectares) along the River Severn near Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, Eng. Nearly a quarter of the land is fenced off for captive birds and breeding stock; the rest of the refuge is traditional wintering ground for many species of ducks and geese. In addition to accommodating

Cabrera, Lydia

2005-03-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Cuban historian Raimundo Cabrera, Lydia Cabrera was told African folk legends by her nanny and the household servants during her childhood.

Bashkortostan

2005-03-09T00:55:00.000-08:00

From Mount Yamantau, the highest peak in the southern Urals, elevation generally decreases southward and westward, with the heavily forested mountains giving way to open steppe interspersed with islands

Jammu And Kashmir, Resources and agriculture

2005-03-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

The state has limited mineral and fossil-fuel resources, and much of these are concentrated in the Jammu region. Small reserves of natural gas are found near Jammu, and bauxite and gypsum deposits occur in the Udhampur district. Other minerals include limestone, coal, zinc, and copper. The pressure of population on land is everywhere apparent, and all available resources

Averescu, Alexandru

2005-03-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

After serving in the Romanian war of independence against Turkey (Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78), Averescu was sent to Italy for military training. As an army

Addo Elephant National Park

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

National park in Eastern province, South Africa. It has an area of 208 square miles (540 square km) and consists of two sections connected by a corridor. The southern part of the park lies in the Sundays River valley south of the Suurberg Range, north of Port Elizabeth, and was established as Addo Elephant National Park in 1931. It is largely covered with dense, impenetrable evergreen

Allegory

2005-03-06T16:37:00.000-08:00

Literary allegories typically describe situations and events or express abstract ideas in terms of material objects,

Smith, Erminnie Adele Platt

2005-03-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

Smith graduated from the Female Seminary of Troy, N.Y., in 1853. She married Simeon Smith, a Chicago lumber dealer and merchant, in 1855. When her sons were students in Germany, she studied at Strasbourg, Heidelberg, and Freiberg. Smith's early

Tsumeb

2005-03-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

In 1851 Sir Francis Galton, a British explorer, made note of copper ore deposits in the vicinity of what later became the town of Tsumeb. An Anglo-German company acquired

Oryx

2005-03-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

The beisa and gemsbok, subspecies of O. gazella, inhabit eastern and southern Africa, respectively. The scimitar oryx (O. dammah), once found throughout northern Africa, was restricted to the southern rim of the Sahara

Uterine Cancer

2005-03-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

A disease characterized by the abnormal growth of cells in the uterus. Cancers affecting the lining of the uterus (endometrium) are the most common cancers of the female reproductive tract. Other uterine cancers, called uterine sarcomas, develop from underlying muscle or connective tissue; they are much rarer. This article focuses on the development, diagnosis,

Alcoy

2005-03-05T03:38:00.000-08:00

The town is a rail

Boateng, Paul

2005-03-04T15:45:00.000-08:00

In full Paul Yaw Boateng British politician, the first person of African descent to serve in a British cabinet. He was the son of Kwaku Boateng, a lawyer who served as a cabinet minister in the Ghanaian government of Kwame Nkrumah, and Eleanor Boateng. He received his early education in Ghana and relocated to the United Kingdom in 1966 after the Ghanaian government was overthrown

Triad

2005-03-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, any of several sets of three chemically similar elements, the atomic weight of one of which is approximately equal to the mean of the atomic weights of the other two. Such triads—including chlorine-bromine-iodine, calcium-strontium-barium, and sulfur-selenium-tellurium—were noted by the German chemist J.W. Döbereiner between 1817 and 1829. The triad was the earliest

Marche

2005-03-03T04:15:00.000-08:00

English The Marches region in central Italy fronting on the Adriatic Sea and comprising the provinces of Ancona, Ascoli Piceno, Macerata, and Pesaro e Urbino; it has a total area of 3,742 square miles (9,692 square km). A region of mountains and hills, its only pieces of level land are scattered along river valleys and on the Adriatic shore northwest of Ancona. Its mountain backbone is the Umbrian-Marchigian

Deventer, Conrad Theodor Van

2005-03-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

Van Deventer, educated in the law, left in 1880 for the Indies, where he worked as a lawyer and held various judicial posts. The outer islands (i.e., those outside

Anthony Of Tagrit

2005-03-01T22:51:00.000-08:00

Originally from Tagrit, near Latakia, Syria, Anthony belonged to the part of the Eastern Syriac Church called the Jacobites, which had separated from the authority of the Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople in the 6th century.

Romance Languages, Franco-Provençal

2005-03-01T08:39:00.000-08:00

Northeast of the Occitan region, along the French, Swiss, and Italian frontiers, is located a group of dialects that historically have shared most vowel developments with languages to the south and many consonant changes with those to the north. Since 1878, with the work of G.I. Ascoli, claims have been made for the linguistic autonomy of these dialects, usually called

Cullinan Diamond

2005-03-01T02:37:00.000-08:00

World's largest gem diamond, which weighed about 3,106 carats in rough form when found in 1905 at the Premier mine in Transvaal, S.Af. Named for Sir Thomas Cullinan, who had discovered the mine three years earlier, the colourless stone was purchased by the Transvaal government and was presented (1907) to the reigning British monarch, King Edward VII. It was cut into 9 large stones and about

Amazonas

2005-02-28T15:31:00.000-08:00

Departamento (formed 1832), Nor Oriental del Marañón región, northern Peru, bounded on the north by Ecuador. It consists mostly of rain forest in the north, while in the south the Marañón River and its tributaries dissect the Cordillera Central. The Marañón forms part of the western boundary with Cajamarca departamento before flowing northeastward into the Amazon River

Canada East

2005-02-27T13:52:00.000-08:00

Settled primarily by French Canadians who wanted to preserve their distinctive identity and cultural traditions, Canada East was reluctant to join the proposed confederation

Dominic, Saint

2005-02-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

Spanish in full Santo Domingo De Guzmán founder of the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans), a religious order of mendicant friars with a universal mission of preaching, a centralized organization and government, and a great emphasis on scholarship.

Eureka Stockade

2005-02-26T13:22:00.000-08:00

The rebellion was the culmination of long-standing grievances on the part of the miners, or “diggers,” over exorbitant prospecting-license fees, brutal police procedures

Van Vogt, A.e.

2005-02-26T03:52:00.000-08:00

Van Vogt attended the University of Ottawa and began his writing career in the early 1930s, selling fictional

Biblical Literature, Lamentations of Jeremiah

2005-02-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

The Lamentations of Jeremiah consists of five poems (chapters) in the form of laments for Judah and Jerusalem when they were invaded and devastated by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, for the sufferings of the population, and for the poet himself during and after the catastrophe. These grief-stricken laments are intermingled with abject confessions of sin and prayers for divine

Aracaju

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

Port city and capital, Sergipe estado (“state”), northeastern Brazil, lying on the Continguiba River at the base of a ridge of sand hills 6 miles (10 km) from the coast. The city, which was founded in 1855 as a new state capital, is laid out in an unusual grid pattern. It is a regional commercial and industrial centre, processing leather, bananas, cassava, feijão (beans), mangoes, cashews, salt,

Adam And Eve, Life Of

2005-02-25T07:58:00.000-08:00

Pseudepigraphal work (a noncanonical writing that in style and content resembles authentic biblical works), one of many Jewish and Christian stories that embellish the account of Adam and Eve as given in the biblical Genesis. Biography was an extremely popular literary genre during the late Hellenistic period of Judaism (3rd century BC to 3rd century AD), and legends of

Izu Peninsula

2005-02-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

Japanese Izu-hanto, peninsula in Shizuoka ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. The peninsula extends 37 miles (60 km) into the Pacific Ocean between Suruga Bay on the west and Sagami Gulf on the east. The entire peninsula is included within the Fuji Volcanic Zone. Its southern part consists primarily of volcanic breccia, and its northern section is an assembly of numerous volcanoes, among which are

Qatar

2005-02-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

The Qatar peninsula is about 100 miles (160 km) from north to south, 50 miles (80 km) from east to west, and is generally rectangular in shape. Most of its area is flat, low-lying desert, which rises from the east to a central limestone plateau; hills rise to about 130 feet (40 metres) along the western and northern coasts. Sand dunes and salt flats, or sabkhahs, are the chief topographical features

Saarinen, Eero

2005-02-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

There are only two books devoted entirely to Saarinen's work. Eero Saarinen on His Work, ed. by his wife, Aline Saarinen (1962), contains Saarinen's own comments but no supplementary evaluation. It includes a listing of the architect's buildings and is handsomely illustrated. Allan Temko, Eero Saarinen (1962), is an informative, well-illustrated, brief account with evaluation. Details on individual buildings have been reported and illustrated in professional architectural journals.

Torga, Miguel

2005-02-23T04:31:00.000-08:00

Torga embarked on his literary career while a medical student at the University of Coimbra. After graduation he continued to write and publish

Acámbaro

2005-02-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Guanajuato estado (“state”), central Mexico. Acámbaro lies along the Lerma River, in the central plateau, at 6,388 feet (1,947 m) above sea level. A Spanish settlement was founded there in 1526 on the site of a small Tarascan Indian village. With the construction of the Solís Reservoir, irrigation water became available to bring land under cultivation. Corn (maize), beans,

Floral Decoration, 17th century

2005-02-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

The arrangement of plant materials truly became an art and an important decorative device in the 17th century. During this period of worldwide exploration, colonization, and commerce, new plants were introduced into Europe, where an avid interest in horticulture developed. Still-life paintings of the late 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries reveal what a great variety of

Cuckoopint

2005-02-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

The cuckoopint grows from a whitish rootstock, which

Papago

2005-02-21T05:45:00.000-08:00

The Papago speak a Uto-Aztecan language, a dialectal variant of Piman, and culturally they are similar to the Pima (see also Uto-Aztecan languages). There are, however, certain dissimilarities. The drier, harsher

Rocky Mountains, Water resources

2005-02-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

The Rocky Mountains in Canada and the United States are a region of water surplus, where precipitation exceeds losses from evaporation, runoff, and transpiration. The lands on either side of the mountain front, however, experience a water deficit. The people living in these areas have looked to water-storage projects in the Rockies for irrigation, domestic and industrial

Philemon And Baucis

2005-02-19T22:33:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, a pious Phrygian couple who hospitably received Zeus and Hermes when their richer neighbours turned away the two gods, who were disguised as wayfarers. As a reward, they were saved from a flood that drowned the rest of the country; their cottage was turned into a temple, and at their own request they became priest and priestess of it. Long after, they

Johnson, Ian William

2005-02-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

Australian cricket player who was a reliable, slow off-spin bowler for Victoria and in 45 Test matches for Australia, including 17 as captain (1954-57). Johnson played first-class cricket for Victoria briefly in 1935, but he served as a fighter pilot in World War II before making his Test debut against New Zealand in 1946. In his 11-year career Johnson achieved a Test-career double, scoring 1,000 runs

Coal Mining, Auger mining

2005-02-19T04:50:00.000-08:00

Auger mining is usually associated with contour strip mining. With this method, the coal is removed by drilling auger holes from the last contour cut and extracting it in the same manner that shavings are produced by a carpenter's bit. Coal recovery rates approach 60 percent with this method. The cutting heads of some augers are as high as 2.5 metres. As each stem works its

Nastase, Ilie

2005-02-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

A Davis Cup player since 1966, Nastase almost single-handedly powered Romania to the finals in 1969, 1971, and 1972, although the United States won each time. The most heartbreaking

Baxter, George

2005-02-17T22:37:00.000-08:00

He was the son of John Baxter (1781–1858), printer and publisher at Lewes, who issued the popular illustrated “Baxter” Bible. George Baxter went to London in 1827. There he supplied colour illustrations

Robben Island

2005-02-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

Afrikaans Robbeneiland island in Table Bay, Western Cape province, South Africa. It is 5 miles (8 km) west of the mainland and 6 miles (10 km) north of Cape Town and has an approximate area of 5 square miles (13 square km). Its name is the Dutch word for “seals,” once plentiful in the surrounding waters. The island was a common stopping point for passing ships in the 16th and early 17th centuries. After early efforts at settlement,

Aurangzeb

2005-02-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

Relevant historical background is provided in S.M. Edwardes and H.L.O. Garrett, Mughal Rule in India (1930, reprinted 1976); and Robert C. Hallissey, The Rajput Rebellion Against Aurangzeb: A Study of the Mughal Empire in Seventeenth-Century India (1977). Kalika-Ranjan Qanungo, Dara Shukon, 2nd ed. (1952), analyzes the rivalry for the throne. Detailed biographies are Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzib: Based on Original Sources, 5 vol. (1924–30, reprinted in 4 vol., 1972–74); and Muni Lal, Aurangzeb (1988).

Pétain, (henri-)philippe

2005-02-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

Born into a family of farmers in northern France, Pétain, after attending the local village school and a religious

Chaffinch

2005-02-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

(Fringilla coelebs), songbird of the family Fringillidae (order Passeriformes) that breeds in gardens and farmlands of Europe and northern Africa to central Asia (and, by introduction, South Africa). It is the commonest finch in western Europe. The 15-centimetre (6-inch) male is bluish crowned, with rust-brown back, greenish rump, and pinkish to rust face and

Iceland

2005-02-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

Elections to Iceland's Althingi (parliament) took place on May 10, 2003. The incumbent coalition of the Independence and Progressive parties received 34 seats in the 63-member legislative body and continued in office. Prime Minister Davíd Oddsson, leader of the Independence Party, announced that he would step down on Sept. 1, 2004, to be succeeded by the foreign minister and Progressive

Granite

2005-02-14T17:31:00.000-08:00

Because of its use as paving block and as a building stone, the quarrying of granite was, at one time, a major industrial activity. Except for tombstones, however, for which there

Burgess, Anthony

2005-02-14T16:46:00.000-08:00

Trained in English literature and phonetics, Burgess taught in the extramural department of Birmingham University (1946–50), worked for the Ministry of Education (1948–50), and was English master at Banbury

France, History Of, Conscription

2005-02-13T15:52:00.000-08:00

Building on the Directory's conscription law of September 1798, the Napoleonic regime, after considerable trial and error, had created the mechanisms for imposing on the citizens of France and the annexed territories the distasteful obligation of military service. Each year the Ministry of War Administration assigned a quota of conscripts for every department.

Dan

2005-02-13T07:01:00.000-08:00

One of the 12 tribes of Israel that in biblical times comprised the people of Israel who later became the Jewish people. The tribe was named after the first of two sons born to Jacob (also called Israel) and Bilhah, the maidservant of Jacob's second wife, Rachel. Nine of the other 11 tribes were also named after sons of Jacob, while two bear the names of Jacob's grandsons, children

Ryder Cup

2005-02-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

The trophy was donated by Samuel Ryder, a British seed merchant, for a biennial golf competition to alternate between British and U.S. venues.

Turbo Train

2005-02-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

High-speed passenger train powered by a gas-turbine engine similar to that used in jet aircraft. Unlike conventional trains, the turbo variety does not have a separate locomotive; its turbine power unit is small enough to be built into a passenger car. A typical turbo train consists of several passenger cars with power units located in each of the end cars. The cars

Episcopius, Simon

2005-02-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

He studied theology at Leiden and in 1610 became a pastor at Bleiswyk. He was made a professor at Leiden in 1612, succeeding the strict Calvinist Franciscus Gomarus. Episcopius was one of

Nacogdoches

2005-02-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1837) of Nacogdoches county, eastern Texas, U.S., near the Angelina River, 140 miles (225 km) north-northeast of Houston. In 1716 a Spanish mission (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) was first established near a Nacogdoche Indian village (a pyramidal mound from that village is still extant). Abandoned in 1718, the site was resettled in 1779 when Antonio Gil Y'barbo built the Old Stone Fort (reconstructed

Insurance, RDC clause

2005-02-10T20:28:00.000-08:00

The RDC, or “running down” clause, provides coverage for legal liability of either the shipper or the common carrier for claims arising out of collisions. (Collision loss to the vessel itself is part of the hull coverage.) The RDC clause covers negligence of the carrier or shipper that results in damage to the property of others. A companion clause, the protection and indemnity

Caitanya Sect

2005-02-10T00:03:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Chaitanya intensely emotional form of Hinduism that has flourished from the 16th century, mainly in Bengal and eastern Orissa, India. It takes its name from the medieval saint Caitanya (Chaitanya; 1485–1533), whose fervent devotion to Lord Krishna (Krsna) inspired the movement. For Caitanya the legends of Krishna and his youthful beloved, Radha, were both symbolic of and the highest expressions

Redgrave, Vanessa

2005-02-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

Called “the greatest actress of our time” by the playwright Tennessee Williams, Vanessa Redgrave came from a legendary theatrical family. Her father, Sir Michael Redgrave, was one of Britain's most popular and respected actors, and her mother, Rachel Kempson, was a noted stage

Amana Colonies

2005-02-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Amana developed from the Community of True Inspiration, founded in 1714 in the German principality of Hesse by the pietistic mystics

Arabian Religion

2005-02-08T17:04:00.000-08:00

In the polytheistic religions of Arabia most of the gods were originally associated with heavenly bodies, to which were ascribed powers of fecundity, protection, or revenge against enemies. Aside from a few deities common to various populations, the pantheons show a marked local particularism. But many religious practices were in general use. The study of these

Brederode, Hendrik Van

2005-02-08T06:01:00.000-08:00

The scion of an ancient Dutch family, which from 1418 had held the lordship of Vianen south of Utrecht, Brederode became known as a spirited soldier and succeeded

Sogn Og Fjordane

2005-02-07T21:15:00.000-08:00

Fylke (county), western Norway, bordering the North Sea. Its inland extension includes the Jostedals Glacier and part of the Jotunheim Mountains. In the northern part of the fylke is Nord Fjord, which penetrates 55 miles (90 km) inland, and in the south is Norway's longest fjord, Sogn Fjord (q.v.). Centrally located on the northern bank of Sogn Fjord is the village of Leikanger, administrative