ResponsibleGoat

Banner System

2005-03-29T16:38:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade–Giles romanization) Ch'i-ping, Pinyin Qibing, the military organization used by the Manchu tribes of Manchuria (now Northeast China) to conquer and control China in the 17th century. The Banner system was developed by the Manchu leader Nurhachi (1559–1626), who in 1601 organized his warriors into four companies of 300 men each. The companies were distinguished by banners of different colours—yellow, red, white, and blue. In 1615 four more

Spain, Phoenicians

2005-03-29T14:50:00.000-08:00

Venerable historical traditions recount the Phoenician voyages to found new cities. Utica, on the Tunisian coast of North Africa, was reputedly founded in 1178 BC, and by 1100 BC the Phoenician city of Tyre supposedly had a Spanish colony at Gadir (Cadiz). Although intriguing, these historical traditions are unsupported by evidence. Excavations confirm that the Phoenicians settled

West Virginia, Colonial period and Virginia's dominion

2005-03-29T06:33:00.000-08:00

The second charter of Virginia in 1609 provided for settlement of that colony's western frontiers. Exploration and trade were further encouraged by Governor William Berkeley after 1660. The Blue Ridge was reached in 1670, and in 1671 another expedition encountered the first westward-flowing stream, the New River, in southwestern Virginia. The expedition descended the river to Peter's

Paleogeography

2005-03-28T16:57:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Palaeogeography, the geography of selected portions of the Earth's surface at specific times in the geologic past. This geography consists of interpreted reconstructions, produced in map form, which represent visual summaries of a wide variety of complex geologic information. The maps provide a series of relatively instantaneous views of the Earth through geologic time. Paleogeographic

Pyramids, Battle Of The

2005-03-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

(July 21, 1798), military engagement in which Napoleon Bonaparte invented his one significant contribution to tactics, the massive divisional square; it was fought during his Egyptian campaign near Embabeh (Imbabah), on the west bank of the Nile River. Napoleon's 25,000-man Army of Egypt faced perhaps 40,000 Egyptians led by Murad Bey. The Egyptians were concentrated near Embabeh, with the

Wied-neuwied, Maximilian, Prinz (prince) Zu

2005-03-27T20:41:00.000-08:00

Maximilian was the prince of the small state of Neuwied and served in the Prussian army. He undertook explorations in Brazil in

Alleghenian Orogeny

2005-03-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

A mountain-building event that affected the Appalachian Geosyncline in late Paleozoic (Permian) time, from about 300 million to 250 million years ago. The term Appalachian Revolution formerly was applied to this event. The Alleghenian orogeny is most pronounced in the central and southern Appalachians and produced the compressional folding and faulting of the Ridge

Corbel

2005-03-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

In architecture, bracket or weight-carrying member, built deeply into the wall so that the pressure on its embedded portion counteracts any tendency to overturn or fall outward. The name derives from a French word meaning crow, because of the corbel's beaklike shape. Corbels may be individual pieces of stone, separate from each other like brackets, as in the case of

Rawls, Betsy

2005-03-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

Rawls began playing golf at 17, capping her amateur career by placing second in the 1950 U.S. Women's Open behind the all-time great Babe Zaharias. Turning professional in 1951, Rawls won that year's Open, repeating her victory in 1953, 1957, and 1960. Other major professional achievements

Freedom Rides

2005-03-23T21:39:00.000-08:00

In 1946 the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel. A year later the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation tested the ruling by staging the Journey of Reconciliation, on which

World War I, Serbia and the Salonika expedition, 191517

2005-03-23T15:27:00.000-08:00

Austria's three attempted invasions of Serbia in 1914 had been brusquely repulsed by Serbian counterattacks. By the summer of 1915 the Central Powers were doubly concerned to close the account with Serbia, both for reasons of prestige and for the sake of establishing secure rail communications with Turkey across the Balkans. In August, Germany sent reinforcements to Austria's

Zaehner, R.c.

2005-03-22T18:38:00.000-08:00

The son of Swiss parents who had immigrated to England, Zaehner studied Oriental languages at the University of Oxford, specializing in Persian, Armenian, and Avestan. He became a Roman Catholic in 1946. During

Binet, Alfred

2005-03-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Fascinated by the work of the French neurologist Jean Charcot on hypnosis at the Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, Binet abandoned a law career in 1878 to devote himself

Pen

2005-03-22T06:46:00.000-08:00

Tool for writing or drawing with a coloured fluid, such as ink. The earliest ancestor of the pen probably was the brush used for writing by the Chinese by the 1st millennium BC. The early Egyptians employed thick reeds for penlike implements about 300 BC. A specific allusion to the quill pen occurs in the 7th-century writings of St. Isidore of Sevilla, but such pens made of bird feathers

Trade, Board Of

2005-03-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

The first grain futures exchange in the United States, organized in 1848 in Chicago. The Board of Trade began as a voluntary association of prominent Chicago grain merchants. In 1849 it received a charter from the Illinois legislature, and in 1859 it was incorporated by a special legislative act. At first grain was sold by sample, but soon a system of inspection and grading was introduced

Du Toit, Stephanus Jacobus

2005-03-20T01:24:00.000-08:00

South African pastor and political leader who, as the founder of the Afrikaner Bond (a bitterly anti-British political party of Dutch South Africans), was influential in generating Boer (Dutch) political opposition to British rule in South Africa. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Afrikaans

Grafton

2005-03-20T00:59:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1878) of Taylor county, northern West Virginia, U.S., on the Tygart Valley River, north of Tygart Lake. Settled in 1852 by construction crews of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, it is thought to be named for the “graftin' on” (junction) point for branch rail lines. It was chartered in 1856. During the American Civil War it was a key rail centre and was occupied by both Confederate and

Chasles, Michel

2005-03-19T02:43:00.000-08:00

French mathematician who, independently of the Swiss German mathematician Jakob Steiner, elaborated on the theory of modern projective geometry, the study of the properties of a geometric line or other plane figure that remain unchanged when the figure is projected onto a plane from a point not on either the plane or the

Melville, Jean-pierre

2005-03-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

Grumbach's enthusiasm for American culture prompted him to change his name to that of his favourite writer, Herman Melville. He served in the Free French forces during World War II, founded his own

Heterogeneous Reaction

2005-03-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of chemical reactions in which the reactants are components of two or more phases (solid and gas, solid and liquid, two immiscible liquids) or in which one or more reactants undergo chemical change at an interface, e.g., on the surface of a solid catalyst. The reaction of metals with acids, the electrochemical changes that occur in batteries and electrolytic

Mid Sussex

2005-03-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of West Sussex, historic county of Sussex, southeastern England. It occupies an area in central Sussex. Mid Sussex extends from The Weald, a sandstone area of hilly grasslands and woodlands in the north, across undulating grasslands of the Ouse and Adur river valleys in the centre, to the steep chalk scarps of the north-facing South

Tobol River

2005-03-16T21:25:00.000-08:00

Kazak Tobyl river, left-bank tributary of the Irtysh (Ertis) River, flowing through northern Kazakstan into southern Russia. After rising in the low mountains of the Torghay Plateau, it flows northeast across the West Siberian Plain past the cities of Qostanay (Kazakstan) and Kurgan (Russia) before entering the Irtysh River at Tobolsk after a course of 989 miles (1,591 km). Its main tributaries

Liquid-drop Model

2005-03-15T09:06:00.000-08:00

In nuclear physics, description of atomic nuclei formulated (1936) by Niels Bohr and used (1939) by him and John A. Wheeler to explain nuclear fission. According to the model, the nucleons (neutrons and protons) behave like the molecules in a drop of liquid. If given sufficient extra energy (as by the absorption of a neutron), the spherical nucleus may be distorted into a dumbbell shape

Shabazz, Betty

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

Sanders was raised in Detroit, Michigan, by adoptive parents in a comfortable middle-class home and was active in a Methodist church. Upon high school graduation, she left Detroit to study elementary

Bulging

2005-03-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

In geology, mass movement of rock material caused by heavy weights on soft rock strata that crop out in valley walls. Such material is squeezed out and deformed; it flows as a plastic, and the disturbance may extend down tens of metres. Folds and small faults may form at the foot of the slope where the rock material is under stress.

Fairbanks, Charles Warren

2005-03-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

Fairbanks had considered seeking the presidency in 1900 and was mentioned as a potential running mate to William McKinley. As a staunch conservative from a “doubtful” state, Fairbanks was chosen as Roosevelt's running mate in 1904 to balance the ticket. A typical vice president of his time, he did not attend cabinet meetings and was not one of Roosevelt's closest advisers. Although he was nominated by Indiana for president in 1908 and received 40 votes at the Republican National Convention, Roosevelt blocked his nomination in favour of William Howard Taft. When the party was divided in 1912, Fairbanks supported Taft, the eventual nominee, instead of Roosevelt, who ran as the candidate of his own Bull Moose Party. He also ran unsuccessfully for vice president on the 1916 ticket headed by Charles Evans Hughes.

Mindbody Dualism

2005-03-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

The modern problem of the relationship of mind to body stems

Alaska, Agriculture

2005-03-13T04:34:00.000-08:00

Only a small sector of Alaska's economy is agricultural, but a viable in-state market is still under development. More than 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of tillable land are available for farming, but much clearing has yet to be done. Most acreage is near Anchorage and on the Kenai Peninsula, though there is some near Fairbanks, and stock ranching is practiced on Kodiak

China, Muslim rebellions

2005-03-12T01:28:00.000-08:00

Muslim rebellions in Yunnan and in Shensi and Kansu originated from clashes between the Chinese and Muslims in those provinces. Religious antipathy must be taken into account, but more important were the social and political factors. In the frontier provinces the late dynastic confusions were felt as keenly as elsewhere, which aggravated the problems between

Alembert, Jean Le Rond D'

2005-03-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

The main editions of d'Alembert's collected works are: Oeuvres philosophiques, historiques et littéraires de d'Alembert, ed. by J.F. Bastien, 18 vol. (1805); and Oeuvres complètes de d'Alembert, ed. by Bossange and Belin, 5 vol. (1821, reprinted 1967). These may be supplemented by d'Alembert's Mélanges de littérature, d'histoire et de philosophie, 2 vol. (1753), 4 vol. (1759), 5th vol. (1767), which contain a few pieces omitted from the collected editions; and his Histoire des membres de l'Académie française morts depuis 1700 jusqu'en 1771, 6 vol. (1785–87, reprinted 1970). General studies are: Joseph Bertrand, D'Alembert (1889); and Ronald Grimsley, Jean d'Alembert, 1717–83 (1963).

Novartis Ag

2005-03-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

Ciba-Geigy originated in the merger of two smaller Swiss firms, Ciba AG and J.R. Geigy SA. Ciba developed from a silk-dyeing business owned by Alexander Clavel,

Morality Play

2005-03-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

Together with the mystery play and the miracle play, the morality play is one of the three main types of vernacular drama produced during

Dahuk

2005-03-10T06:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Dohuk, or Dhok, town, northern Iraq, in the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The town lies near the northern end of the Tigris River Valley. The area in which the town is situated is unsuitable for cultivation but is good for fruit orchards and pasturage. Dahuk has a fruit-canning plant and a textile mill. There has been building of new tourist resorts and improvement of existing ones. Pop. (1970 est.)

Quantz, Johann Joachim

2005-03-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

Quantz obtained posts at Radeberg and Dresden and in 1717 studied counterpoint in Vienna with Johann Zelenka and Johann Fux. In 1718 he became oboist in the Polish court

Hypophosphatemia

2005-03-08T23:51:00.000-08:00

Reduction in the concentration of phosphate in the blood serum, thus disrupting the body's energy metabolism and impairing the delivery of oxygen through the bloodstream to the tissues. Hypophosphatemia usually occurs in conjunction with other metabolic disturbances that affect the normal equilibrium between the blood circulation, the intestinal absorption

Coiba Island

2005-03-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Quibo Island, Spanish Isla De Coiba or Quibo, Central American island in the Pacific Ocean, administered by Veraguas province, Panama. Lying 15 mi (24 km) offshore and separated from the mainland by the Gulf of Montijo on the east and the Gulf of Chiriquí on the northwest, the island measures about 20 mi from north to south and 10 mi from east to west. It has an area of 191 sq mi (494 sq km) and rises to a maximum elevation of 1,400 ft (425 m). Coiba is the

Ochs, Peter

2005-03-07T18:12:00.000-08:00

Born in France of a family that claimed roots in the Basel aristocracy, Ochs in 1769 settled in Basel, where, after becoming doctor of laws (1776), he entered into political affairs. Won to the ideas of the Enlightenment, he became an opponent of the “decayed

Insurance, Title insurance

2005-03-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

The need for title insurance arises from the fact that real estate

Aesthetic Distance

2005-03-07T08:17:00.000-08:00

The frame of reference that an artist creates by the use of technical devices in and around the work of art to differentiate it psychologically from reality. German playwright Bertolt Brecht built his dramatic theory known in English as the alienation effect to accomplish aesthetic distance.

Gumplowicz, Ludwig

2005-03-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

The son of Jewish parents, Gumplowicz

Urso, Camilla

2005-03-06T02:59:00.000-08:00

Urso was the daughter of an Italian flutist and a Portuguese singer. When she was six years old, despite general skepticism about her ability to master a “masculine” instrument, she began taking violin lessons. The success of

Pluriarc

2005-03-05T18:02:00.000-08:00

Also called Bow Lute, west African stringed musical instrument having a deep boxlike body from which project between two and eight slender, curved arms; one string runs from the end of each arm to a string holder on the belly. The strings are plucked, usually by the fingers, occasionally by plectra attached to the fingers. They are generally played open, as on a harp; in some regions they are

Intelligence

2005-03-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

Much of the excitement among investigators in the field of intelligence derives from their trying to determine exactly what intelligence is. Different investigators have emphasized different aspects of intelligence in

Bradford

2005-03-03T05:52:00.000-08:00

A fulling mill recorded in 1311 indicates the early importance of the manufacture of wool products. In the late 17th century the fine worsted trade followed. With

Hangayn Mountains

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

Mongolian Hangayn Nuruu , also called Changai Mountains , or Khangai Mountains range in central Mongolia. It extends northwest-southeast for about 500 miles (805 km), parallels the Mongolian Altai Mountains (south), and rises to a height of 12,812 feet (3,905 m) in Otgon Tenger Peak. Most of its northern drainage flows into the Selenge River, which, with its chief tributary, the Orhon, drains into Lake Baikal in Siberia. The rivers of the steeper southern slopes end in salt

Faience Patriotique

2005-03-03T00:38:00.000-08:00

French 18th-century earthenware, chiefly plates and jugs, decorated with themes drawn from the French Revolution and its ideology or from national political events. The first example of a faience patriotique was a Moustiers dish occasioned by the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745, but it was the Revolution that inspired the greatest production of faience patriotique. A number

Earth, Growth phase

2005-03-03T00:05:00.000-08:00

An isolated substorm begins when the IMF turns southward and dayside reconnection begins. For about an hour afterward, bands of quiet auroral arcs drift equatorward near midnight in the northern and southern auroral ovals. The eastward and westward electrojets, flowing from noon toward midnight along the ovals, gradually increase in strength and move equatorward

Price, Sir Uvedale, 1st Baronet

2005-03-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

Price was a wealthy country squire, Knight his friend and neighbour; both were enthusiastic amateur landscape designers and critics of the prevailing trend.

Nagaland, The economy

2005-03-01T04:32:00.000-08:00

Agriculture employs about 90 percent of the population. Rice, corn (maize), small millets, pulses (legumes such as peas and beans), oilseeds, fibres, sugarcane, potato, and tobacco are the principal crops. Nagaland, however, still has to depend on imports of food from neighbouring states. The widespread practice of jhum has led to soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. Only the

Hearing Aid

2005-02-28T22:32:00.000-08:00

Modern hearing aids are electronic. Principal components are a microphone that converts sound

Tibet, Administration and culture under the Manchu

2005-02-28T15:17:00.000-08:00

Chinese contacts

Amalthea

2005-02-28T06:15:00.000-08:00

Small, inner satellite of Jupiter discovered in 1892 by the American astronomer E.E. Barnard. It circles Jupiter once every 11 h 57 min at a distance of 181,000 km (112,220 miles) in a nearly circular, uninclined orbit. Photographs transmitted by the U.S. probes Voyagers 1 and 2 in 1979 show that Amalthea is an irregular body measuring 270 ´ 166 ´ 150 km (167 ´ 103 ´ 93 miles); the long axis always points toward Jupiter. Amalthea has a very

Shiga

2005-02-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

Landlocked ken (prefecture), southern Honshu, Japan, containing Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. The lake and surrounding mountainous district form Lake Biwa Quasi-national Park. The prefecture's percentage of rice paddies is among the highest in Japan, and its Omi beef is well known throughout Japan. The textile industries at Otsu, the prefectural capital, Hikone,

'ayyar

2005-02-27T01:53:00.000-08:00

Though 'ayyarun were found fighting for Islam on the frontiers of inner Asia, the most thorough documentation of these warriors describes their activities in Baghdad in the 10th–12th century, a picture that may not be typical of 'ayy

Plummer, Christopher

2005-02-26T20:10:00.000-08:00

Plummer made his first professional appearance in 1950 in Ottawa and spent several years performing with Canadian repertory theatre groups. In 1954 he made his New York City debut and soon attracted wide critical praise.

Coloration, Benzoquinones

2005-02-26T18:57:00.000-08:00

Benzoquinones occur in certain fungi and in roots, berries, or galls (abnormal growths) of higher plants, from which they can be recovered as yellow, orange, red, violet, or darker coloured crystals or solids. Small quantities of pale-yellow crystals of coenzyme Q, often called ubiquinones, are almost universally distributed in plants and animals. The ubiquinones impart

Six, Les

2005-02-25T23:58:00.000-08:00

(French: “The Six”), group of early 20th-century French composers whose music represents a strong reaction against the heavy German Romanticism of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, as well as against the lush Impressionism of Claude Debussy. Les Six were Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, Louis Durey, and Germaine Tailleferre. The French

Wideman, John Edgar

2005-02-25T03:45:00.000-08:00

Until the age of 10, Wideman lived in Homewood, a black section of Pittsburgh, Pa., which later became the setting of many of his novels. An outstanding scholar and athlete at the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1963), he became

Bharatpur

2005-02-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

Also called Bhurtpore town, eastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It lies 34 miles (55 km) west of Agra. The town, which was the capital of the former princely state of Bharatpur, was founded about 1733. A communications centre connected by road and rail with Jaipur, Agra, and Mathura, Bharatpur is an important industrial and agricultural market centre. Its major industries include oil mills, metal-fabricating

Abbevillian Industry

2005-02-23T06:27:00.000-08:00

Prehistoric stone-tool tradition generally considered to represent the oldest occurrence in Europe of a bifacial (hand-ax) technology. The Abbevillian industry dates from an imprecisely determined part of the Middle Pleistocene, somewhat less than 700,000 years ago. It was recovered from high terrace sediments of the lower Somme valley, in a suburb of Abbeville, Fr. The

Pordenone

2005-02-23T02:34:00.000-08:00

Pordenone was a pupil of Pellegrino da S. Daniele and other Friulian masters, but his early style is founded on Venetian models and in particular on Andrea Mantegna. Later he was influenced by Titian, Correggio, and also

Giry, Arthur

2005-02-23T02:19:00.000-08:00

After a brief career in administrative services and journalism, Giry devoted himself to scholarship. His first major work was Histoire de la ville de Saint-Omer et de ses institutions jusqu'au XIVe siècle (1877). The type of research involved in this work led him to similar studies

Uberlândia

2005-02-22T17:08:00.000-08:00

City, western Minas Gerais estado (“state”), Brazil. It lies along the Bom Jardim River, which is a tributary of the Araguari River (also known as the Velhas River), at 2,802 feet (854 m) above sea level. It was given city status in 1892. Uberlândia is a trade centre for a primarily agricultural and pastoral hinterland whose chief crops include cotton, corn (maize), rice, and feijão (beans). The city

Baptist, Growth outside the United States

2005-02-21T18:58:00.000-08:00

While Baptists have been troubled by divisive tendencies during the 20th century, there has also been a tendency toward greater unity and cohesiveness through the Baptist World Alliance. The 19th century was a period of great Baptist missionary activity. The endeavour in Asia was led by William Carey in India, Adoniram Judson in Burma, and Timothy Richard and Lottie

Adams

2005-02-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

County, southern Pennsylvania, U.S., mostly consisting of a piedmont region bordered by Maryland to the south and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west and north. The principal waterways are Lakes Meade and Heritage and Long Pine Run Reservoir, as well as Conewago, Toms, and Rock creeks. Parklands include parts of Caledonia State Park and Michaux State Forest, as well as

Buzzards Bay

2005-02-20T01:03:00.000-08:00

Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, indenting southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. The bay is 30 miles (48 km) long and 5–10 miles (8–16 km) wide. It extends to the base of the Cape Cod peninsula (northeast) and is bounded on the southeast by the Elizabeth Islands. It is connected to Cape Cod Bay by the Cape Cod Canal (northeast). The name Buzzards Bay may have originated from the misidentification of ospreys

Saar, Betye

2005-02-19T23:25:00.000-08:00

Saar studied design at the University of California at Los Angeles (B.A., 1949) and education and printmaking at California State University at Long Beach. In the early 1960s she created etchings

Nivernais

2005-02-19T16:18:00.000-08:00

Having formed part of the duchy of Burgundy, the county of Nevers (Nivernais)

Kaolinite

2005-02-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

Kaolinite, nacrite, and dickite occur as minute, sometimes elongated, hexagonal

Buysse, Cyriel

2005-02-18T20:34:00.000-08:00

Although Buysse, like the sons of most wealthy Flemings, received a French education, he early devoted himself to writing primarily in Flemish. In 1893 he cofounded and coedited Van nu en straks (1893–1901; “Of Now and Later”), an innovative and influential

Pijao

2005-02-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

Extinct Indian people of the southern highlands of Colombia. The Pijao spoke a language of the Chibchan family, related to that of the Páez, their neighbours to the south. They were agriculturists, raising corn (maize), sweet manioc (yuca), beans, potatoes, and many fruits; they also hunted and fished. They lived in settlements of several families in houses built of wood and

Mauchly, John W.

2005-02-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

After completing his education, Mauchly entered the teaching profession, eventually becoming an associate professor of electrical engineering at

Ijoid Languages

2005-02-17T17:28:00.000-08:00

The smallest branch of the Niger-Congo language family. It consists of a language cluster, Ijo (Ijaw), comprising seven other language clusters with a total of approximately two million speakers, and Defaka (Afakani), a solitary language spoken by very few. All these languages are found in the relatively narrow coastal Niger River delta region of Nigeria. The Ijo language

Telescope, X-ray telescopes

2005-02-17T03:57:00.000-08:00

The X-ray telescope is used to examine the shorter-wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum adjacent to the ultraviolet region. The design of this type of telescope must be radically different from that of a conventional reflector. Since X-ray photons have so much energy, they would pass right through the mirror of a standard reflector. X rays must be bounced

Music, Western, The sonata and concerto

2005-02-16T14:09:00.000-08:00

The major new categories of instrumental music during the Baroque period were the sonata and the concerto. Originally applied to instrumental ensemble pieces derived from the canzona, the term sonata became the designation for a form that was to dominate instrumental music from the mid-18th until the 20th century. In its keyboard manifestation, it was a binary (two-part)

Peter Lombard

2005-02-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

After early schooling at Bologna, he went to France to study at Reims and then at Paris. From 1136 to 1150 he taught theology in the school of Notre Dame, Paris, where in 1144–45 he became a canon—i.e., staff clergyman. Lombard was present at the

Einstein, Hannah Bachman

2005-02-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

Hannah Bachman married William Einstein in 1881. She developed an interest in charitable work, and from its founding in about 1890 she was active in the Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood, which undertook

Kili

2005-02-15T05:32:00.000-08:00

Coral island in the Ralik chain of the Marshall Islands, west-central Pacific Ocean. It is about 230 acres (93 hectares) in area. Islanders from Bikini, site of U.S. atomic-bomb tests, were moved to Kili in 1949. Some of the Bikinians who returned to Bikini in the mid-1970s had to return to Kili in 1978, as their home atoll remained too contaminated by nuclear waste for habitation. Coconuts are grown

Wilberforce, William

2005-02-13T17:37:00.000-08:00

At Cambridge, where he became a close friend of the future prime minister William Pitt the Younger, Wilberforce was known as an amiable companion rather

Steelyard, Merchants Of The

2005-02-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

In the later Middle Ages, members of the Hanseatic League, an association of north German towns, who resided at its London establishment, known as the Steelyard (probably from Low German stâlgard, a courtyard). German merchants from Cologne had enjoyed privileges in London from Anglo-Saxon times, and by the late 13th century had been joined there by others from east German

Basil The Chamberlain

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

After the death of the emperor John I, Basil the Chamberlain controlled the throne for his two grandnephews and co-emperors Constantine and Basil II. After engineering his uncle's downfall, Basil II was finally able to assume his own independent rule.

József, Attila

2005-02-13T03:10:00.000-08:00

József was attracted by Marxist ideology and became a member of the then-illegal Communist Party. In 1932 he launched a short-lived literary periodical, Valóság, and in 1936 became one of the

Wellington

2005-02-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), Taunton Deane district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England, just west-southwest of Taunton. The first duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley, who took his title from the town), victor of the Battle of Waterloo (1815), is commemorated by a monument (National Trust property) on the highest point of the nearby Blackdown Hill. Wellington School, at

Bruckner, Anton

2005-02-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

In full Josef Anton Bruckner Austrian composer of a number of highly original and monumental symphonies. He was also an organist and teacher who composed much sacred and secular choral music.

Eni

2005-02-11T00:23:00.000-08:00

Eni is an outgrowth of Agip (Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli), an oil and gas agency set up by the Italian fascist

Karabük

2005-02-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

Town, northwestern Turkey, on the Yenice River. Once a small hamlet, it has grown rapidly since the establishment of Turkey's first major iron and steel complex there in 1940. The works were expanded greatly in the 1950s and '60s. Facilities include a coking plant, blast furnaces, a foundry, and tube works; chemical plants produce sulfuric acid and phosphates. The mills receive coal

Roberts, Isaac

2005-02-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

In 1883 Roberts began experimenting with astronomical photography, taking pictures of stars, the Orion and Andromeda nebulae, and the Pleiades cluster. Although the photographs proved difficult to interpret, they were revealing.

Gabon, Ethnic and linguistic composition

2005-02-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

All of Gabon's 40 or so ethnic groups, except the few thousand Pygmies, speak Bantu languages and, on that basis, can be classified into 10 larger groups. The Myene group (including the Mpongwe and Orungu), though only a small part of the population today, has played an important role in the history of the country as a result of its location along the northern coasts. The Fang, who

Guiney, Louise Imogen

2005-02-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

Guiney was educated at Elmhurst, a convent school in Providence, Rhode Island. To help support her family she began contributing to various newspapers and magazines. Her poems, collected in

Quicksand

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

State in which saturated sand loses its supporting capacity and acquires the character of a liquid. Quicksand is usually found in hollows at the mouths of large rivers or along flat stretches of streams or beaches where pools of water become partially filled with sand and an underlying layer of stiff clay or other dense material prevents drainage. Mixtures of

Orléans, Louis-philippe-joseph, Duc D' (duke Of)

2005-02-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

The cousin of King Louis XVI (ruled 1774–92) and the son of Louis-Philippe (later duc d'Orléans), he became duc de Chartres in 1752 and succeeded to his father's title in 1785. Orléans's hostility to Louis XVI's queen, Marie-Antoinette, caused him to live away from the royal court

Baseball

2005-02-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

As part of its millennium celebration, major league baseball conducted fan balloting to honor the All-Century Team. Twenty-five players were selected via the voting process; five others were added to bring the roster to 30; and the living members of the elite squad were sent to Atlanta for a ceremony before game two of the World Series. Among those present was Pete Rose,

Tribe

2005-02-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

Latin Tribus, plural Tribi, in Roman history, a unit of the Roman state. The first Roman tribes were probably ethnic in origin and consisted of the Titienses (Tities), Ramnenses (Ramnes), and Luceres. They were superseded by the creation of new local tribes (date uncertain) consisting of 4 urban tribes and 16 rural, or rustic, tribes. The latter were probably named after pagi (country districts) that were,

Bhaktivedanta, A(bhay) C(haranaravinda)

2005-02-07T02:34:00.000-08:00

In 1920 Bhaktivedanta completed his B.A. in chemistry at the Scottish Churches' College in Calcutta; by that time, his family had arranged a marriage for him, and he later established

Baram River

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

River in northwestern Borneo. Rising in the Iran Mountains, it flows 250 miles (400 km) west and northwest, mostly through primary rain forest to the South China Sea at Baram Point. Above the lowest 100 miles, gorges and rapids make upstream navigation difficult. The Baram is Sarawak's second longest river; its tributaries include the Bakong, Apoh, Palutan, and Patah.

Death Rite, Rites and customs among secular materialists

2005-02-06T03:23:00.000-08:00

It is significant, however, that, even where secularist principles are consciously professed, the dead are rarely disposed of without some semblance of ceremony. A deeply rooted feeling prompts most people to treat a dead human body with a respect that is not felt for a dead animal. It is significant that Communists make pilgrimages to the graves of Lenin and Marx;

Ogden

2005-02-05T23:38:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1852) of Weber county, northern Utah, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Weber and Ogden rivers, just west of the Wasatch Range and east of the Great Salt Lake. The community began as a settlement developed around Fort Buenaventura, a log stockade with an irrigated garden built in 1845 by Miles M. Goodyear and purchased by the Mormons in 1847; Goodyear's cabin is preserved. First

Angus, Archibald Douglas, 8th Earl Of, Earl Of Morton

2005-02-05T02:51:00.000-08:00

During the regency of his uncle, the Earl of Morton, he rose rapidly to power. He became privy councillor

Sendak, Maurice (bernard)

2005-02-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

Sendak was the son of Polish immigrants and received his formal art training at the Art Students' League in New York City. While attending school he drew backgrounds for All-American Comics and did window displays for a toy store. The first children's books he illustrated were Marcel

Malaria

2005-02-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

A serious, acute and chronic relapsing infection in humans, characterized by periodic attacks of chills and fever, anemia, splenomegaly (enlargement of the spleen), and often fatal complications. Malaria also is found in apes, monkeys, rats, birds, and reptiles. It is caused by various species of protozoa (one-celled organisms) called sporozoans (subphylum Sporozoa) that