ChemicalIsland

Tiglath-pileser Ii

2005-11-18T22:15:00.000-08:00

King of Assyria (c. 965–c. 932 BC). He apparently ruled effectively, as a successor addressed him by a title reserved for mighty monarchs. Otherwise, little is known of the period other than that Assyria was beginning to emerge from its collapse of a century before.

Dagly, Gerhard

2005-10-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

After importers brought goods from the Orient, lacquer work won such enormous popularity that European artisans began imitating the medium. In the town of Spa, craftsmen specialized

Astrolabe

2005-08-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

Any of a type of early scientific instrument used for reckoning time and for observational purposes. One widely employed variety, the planispheric astrolabe, enabled astronomers to calculate the position of the Sun and prominent stars with respect to both the horizon and the meridian. It provided them with a plane image of the celestial sphere and the principal

Schattschneider, Elmer Eric

2005-07-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

Schattschneider earned an A.B. at the University of Wisconsin (1915), an M.A. at the University of Pittsburgh (1927), and a Ph.D. at Columbia University (1935). He taught at Columbia (1927–30); Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. (1929–30); and Wesleyan

Man Ray

2005-07-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

The son of an artist and photographer, he grew up in New York City, where he studied architecture, engineering, and art, and became a painter. As early as 1911, he took up the pseudonym of Man

France, History Of, Peasant insurgencies

2005-07-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

Competition over the ownership and the use of land had intensified in many regions.

Mansfield, Arabella

2005-07-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Belle Babb graduated from Iowa Wesleyan University in 1866 (by which time she was known as Arabella). She then taught political science, English, and history at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, until her marriage in 1868 to John M. Mansfield,

Smith, A(rthur) J(ames) M(arshall)

2005-07-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

As an undergraduate at McGill University in Montreal, Smith founded and edited the McGill Fortnightly Review (1925–27), the first literary magazine dedicated to freeing Canadian literature from its narrow provincialism. He encouraged other

Alexander

2005-06-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

The third son of Karadjordje (Karageorge, or Karaðorðe), who had led the movement to win Serb autonomy from the Ottoman Turks (1804–13), Alexander lived in exile until 1842, when the Skupština (Serb parliament) elected him prince of Serbia. Assuming the throne despite Russian

Denishawn School Of Dancing And Related Arts

2005-06-23T01:50:00.000-07:00

Dance school and company founded in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and her husband, Ted Shawn. Considered a fountainhead of American modern dance, the Denishawn organization systematically promoted nonballetic dance movement and fostered such leading modern dancers as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. Because St. Denis and Shawn believed that all dance techniques

F-4

2005-06-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

Also called Phantom Ii, two-seat, twin-engine jet fighter built by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation (later the McDonnell-Douglas Corporation) for the United States and many other countries. The first F-4 was delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1960 and to the Air Force in 1963. By the time it went out of production in 1979, more that 5,000 Phantoms had been built, and it had become one of the most successful fighter aircraft

Good Hope, Cape Of

2005-06-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

Rocky promontory at the southern end of Cape Peninsula, Western Cape province, South Africa. It was first sighted by the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 on his return voyage to Portugal after ascertaining the southern limits of the African continent. One historical account says that Dias named it Cape of Storms and that John II of Portugal renamed it Cape

Bukuru

2005-06-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

Town, Plateau state, central Nigeria, located on the Jos Plateau. It lies along a branch railway from Jos town (8 miles [13 km] north-northeast), and it is a major tin- and columbite-mining centre on one of the highest parts (more than 4,000 feet [1,200 metres]) of the plateau. The Bauchi Light Railway, which was closed in 1957, had been built in 1914 to carry tin from Bukuru to Zaria (120 miles [190 km] northwest) and connected

Performing Arts, North America.

2005-06-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Despite the vicissitudes of living in an awakened world following the 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., most plans in place for dance went forward in 2002. Though American Ballet Theatre (ABT) was forced for budgetary reasons to cancel plans for an all-Stravinsky program—featuring Firebird, a work created by James Kudelka for his National Ballet of Canada (NBC)—ABT managed to

Taifa

2005-05-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

, Arabic ta'ifah , plural tawa'if a faction or party, as applied to the followers of any of the petty kings who appeared in Muslim Spain in a period of great political fragmentation early in the 11th century after the dissolution of the central authority of the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba. After the dictatorship of al-Muzaffar (reigned 1002–08), civil war reduced the caliphate to a puppet institution and allowed

Ancient Rome, Second Punic War (218201 BC)

2005-05-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

It seemed that the superiority of the Romans at sea ought to have enabled them to choose the field of battle. They decided to send one army to Spain and another to Sicily and Africa. But before their preparations were complete, Hannibal began the series of operations that dictated the course of the war for the greater part of its duration. He realized that as long as the

Restell, Madame

2005-05-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ann Trow was born into a poor family. In 1831 she moved to New York City with her husband, who died a few years later, and in 1836 she married Charles R. Lohman. Her husband had established himself as a purveyor of various concoctions that purportedly prevented

Responsory

2005-03-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

Also called �respond� plainchant melody and text originally sung responsorially - i.e., by alternating choir and soloist or soloists. Responsorial singing of the psalms was adopted into early Christian worship from Jewish liturgical practice. Most frequently the congregation sang a short refrain, such as Amen or Alleluia, between psalm verses sung by a cantor. As medieval plainchant

Backcross

2005-03-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

The mating of a hybrid organism (offspring of genetically unlike parents) with one of its parents or with an organism genetically similar to the parent. The backcross is useful in genetics studies for isolating (separating out) certain characteristics in a related group of animals or plants. In animal breeding, a backcross is often called a topcross. Grading usually

Socrates, Xenophon

2005-03-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

Among the compositions of Xenophon, the one that gives the fullest portrait of Socrates is Memorabilia. The first two chapters of Book I of this work are especially important, because they explicitly undertake a refutation of the charges made against Socrates at his trial; they are therefore a valuable supplement to Xenophon's Apology, which is devoted entirely

Nilus Of Rossano, Saint

2005-03-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

Also called �Nilus The Younger� abbot and promoter of Greek monasticism in Italy, who founded several communities of monks in the region of Calabria following the Greek rule of St. Basil of Caesarea. A supporter of the regular successors to the papal crown in their controversies with antipopes,

China

2005-03-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

American collegiate athletic association that grew out of the Southern Conference. Members are the University of Alabama, the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), Auburn University, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, the University of Kentucky, Louisiana State University, the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University,

Pen

2005-03-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

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

Australia, Flag Of

2005-02-28T23:01:00.000-08:00

Thought was given to an all-Australian flag long before confederation was achieved on January 1, 1901. For example, in 1823 a National Colonial Flag displayed four white eight-pointed stars on a red cross on a white field with the Union Jack. From 1831 until as late as the 1920s there was a somewhat similar design known as the Australian Federation Flag, with a blue cross and five white stars.

Windsor

2005-02-27T14:18:00.000-08:00

Town, Windsor and Maidenhead unitary authority, historic county of Berkshire, England. Windsor is situated on the south bank of the River Thames and lies to the west of London. The modern town is dominated by Windsor Castle, standing on the outcrop of chalk on which William I the Conqueror (reigned 1066 - 87) built the original fortress. The castle is in regular occupation as a

Faience Parlante

2005-02-26T23:59:00.000-08:00

(French: �talking faience�), in French pottery, popular utilitarian 18th-century earthenware, principally plates, jugs, and bowls, that had inscriptions as part of its decoration. The city of Nevers was the outstanding centre for the production of faience parlante. The range of inscriptions included owners' names, coats of arms, bacchic or facetious references, Masonic

Thomas The Rhymer

2005-02-25T22:04:00.000-08:00

Also called �Thomas Learmont�, or �Thomas Of Erceldoune� Scottish poet and prophet who was likely the author of the metrical romance Sir Tristrem, a version of the widely diffused Tristan legend. The romance was first printed in 1804 by Sir Walter Scott from a manuscript of about 1300. Thomas is now probably best known through the ballad �Thomas the Rhymer,� included by Scott in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802). In popular lore

Hugh Iii

2005-02-23T01:36:00.000-08:00

Succeeding his cousin Hugh II as king of Cyprus in 1267, he obtained the disputed crown of the dwindling crusader kingdom of Jerusalem two years later. The efforts of his rival, Charles I of Anjou, king of Sicily, who also claimed his rights to be a king of Jerusalem, and the resistance

Frieze

2005-02-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

The frieze in

Kamehameha I

2005-02-21T16:41:00.000-08:00

First named Paiea, meaning �Hard-Shelled Crab,� the future sovereign was the son of Keoua, a high chief, and of Kekuiapoiwa, a daughter of the former

Szombathely

2005-02-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

German �Steinamanger, � town and seat of Vas megye (county), northwestern Hungary. Szombathely is situated on the Gy�ngy�s River, near the frontier with Austria, south-southeast of Vienna and west of Budapest. The town is the successor to the Roman settlement of Savaria (Sabaria), the capital of Pannonia, founded in AD 43 by Claudius I at the intersection of two Roman roads still extant. There is in the

Rourke, Constance Mayfield

2005-02-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

After earning an A.B. from Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., (1907) and studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, Rourke taught English at Vassar. In 1915 she resigned, thereafter working as a research historian and free-lance writer devoted to defining the historical aspects

Castile-la Mancha

2005-02-18T02:05:00.000-08:00

The autonomous community, established in 1982, is bounded by the provinces of C�ceres and Badajoz to the west, C�rdoba, Ja�n, and Murcia to the south, Alicante, Valencia, and Teruel to the east, and Zaragoza,

Muromachi Period

2005-02-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

The most successful of the Ashikaga rulers, the third shogun Yoshimitsu, managed

Journal De Gen�ve

2005-02-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

Like the German-language Neue Z�rcher Zeitung, the Journal de Gen�ve was a national newspaper, serious in tone and generally liberal in outlook. Its careful and thorough

Narcissus

2005-02-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Leiriope; he was distinguished for his beauty. His mother was told that he would have a long life, provided he never looked upon his own features. His rejection, however, of the love of the nymph Echo or of his lover Ameinias drew upon him the vengeance of the gods. He fell in love with his own reflection in

Farandole

2005-02-14T00:37:00.000-08:00

Lively and popular chain dance of Provence and Catalonia. It was mentioned as early as the 14th century and, according to tradition, was taken to Marseille from Greece by Phoenician sailors. Performed on feast days, the farandole is danced by men and women holding hands in a chain. The dancers, following the steps introduced by the chain leader, wind through the streets

Sudan, History Of The, Medieval Christian kingdoms

2005-02-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

The 200 years from the fall of Kush to the middle of the 6th century is an unknown age in the Sudan. Nubia was inhabited by a people called the Nobatae by the ancient geographers and the X-Group by modern archaeologists, who are still at a loss to explain their origins. The X-Group were clearly, however, the heirs of Kush, for their whole cultural life was dominated by Meroitic

Sudan, History Of The, Medieval Christian kingdoms

2005-02-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

Finland, Education

2005-02-11T23:22:00.000-08:00

School attendance in Finland is compulsory beginning at the age of seven. The national and local governments support the schools, and tuition is free. The introduction of a new nine-year comprehensive school system, consisting of a six-year primary stage and a three-year secondary stage, was completed during the 1970s. The English language is taught beginning in the third

Laatste Nieuws, Het

2005-02-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

A liberal paper with a serious approach to national and international news, it also publishes such features as comic strips, crossword puzzles, and cartoons. In the 1960s a large and attractive sports section of several pages

Computers, The first computer

2005-02-09T13:39:00.000-08:00

By the second decade of the 19th century, a number of ideas necessary for the invention of the computer were in the air. First, the potential benefits to science and industry of being able to automate routine calculations was appreciated, as it had not been a century earlier. Specific methods to make automated calculation more practical, such as doing multiplication

French Literature, The novel between the wars

2005-02-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

With a few notable exceptions, novels were less technically innovative in the second quarter of the century. The Surrealists made their contribution with Andr� Breton's Nadja (1928; Eng. trans., Nadja) and Louis Aragon's Le Paysan de Paris (1926; The Night-Walker), and they influenced the works of Raymond Queneau. The tradition of the family novel was continued by Roger Martin du

French Literature, The novel between the wars

2005-02-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Byname �Star Wars� proposed U.S. strategic defensive system against potential nuclear attacks - as originally conceived, from the Soviet Union. The SDI was first proposed by President Ronald Reagan in a nationwide television address on March 23, 1983. Because parts of the defensive system that Reagan advocated would be based in space, the proposed system was dubbed �Star Wars,� after the space

Biblical Literature, Background and overview

2005-02-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

In the New Testament canon of 27 books, 21 are called �letters,� and even the Revelation to John starts and ends in letter form. Of the 21, 13 belong to the Pauline corpus; the Letter to the Hebrews is included in the Pauline corpus in the East but not, however, in the West. Three letters of this corpus, the Pastoral Letters, are pseudonymous and thus are not considered here. Of the remaining

Atargatis

2005-02-05T06:26:00.000-08:00

Great goddess of northern Syria; her chief sanctuary was at Hierapolis (modern Manbij), northeast of Aleppo, where she was worshiped with her consort, Hadad. Her ancient temple there was rebuilt about 300 BC by Queen Stratonice, wife of Seleucus I, and it was perhaps partly as a result of that Greek patronage that her cult, carried by Greek merchants and mercenaries, spread to

Mugwump

2005-02-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

In U.S. politics, member of a reform-oriented faction of the Republican Party that refused to support the candidacy of James G. Blaine for the presidency in 1884. Instead, the Mugwumps supported the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland. Their leaders included Theodore Roosevelt, George Curtis, and Henry Cabot Lodge; all returned to Republican ranks after the defeat of Blaine.

Ferdinand I

2005-02-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Because his elder brother, Henry III, was an invalid, Ferdinand took the battlefield against the Muslims of Granada. When Henry III died in 1406, his son John II was an infant and the regency was divided between Henry's widow, Queen Catherine of Lancaster,

Ust-orda Buryat

2005-02-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

Also called �Ust-ordynsky Buryat,� autonomous okrug (district) in Irkutsk oblast (province), east-central Russia. It lies west of Lake Baikal and extends across the Angara River. The okrug was created in 1937. Its plateau relief is partly in boreal forest, or taiga, of larch, spruce, fir, pine, and birch and partly in forest-steppe. Coal is mined in the west, where the Trans-Siberian Railroad crosses the okrug. Timber

Magnus V Erlingsson

2005-02-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

The son of Erling the Crooked, Magnus became king in 1162 when his supporters, led by his father, defeated the forces of the incumbent king, Haakon II Sigurdsson.

Tradescant, John

2005-01-31T18:24:00.000-08:00

Tradescant added to his father's collection of natural history objects, ultimately forming a significant collection acquired principally from Algiers and Virginia. After the younger

Earth, Convective electrojets

2005-01-30T01:03:00.000-08:00

The auroral electrojets are two broad sheets of electric current that flow from noon toward midnight in the northern and southern auroral ovals. The dawn side current flows westward, creating a decrease in the magnetic field on the surface. The dusk side current flows eastward and produces an increase in the magnetic field. Both currents flow at an altitude of approximately

Waqidi, Al-

2005-01-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

As a youth al-Waqidi is said to have been such an authority on the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina that he was guide to the 'Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid during the latter's pilgrimage. Al-Waqidi became a grain dealer

Wolfdietrich

2005-01-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

Germanic hero who appears in the Middle High German poems of Ortnit and Wolfdietrich in Das Heldenbuch (see Heldenbuch, Das) as the son of Hugdietrich, emperor of Constantinople. Repudiated by his father, who mistakenly believes him illegitimate, he is brought up by the emperor's faithful retainer Berchtung von Meran. Berchtung and his 16 sons support Wolfdietrich,

Atlanta

2005-01-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

The city owes its existence to the railroads, the routes of which were

Devequt

2005-01-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Devekut� (Hebrew: �attachment�), in Jewish religious thought, an adherence to or communion with God that stops short of mystical union. The notion of devequt apparently derived from the biblical reference to �loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him� (Deuteronomy 11:22). As a fundamental concept of the Jewish mystical system called the Kabbala, devequt was

Wandjina Style

2005-01-24T20:35:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Wondjina, � type of depiction in Australian cave paintings of figures that represent mythological beings associated with the creation of the world. Called wandjina figures, the images are believed by modern Aborigines to have been painted by the Wondjinas, prehistoric inhabitants of the Kimberley region in northwest Australia, the only area where cave paintings in the

Ascham, Roger

2005-01-23T18:06:00.000-08:00

As a boy of 14, Ascham entered the University of Cambridge, where he later took his M.A. and was elected a fellow of St. John's and appointed reader in Greek. The new Renaissance enthusiasm for the classics, especially

Lahbabi, Mohammed Aziz

2005-01-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

Moroccan writer and philosopher (b. Dec. 25, 1922, F�s, Morocco--d. Aug. 23, 1993, Rabat, Morocco), had influence in the Arab world through his many writings, some of which were translated into as many as 30 languages. Lahbabi was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris and received a doctorate of philosophy. He taught philosophy at Muhammad V University, Rabat, and the University of Algiers and held other

Philanthropinum

2005-01-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

Late 18th-century school (1774 - 93) founded in Dessau, Germany, by the educator Johann Bernhard Basedow to implement the educational ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Aiming to foster in its students a humanitarian worldview and awareness of the community of interest among all people, it taught rich and poor boys together regardless of religious or class distinctions. The school

Pacific Ocean, Study and exploration

2005-01-20T01:00:00.000-08:00

Andrew Sharp, The Discovery of the Pacific Islands (1960, reprinted 1985), summarizes the work of 121 explorers of the area and their contributions to charting the Pacific. J.C. Beaglehole, The Exploration of the Pacific, 3rd ed. (1966), and The Life of Captain James Cook (1974), are classics on the subject. Ernest S. Dodge, Beyond the Capes: Pacific Exploration from Captain Cook to the Challenger, 1776 - 1877 (1971), provides a thorough coverage of this important period.

California Aqueduct

2005-01-19T21:14:00.000-08:00

Principal water-conveyance structure of the California State Water Project, U.S., running from the Sacramento River Delta east of San Francisco, south through the San Joaquin Valley, and over the summit of the Tehachapi Mountains, a distance of 273 mi (440 km). At this point it divides into east and west branches, the former terminating some 444 mi from the delta. Sizes of channels

Earth, Intraplate activity

2005-01-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

Although most tectonic activity takes place along plate boundaries, some occurs within plates. Much of this intraplate activity occurs along aulacogens and plume traces. An aulacogen can be defined as a failed third arm of a spreading ridge. Aulacogens commonly intersect a divergent plate margin at an angle of about 120�, and they form just as two continents begin to

Art And Architecture, Egyptian, Cult temples

2005-01-17T04:54:00.000-08:00

It is generally thought that the Egyptian temple of the Dynastic Period owed most to the cult of the sun god Re at Heliopolis. The temple of Re, however, was probably open in plan and lacked a shrine. Sun temples were unique among cult temples; worship was centred on a cult object, the benben, which was a squat obelisk placed in full sunlight. Among the few temples surviving

Absalon

2005-01-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

Scion of a powerful Zealand family, Absalon helped his childhood friend gain the Danish throne as Valdemar I (1156 - 57) and was named bishop of Roskilde in 1158. As the king's closest adviser, he initially supported Valdemar's alliance with Frederick I Barbarossa, Holy

Norway, Union with Sweden

2005-01-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Norwegian independence got no support from the Great Powers, and Sweden attacked Norway in late July 1814. After a brief war of 14 days, Christian resigned. Jean Bernadotte (later known as Charles XIV John; called Karl Johan in Sweden and Norway), the Swedish crown prince, accepted the Norwegian constitution and thus could no longer argue on the basis of the Treaty of Kiel. This

Sabae

2005-01-13T04:03:00.000-08:00

City, Fukui ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the northern end of the Takefu basin. The city first formed around the Buddhist Josho temple and became a post town after 1720. An administrative centre in the late 19th century, it gained importance as a centre for the production of silk and synthetic fibres. Specialized industries, such as the manufacture of optical frames and roof

Feminine Ending

2005-01-12T16:22:00.000-08:00

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

Saale Glacial Stage

2005-01-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

Division of Pleistocene deposits and time in northern Europe (the Pleistocene Epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Saale Glacial Stage followed the Holstein Interglacial Stage and preceded the Eemian Interglacial Stage, both relatively mild climatic periods. The extensive and complex Saale deposits are correlated with the Gipping Glacial

Agostino Di Giovanni

2005-01-10T01:45:00.000-08:00

Agostino is first heard of in Siena in 1310 and again lived there in 1340 - 43. After 1320 he was active with Agnolo at Volterra, where they executed a number of scenes from the lives of SS. Regulus and Octavian. The work of the two sculptors cannot be clearly differentiated. Between

Tighina

2005-01-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Tigina�, formerly called �Bendery�, Moldavian �Bender� city, Moldova. Tighina lies along the right bank of the Dniester River below its confluence with the B�c (Byk). A settlement has existed on the site since the 2nd century BC. It came successively under the rule of Kiev, Moldavia, Genoa, Turkey, and, in 1818, after frequent attacks, Russia. Between World Wars I and II it was in Romania. Today Tighina manufactures textiles, foodstuffs, cables,

B�hmer, Johann Friedrich

2005-01-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

After studying at the universities of G�ttingen and Heidelberg, B�hmer journeyed to Italy, where he became interested in art history. Upon his return to Frankfurt (1822), he became an assistant librarian

Gaultier De Varennes Et De La V�rendrye, Pierre

2005-01-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

(French-Canadian explorer): see La V�rendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de.

Macdiarmid, Alan G.

2005-01-06T06:04:00.000-08:00

MacDiarmid earned Ph.D.'s in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (1953) and the

Racine, Jean

2005-01-05T07:35:00.000-08:00

The classic biography is Raymond Picard, La Carri�re de Jean Racine, new ed. rev. and augmented (1961). Geoffrey Brereton, Jean Racine: A Critical Biography (1951, reprinted 1973), is also worth consulting. A popularized treatment is Alain Viala, Racine: la strat�gie du cam�l�on (1990). Racine's central place in the history of French tragedy is discussed in Jacques Truchet, La Trag�die classique en France (1975). Critical studies accessible to the general reader include John C. Lapp, Aspects of Racinian Tragedy (1955, reissued 1978); Odette de Mourgues, Racine; or, The Triumph of Relevance (1967); Claude Abraham, Jean Racine (1977); David Maskell, Racine: A Theatrical Reading (1991); Edward Forman (ed.), Racine: Appraisal and Reappraisal (1991); Richard Parish, Racine: The Limits of Tragedy (1993); Henry Phillips, Racine: Language and Theatre (1994); and Derval Conroy and Edric Caldicott, Racine: The Power and the Pleasure (2001). The most controversial interpretations of Racine (anthropological by Roland Barthes, Marxist by Lucien Goldmann, and psychoanalytical by Charles Mauron) are reviewed with many others by Jean Rohou, Jean Racine: bilan critique, ed. by Alain Pag�s (1994). Roy C. Knight, Racine et la Gr�ce, 2nd ed. (1974); and Ronald W. Tobin, Racine and Seneca (1971), elucidate Racine's vast knowledge of Greco-Roman antiquity. The rhetoric of the plays has been studied by Michael Hawcrowft, Word as Action: Racine, Rhetoric, and Theatrical Language (1992).

Likasi

2005-01-04T02:26:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1966) �Jadotville, � city, southeastern Congo (Kinshasa). It lies along the Likasi River, 86 miles (138 km) northwest of Lubumbashi, to which it is connected by road and rail. In 1892 Belgians discovered copper deposits at Likasi and at Kambove, 15 miles (24 km) northwest. Likasi was founded in 1917 and was designated an urban district in 1943. It is now one of the nation's most important mineral-processing centres, with plants

Pox Disease

2005-01-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

Any of a complex of viral diseases in human beings and domestic animals, marked chiefly by eruptions of the skin and mucous membranes. Sheep pox and rabbit pox are spread by airborne infectious particles that are inhaled. Horse pox, fowl pox, and mouse pox usually are spread by skin contact. Cowpox (vaccinia) and pseudo-cowpox (paravaccinia), localized on the udder and

Rose, Hugh Henry, Baron Strathnairn Of Strathnairn And Of Jhansi

2005-01-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

Son of the diplomat Sir George Rose, he was educated and received his military training in Berlin and entered the British army in 1820. From 1841 to 1848 he was consul general in Syria. As British liaison officer at French headquarters during the Crimean War,

Poison, Drugs of abuse

2004-12-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

Mind-altering drugs commonly abused include amphetamines, cocaine, phencyclidine, heroin, and methaqualone. These drugs are primarily toxic to the central nervous system; amphetamine and cocaine cause stimulation of the system (hallucinations and delirium), and heroin causes the depression of the system (depressed respiration and coma). In contrast, phencyclidine

Corday, Charlotte

2004-12-30T07:03:00.000-08:00

Descended from a noble family, educated in a convent at Caen, and royalist by sentiment, yet susceptible also to the ideals of the Enlightenment, Corday was living with an aunt in Caen when it became a centre of the �federalist� movement against the National

Albania

2004-12-29T23:42:00.000-08:00

Officially �Republic of Albania, �Albanian �Shqip�ria, �or �Republika e Shqip�ris�, � country located in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula on the Strait of Otranto, the southern entrance to the Adriatic Sea. It encompasses an area of 11,100 square miles (28,748 square kilometres), with a maximum length from north to south of about 210 miles (340 kilometres) and a maximum width of about 95 miles. It is bounded to the northwest by Montenegro, to the northeast by the Kosovo region

China, Integration of the South

2004-12-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

The second Sui emperor, Yang-ti (reigned 604 - 617), has been depicted as a supreme example of arrogance, extravagance, and personal depravity who squandered his patrimony in megalomaniac construction projects and unwise military adventures. This mythical Yang-ti was to a large extent the product of the hostile record written of his reign shortly after his death. His reign

Delhi, Education

2004-12-25T19:06:00.000-08:00

The growth of modern education in Delhi has kept pace with the expansion of the city's population. Primary-level education is nearly universal, and a large proportion of students also attend secondary school. Education for women at all levels has advanced at a much faster pace than it has for men. Among the institutions of higher learning, the most important is the

Mito

2004-12-24T20:34:00.000-08:00

Capital, Ibaraki Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, on the left bank of the Naka-gawa (Naka River). During the Heian era (794 - 1185) Mito developed around a Yoshida shrine, and its first castle was built during the Kamakura era (1192 - 1333). The city changed hands several times during the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1609 it became a fief of the Mito branch of the Tokugawa family, one of the three branches of that

Schreiber, R(aemer) E(dgar)

2004-12-23T16:28:00.000-08:00

American experimental physicist who during World War II was one of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.M., to develop the first atomic bombs and then helped assemble the two bombs that were dropped on Japan; after the war he stayed on at Los Alamos in the weapons division and helped develop the hydrogen bomb, from 1955 led the nuclear rocket

Smilax

2004-12-22T21:29:00.000-08:00

Genus of plants in the family Smilacaceae, consisting of about 300 species of woody or herbaceous vines, variously known as catbriers and greenbriers, native to tropical and temperate parts of the world. The stems of many species are covered with prickles; the lower leaves are scalelike; and the leathery upper leaves have untoothed blades with

Cylinder

2004-12-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

In geometry, surface of revolution that is traced by a straight line (the generatrix) that always moves parallel to itself or some fixed line or direction (the axis). The path, to be definite, is directed along a curve (the directrix), along which the line always glides. In a right circular cylinder, the directrix is a circle. The axis of this cylinder is a line through the centre

Beach, Amy Marcy

2004-12-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

Amy Cheney had already demonstrated precocious musical talent when the family moved to Boston in 1870. She began taking piano lessons at age six, although she had been composing simple melodies on the

Peru-chile Trench

2004-12-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

The Peru-Chile Trench marks the subduction of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate

Chatoyance

2004-12-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

The property of some minerals to exhibit a wavy, luminous band with a silky lustre, reminiscent of the eye of a cat, in the centre of a cabochon-cut (polished, with a rounded, unfaceted convex surface) stone. The effect, caused by parallel fibres or by oriented imperfections or inclusions within the stone, is typical of cat's-eye, tigereye, satin spar, and bronzite. The fibres,

Basedow, Johann Bernhard

2004-12-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

Basedow as a boy revolted

Mormon

2004-12-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the principal formal body embracing

Barnet, Charlie

2004-12-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

Born into a wealthy family, Barnet rejected their urging that he become a corporate lawyer and instead turned to music. He led his first band at age 16, on a transatlantic liner, and eventually made 22 such crossings; he also visited the South Seas and Latin

Glycogen Storage Disease

2004-12-14T17:43:00.000-08:00

In the liver group, type O is set apart as

Kaema Highlands

2004-12-13T09:26:00.000-08:00

Korean �Kaema-kowon� tableland, northern North Korea. Called the roof of the Korean Peninsula, the Kaema Highlands are bounded on the north by Paektu Mountain (9,003 feet [2,744 m]), on the west by the Nangnim Mountain Range, on the east by the coast of the Sea of Japan (East Sea), and on the south by the northern tip of the T'aebaek Mountains. The heights rise 3,300 - 6,600 feet (1,000 - 2,000 m) and are approximately 15,500 square miles (40,000 square km)

Aeon

2004-12-12T04:22:00.000-08:00

The first aeon was said to emanate directly

Hooke's Law

2004-12-11T16:24:00.000-08:00

Law of elasticity discovered by the English scientist Robert Hooke in 1660, which states that, for relatively small deformations of an object, the displacement or size of the deformation is directly proportional to the deforming force or load. Under these conditions the object returns to its original shape and size upon removal of the load. Elastic behaviour of solids

Celan, Paul

2004-12-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

When Romania came under virtual Nazi control in World War II, Celan was sent to

Pyran

2004-12-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of organic compounds of the heterocyclic series in which five carbon atoms and one oxygen atom are present in a ring structure. Of two possible simple pyran compounds, only one is known; it was prepared in 1962 and found to be very unstable. Among the stable members of this family is tetrahydropyran, made by hydrogenating the dihydro compound. Sugars often

Shabestari, Sa'd Od-din Mahmud

2004-12-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

The details of Shabestari's life are obscure; apparently he spent most of it in Tabriz. He grew up in an age of spiritual confusion, following the Mongol invasion of Iran, the sack of Baghdad, and the final fall of the

ChemicalIsland

Tiglath-pileser Ii

Dagly, Gerhard

Astrolabe

Schattschneider, Elmer Eric

Man Ray

France, History Of, Peasant insurgencies

Mansfield, Arabella

Smith, A(rthur) J(ames) M(arshall)

Alexander

Denishawn School Of Dancing And Related Arts

F-4

Good Hope, Cape Of

Bukuru

Performing Arts, North America.

Taifa

Ancient Rome, Second Punic War (218201 BC)

Restell, Madame

Responsory

Backcross

Socrates, Xenophon

Nilus Of Rossano, Saint

China

Pen

Australia, Flag Of

Windsor

Faience Parlante

Thomas The Rhymer

Hugh Iii

Frieze

Kamehameha I

Szombathely

Rourke, Constance Mayfield

Castile-la Mancha

Muromachi Period

Journal De Gen�ve

Narcissus

Farandole

Sudan, History Of The, Medieval Christian kingdoms

Sudan, History Of The, Medieval Christian kingdoms

Finland, Education

Laatste Nieuws, Het

Computers, The first computer

French Literature, The novel between the wars

French Literature, The novel between the wars

Biblical Literature, Background and overview

Atargatis

Mugwump

Ferdinand I

Ust-orda Buryat

Magnus V Erlingsson

Tradescant, John

Earth, Convective electrojets

Waqidi, Al-

Wolfdietrich

Atlanta

Devequt

Wandjina Style

Ascham, Roger

Lahbabi, Mohammed Aziz

Philanthropinum

Pacific Ocean, Study and exploration

California Aqueduct

Earth, Intraplate activity

Art And Architecture, Egyptian, Cult temples

Absalon

Norway, Union with Sweden

Sabae

Feminine Ending

Saale Glacial Stage

Agostino Di Giovanni

Tighina

B�hmer, Johann Friedrich

Gaultier De Varennes Et De La V�rendrye, Pierre

Macdiarmid, Alan G.

Racine, Jean

Likasi

Pox Disease

Rose, Hugh Henry, Baron Strathnairn Of Strathnairn And Of Jhansi

Poison, Drugs of abuse

Ancient Rome, Second Punic War (218201 BC)