ParallelPipe

serviced offices

2006-11-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Office planet have a huge database of serviced offices throughout the UK. serviced offices provide an affordable and hassle free office solution

Mammal, Skeleton

2005-04-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

The mammalian skeletal system shows a number of advances over that of lower vertebrates. The mode of ossification of the long bones is characteristic. In lower vertebrates each long bone has a single center of ossification, the diaphysis, and replacement of cartilage by bone proceeds from the center toward the ends, which may remain cartilaginous, even in adults.

Scaliger, Joseph Justus

2005-04-04T06:10:00.000-07:00

The son of an Italian physician and philosopher, Julius Caesar Scaliger, who immigrated to Agen in 1525, the young Joseph entered school at Bordeaux and

Alba Longa

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

Ancient city of Latium, Italy, in the Alban Hills about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Rome, near present Castel Gandolfo. Tradition attributes its founding (c. 1152 BC) to Ascanius, the son of the legendary Aeneas, thus making it, according to legend at least, the oldest Latin city, which in turn founded others, including Rome. Excavations have revealed cemeteries that date to the 10th century

Alliaceae

2005-04-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

Family of flowering plants in the order Liliales, with about 30 genera and more than 670 species, distributed throughout most regions of the world, except for the tropics, Australia, and New Zealand. Members of the family have corms, bulbs, or underground stems; most have long, thin leaves and clusters of varying numbers of flowers. The genus Allium contains the common onion

Extrusive Rock

2005-04-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

Any rock derived from magma (q.v.; molten silicate material) that is poured out or ejected at the Earth's surface. By contrast, intrusive rocks are formed from magma that is forced into older rocks at depth within the Earth's crust; the molten material then slowly solidifies below the Earth's surface, where it may later be exposed owing to erosion. Extrusive rocks are usually

Pamirs, Animal life

2005-04-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

The high tablelands of the eastern Pamirs are the prime breeding area of the mountain goat and the argali (Marco Polo) wild sheep; occasional sightings of blue sheep and urial are reported. Ibex are common where human activity is minimal, and markhor inhabit the lower ranges between the Panj and Vakhsh rivers. Brown bear feed on the abundant marmots, as do wolves. Relatively

Tiznit

2005-03-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

Town, provincial capital, and province, Sud region, Morocco. The town lies near the Atlantic coast and the Tachilla and Ouarzemimene mountains of the Anti-Atlas range. It was founded in 1882 during the reign of Maulay Hasan as a military base from which he launched expeditions to subdue the peoples of the Oued (river) Sous region and the neighbouring mountainous areas. Tiznit

Futurism

2005-03-31T06:53:00.000-08:00

Futurism was first announced on Feb. 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto

Scandinavian Literature, Developments in Danish literature

2005-03-30T20:06:00.000-08:00

In 1536 the Lutheran Reformation was carried through in Denmark, and the beginning of the 16th century was characterized by many pamphlets for or against the Roman Catholic Church. European humanism and the Renaissance made their influence felt also in Denmark, where Christiern Pedersen was the most prominent humanist who supported the Reformation. He edited Gesta

Spode Porcelain

2005-03-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

Porcelain introduced about 1800 in the factory of Josiah Spode and Josiah Spode II at Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, Eng. This hybrid porcelain—combining the ingredients of hard-paste porcelain (china clay and china stone) and bone ash—became the standard English bone china. Early Spode porcelain consists of elaborate services and outsize vases, lavishly decorated

Chat-thrush

2005-03-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

Any of the 190 species belonging to the songbird family Turdidae (order Passeriformes) that are generally smaller and have slenderer legs and more colourful plumage than true, or typical, thrushes. Chat-thrushes are sometimes treated as a distinct subfamily, Saxicolinae. They are found almost worldwide but are most common in the tropics, especially

López, Carlos Antonio

2005-03-28T01:47:00.000-08:00

López was the son of poor parents, reportedly of Indian and Spanish descent. After attending the San Carlos Seminary in Asunción, he taught there until it was closed

Orange-tip Butterfly

2005-03-27T02:46:00.000-08:00

Member of the cosmopolitan insect family Pieridae (order Lepidoptera), which also includes the white and sulfur butterflies and contains more than 1,000 species. Adults have a wingspan of 37 to 63 mm (1.5 to 2.5 inches). The orange-tips (so called because most species have an orange spot on the top of the forewings) have whitish wings with black markings and green

Hale, George Ellery

2005-03-26T04:21:00.000-08:00

American astronomer known for his development of important astronomical instruments, including the Hale telescope (completed 1948), a 200-inch reflecting telescope at the California Institute of Technology's Palomar Mountain Observatory near Pasadena. He is known also for his researches in solar physics, particularly his discovery

Fock, Jeno

2005-03-26T00:32:00.000-08:00

Hungarian politician (b. May 17, 1916, Budapest, Austria-Hungary—d. May 23, 2001, Budapest, Hung.), was a moderate communist who tried to institute economic reforms while serving as Hungarian deputy prime minister (1961–67) and prime minister (1967–75). His efforts were blocked by the Soviet Union, however, and he was pushed out of office in 1975. Fock continued to criticize General Secretary Janos Kadar's hard-line

Axminster

2005-03-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), East Devon district, administrative and historic county of Devon, England, on the River Axe. Founded about 705 at the intersection of two Roman roads, Portway and Fosse Way, it was one of the earliest Saxon settlements in Devon. Carpet making, for which it is famous, was established there in 1755 and is continued in a modern factory. The typical Axminster carpet has

Sun, Photosphere

2005-03-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

Although there are no fires on the surface of the Sun, the photosphere seethes and roils, displaying the effects of the underlying convection. Photons flowing from below, trapped by the underlying layers, finally escape. This produces a dramatic drop in temperature and density. The temperature at the visible surface is about 5,800 K but drops to a minimum about 4,000 K at approximately

Peter Ii

2005-03-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

The son of Alexander I, who was assassinated during a visit to France on Oct. 9, 1934, Peter became titular king at 11, but the actual rule was in the hands of a regent, his uncle Prince Paul. After Paul was deposed by a coup of officers led by Gen. Dušan Simovic on March 27, 1941, Peter ruled for a few weeks until Axis troops invaded. He then

Penal Laws

2005-03-23T17:02:00.000-08:00

Laws passed against Roman Catholics in Britain and Ireland after the Reformation that penalized the practice of the Roman Catholic religion and imposed civil disabilities on Catholics. Various acts passed in the 16th and 17th centuries prescribed fines and imprisonment for participation in Catholic worship and severe penalties, including death, for Catholic

Heusler Alloy

2005-03-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

Any of the first magnetic alloys composed of metals that, in their pure state, are not magnetic. The alloys are named after Fritz Heusler, 19th-century German mining engineer and chemist. Heusler alloys consist of approximately two parts of copper, one of manganese, and one of tin. The tin may be replaced by aluminum, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, or boron; the copper may be replaced

Farazdaq, Al-

2005-03-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

Living in Basra, al-Farazdaq composed satires on the Banu Nashal and Banu Fuqaim tribes, and when al-Farazdeq

Brachiation

2005-03-21T10:46:00.000-08:00

In animal behaviour, specialized form of arboreal locomotion in which movement is accomplished by swinging from one hold to another by the arms. The process is highly developed in the gibbon and siamang, which are anatomically adapted for it in the length of their forelimbs, their long hooklike fingers, and the mobility of their shoulder joints. The South American

Biblical Literature, The Sadducees

2005-03-21T05:13:00.000-08:00

The Sadducees, more conservative and static, consisted mainly of the old priesthood and landed aristocracy and, perhaps, some Herodians. They were collaborators with Rome. They did not believe in resurrection because they found no Old Testament enunciation of such a doctrine. In a way, they seemed to respect the Pharisees in legal matters; but both the Pharisees—because

Beach, Alfred Ely

2005-03-20T07:39:00.000-08:00

While Beach was attending

Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr.

2005-03-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

Powell was the son of the pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York City. Brought up in a middle-class home, he received his B.A. from Colgate University (Hamilton, N.Y.) in 1930 and his M.A. from Columbia University

Arbeau, Thoinot

2005-03-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Orchésographie is

Argos

2005-03-18T10:43:00.000-08:00

The name Argos (adjectival form Argive) apparently signified an agricultural plain and was applied to several districts in ancient Greece. Historically, the Argolis was the easternmost portion of the Peloponnesian peninsula, and the city

Korean Art

2005-03-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

A number of artifacts, including pottery and bronze and iron objects, indicate the early influence of China on Korean art. There is also evidence that Scythian, Siberian, and other non-Chinese cultures had an effect on the design and decoration

Szekler

2005-03-17T23:15:00.000-08:00

Hungarian Székely, member of a people inhabiting the upper valleys of the Mures and Olt rivers in what was eastern Transylvania and is now Romania. They were estimated to number about 860,000 in the 1970s and are officially recognized as a distinct minority group by the Romanian government. Their origin has been much debated. According to their own tradition, repeated in Procopius' De bello

Yugoslavia

2005-03-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

Three federations have borne the name Yugoslavia (“Land of the South Slavs”). The Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Kraljevina Jugoslavija), officially proclaimed in 1929 and lasting

Harcourt, Henri De Lorraine, Count (comte) De

2005-03-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

Nicknamed “Cadet la Perle” because he was the youngest of his family and because he wore a pearl in his ear, Harcourt fought in the wars against Spain in Catalonia, Flanders,

Sarcee

2005-03-16T04:34:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sarsi, North American Plains Indian people of Athabascan linguistic stock who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries near the upper Saskatchewan and Athabaska rivers. They probably moved southward to this region near the end of the 17th century when they became the northern neighbours of the Blackfoot Indians, from whom they received some protection from enemies. Their name

Burgess, Guy; And Maclean, Donald (duart)

2005-03-15T22:26:00.000-08:00

At the University of Cambridge in the 1930s Burgess and Maclean were part of a group of relatively privileged young men who shared a fashionable disdain for capitalist democracy. Recruited

Cage, John

2005-03-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

The son of an inventor, Cage briefly attended Pomona College and then traveled in Europe for a time. Returning to the United States in 1931, he studied music with Richard Buhlig, Arnold

Prehistoric Religion, Shamanism, sorcery, and magic

2005-03-14T09:53:00.000-08:00

Shamanism is a rather variable and highly stratified complex of practices and conceptions; characteristic among these are the use of ecstasy, the belief in guardian spirits (who are often in animal form, with the function of helping and guiding the dead on their voyage to the beyond), and beliefs concerning metamorphosis (change of form) and travelling to the beyond.

Augustan History

2005-03-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

The work is incomplete in its surviving form (it probably originally began with one of Hadrian's predecessors, Nerva or Trajan), and its original title is unknown. Its authorship and date of composition are also matters of argument.

Hinton

2005-03-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1871) of Summers county, southeastern West Virginia, U.S., on the New River, near the mouth of the Greenbrier River. Laid out in 1831, it became a railway maintenance facility and rail-shipping point in 1871 with the arrival of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. The early 20th century was the boom time for Hinton; the railroad had at one time about 1,000 employees. However, this volume of activity

Diémer, Louis-joseph

2005-03-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

He was a student at the Paris Conservatoire from 1855 to 1861, and from 1863 he performed regularly, playing at the Alard, Pasdeloup, Colonne, Lamoureux, and Conservatoire concerts with great success; his repertoire included pieces written for him by Charles-Marie

Wahhab, Muhammad Ibn 'abd Al-

2005-03-12T01:13:00.000-08:00

Having completed his formal education in the holy city of Medina, in Arabia, 'Abd al-Wahhab lived abroad for many years. He taught for four years in Basra, Iraq, and in Baghdad he married an affluent woman whose property he inherited

Beyer, Jinny

2005-03-10T01:51:00.000-08:00

Beyer received a B.A. in speech and French from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, and an

Juvarra, Filippo

2005-03-10T01:34:00.000-08:00

Juvarra studied in Rome (1703–14) under the architect Carlo Fontana and was commissioned to design scenes for Cardinal Ottoboni's theatre in the Cancelleria Palace. He was also asked to do stage designs for the queen of Poland, Maria

Muharraq, Al-

2005-03-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

Taken

Biblical Literature, Later and modern versions: English

2005-03-10T00:39:00.000-08:00

Knowledge of the pre-Wycliffite English renditions stems from the many actual manuscripts that have survived and from secondary literature, such as booklists, wills, citations by later authors, and references in polemical works that have preserved the memory of many a translation effort.

Tasmania, Relief

2005-03-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

Tasmania is essentially a mountainous island. In the west, where the highest peak on the island, Mount Ossa, reaches 5,305 feet (1,617 metres), the landscape comprises several parallel northwest-southeast ridges and valleys; eastward lies a series of plateaus at various altitudes; the highest point is Ben Lomond in the northeast, which rises to 5,160 feet at Legges Tor. But the dominant

Viganò, Salvatore

2005-03-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

Viganò was born of a family of dancers and was the nephew

Pack Ice

2005-03-09T08:56:00.000-08:00

Floating mass of ice formed from seawater in the Earth's polar regions. Pack ice expands during winter to cover about 5 percent of the northern oceans and 8 percent of the southern oceans. When melting occurs in spring and summer, the margins of the pack ice retreat.

Berbice River

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

River in eastern Guyana. The Berbice River rises in the highlands of the Rupununi region and flows northward for 370 miles (595 km) through dense forests to the coastal plain. It enters the Atlantic Ocean at New Amsterdam, where its flow is obstructed by shallows. The basin of the Berbice is restricted by the proximity of its larger neighbours, the Essequibo and Courantyne

Gary, Romain

2005-03-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

Gary's novels

Shensi, Plant and animal life

2005-03-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

The vegetation in the northern and southern zones is also sharply differentiated. The southern mountain area forms a part of the mixed deciduous broad-leaved and evergreen forest zone that formerly covered the Lower Yangtze and Han river basins; this region is characterized by a rich variety of vegetation that includes more than 50 broad-leaved genera and a dozen

Mcarthur River

2005-03-06T00:46:00.000-08:00

River in northeastern Northern Territory, Australia, rising about 45 miles (70 km) south of Anthony Lagoon, along the scarp that marks the northern edge of the Barkly Tableland, and flowing northwest for 150 miles (240 km) across rugged country to Port McArthur on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Swamp and jungle border its lower course, which is navigable by barge for 40 miles (64 km). The river, fed

Córdoba

2005-03-06T00:04:00.000-08:00

City, west-central Veracruz estado (“state”), east-central Mexico. It lies at 3,031 feet (924 m) above sea level along the San Antonio River, within sight of the dormant volcano Citlaltépetl. The settlement was founded in 1618 as Villa de Córdoba and was host to the signing of the Treaty of Córdoba on Aug. 24, 1821, giving Mexico its independence from Spain. The city is set in a tropical landscape and

Polar Anticyclone

2005-03-05T18:39:00.000-08:00

Polar anticyclones are created by the cooling

Lustre

2005-03-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

In mineralogy, the appearance of a mineral surface in terms of its light-reflective qualities. Lustre depends upon a mineral's refractive power, diaphaneity (degree of transparency), and structure. Variations in these properties produce different kinds of lustre, whereas variations in the quantity of reflected light produce different intensities of the same

Adapa

2005-03-05T04:20:00.000-08:00

In Mesopotamian mythology, legendary sage and citizen of the Sumerian city of Eridu, the ruins of which are in southern Iraq. Endowed with vast intelligence by Ea (Sumerian: Enki), the god of wisdom, Adapa became the hero of the Sumerian version of the myth of the fall of man. The myth relates that Adapa, in spite of his possession of all wisdom, was not given immortality. One

International Relations, Science and technology in wartime

2005-03-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

Of the many wartime innovations, those in macroeconomics and management techniques were among the most important, for the rapid increase achieved in labour productivity would make possible the economic miracles of many nations after the war as well. U.S. merchant vessels that took 35 weeks to build before the war were being launched in 50 days by 1943. The Soviet Ilyushin

Tarde, Gabriel

2005-03-02T23:44:00.000-08:00

In full Jean-Gabriel De Tarde French sociologist and criminologist who was one of the most versatile social scientists of his time. His theory of social interaction (“intermental activity”) emphasized the individual in an aggregate of persons and brought Tarde into conflict with Émile Durkheim, who viewed society as a collective

Literature

2005-03-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

The 19th congress of the General Union of Arab Writers (GUAW), held in Casablanca, Morocco, in January 1995, voted unanimously to readmit Egypt. Readmission was conditional, however, on Egypt's Writers Union's adhering to the GUAW policy of opposition to normalization of relations with Israel. The GUAW split over the issue of its general secretariat, finally deciding to reelect

Viedma

2005-03-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Río Negro provincia, south-central Argentina. It lies along the western bank of the Negro River 20 miles (32 km) from the river's mouth at the Atlantic Ocean, opposite Carmen de Patagones in Buenos Aires province. A fort called Mercedes de Patagones, built there in 1779 by the explorer Francisco de Viedma, was the capital of the Patagonian territory until the Río

Theileriasis

2005-03-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of livestock diseases caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Theileria (Gonderia), transmitted by tick bites. The most serious is East Coast fever of cattle, caused by T. parva; it has 90–100 percent mortality in Africa. Tropical theileriasis, from T. annulata (T. dispar), is a milder disease of cattle along the Mediterranean and in the Middle East. Theileriases

Van Vechten, Carl

2005-03-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

Van Vechten was graduated from the University of Chicago in 1903 and worked as assistant music critic for The New York Times (1906–08), then as that paper's Paris correspondent. His elegant,

Iasi

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

Judet (county), northeastern Romania, occupying an area of 2,112 square miles (5,469 square km), and bounded on the east by Moldova. The southward-flowing Prut River marks the county's eastern border with Moldova, and the Siret River drains the hilly terrain of the county to the south. Iasi county was a part of feudal Moldavia. Iasi city is the county capital and has chemical, textile, and

Avionics

2005-02-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

Control apparatus includes the attitude gyro and

Indian Ocean

2005-02-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

Body of salt water, covering approximately one-fifth of the total ocean area of the world. It is the smallest, youngest, and physically most complex of the world's three major oceans. It stretches for more than 6,200 miles (10,000 kilometres) between the southern tips of Africa and Australia and, without its marginal seas, has an area of about 28,360,000 square miles (73,440,000 square kilometres). The Indian

Aerospace Industry, Remanufacture and upgrading

2005-02-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

The most elaborate type of program under the general heading of maintenance is the remanufacturing process. Performed at aircraft-manufacturing facilities, remanufacture is a measure that combines a general overhaul with an upgrade of some of the aircraft's systems. The latter process often paces the progressive development of a basic airplane type through

Qadariyah

2005-02-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

In Islam, adherents of the doctrine of free will (from qadar, “power”). The name was also applied to the Mu'tazilah, the Muslim theological school that believed that man, through his free will, can choose between good and evil. But as the Mu'tazilah also stressed the absolute unity of God (tawhid), they resented the designation because of a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad,

Ibn Al-farid

2005-02-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

Son of a Syrian-born inheritance-law functionary, Ibn al-Farid studied for a legal career but abandoned law for a solitary religious life in the Muqattam hills near Cairo. He spent some years in or near Mecca, where he met the renowned Sufi as-Suhrawardi of

Arnsberg

2005-02-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), east-central North Rhine–Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. Arnsberg is bordered by Hesse Land to the east, Rhineland-Palatinate Land to the southwest, and the Regierungsbezirke of Köln and Düsseldorf to the west and Münster and Detmold to the north. The largest of five districts in North Rhine–Westphalia, it occupies

Ireland

2005-02-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

The Irish economic boom that peaked in 1999–2000 finally petered out in 2002, which would be remembered as the year in which readjustments had to be made in light of new realities. Budget surpluses became a memory; spending for health and education was cut back; and infrastructure developments were scaled down or deferred. It became clear that in framing a budget for 2003, the government

Mansehra

2005-02-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The town is situated at the southern end of the Pakhli Plain on the Bhut Stream, a tributary to the Siran River, at an elevation of 3,682 feet (1,122 m) above sea level. It is a market town surrounded by pine-covered hills and has a flour mill, a woolen-yarn mill, and an agricultural research centre. The nearby Asokan rock edicts

Theocritus

2005-02-24T16:33:00.000-08:00

There are no certain facts as to Theocritus' life beyond those supplied by the idylls themselves. Certainly he lived in Sicily and at various times in Cos and Alexandria and perhaps in Rhodes. The surviving poems

Biencourt, Charles De, Baron De Saint-just

2005-02-23T22:27:00.000-08:00

In 1606 Biencourt sailed with his father, Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt, Baron de Saint-Just, to New France (Canada). In 1607 they abandoned their establishment and fort at Port Royal, Acadia, because of insufficient funds. Failing to obtain a Canadian fur-trade

Velázquez, Diego

2005-02-23T06:48:00.000-08:00

According to Palomino, Velázquez's first master was the Sevillian painter Francisco Herrera the Elder (c. 1576–1656). In 1611 he was formally apprenticed to Francisco Pacheco, whose daughter he married in 1618. “After five years of education and training,” Pacheco writes, “I married him to my daughter, moved by his virtue, integrity, and good parts and by the expectations of his disposition

Mädler, Johann Heinrich Von

2005-02-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

German astronomer who (with Wilhelm Beer) published the most complete map of the Moon of the time, Mappa Selenographica, 4 vol. (1834–36). It was the first lunar map to be divided into quadrants, and it remained unsurpassed in its detail until J.F. Julius Schmidt's map of 1878. The Mappa Selenographica was accompanied in 1837 by a volume providing

Opus Interassile

2005-02-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

Metalwork technique developed in Rome and widely used during the 3rd century AD, especially appropriate for making arabesques and other nonrepresentational ornamental designs. Probably of Syrian origin, the technique consists of piercing holes in the metal to create an openwork design suggesting lacework. Opus interassile was often used for large wheels placed

Lower Burma

2005-02-21T20:58:00.000-08:00

Historical and geographic division of Burma (Myanmar), referring to the southern coastal and delta region on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea (as opposed to Upper Burma). It was the centre of the Mon kingdoms based at Pegu and was acquired by the British Indian government in 1826 and 1852. Under the British, Lower Burma rapidly developed into the country's principal rice-growing

Earl Of Leicester's Men

2005-02-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

Also called Leicester's Men, earliest organized Elizabethan acting company. Formed in 1559 from members of the Earl of Leicester's household, the troupe performed at court the following year. A favourite of Queen Elizabeth, the company was granted a license by royal patent. In 1576 James Burbage, a member of the troupe, built The Theatre to stage their productions. From 1570 to 1583 the Earl of Leicester's Men enjoyed

Leonardo Pisano

2005-02-21T02:52:00.000-08:00

Joseph Gies and Frances Gies, Leonard of Pisa and the New Mathematics of the Middle Ages (1969), summarizes Leonardo's life and surveys his works, and contains a brief overview of the history of numerical notation and of medieval Pisa. Specialized treatments include Verner E. Hoggatt, Jr., Fibonacci and Lucas Numbers (1969), an introduction to the Fibonacci numbers and sequence, with propositions and exercises for mathematics students; N.N. Vorobev, The Fibonacci Numbers (1961); and Andreas N. Philippou, Gerald E. Bergum, and Alwyn F. Horadam (eds.), Fibonacci Numbers and Their Applications (1986).

Connors, Jimmy

2005-02-21T02:31:00.000-08:00

Connors learned to play tennis from his mother at an early age, and when he was eight years old he competed in the U.S. boys' championship. A former student at the University of California at Los Angeles, he joined team tennis in 1972. In 1974 he won three of the Big Four tournaments

Ventidius, Publius

2005-02-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

In his youth, Ventidius was captured by the forces of the Roman general Pompeius Strabo in his native town of Asculum Picenum, which had joined the revolt (90–88) of Rome's Italian

Arts, Central Asian, Siberian tribes

2005-02-19T00:28:00.000-08:00

In the virtually contemporary metalwork of Siberian nomads, single animals of the cat family, such as panthers, carry the Altaic tendency of exaggeration further by twisting their bodies into a circle. In slightly later Siberian plaques, subtle openwork is used, a feature rarely present in Altaic or Scythian objects but frequently encountered in the more rounded

Dehra Dun

2005-02-18T14:42:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Uttaranchal state, northern India. It lies in the Himalayan foothills at an elevation of 2,200 feet (670 metres). Dehra Dun was founded in 1699, when the heretical Sikh Guru Ram Rai, driven out of the Punjab, built a temple there. During the 18th century the area succumbed to successive invaders, the last of whom were the Gurkhas. When the Gurkha War ended in 1816, the area was ceded to

Computers, Digital calculators: From the Calculating Clock to the Arithmometer

2005-02-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

In 1623 the German astronomer and mathematician Wilhelm Schickard built the first calculator. He described it in a letter to his friend the astronomer Johannes Kepler, and in 1624 he wrote again to explain that a machine that he had commissioned to be built for Kepler was, apparently along with the prototype, destroyed in a fire. He called it a Calculating Clock, which modern

Themba, Can

2005-02-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the University of Fort Hare, S.Af., Themba worked as a reporter and later editor on the magazine Drum

Cohong

2005-02-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

Wade–Giles romanization kung-hung , also called hong , or cong-hong the guild of Chinese merchants authorized by the central government to trade with Western merchants at Canton prior to the first Opium War (1839–42). Such firms often were called “foreign-trade firms” (yang-hang) and the merchants who directed them “hong merchants” (hang-shang). In existence by the mid-17th century, these merchants theoretically numbered 13 but frequently totalled

Army

2005-02-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

Throughout history, the character and organization of armies have changed. Social and political aspects of nations at different

Ancient Rome, Historical sources on early Rome

2005-02-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

The regal period (753–509 BC) and the early republic (509–280 BC) are the most poorly documented periods of Roman history because historical accounts of Rome were not written until much later. Greek historians did not take serious notice of Rome until the Pyrrhic War (280–275 BC), when Rome was completing its conquest of Italy and was fighting against the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy. Rome's

Orange

2005-02-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

City, Orange county, southern California, U.S. It lies along the Santa Ana River. Part of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, it was founded as Richland in 1868, laid out in 1871, and renamed in 1875 for its orange groves. Orange was initially a citrus-packing centre. It subsequently developed with the Los Angeles metropolitan area and acquired some light manufacturing. The city is the site of

Mareeba

2005-02-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern Queensland, Australia, on the Barron River, 40 mi (65 km) west of the port of Cairns on the Coral Sea. It was the earliest European settlement on the Atherton Plateau; at its founding it was called Granite Creek and served as a stop for miners on their way to goldfields in the interior. Its present name is derived from an Aboriginal term meaning “meeting of the

Gatun Lake

2005-02-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

Spanish Lago Gatún, long artificial lake in Panama, constituting part of the Panama Canal system; its area is 166 square miles (430 square km). It was formed by damming the Chagres River and its smaller affluents at Gatun at the north end of the lake. Its dam (completed 1912) and spillway, a key structure of the Panama Canal, operate at a range of 5 feet (1.5 m) between water levels of 87 and 82 feet (26.5 and 25 m) above sea level. The

Television And Radio

2005-02-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

The new rules contained many

Cabasilas, Nilus

2005-02-13T02:35:00.000-08:00

Cabasilas' principal

Metalanguage

2005-02-12T15:50:00.000-08:00

In semantics and philosophy, language used for the analysis of object language (language that is used to talk about objects in the world). Thus, a metalanguage may be thought of as a language about another language. Such philosophers as the German-born Logical Positivist Rudolf Carnap and Alfred Tarski, Polish-born mathematician, argued that philosophical problems

Aldhelm

2005-02-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

Aldhelm was trained in Latin and in Celtic-Irish scholarship by Malmesbury's Irish founder and went on to study at the famous school at Canterbury, where he was exposed

'abd-us-samad, Khwaja

2005-02-11T05:44:00.000-08:00

'Abd-us-Samad was born into a family of good social standing in Iran, and he had already gained a reputation as a calligrapher

Peter I

2005-02-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

The son of Afonso IV and his consort Beatriz of Castile, Peter was married in 1336 to Constanza of Castile; but she died in 1345, and Peter is chiefly remembered for his tragic amour with Inês de Castro (q.v.), whose death he savagely avenged after his accession to the throne. Even so, some of his acts, designed to curb abuses and to enhance

Picasso, Pablo, Catalogs

2005-02-10T09:58:00.000-08:00

Catalogs addressing specific themes, often in conjunction with museum exhibitions, include William Rubin (ed.), Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective (1980); Christian Geelhaar et al., Pablo Picasso: Das Spätwerk: Themen 1964–1972 (1981); Douglas Cooper and Gary Tinterow, The Essential Cubism, 1907–1920: Braque, Picasso & Their Friends (1983); Gert Schiff, Picasso: The Last Years, 1963–1973 (1983); Jürgen Glaesemer (ed.), Der Junge Picasso: Frühwerk und blaue Periode (1984); Ellen C. Oppler (ed.), Picasso's Guernica: Illustrations, Introductory Essay, Documents, Poetry, Criticism, Analysis (1988); Herschel B. Chipp, Picasso's Guernica: History, Transformations, Meanings (1988); Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 2 vol. (1988); Musée National d'Art Moderne and Tate Gallery, Late Picasso: Paintings, Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, 1953–1972 (1988); William Rubin, Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism (1989); William Rubin (ed.), Picasso and Portraiture: Representation and Transformation (1996); Elizabeth Cowling and John Golding, Picasso: Sculptor/Painter (1994); Marilyn McCully (ed.), Picasso: The Early Years, 1892–1906 (1997); Steven A. Nash and Robert Rosenblum (eds.), Picasso and the War Years, 1937–1945 (1998); and Marilyn McCully (ed.), Picasso: Painter and Sculptor in Clay (1998).

Belchatów

2005-02-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

A major lignite deposit was discovered in 1960 near Belchat

Race, General histories

2005-02-09T01:14:00.000-08:00

Histories dealing with the origin of the concept of race include Ivan Hannaford, Race: The History of an Idea in the West (1996); and Audrey Smedley, Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview, 2nd ed. (1999).

Ambedkar, Bhimrao Ramji

2005-02-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

Born of an untouchable Mahar family of western India, he was as a boy humiliated by his high-caste schoolfellows. His father was an officer in the Indian Army. Awarded a scholarship by the Gaekwar (the ruler) of Baroda, he studied at universities