Voynovich, Vladimir
After serving in the Soviet army from 1951 to 1955 and attending the Moscow Pedagogical Institute (1957 - 59), Voynovich worked as a skilled labourer and then as an editor of radio programs. He published such well-received fiction as the short story �My
Sayce, Archibald H(enry)
During his lifetime Sayce learned to write in about 20 ancient and modern languages. Appointed a fellow of Queen's College, Oxford (1869), and shortly afterward
Sea Lettuce
(Ulva), any member of a genus of green algae usually found growing between high and low tide marks on rocky shores of seas and oceans. Fragments may be washed ashore by wave action. Ulva grows also in brackish water rich in organic matter or sewage. The thallus, which somewhat resembles a lettuce leaf, is a sheet of cells up to 30 cm (12 inches) long and two cells thick
L�gen
Also called �Numedalsl�gen� river, southeastern Norway. Rising in the Hardanger Plateau, the L�gen flows generally east and north, then southeast through Numedalen, a valley in Buskerud fylke (county), past R�dberg and Kongsberg, through Vestfold fylke and into the Skagerrak (an arm of the North Sea) at Larvik. With a total length of 209 miles (337 km), it is the third longest river in the country. Near Kongsberg,
Performing Arts, Classical.
Although the general atmosphere in the world of classical concerts and especially opera had been increasingly pessimistic in recent years, the approach of the millennium was bringing a sense of anticipation that could be described only as healthy. Although nothing specific had occurred to bring this about, there seemed to be a growing determination to make
Tsinling Mountains
Wade-Giles romanization �Ch'in Ling, �Pinyin �Qin Ling, � mountain range in North China, extending east-west from southeast Kansu province into Shensi and Honan provinces. It is considered to be an extension of the Kunlun Mountains. It constitutes a watershed between the Wei and Han rivers and reaches a height of 12,359 feet (3,767 m) at T'ai-pai (mount). The range forms a sharp physical divide, of climatic as well as topographic significance,
Wagner, Robert F.
Wagner was named for his father, a U.S. senator and sponsor of the Social Security Act. After an education at Yale University (A.B., 1933, LL.D., 1937), Wagner served as an intelligence officer in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He launched his political career by associating himself
Sea Lake
Located on the Calder Highway and a rail line running southeast to Melbourne (195 miles [314 km] southeast),
Ascariasis
Infection of humans and other mammals caused by the intestinal roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides. Infection follows the ingestion of Ascaris eggs that have contaminated foods or soil. In the small intestine the larvae are liberated and migrate through the intestinal wall, reaching the lungs, where they may produce a host sensitization that results in lung inflammation
Fustat, Al-
Also spelled �Al-fostat, � capital of the Muslim province of Egypt during the Umayyad and 'Abbasid caliphates and under succeeding dynasties, until captured by the Fatimid general Jawhar in 969. Founded in 641 by the Muslim conqueror of Egypt, 'Amr ibn al-'As, on the east bank of the Nile River, south of modern Cairo, Al-Fustat was the earliest Arab settlement in Egypt and site of the province's first mosque, Jami' 'Amr.
Floriano
City, west central Piau� state, northeastern Brazil, on the Rio Parna�ba, at 280 ft (85 m) above sea level. Floriano was elevated to city status in 1897. It is a trade centre with livestock raising and the extraction of carnauba wax as the principal economic activities. Chemicals and textiles are also produced there. Floriano is bridged to Bar�o de Graja�, just across the river in
Floriano
City, west central Piau� state, northeastern Brazil, on the Rio Parna�ba, at 280 ft (85 m) above sea level. Floriano was elevated to city status in 1897. It is a trade centre with livestock raising and the extraction of carnauba wax as the principal economic activities. Chemicals and textiles are also produced there. Floriano is bridged to Bar�o de Graja�, just across the river in
Yang Hsiung
As a quiet and studious young man he came to admire and practice the fu form. When he was over 40 years of age he went to live in the Imperial capital, Ch'ang-an (Sian), where his reputation as a poet won him a position
Jackson, Reggie
Jackson was encouraged in sports by his father and became a star athlete at Cheltenham High School in Pennsylvania, excelling in track and football as well as baseball. He was a good pitcher as well as a hitter, batting and throwing left-handed. He continued his athletic career at Arizona State University
Earth Sciences
The history of the Earth sciences is recounted in Frank Dawson Adams, The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences (1938, reprinted 1954), the best general account for the years prior to 1830; Asit K. Biswas, History of Hydrology (1970), a factual chronicle of developments since the earliest times; Henry Faul and Carol Faul, It Began with a Stone: A History of Geology from the Stone Age to the Age of Plate Tectonics (1983); A. Hallam, A Revolution in the Earth Sciences (1973), a summary of the historical development of ideas from seafloor spreading to plate tectonics, and Great Geological Controversies (1983), an evaluation of celebrated controversies from Neptunism to continental drift; Robert Muir Wood, The Dark Side of the Earth: The Battle for the Earth Sciences, 1800 - 1980 (1985), a history of important controversies; Richard J. Chorley, Antony J. Dunn, and Robert P. Beckinsale, The History of the Study of Landforms; or, The Development of Geomorphology, vol. 1, Geomorphology Before Davis (1964), an expansive account covering developments to the end of the 19th century; Charles C. Gillispie, Genesis and Geology: A Study in the Relations of Scientific Thought, Natural Theology, and Social Opinion in Great Britain, 1790 - 1850 (1951, reprinted 1969), an analysis of the impact of developments in geology upon Christian beliefs in the decades before Darwin (extensive bibliography); C.P. Idyll (ed.), Exploring the Ocean World: A History of Oceanography, rev. ed. (1972), a symposium treating each of the several branches of oceanography in historical format; Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth (1959), containing a comprehensive and elaborately illustrated account of the history of Earth science in China to around AD 1500; Cecil J. Schneer, �The Rise of Historical Geology in the 17th Century,� Isis, vol. 45, part 3, no. 141, pp. 256 - 268 (September 1954), an analysis of the points at issue in the fossil controversy; Cecil J. Schneer (ed.), Toward a History of Geology (1969), 25 essays on the history of geologic thought, mainly of the 18th and 19th centuries; Napier Shaw, Manual of Meteorology, vol. 1, Meteorology in History (1926, reprinted 1932), a rambling but literate and entertaining history of meteorology from the earliest to modern times; Evelyn Stokes, �Fifteenth Century Earth Science,� Earth Sciences Journal, 1(2):130 - 148 (1967), an analysis of classical and medieval views of nature, especially those reflected in Caxton's Mirrour of the World; Philip D. Thompson et al., Weather, rev. ed. (1980), an introduction to meteorology with much historical material, well illustrated; Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield, The Discovery of Time (1965, reprinted 1983), which traces the history of the idea of geologic time; William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences from the Earliest to the Present Time, 3rd ed., 3 vol. (1857, reissued 1976) - vol. 2 containing an analysis of uniformitarian and catastrophist views of Earth history; and Karl Alfred Von Zittel, History of Geology and Palaeontology to the End of the Nineteenth Century (1901, reissued 1962; originally published in German, 1899, reprinted 1965), best for its history of paleontology.
Clairvaux
Village, northeastern France, in Aube d�partement, Champagne-Ardenne r�gion, east-southeast of Troyes. Its abbey, founded in 1115 by the French churchman and mystic St. Bernard of Clairvaux, became a centre of the Cistercian order. All that remains of the original abbey is a large 12th-century storehouse and other vestiges, which have been incorporated in an 18th-century monastery.
Conception Bay
Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean indenting the north coast of the Avalon Peninsula on the southeastern coast of the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It was named by Gaspar C�rte-Real, the Portuguese explorer who visited the coast in 1500 on the Feast of the Conception (December 8). The bay is about 30 miles (50 km) long and 12 miles (19 km) wide. Its shore areas are among the oldest and most densely
Arakan Mountain Range
Burmese �Arakan Yoma� mountain arc in western Myanmar (Burma), between the Arakan coast and the Irrawaddy River valley. The arc extends northward for about 600 miles (950 km) from Cape Negrais (Myanmar) to Manipur (India) and includes the Naga, Chin, Lushai, and Patkai hills. The mountain range itself is about 250 miles (400 km) long. Its highest point is Mount Victoria (10,150 feet [3,094 m]). Dividing the Arakan coast from the rest
Arakan Mountain Range
Burmese �Arakan Yoma� mountain arc in western Myanmar (Burma), between the Arakan coast and the Irrawaddy River valley. The arc extends northward for about 600 miles (950 km) from Cape Negrais (Myanmar) to Manipur (India) and includes the Naga, Chin, Lushai, and Patkai hills. The mountain range itself is about 250 miles (400 km) long. Its highest point is Mount Victoria (10,150 feet [3,094 m]). Dividing the Arakan coast from the rest
Aksum
Despite common belief to the contrary, Aksum did not originate from one of the Semitic Sabaean kingdoms of southern Arabia but instead developed as a local power. At its apogee (3rd - 6th century AD), Aksum became the greatest market of northeastern Africa; its merchants traded as far as Alexandria and
Oruro
City, west-central Bolivia. It lies at 12,150 feet (3,702 m) above sea level in the Altiplano region, 30 miles (48 km) north of Poop� Lake. Founded in 1606 as Real Villa de San Felipe de Austria (�Royal Town of St. Philip of Austria�), Oruro rose to prominence during the Spanish colonial period as the centre of a rich silver-mining region. It lost importance with the decline of silver production in the 19th
Auburn System
Penal method of the 19th century in which persons worked during the day and were kept in solitary confinement at night, with enforced silence at all times. The silent system evolved during the 1820s at Auburn Prison in Auburn, N.Y., as an alternative to and modification of the Pennsylvania system of solitary confinement, which it gradually replaced in the United States. Later
Hannibal
The treaty between Rome and Carthage that was concluded a year after the Battle of Zama frustrated the entire object of Hannibal's life, but his hopes of taking arms once more against Rome lived on. Although accused of having misconducted the war, he was made a suffete (a civil magistrate) in addition to retaining his military command, and as suffete he was able to overthrow
Poison, Classification based on physical form
Because solids are generally not well absorbed into the blood, they must be dissolved in the aqueous liquid lining the intestinal tract if ingested or the respiratory tract if inhaled. Solids dissolve at different rates in fluids, however. For example,
Litani River
Arabic �Nahr Al-litani, �Latin �Leontes, � chief river of Lebanon, rising in a low divide west of Baalbek and flowing southwestward through the Al-Biqa' Valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains. Near Marj 'Uyun it bends sharply west and cuts a spectacular gorge up to 900 feet (275 m) deep through the Lebanon Mountains to the Mediterranean south of Sidon. The river's lower course is known as Qasimiyah. Although
Adams, Ansel
Originally a student of music, Adams pursued photography as an avocation until 1927. In that year he published his first portfolio, Parmellian Prints of the High Sierras, photographs in the style
Martin, Gregory
Roman Catholic biblical scholar, principal translator of the Latin Vulgate into English (Douai-Reims Bible). His version, in Bishop Richard Challoner's third revised edition (1752), was the standard Bible for English Roman Catholics until the 20th century, and his phraseology influenced the Anglican translators of the Authorized, or King
Judaism, Martin Buber
Since the early years of the 20th century, Martin Buber has exercised a powerful influence on both Jews and non-Jews. In his early period Buber was led, partly through empathy with Jewish and non-Jewish mysticism, to stress unitive experience and knowledge, in which the difference between one man and another and between man and God tend to disappear. But in his final period
