Afghanistan, Flag Of

Since the early 20th century, Afghanistan has had numerous national flags. In 1928 Amanollah Khan, having just returned from a trip to Europe, was determined to introduce modern principles into the country. He chose a tricolour of black for the dark ages of the past, red for the blood shed in the independence struggle, and green for the hope and wealth of the future. Amanollah was

Kilby, Jack

In full  Jack St. Clair Kilby  American engineer and one of the inventors of the integrated circuit, a system of interconnected transistors on a single microchip. In 2000 Kilby was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Fetter, Frank Albert

After an interruption of university studies because of illness in his family, Fetter graduated from Indiana University in 1891 and from Cornell University in 1892. He subsequently studied in France and Germany, receiving his Ph.D. (on population)

Established Church

A church recognized by law as the official church of a state or nation and supported by civil authority. Though not strictly created by a legal contract, the legal establishment is more like a contractual entity than like anything else and, therefore, ordinarily cannot be varied or repudiated by only one party to it. The church is not free to make changes in such things

Norske Folkeeventyr

(1841–44; Eng. trans. Norwegian Folktales), collections of folktales and legends, by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, that had survived and developed from Old Norse pagan mythology in the mountain and fjord dialects of Norway. The authors, stimulated by a revival of interest in Norway's past, gathered the tales of ghosts, fairies, gods, and mountain trolls

Bruneau, Alfred

A pupil of the French opera composer Jules Massenet at the Paris Conservatoire, Bruneau later worked as a copyist to the publisher Georges Hartmann. His earliest works included three choral symphonies and an opera, Kérim (1887). In 1888 he met the novelist Émile Zola, who became

Cranberry

Fruit of any of several small creeping or trailing plants of the genus Vaccinium (family Ericaceae), related to the blueberries. The small-fruited, or northern, cranberry (V. oxycoccus) is found in marshy land in northern North America and Asia and in northern and central Europe. Its stems are wiry and creeping; the leaves are evergreen, oval or elliptical,

Marett, Robert R(anulph)

He studied at Victoria College in Jersey and Balliol

Acrocephalosyndactyly

Also called  Apert's Syndrome  congenital malformation of the skeleton, affecting the skull, hands, and feet, first described by the French pediatrician Eugène Apert. The head is shortened front-to-back and appears pointed (acrocephaly) because of premature closing of the cranial sutures between the individual bones that make up the skull. The bones and skin of the hands and feet are fused (syndactyly),

Orzeszkowa, Eliza

Née  Eliza Pawlowska  Polish novelist and a leading writer of the Positivist period (the Polish Positivists took their name from Auguste Comte's philosophy but were themselves mainly utilitarians). Questions of education, independence, and marriage in Orzeszkowa's works were eventually overshadowed by issues such

Smith, Margaret Chase

Margaret Chase attended high school in her native Skowhegan, Maine, graduating in 1916. She then taught school briefly, held a series of other jobs, and served as president of the Maine Federation of Business and Professional

Nivkh

The Nivkh economy was traditionally based

Wildcat

The European wildcat inhabits forested regions from Scotland through continental Europe to western Asia. It is similar to the domestic

Marengo, Battle Of

(June 14, 1800), narrow victory for Napoleon Bonaparte in the War of the Second Coalition, fought on the Marengo Plain about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Alessandria, in northern Italy, between Napoleon's approximately 28,000 troops and some 31,000 Austrian troops under General Michael Friedrich von Melas; it resulted in the French occupation of Lombardy up to the Mincio River and secured Napoleon's

Moore

City, Cleveland county, central Oklahoma, U.S., a southern suburb of Oklahoma City. First settled in 1887 and originally called Verbeck, it was renamed for a conductor of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Its population remained small until the 1960s when planned urban and industrial development began. Industries include the manufacture of aircraft parts, building

Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry

Educated at Dulwich College (1887–90), Shackleton entered the mercantile marine service in 1890 and became a sublieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1901. He joined Captain Robert Falcon Scott's British National Antarctic (Discovery) Expedition (1901–04) as third

Ibn Ishaq

Ibn Ishaq was the grandson of an Arab prisoner captured by Muslim troops in Iraq and brought to Medina, where he was freed after accepting Islam. Ibn Ishaq's father and two uncles

Equatorial Guinea

Officially  Republic of Equatorial Guinea,  Spanish  República de Guinea Ecuatorial,   country located on the west coast of Africa. It consists of Río Muni (also called Mbini), on the continent, and five islands: Bioko (formerly Fernando Po), Corisco, Great Elobey (Elobey Grande), Little Elobey (Elobey Chico), and Annobón. A fragmented country, it has a total area of 10,830 square miles (28,051 square kilometres). The capital of the republic is Malabo on Bioko. Bata is the administrative

Beisa

African antelope, a race of the species Oryx gazella. See oryx.

Quintana Roo

State, Yucatán Peninsula, southeastern Mexico. Situated on the eastern side of the peninsula, it is bounded by the Caribbean Sea (east), by Belize (south), and by Campeche and Yucatán (west); its northern shore is on the Yucatán Channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Quintana Roo, with an area of 19,397 square miles (50,212 square km), is a hot, humid, and heavily forested limestone

Korbut, Olga Valentinovna

At age 11, Korbut entered a Soviet sports school led by Renald Knysh, her future coach. He taught her the difficult backward somersault on the balance beam. Using this maneuver, she first competed in the 1969 U.S.S.R. championships, placing fifth. In the

Tortoise

Any of the land-dwelling turtles of the family Testudinidae; in Great Britain the name refers to any nonmarine turtle. The land-dwelling tortoises are exclusively terrestrial, vegetarian reptiles. In folklore these animals represent slowness, determination, and long life. Tortoises are found in both the Old World and the New, but the majority of the 40-odd living species

Kubin, Alfred

In 1898 Kubin went to Munich, Bavaria, in the German Empire (now Germany), to study art. As a student, he discovered the works that would become his major influences: the fantastic

Cyrenaica

Also spelled  Cirenaica , Arabic  Barqah  historic region of North Africa and until 1963 a province of the United Kingdom of Libya. As early as c. 631 BC Greek colonists settled the northern half of ancient Cyrenaica, known then as Pentapolis for the five major cities they established: Euhesperides (Banghazi), Barce (al-Marj), Cyrene (Shahhat), Apollonia (Marsa Susah), and Tenchira (Tukrah). In later times Ptolemais (Tulmaythah) and Daims-Zarine

Heinz Company

The company was founded in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1869 by Henry John Heinz (1844–1919), who was later to become nationally known as the “Pickle

Badminton

Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, known as the "Great Dane," laid claim to badminton's two most important titles in 1996, a gold medal in men's singles at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., and a second consecutive men's singles All-England championship in March in Birmingham, Eng. He won in a sport almost completely dominated by Asia. At the Olympics he was the only European to place first, second,

Cornelius, Peter

German composer and author, known for his comic opera Der Barbier von Bagdad (The Barber of Bagdad). The son of an actor and an actress, he acted at Mainz and at Wiesbaden in his youth. In 1845 he studied composition and was later music critic for two Berlin journals. From 1853 to 1858 he lived at Weimar in the circle of Liszt and the Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein

Bohemond Iv

The younger son of Bohemond III and Orguilleuse, he became count of Tripoli in 1187 and succeeded his father in the principality of Antioch to the exclusion of his nephew Raymond Ruben in 1201. In 1216 Raymond seized control while Bohemond was off in Tripoli, but he was deposed in 1219 and died the following year. Bohemond reigned in Antioch and

Aleksin

City, Tula oblast (province), western Russia, on the Oka River, 40 miles (65 km) northwest of Tula city. Aleksin, first documented in 1236, was at first a fortress, then a river port. The decline of river trade adversely affected the city, but since the October Revolution (1917) it has become a significant industrial centre, with engineering and building-materials industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 74,200.

Reformed And Presbyterian Church

Name given to various of the churches that share a common origin in the Reformation in 16th-century Switzerland. Reformed is the term identifying churches regarded as Calvinistic in doctrine. The term presbyterian designates a collegial type of church government by pastors and by lay leaders called elders, or presbyters, from the New Testament term presbyteroi.

Aquila

Also called  Akilas  scholar who in about AD 140 completed a literal translation into Greek of the Old Testament; it replaced the Septuagint (q.v.) among Jews and was used by the Church Fathers Origen in the 3rd century and St. Jerome in the 4th and 5th centuries. St. Epiphanius (c. 315—403) preserved in his writings the popular Christian tradition that Aquila was a relative of the Roman emperor Hadrian,

Avionics

Control apparatus includes the attitude gyro and

Sentimental Comedy

A dramatic genre of the 18th century, denoting plays in which middle-class protagonists triumphantly overcome a series of moral trials. Such comedy aimed at producing tears rather than laughter. Sentimental comedies reflected contemporary philosophical conceptions of humans as inherently good but capable of being led astray through bad example. By an appeal

Visigoth

The Visigoths were settled agriculturists in Dacia (now in Romania) when they were attacked by the Huns in 376 and driven southward

Florence, University Of

Italian  Università Degli Studi Di Firenze,   university that originated in Florence in 1321 and became later in the century, through the activities of the writer Giovanni Boccaccio, an early centre of Renaissance Humanism. Boccaccio secured a post there for Leonzio Pilato, whose rough Latin translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey introduced Homer to Italian scholars. In 1396 the first university chair in Greek

Haden, Charlie

From the age of two Haden sang with his family's country music band on midwestern radio and television programs. He moved to Los Angeles and began to play jazz with Art Pepper and others. While working (1957–59) in pianist Paul

Ambrose Of Camaldoli

Italian  Ambrogio Camaldolese,  original name  Ambrogio Traversari  Humanist, ecclesiastic, and patristic translator who helped effect the brief reunion of the Eastern and Western churches in the 15th century. He entered the Camaldolese Order in 1400 at Florence, where, over a period of 30 years, he mastered Latin and particularly Greek, which enabled him to translate Greek patristic works into

Salamis

Principal city of ancient Cyprus, located on the east coast of the island, north of modern Famagusta. According to the Homeric epics, Salamis was founded after the Trojan War by the archer Teucer, who came from the island of Salamis, off Attica. This literary tradition probably reflects the Sea Peoples' occupation of Cyprus (c. 1193 BC), Teucer perhaps representing Tjekker of

Cap-de-la-madeleine

Named after an abbot of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine-de-Châteaudun, France, the city was first settled in the 17th century but developed only after

Bonaparte, (napol�on-eug�ne-)louis

He was a delicate boy, but when the Franco-German War of 1870 broke out his mother sent him to the army. After the first defeats he had to flee from France with the Empress and settled in England at Chislehurst, completing his military education at Woolwich. On his

Ancient Rome, The Illyrian emperors

After Claudius II's unexpected death, the empire was ruled from 270 to 284 by several “Illyrian” emperors, who were good generals and who tried in an energetic way to restore equilibrium. The most remarkable was Aurelian. He first gained hard-won victories over the Alemanni and the Juthungi, who had invaded the Alpine provinces and northern Italy. To cheer the inhabitants of

Shubra Al-khaymah

Also spelled  Shubra El-kheima,   northern suburb of Cairo, in al-Qalyubiyah muhafazah (governorate), on the east bank of the Nile, Lower Egypt. It was formerly a market town supplying Cairo with agricultural produce from the rich, alluvial delta area. In the 1820s Muhammad 'Ali, the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, built the country's first European-type factories and schools in Shubra al-Khaymah, and it developed as an industrial

Bar Mitzvah

Also spelled  Bar Mitzva, or Mitzwa (Hebrew: “Son of the Commandment”),  plural  Bar Mitzvahs, Bar Mitzvot, or Bar Mitzwot,   Jewish religious ritual and family celebration commemorating the religious adulthood of a boy on his 13th birthday. The boy, now deemed personally responsible for fulfilling all the commandments, may henceforth don phylacteries (religious symbols worn on the forehead and left arm) during the weekday-morning prayers and may be counted an adult whenever 10 male adults

Heiberg, Gunnar (edvard Rode)

Left alone as a child when his parents separated, he was educated at King Frederick's University, Kristiania. Heiberg's plays were always highly provocative, and their opening nights caused the greatest scandals in the history of

Scandinavian Literature, The Eddaic verse forms

Three metres are commonly distinguished in Eddaic poetry: the epic measure, the speech measure, and the song measure. Most narrative poems were in the first measure, which consisted of short lines of two beats joined in pairs by alliteration. The number of weakly stressed syllables might vary, but the total number of syllables in the line was rarely fewer than four.

'ud

Also spelled  Oud,   stringed musical instrument prominent in medieval and modern Islamic music. It was the parent of the European lute. The 'ud has a deep, pear-shaped body; a fretless fingerboard; and a relatively shorter neck and somewhat less acutely bent-back pegbox than the European lute. The tuning pegs are set in the sides of the pegbox. The gut strings, plucked with a plectrum, are fastened

Kadu Languages

Also called  Kadugli-Krongo languages  group of related languages spoken along the western and southern edge of the Nuba Hills in The Sudan. These languages were formerly classified as part of the Kordofanian group within the Niger-Congo language family, but they are now widely believed to form a subgroup within the Nilo-Saharan language family. The name Kadu is based on a widespread word for “people” in

'abd Al-mu'min

In full  'Abd al-Mu'min ibn 'Ali  Berber caliph of the Almohad dynasty (reigned 1130–63), who conquered the North African Maghrib from the Almoravids andbrought all the Berbers under one rule.

Hinduism, Vaishnavism

Vaishnavism is the worship of Vishnu and his various incarnations. During a long and complex development from Vedic times, there arose many Vaishnava groups with differing beliefs and aims. Some of the major Vaishnava groups include the Srivaisnavas and Dvaitins (“philosophical or religious dualists”) of South India, the followers of the teachings of Vallabha in western

Austin, Stephen

Raised on the Missouri frontier, Austin was educated at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., and served in the Missouri territorial legislature (1814–19). The economic panic of 1819 led his father, Moses Austin

Grabbe, Christian Dietrich

Grabbe studied law in Leipzig and made unsuccessful attempts at acting and directing in Berlin. After quarrelling with the poet Heinrich Heine and members of Young Germany (a politically radical literary movement) and failing in attempts to get

Novara

Latin  Novaria,   capital of Novara provincia, Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northwestern Italy. It lies along the Agogna River, west of Milan. It originated as the Roman colony of Novaria, which was founded by Julius Caesar and destroyed in the 5th century; a new commune, established in the 6th century, was burned by the Holy Roman emperor Henry V in 1110. It recovered to become a member of the Lombard

Arras Lace

Bobbin lace made at Arras, Fr., from the 17th century onward and similar to that of Lille. Although Arras was known for its gold lace, its popularity rested on its exceptionally pure-white lace, stronger than Lille but with similar floral patterns. Arras lace was worn at the coronation (1714) of George I of England. In the 19th century Arras produced a light variety of lace called mignonette.

Abu Al-ghazi Bahadur

The son of 'Arab Muhammad Khan, Abu al-Ghazi spent most of his early life in Urgench. When his father died and a dynastic struggle arose among Abu al-Ghazi and his brothers for the succession to the throne, he was compelled

Biblical Literature, The Great Bible

In an injunction of 1538, Henry VIII commanded the clergy to install in a convenient place in every parish church, “one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English.” The order seems to refer to an anticipated revision of the Matthew Bible. The first edition was printed in Paris and appeared in London in April 1539 in 2,500 copies. The huge page size earned it the sobriquet the

Jhansi

City, southwestern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, at a major road and rail junction. The main city, which is enclosed by a wall, arose around a fort built in 1613 by the ruler of Orchha. The area fell to the Marathas in 1732 and was acquired by the British in 1853. A massacre of British officers and civilians occurred at Jhansi during the 1857 Indian Mutiny. In 1886 Jhansi came under British rule in

Earth

More than 90 percent of the Earth's mass is composed of iron, oxygen, silicon, and magnesium, elements that can form the crystalline minerals known as silicates. However, in terms of chemical and mineralogical composition, as in physical properties, the Earth is far from homogeneous. Apart from the superficial lateral heterogeneities near the surface (i.e., in the compositions

Triton

In Greek mythology, a merman, demigod of the sea; he was the son of the sea god, Poseidon, and his wife, Amphitrite. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Triton dwelt with his parents in a golden palace in the depths of the sea. Sometimes he was not particularized but was one of many Tritons. He was represented as human down to his waist, with the tail of a fish. Triton's special attribute