Hatton, Sir Christopher

After spending several years in halfhearted study of the law, Hatton enrolled as one of the queen's bodyguards in 1564. Handsome and accomplished, he impressed the queen with his talent for dancing and quickly won her affection. There is no evidence that they were

Yesenin, Sergey Aleksandrovich

The son of a peasant family of Old Believers, he left his

Probability Theory, Bayes's theorem

Consider now the defining relation (4) for the conditional probability P(An|B), where the Ai are mutually exclusive and their union is the entire sample space. Substitution of P(An)P(B|An) in the numerator of (4) and substitution of the right-hand side of the law of total probability in the denominator yields a result known as Bayes's theorem (after the 18th-century English clergyman Thomas Bayes)

Wilberforce, Samuel

The son of the politician and antislavery

Appiah, Kwame Anthony

Appiah was the son of Joseph Appiah, a Ghanaian-born barrister, and Peggy Cripps, daughter of the British statesman Sir Stafford

France, History Of, The Paris Commune

A few days later, the assembly transferred the seat of government from Bordeaux to Versailles. It had scarcely arrived when it was confronted by a major civil war—the rebellion of the Paris Commune. This event, complex in itself, has been made even more difficult to understand by the mythology that later grew up around it. Karl Marx, who promptly hailed the Commune as

Jackson, Maynard

Jackson's father was a Baptist minister, his mother a professor of French. He entered Morehouse College through a special-entry program and received a bachelor's degree in political science and history

Caryophyllales, Distribution

The most striking single ecological feature in the order is the dominance of the Chenopodiaceae in alkaline situations and the prominence of succulent Aizoaceae in the deserts of southern Africa. The other members of the order occur in any of several types of habitat, but in general none is conspicuous. Even the Aizoaceae in the southern African deserts are not

Brown, Ronald Harmon

U.S. politician (b. Aug. 1, 1941, Washington, D.C.--d. April 3, 1996, near Dubrovnik, Croatia), was regarded as an adroit deal maker and political strategist who helped resuscitate both the Democratic Party as its national chairman (1989-93) and the U.S. Department of Commerce as its secretary (1993-96). A prominent member of Pres. Bill Clinton's Cabinet, he wielded heavy influence in international trade but was

Cossa, Francesco Del

In his best-known work, the frescoes in the

Qeys Island

Also spelled  Qais,  Persian  Jazireh-ye Qeys,   island in the Persian Gulf, lying about 10 miles (16 km) off mainland Iran. It rises 120 feet (37 m) above sea level to a plateau and is almost without vegetation except for a few date groves and stunted herbage. Qeys attained importance only in the late 1st millennium AD, when a prince obtained it, built a fleet, and gradually extended his power. He captured Siraf (modern Taheri), then a large market,

Stewart, Payne William

American golfer who during a 19-year career captured 18 professional tournaments, notably the Professional Golfers' Association 1989 title and the 1991 and 1999 U.S. Open titles as well as a stunning comeback victory as part of the 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup squad; he was instantly recognizable on the golf course wearing his trademark knickers and tam-o'-shanter. He was killed in a plane crash (b. Jan. 30, 1957, Springfield,

Sax, Antoine-joseph

Sax was the son of Charles Joseph Sax (1791–1865), a maker of wind and brass instruments, as well as of pianos, harps, and guitars. Adolphe studied the flute and clarinet at the Brussels Conservatory and in 1842 went to Paris. There he exhibited the saxophone

Xanthate

Any of a class of organic salts formed by treatment of an alcohol with carbon disulfide in the presence of an alkali. The term is derived from the Greek word xanthos, for “yellow,” in reference to the compound potassium ethyl xanthate (C2H5OCS2K), which gives a yellow precipitate when combined with copper sulfate. The most important group of xanthates are the sodium salts

Lutheran Synodical Conference

Cooperative agency organized in 1872 by several conservative U.S. Lutheran groups. Its members accepted strict conservative interpretations of the Bible and the Lutheran confessions and insisted that fellowship among Lutheran groups could take place only after agreement was reached on doctrine and church practices. Over the years some of the original members

Durham

City, seat (1881) of Durham county, north-central North Carolina, U.S. It is situated about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Chapel Hill and 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Raleigh, the three cities forming one of the state's major urban areas—the Research Triangle. The first settlement (about 1750) in what is now Durham was called Prattsburg for William Pratt, a landowner. When Pratt refused to give land

Rymer, Thomas

Rymer left the University of Cambridge without taking a degree and began to study law at Gray's

Lead Poisoning

In the home, the main sources of lead are usually lead-based paint and drinking water carried through lead pipes; lead-based paints are especially harmful to children who chew on painted toys and furnishings and eat paint peelings

Tacoma

City, seat (1880) of Pierce county, western Washington, U.S., on Commencement Bay of Puget Sound, 30 miles (48 km) south of Seattle. The bay was the starting point (1841) of a U.S. surveying party led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, who named it Commencement Bay. Settled in 1864, the site was laid out (1868) as Commencement City by General Morton M. McCarver; it was soon renamed Tacoma (an Indian name for Mount

Gunn, Thom

The son of a successful London journalist, Gunn attended University College School in London and Trinity College in Cambridge, where he received a B.A. (1953) and M.A. (1958). In 1954 he moved to San Francisco, California, to study

Top

A toy having a body of conical, circular, or oval shape, often hollow, with a point or peg on which it turns or is made to whirl. If given a knock, a spinning top will go around in a circle at a slant; if spun with a slant at the start, it will quickly stand upright until halted by friction. Its physical properties are similar to those of the gyroscope. Some tops, as the common peg top,

Romania, The Slavs

For nearly eight centuries after the withdrawal of the Roman administration and army, Dacia was overrun by a series of migratory peoples. The earliest of them—the Visigoths (275–376), the Huns (end of the 4th century to 454), and the Germanic Gepidae (454–567)—had little impact on the Daco-Roman population. But the Avars' defeat of the Gepidae in 567 opened the way for a massive advance of Slavs into

Garden And Landscape Design, Rhythm and balance

Rhythm and balance result from the three-dimensional arrangement of elements and materials on the site. Rhythm is a sequence or repetition of similar elements—as a double row of trees. It tends to emphasize direction and movement, as along an allée toward a viewpoint or terminus. Balance is the sense one gets, looking in any direction, that the elements to one's left

Xankändi

Formerly  Stepanakert,   city, southwestern Azerbaijan. Situated at the foot of the eastern slopes of the Karabakh Range, the city was founded after the October Revolution (1917) on the site of the village of Khankendy and was renamed Stepanakert in 1923 for Stepan Shaumyan, a Baku Communist leader. After Azerbaijan gained independence the name was changed to Xankändi, though Armenians continue to

Davies, William Henry

After serving as apprentice to a picture framer, Davies tramped through the United States, crossed the Atlantic many times on cattle boats, lost a foot while trying

San Crist�bal

Also called  Makira , formerly  Cristoval  island in the Solomon Islands, southwestern Pacific Ocean, 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Guadalcanal. The island is about 80 miles (130 km) long, has a maximum width of 25 miles (40 km), and has an area of 1,231 square miles (3,188 square km). It is fairly rugged, with a central mountain rising to 4,100 feet (1,250 metres). Islets off the northern coast are Uki Ni Masi Island and the Olu Malau Islands (Three Sisters Islands);

Boie, Heinrich Christian

After studying theology and law at the University of Jena, with Christian W. von Dohm, Boie founded the literary journal Deutsches Museum (1776; in 1789 renamed Neues Deutsches Museum). In 1776 he began a career in government that was concurrent with his literary activities.

X Ray

There are two methods in general use for detecting X rays. The first method relies on the X rays producing a photochemical change in a photographic emulsion. The blackening of the film is related to the

Rupat Island

Indonesian  Pulau Rupat , Rupat also spelled  Roepat  island in the Strait of Malacca, Riau provinsi (province), Indonesia. It lies just off the eastern coast of Sumatra across a 3-mile- (5-kilometre-) wide channel, opposite Melaka, Malaysia. The island is very low and swampy and circular in shape, with a diameter of about 30 miles (48 km). The climate is hot and humid, and rainfall is heavy most of the year. Rupat Island is sparsely inhabited,

Maurice, (john) Frederick Denison

Prevented from graduation in law at Cambridge by his refusal to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles, the Anglican confession of faith, Maurice reversed his position by 1830 and attended Oxford.

Bhadracarya-pranidhana

Also called  Samantabhadra-carya-pranidhana  (“Practical Vows of Samantabhadra”), a Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhist text that has also made an important contribution to the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet. Closely related to the Avatamsaka-sutra (“Discourse on the Adornments of the Buddha”) and sometimes considered its final section, the Bhadracarya-pranidhana presents a universe of totally interdependent phenomena

Zanzibar Treaty

The

Bribie Island

Island off the southeastern coast of Queensland, Australia, at the northern extremity of Moreton Bay. The island is 20 miles (32 km) long and from 1 to 5 miles wide and has an area of 59 square miles (153 square km). Its surface, generally low with some higher sand ridges, is wooded with cypress pine. Matthew Flinders, the English navigator, landed in 1799 at its southern tip, which he named Skirmish

Kert�sz, Imre

At age 14, Kertész was deported with other Hungarian Jews during World War II to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. He was later sent to the Buchenwald camp in Germany, from which he was

Kassala

Traditional region, east-central Sudan. It is bordered on the east by Ethiopia. The Atbara River, an important tributary of the Nile, flows northwestward through Kassala and causes seasonal floods during torrential summer rains. Rocky deserts dominate the centre of the region, while in the north is the Butana Plain, with sandy clay soils and occasional low hills with

Great Bend

City, seat (1872) of Barton county, central Kansas, U.S. Great Bend lies on the Arkansas River where the High Plains begin to shade into tallgrass prairie. Situated in the alleged locality of the mythical city of Quivira sought by Francisco Coronado in the 16th century, the site was visited by the American explorer Zebulon Pike in 1806 and became a stopping point on the Santa Fe

Haarlem Lake

Dutch  Haarlemmermeer,   polder (area 45,700 acres [18,486 hectares]) coextensive with the gemeente (commune) of Haarlemmermeer in Noord-Holland provincie, western Netherlands. Originally, a number of lakes—with a combined area of about 14,000 acres (5,700 hectares) in 1531—were formed into one by successive inundations, and by the 1830s the water area had increased to nearly 45,000 acres (18,200 hectares). Floods frequently threatened the cities

Eisenstein, Ferdinand Gotthold Max

Eisenstein's family converted to Protestantism from Judaism just before his birth. He was the oldest of six children and the only one of them to survive childhood meningitis. Eisenstein entered the Friedrich Wilhelm University (now the Humboldt

Pabianice

Town and suburb of Lódz city, in Lódz województwo (province), central Poland, in the Lódz highlands on the Dobrzynka River. The second most important town in the Lódz industrial region, it lies on the Lódz–Wroclaw rail line and is a major textile centre. The oldest community in the region, it was first settled in the 11th century and was granted town rights in 1297. Because it lay on the trade route

Alexander

Alexander was crowned co-emperor with his brother Leo VI in 879 after the death of their elder brother, Constantine, but he remained inactive in state affairs until after Leo's

New Orleans, Education

Among New Orleans's institutions of higher learning are Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, the University of New Orleans, Delgado Community College, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Dillard University, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Southern University at New Orleans. The city has many private, parochial, and business schools. The public school

Beach

Sediments that accumulate along the sea or lake shores, the configuration and contours of which depend on the action of coastal processes, the kinds of sediment involved, and the rate of delivery of this sediment. There are three different kinds of beaches. The first occurs as a sediment strip bordering a rocky or cliffy coast; the second is the outer margin of a plain

Ujjain

Lying on the first meridian of the ancient Hindu geographers, it was the capital (as Ujjayini) of the Aryan Avanti kingdom (6th–4th century BC). In the 2nd century BC, Ujjain was the seat of the emperor A

Akron, University Of

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Akron, Ohio, U.S. While the university is known for its research in polymer engineering and science, it also offers a curriculum of liberal arts, business, and education courses, including master's degree programs. Doctorate degrees are available in sociology, urban studies, polymer science and engineering,

Arabia, History Of, The life of Muhammad

Muhammad was born in 570 of the Hashimite (Banu Hashim) branch of the noble house of 'Abd Manaf; though orphaned at an early age and, in consequence, with little influence, he never lacked protection by his clan. Marriage to a wealthy widow improved his position as a merchant, but he began to make his mark in Mecca by preaching the oneness of Allah. Rejected by the Quraysh lords, Muhammad

Thompson, Jim

The son of a wealthy textile manufacturer, Thompson graduated from Princeton University

Bouvard, Alexis

Astronomer and director of the Paris Observatory, who is noted for discovering eight comets and writing Tables astronomiques of Jupiter and Saturn (1808) and of Uranus (1821). Bouvard's tables accurately predicted orbital locations of Jupiter and Saturn, but his tables for Uranus failed, leading him to hypothesize that irregularities in Uranus'

Spring

In hydrology, opening at or near the surface of the Earth for the discharge of water from underground sources. A spring is a natural discharge point of subterranean water at the surface of the ground or directly into the bed of a stream, lake, or sea. Water that emerges at the surface without a perceptible current is called a seep. Wells are holes excavated to bring water

Vega, Lope De

Outstanding dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age, author of as many as 1,800 plays and several hundred shorter dramatic pieces, of which 431 plays and 50 shorter pieces are extant.

Gand�a

City, Valencia provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Valencia, eastern Spain. It lies south of Valencia city at the mouth of the Serpis River. Once a Greek settlement, Gandía was occupied by the Moors in the 8th century and recaptured in 1252 by James I of Aragon, who ordered it rebuilt. It later became a duchy of the Borgia (Borja) family, whose 14th-century

Section D'or

(French: “Golden Section”), group of Cubist painters concerned with the proportion and rhythm of geometric forms. The group's name was suggested by Jacques Villon, and the principal members included Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Roger de La Fresnaye, Fernand Léger, André Lhote, Louis Marcoussis, Jean Metzinger, Francis

China

Two major cultures can be identified in the northwest: Lao-kuan-t'ai, in eastern and southern Shensi and northwestern Honan, and Ta-ti-wan I—a development of Lao-kuan-t'ai culture—in eastern Kansu and western Shensi. In these cultures pots were low-fired, sand-tempered, and mainly red in colour, and bowls with three stubby feet or ring feet were common. The painted bands of

Ear, Human, Vestibular system

The vestibular system is the apparatus of the inner ear involved in balance. It consists of two structures of the bony labyrinth, the vestibule and the semicircular canals, and the structures of the membranous labyrinth contained within them (Figure 3).

Dowden, Edward

Educated at Queen's College, Cork, and Trinity College, Dublin, Dowden became professor of English literature at Trinity in 1867 and lectured at Oxford (1890–93) and Cambridge (1893–96). His Shakspere: A Critical Study of His Mind and Art (1875) was the first book in English to attempt

Anne

David Green, Queen Anne (1970); Edward Gregg, Queen Anne (1980).

France, History Of, Military and financial organization

The French kings of the early 16th century could look back with satisfaction at the virtual expulsion of the English from French soil in the course of the preceding century. This success offered a shining precedent for further military sallies, this time against the growing power of the Habsburgs. In 1445 the first steps had been taken to fashion a royal French army out

Agassiz, Elizabeth Cabot

Elizabeth Cary was related to many of Boston's leading families. She received no formal schooling but acquired a somewhat haphazard education at home. In April 1850 she married the distinguished and recently

Szeged

The city was replanned

Syvash

Also spelled  Sivash, or Sivaš,  Russian  Gniloye More  (“Putrid Sea”), system of shallow inlets of the Sea of Azov that penetrate the northern and eastern coasts of the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine. Syvash is an area of marshy inlets and coves on the western margin of the Sea of Azov, from which it is separated by the Arabat Spit, a sandbar measuring from 900 feet to 5 miles (270 m to 8 km) in width. Syvash covers an area of approximately 990 square