Vi�te, Fran�ois, Seigneur (lord) De La Bigotiere
Vi�te, a Huguenot sympathizer, solved a complex cipher of more than 500 characters used by King Philip II of Spain in his war to defend Roman Catholicism from the Huguenots. When Philip, assuming that the cipher could
Avalon, Frankie
A wunderkind trumpet player, Avalon was already an experienced performer when, as a Philadelphia teenager, he joined Rocco and the Saints (whose drummer was future pop star Bobby Rydell). Guided by manager
Arts, South Asian, Indian sculpture in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC: relief sculpture of Orissa
Sculpture decorating the monasteries cut into the twin hills of Udayagiri and Khandagiri in Orissa represents yet another early Indian local idiom. The work is not of one period but extends over the first two centuries before Christ; the stages of development roughly parallel the styles observed at Sanchi Stupa No. II, Buddh Gaya, and the Great Stupa at Sanchi, but they
Isidore Of Sevilla, Saint
Also spelled �Saint Isidore of Seville�, Latin �Isidorus Hispalensis� theologian, last of the Western Latin Fathers, archbishop, and encyclopaedist, whose Etymologies, an encyclopaedia of human and divine subjects, was one of the chief landmarks in glossography (the compilation of glossaries) and was for many centuries one of the most important reference
Abelard, Peter
The outline of Abelard's career is well known, largely because he described so much of it in his famous Historia calamitatum (�History of My Troubles�). He was born the son of a knight in Brittany south of the Loire River. He sacrificed his inheritance and the prospect of a military career in order to study philosophy, particularly logic, in France. He provoked bitter quarrels
Kazaure
Town and traditional emirate in Jigawa state, northern Nigeria. The town has been the emirate's headquarters since 1819. It was founded by Dan Tunku, a Fulani warrior who was one of the 14 flag bearers for the Fulani jihad (holy war) leader Usman dan Fodio. Dan Tunku arrived from the nearby town of Dambatta (Dambarta) at a stockaded village that he named Kazaure and established
La P�rouse, Jean-fran�ois De Galaup, Count (comte) De
Commanding the ship La Boussole, which was accompanied by the Astrolabe, La P�rouse sailed from France on Aug. 1, 1785. After rounding Cape Horn, one of his stops in the South Pacific was Easter Island (April 9, 1786). Investigating tropical Pacific waters, he visited the Sandwich Islands
Anti-masonic Movement
In the history of the United States, popular movement based on public indignation at and suspicion of the secret fraternal order known as the Masons, or Freemasons. Opponents of this society seized upon the uproar to create the Anti-Masonic Party. It was the first American third party, the first political party to hold a national nominating convention, and the first
Cram, Ralph Adams
Inspired by the influential English critic John Ruskin, Cram became an ardent advocate of and authority on English and French Gothic styles. In 1888 he opened an architectural firm in Boston, where he became associated with B.G. Goodhue and later with F.W.
Mukacheve
Russian �Mukachovo, �also spelled �Mukachevo, or Mukacevo, �Hungarian �Munk�cs, � city, Zakarpattya oblast (province), western Ukraine, on the Latoritsa River. Its location controls the southern approach to a major pass across the Carpathian Mountains, today followed by road and rail. This position has given Mukacheve a key fortress role in sub-Carpathian Ruthenia since its foundation in the 10th century - mainly during its period of Hungarian rule
Allen, Paula Gunn
Allen's father was Lebanese American, and her mother was part Laguna-Sioux. She left college to marry, divorced in 1962, and returned for further education. She studied English literature (B.A., 1966) and creative writing (M.F.A., 1968) at the University
Pacific Ocean, Exploration in the 20th century
Among the most important 20th-century expeditions to the Pacific were those of the American ship Carnegie (1928 - 29), the Danish vessel Dana II (1928 - 1930), the Swedish ship Albatross (1947 - 48), and the Danish ship Galathea (1950 - 52). In the late 1950s the Soviet vessel Vityaz carried out detailed soundings of the deep trenches of the western Pacific, and in 1960 the American bathyscaphe Trieste descended to the bottom
Penna, Sandro
In 1925 Penna graduated from the Technical Institute of Perugia. After working as a clerk in a Milan bookstore, he moved to Rome
Staghead
Progressive slow death of tree branches from the top down. See dieback.
Shabunder
To handle the greatly increased commerce in the 15th-century Malacca sultanate, four shabunders were appointed
Ali Pasa Tepelen�
His father, Veli, bey of Tepelen�, died a poor man
Scandinavian Literature, Icelandic
Modern Icelandic prose writing did not really develop until the late 1870s, when a group of young men, influenced by the theories of the Danish critic Georg Brandes, began their literary careers. Unfortunately, they had absorbed Brandes' ideas uncritically, which resulted in introspective, self-pitying works believed by their authors to be realistically written. The
Wilberforce, Samuel
The son of the politician and antislavery
Skepticism
Also spelled �Scepticism� the philosophical attitude of doubting knowledge claims set forth in various areas. Skeptics have challenged the adequacy or reliability of these claims by asking what they are based upon or what they actually establish. They have raised the question whether such claims about the world are either indubitable or necessarily true, and they have challenged the
Milkweed
Any of several species of flowering plants belonging to the family Asclepiadaceae (q.v.).
La Salle, Ren�-robert Cavelier, Sieur (lord) De
French explorer in North America, who led an expedition down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers and claimed all the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries for Louis XIV of France, naming the region �Louisiana.� A few years later, in a luckless expedition seeking the mouth of the Mississippi, he
Aylesbury Vale
District in the northern part of the administrative and historic county of Buckinghamshire, southern England. The name comes from the rich clay Vale of Aylesbury, which is situated between the ridges of the Cotswolds and the Chiltern Hills. The district includes both Aylesbury and Buckingham, 16 miles (26 km) farther north, and their surrounding rural countryside. Area
Baikal, Lake
Russian �Ozero Baykal, �also spelled �Ozero Bajkal, � lake located in the southern part of eastern Siberia within the republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk oblast (province) of Russia. It is the oldest existing freshwater lake on Earth (20 - 25 million years old), as well as the deepest continental body of water, having a maximum depth of 5,315 feet (1,620 metres). Its area is some 12,200 square miles (31,500 square km), with a length of 395 miles (636 km) and an average width
Skate Sailing
The skate sail is generally rectangular or triangular in shape and about 50 to 60 square feet (5 to 6 square m) in area. It is stretched to
Andreis, Felix De
Ordained at Piacenza (Italy) in 1802, Andreis was transferred (1806) to Rome, where he served as preacher, professor of theology, and apostle to the poor. While on a visit to Rome in 1815, William Du Bourg, the bishop of Louisiana, arranged for Andreis to serve his
Cottrell, Frederick Gardner
Cottrell taught chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1902 to 1911 and began his work on electrostatic precipitators in 1906. In 1912 he founded the Research Corporation, a nonprofit organization
