Tabataba'i, Sayyid Zia Od-din

Tabataba'i became prominent during World War I as the editor of a pro-British newspaper, Ra'd (�Thunder�). In 1919 he led a quasi-diplomatic mission to negotiate a commercial agreement with the anti-Communist Russian revolutionaries at Baku. On his return to Iran he joined a secret nationalist

Printmaking, Lift-ground etching (sugar-lift aquatint)

In lift-ground etching, a positive image is etched on an aquatint plate by drawing with a water-soluble ground. In the conventional aquatint technique, the artist controls the image by stopping out negative areas with varnish, thus working around the positive image. But for lift-ground etching, he uses a viscous liquid (such as India ink, gamboge, or ordinary poster paint

Folengo, Teofilo

Folengo entered the Benedictine order as a young man, taking the name Teofilo by which he is known. He lived in the monasteries of Brescia, Mantua,

Fu Hsi

Pinyin �Fu Xi�, formally (Wade-Giles romanization) �T'ai Hao (Chinese: �The Great Bright One�)�, also called �Pao Hsi�, or �Mi Hsi� first of China's mythical emperors. His miraculous birth, as a divine being with a serpent's body, is said to have occurred in the 29th century BC. Some representations show him as a leaf-wreathed head growing out of a mountain or as a man clothed with animal skins. Fu Hsi is said to have discovered the famous Chinese trigrams used in divination and thus to have contributed, in

Widal, (georges-)fernand-isidore

In 1896 Widal developed a procedure for diagnosing typhoid fever based on the fact that antibodies in the blood of an infected individual cause the bacteria to bind together into clumps (the Widal reaction).

Gherardesca Family

One of the foremost families of the Tuscan nobility, whose lands included the counties of Gherardesca, Donoratico, and Montescudaio, near Pisa. At the beginning of the 13th century, they led the pro-imperial Ghibelline party of the Pisan republic against the pro-papal Guelf party led by the Visconti family of Milan. The Gherardesca family produced several churchmen

Paul Of Samosata

Paul

Computers, Vannevar Bush's Differential Analyzer

In 1930 an engineer named Vannevar Bush at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed the first modern analog computer. The Differential Analyzer, as he called it, was an analog calculator that could be used to solve certain classes of differential equations, a type of problem common in physics and engineering applications that are often very tedious

Haley, Sir William

Haley grew up on the island of Jersey and attended Victoria College there. In 1918 he began to study journalism, and in 1921 he secured his first newspaper employment

Gum Nebula

Largest known nebula in terms of angular diameter as seen from Earth, extending over at least 40� in the southern constellations Puppis and Vela. A complex of diffuse, glowing gas too faint to be seen with the unaided eye, it was discovered by the Australian-born astrophysicist Colin S. Gum, who published his findings in 1955. The Gum Nebula lies roughly 1,000 light-years from the Earth

Kirkwall

Royal burgh (town), seaport, and chief town of the Orkney Islands, Scotland, off the northern tip of the Scottish mainland. It was designated a royal burgh in 1486. Early Norse influence persisted as late as the building of the 12th-century red sandstone St. Magnus Cathedral, a dominant feature of the present town. The ruins of the Earl's Palace and 17th-century houses standing gable-end

Music, Western, Modification and expansion of older forms

Dance pairs of the Renaissance grew, about the middle of the 17th century, into dance suites consisting basically of four dances: allemande, courante, saraband, and gigue, with optional dances such as the gavotte, the bourr�e, and the minuet sometimes inserted before the final movement. Variation forms - the chaconne (in which a set of harmonies or a bass theme is continuously

O'brien, Parry

O'Brien began putting the shot in high school in Santa Monica, where he also threw the discus, was a sprinter, and played football. In his freshman year at the University

Aleandro, Girolamo

In 1520 Pope

Aleandro, Girolamo

Any member of the mammalian order made up of the relatively well-known rabbits and hares (family Leporidae) and also the less frequently encountered pikas (family Ochotonidae). Rabbits and hares characteristically have long ears, a short tail, and strong hind limbs that provide a bounding locomotion. In contrast, the smaller pikas have shorter, rounded ears, no external

Naga

Group of tribes inhabiting the Naga Hills of Nagaland (q.v.) state in northeastern India. They include more than 20 tribes of mixed origin, varying cultures, and very different physiques and appearances. The numerous Naga languages (sometimes classified as dialects) belong to the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Almost every village has its own dialect;

Taft, William Howard

For additional writings by Taft, see Limited Presidential Power and The Cabinet and the Congress.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Coastal habitat conservation area in southern Texas, U.S., located about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Corpus Christi. The refuge, parts of which are jointly administered by state and federal agencies, covers a total of 181 square miles (469 square km) on the Gulf of Mexico, including large tracts of land on Matagorda Island and on a broad peninsula between San Antonio Bay and St. Charles

Cancer, Syndromes resulting from inherited defects in DNA repair mechanisms

Another group of hereditary cancers comprises those that stem from inherited defects in DNA repair mechanisms. Examples include Bloom syndrome, ataxia-telangiectasia, Fanconi anemia, and xeroderma pigmentosum. These syndromes are characterized by hypersensitivity to agents that damage DNA (e.g., chemicals and radiation). The failure of a cell to repair the defects

Waitomo

Limestone caves, north-central North Island, New Zealand. They lie about 50 miles (80 km) south of Hamilton. Located on a tributary of the Waipa River, the caves are easily accessible for tourists by road. The underground caves have elaborate stalactites, stalagmites, and incrustations, some of which are named (e.g., Bride's Jewels, Organ, White Terrace, Blanket Chamber). The main

Christian, Fletcher

A member of a family that had moved from the Isle of Man to Cumberland, Eng., Christian had already served some years in the navy when, in 1787, he became master's mate on the Bounty, a discovery ship sailing (Dec. 23, 1787) from Spithead to the South Seas to collect breadfruit

Tombolo

One or more sandbars or spits that connect an island to the mainland. A single tombolo may connect a tied island to the mainland, as at Marblehead, Mass. A double tombolo encloses a lagoon that eventually fills with sediment; fine examples of these occur off the coast of Italy. The shallower waters that occur between an island and the mainland are the loci of such features

Kita-ibaraki

City, northern Ibaraki Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. The western part of the city occupies hills that slope toward the rest of the city on the coast. Agriculture (rice) and fishing (sardines, mackerel) are important. Because of the closing of all but one of the coal mines in the area, the city's population was decreasing throughout the 1970s. Kita-Ibaraki

Smith, Jedediah (strong)

Smith probably made his first trip west while still in his teens. In 1822 he joined a fur-trading expedition to the Rocky Mountains and continued in the Rocky Mountain trade for the remainder of the

Jerez De Garc�a Salinas

City, south-central Zacatecas estado (�state�), north-central Mexico. Formerly known simply as Jerez, the city is on the Jerez River, 6,650 feet (2,027 m) above sea level and southwest of Zacatecas, the state capital. It is the commercial and manufacturing centre for an agricultural and pastoral hinterland in which beans, quince, and apples are the principal crops and horses, pigs, sheep,

Hesperides

Singular �Hesperis, � in Greek mythology, clear-voiced maidens who guarded the tree bearing golden apples that Gaea gave to Hera at her marriage to Zeus. According to Hesiod, they were the daughters of Erebus and Night; in other accounts, their parents were Atlas and Hesperis or Phorcys and Ceto. They were usually three in number, Aegle, Erytheia, and Hespere (or Hesperethusa), but by some accounts

Mind - body Dualism

The modern problem of the relationship of mind to body stems

Kidd, William

Kidd's early career is obscure. It is believed he went to sea as a youth. After 1689 he was sailing as

Yanbu'

Also spelled �Yenbo� town, western Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea north of Jidda. It serves as the country's second Red Sea port, after Jidda, and is the main port for Medina, 100 miles (160 km) to the east. The economy of Yanbu' was traditionally based on the pilgrim trade and the export of agricultural products, especially dates. Its harbour is being enlarged and improved to ease the pressure on Jidda, and