Pyrex
(trademark), a type of glass and glassware that is resistant to heat, chemicals, and electricity. It is used to make chemical apparatus, industrial equipment, including piping and thermometers, and ovenware. Chemically, Pyrex contains borosilicate and expands only about one-third as much as common glass (silicate) when heated. As a result, it is less apt to break when subjected
Chibcha
Also called �Muisca, � South American Indians who at the time of the Spanish conquest occupied the high valleys surrounding the modern cities of Bogot� and Tunja in Colombia. With a population of more than 500,000, they were notable for being more centralized politically than any other South American people outside the Inca empire. Numerous small districts, each with its own chief, had been consolidated
East India Company
Also called �English East India Company�, formally (1600 - 1708) �Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies�, or (1708 - 1873) �United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies� English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, incorporated by royal charter on Dec. 31, 1600. Starting as a monopolistic trading body, the company became involved in politics and acted as an agent of British imperialism in India from the early 18th century to the mid-19th century. In addition, the activities of the company in China
Xavier, Saint Francis
Spanish �San Francisco Javier, or Xavier � the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of modern times, who was instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in India, the Malay Archipelago, and Japan. In Paris in 1534 he pronounced vows as one of the first seven members of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits
Frederick Iii
Succeeding his father, the elector Ernest, in 1486, Frederick allied himself with Berthold, archbishop of Henneberg, to promote imperial reforms that would increase the
Pitt, William, The Elder
Also called (from 1766) �1st Earl of Chatham, Viscount Pitt of Burton-Pynsent�, byname �The Great Commoner� British statesman, twice virtual prime minister (1756 - 61, 1766 - 68), who secured the transformation of his country into an imperial power.
Saptamatrka
Representations of the goddesses are found in shrines throughout
Stag Beetle
Also called �Pinching Bug, � any member of the approximately 900 species of the insect family Lucanidae (order Coleoptera). The mandibles (jaws) are greatly developed in the male and resemble the antlers of a stag. In many species the elaborately branched and toothed mandibles may be as long as the beetle itself; their pinch usually draws blood from a person. In some cases, however, the mandibles are
Cyrus I
Achaemenian king, the son of Teispes and grandfather of Cyrus II the Great; he had control over Anshan (northeast of Susa in Elam) and possibly also over Parsumash to the east during the second half of the 7th century. Although he sent aid to Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon (651), who was in revolt against Assyria, Cyrus was forced to accept Assyrian overlordship about
Housman, A(lfred) E(dward)
Housman, whose father was a solicitor, was one of seven children. He much preferred his mother; and her death on his 12th birthday was a cruel blow, which is surely one source of the pessimism his poetry expresses. While
Maccabees, The Books Of The
Maccabees also spelled �Machabees� four books, none of which is in the Hebrew Bible but all of which appear in some manuscripts of the Septuagint. The first two books only are part of canonical scripture in the Septuagint and the Vulgate (hence are canonical to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) and are included in the Protestant Apocrypha.
Coindre, Andr�
Coindre, in his formative years, witnessed the devastating aftermath of the persecution of the church conducted by
Coindre, Andr�
A liberal independent political organization in the United States. It was formed in 1947 by a group of labour leaders, civic and political leaders, and academics who were liberal in their views on national affairs, internationalist in world outlook, and anticommunist in conviction. The ADA is devoted to the propagation of liberal ideas, the election of liberal public
Auslander, Joseph
Auslander's
Botany
Branch of biology that deals with the study of plants, including their structure, properties, and biochemical processes. Also included are plant classification and the study of plant diseases and of interactions with the environment. The principles and findings of botany have provided the base for such applied sciences as agriculture, horticulture, and
Guldberg, Cato Maximilian
Guldberg was educated at the University of Christiania and taught at the royal military schools before becoming professor of mathematics at the University
Bahuti, Al-
Little is known about al-Bahuti except that he spent nearly all of his life teaching and practicing Hanbali law. His legal writings, although not original, are noted for their clarity and are still used in Egypt.
Belinsky, Vissarion Grigoryevich
The son of a provincial doctor, Belinsky was expelled from the University of Moscow (1832) and earned his living thereafter as a journalist. His first substantial critical articles were part
Aerospace Engineering, Aerospace engineering
The use of rocket engines for aircraft propulsion opened a new realm of flight to the aeronautical engineer. Robert H. Goddard, an American, developed, built, and flew the first successful liquid-propellant rocket on March 16, 1926. Goddard proved that flight was possible at speeds greater than the speed of sound and that rockets can work in a vacuum. The major impetus in rocket
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,
Rupa-loka
Also called �Rupa-dhatu, � in Buddhist thought, the world, or realm, of form. See arupa-loka.
Furniture, Cupboard
Strictly speaking, the cupboard is a derivative form of the chest. Early Renaissance cupboards resembled two chests placed one on top of the other, but they were opened from the front by means of doors. The design and construction of the cupboard's pronounced front have always provided ample scope for artistic composition, and it is no mere coincidence that the cupboard
Furniture, Cupboard
By the early 1980s the NBA was plagued by money-losing franchises, low attendance, declining
Sunfish
Any of numerous species of North American freshwater fishes placed with the crappies and black basses in the family Centrarchidae (order Perciformes). The family contains about 30 species, all native to North America and all, with the exception of the Sacramento perch (Archoplites interruptus), native to waters east of the Rocky Mountains. Several species, such as the
Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb Von
Commanding
Strand, Paul
When he was 17 years old, Strand began to study photography with Lewis W. Hine, who was later noted for his photographs of industrial workers and immigrants. At Hine's urging, Strand began
Spring Of Khosrow Carpet
Also called �Winter of Khosrow Carpet� ancient Persian carpet, possibly the most costly and magnificent of all time, made for the Ctesiphon palace of the Sasanian king Khosrow I (reigned AD 531 - 579). Described in the historical annals of the Muslim scholar at-Tabari, it became the model for subsequent Garden carpets. The carpet was called the Spring of Khosrow because it represented, in silk, gold, silver, and jewels, the splendour
Forberg, Friedrich Karl
An exponent of the Idealist school developed by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Forberg is best known for his essay �ber die Entwicklung des Begriffs Religion (1798; �On the Development of the Concept of Religion�), a work that occasioned Fichte's dismissal from the University of Jena on the
Osaka
Fu (urban prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It is bordered by Kyoto urban prefecture (north) and by the ken (prefectures) of Hyogo (northwest), Nara (east), and Wakayama (south) and by Osaka Bay (southeast). It includes the industrial city of Osaka and numerous industrial and residential suburbs. The main industries in the urban prefecture manufacture iron and steel products, textiles, chemicals,
Sabellianism
Christian heresy that was a more developed and less naive form of Modalistic Monarchianism (see Monarchianism); it was propounded by Sabellius (fl. c. 217 - c. 220), who was possibly a presbyter in Rome. Little is actually known of his life because the most detailed information about him was contained in the prejudiced reports of his contemporary, Hippolytus, an anti-Monarchian
