Calder, Alexander (stirling)

U.S. sculptor best known as the originator of the mobile, a type of kinetic sculpture, the delicately balanced or suspended components of which move in response to motor power or air currents; by contrast, Calder's stationary sculptures are called stabiles. He also produced numerous wire figures, notably for a vast miniature

Dispersion

The two disciplines most intimately intertwined with the study of dispersion are systematics and evolution. Systematics is concerned with the relationships between organisms and includes the classification of life into ordered groups, providing the

Sac Spider

Also called �Two-clawed Hunting Spider, � any member of the family Clubionidae (order Araneida), a relatively common, widespread group. Sac spiders range in body length from 3 to 15 mm (about 0.12 to 0.6 inch) and build silken tubes under stones, in leaves, or in grass. Chiracanthium inclusum, found throughout the United States, is venomous to humans. Its greenish white body is about 8 mm long.

Alba

A Proven�al song of lament for lovers parting at dawn or of a watchman's warning to lovers at dawn. Albas were sung by the 11th- and 12th-century troubadours. Some sources consider the alba an early form of an aubade, though, unlike the alba, an aubade is usually a celebration of the dawn. Examples of albas for which music also survives include �Reis glorios� by Guiraut de Bornelh

Fabrizi, Nicola

As a young man, Fabrizi helped plan and execute the 1831 Milan rising against the Austrians. Unsuccessful in his attempt to revive the revolution in Modena, he was forced to flee but was captured by the Austrians and

Pangolin

Also called �Scaly Anteater, � any of the armoured placental mammals of the order Pholidota. Pangolin, from the Malayan meaning �rolling over,� refers to this animal's habit of curling into a ball when threatened. About eight species of pangolins, usually considered to be of the genus Manis, family Manidae, are found in tropical Asia and Africa. Pangolins are 30 to 90 cm (1 to 3 feet) long exclusive of the tail and

China, The tide begins to shift

Although government forces overran Yen-an in March 1947, the strategic initiative passed to the PLA during that year. In midsummer Liu Bocheng started moving toward the Yangtze; by late in the year the Communists had concentrated strong forces in central China. Chen Yi operated on both sides of the Lung-hai, east of K'ai-feng; Liu Bocheng was firmly established in the Ta-pieh

Eagle

Any of many large, heavy-beaked, big-footed birds of prey belonging to the family Accipitridae (order Falconiformes). In general, an eagle is any bird of prey more powerful than a buteo. An eagle may resemble a vulture in build and flight characteristics but has a fully feathered (often crested) head and strong feet equipped with great curved talons. A further difference

Ender, Otto

Ender served (1918 - 34) as governor of the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, on the Swiss border, and after World War I he negotiated unsuccessfully for the incorporation of Vorarlberg in the Swiss confederation. Despite his

Bulgaria, Spread of education

The spread of education was in fact the centrepiece of the Bulgarian national revival. In 1835 Vasil Aprilov founded a Lancasterian school, based on the monitorial system of instruction, in Gabrovo. With the monk Neofit Rilski (Neophyte of Rila) as its teacher, it was the first school to teach in Bulgarian. Its work was facilitated by the appearance of a Bulgarian publishing

Sint-niklaas

French �Saint-nicolas, � municipality, East Flanders province, northern Belgium, southwest of Antwerp. The former capital of the Waasland region, it was granted independence by the counts of Flanders (1241) and chartered in 1513. A rail junction and the industrial and trade centre for the fertile Waasland (Pays de Waes), its marketplace is the largest in Belgium (7.5 acres [3 hectares]). It has textile industries

Ghent, Pacification Of

(Nov. 8, 1576), declaration by which the northern and southern provinces of the Low Countries put aside their religious difference and united in revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs. The declaration was the first major expression of the Netherlands' national self-consciousness. The Pacification of Ghent called for the expulsion of Spanish troops from the Low Countries,

Holocaust, Non-Jewish victims of Nazism

Political dissidents, trade unionists, and Social Democrats were among the first to be arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. Under

France, History Of, The political history of France (c. 850 - 1180)

The fragmentation of political power meant that the kings of France were forced into rivalries, alliances, and conflicts with the princes, who were for many generations the real rulers of France.

Vacarius

Educated at Bologna, Vacarius went to England to act as counsel to Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, in his successful struggle (ending in 1146) to have the papal legateship transferred from the

Conservation Law

Also called �Law Of Conservation, � any of several principles applied in physics that state that certain physical properties (i.e., measurable quantities) do not change in the course of time within an isolated physical system. In classical physics, laws of this type govern mass, energy, momentum, and electric charge. In particle physics, other conservation laws apply to properties of subatomic particles

Anthracosis

Respiratory disorder, the early, usually nonsymptomatic stage of coal-workers' pneumoconiosis. See black lung.

Hale, Nathan

A graduate of Yale University (1773) and a schoolteacher, Hale joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775, served in the siege of Boston, and was commissioned a captain (1776). He went to New York with William Heath's brigade and is said to have participated in

Wyndham

Most northerly seaport of Western Australia. It lies at the mouth of the King River, on the West Arm of Cambridge Gulf (an inlet of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf of the Timor Sea). Founded in 1885 as a port for the Kimberley goldfield, it was named after the son of Sir Napier Broome, governor at the time. In 1919 the state government selected Wyndham as the site of a meatworks, which now serves

Togo, German occupation

German missionaries arrived in Ewe territory in 1847, and German traders were soon established at An�cho. In 1884 Gustav Nachtigal, sent by the German government, induced a number of coastal chiefs to accept German protection. The protectorate was recognized in 1885, and its coastal frontiers with Dahomey and the Gold Coast were defined by treaties with France and Great Britain.

Defferre, Gaston

Son of a lawyer (avocat), Defferre studied at the Faculty of Law in Aix-en-Provence and practiced law from 1931. During World War II he served in the resistance and was briefly mayor of Marseille near war's end. He was deputy to the National Assembly

Pythagoreanism

Philosophical school and religious brotherhood, believed to have been founded by Pythagoras of Samos, who settled in Croton in southern Italy about 525 BC.

Mardan

Town and district in Peshawar division, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The town, the district headquarters, lies just north of the Kalpani River; it is connected by road and rail with Dargai (Malakand Pass), Nowshera, and Peshawar, 30 mi (50 km) south-southwest. A growing industrial centre, it has textile and vegetable oil mills, a cigarette factory, and one of the largest sugar

New Glarus

Village, Green County, southern Wisconsin, U.S., on a branch of the Sugar River, 22 mi (35 km) southwest of Madison. Founded in 1845 by 193 immigrants from the canton of Glarus in Switzerland who had been driven from their homes by famine, it was organized on a semi-communal basis, with mineral rights and all streams and springs owned in common and the land apportioned by lot. The village (inc.

Foyer

Intermediate area between the exterior and interior of a building, especially a theatre. Originally the term was applied only to that area in French theatres, comparable to the greenroom in English theatres, where actors relaxed when they were offstage. Because actors were accustomed to visits by friends during and after performances, such areas came to be large

Sacramento

City, capital of California, U.S., seat (1850) of Sacramento county, in the Central Valley, where the Sacramento and American rivers meet. John Augustus Sutter established the colony of New Helvetia in 1839 on the site, a Mexican land grant, and between 1840 and 1842 built a palisaded trading post known as Sutter's Fort. His community, initially populated by fellow Swiss immigrants, prospered

Robert-houdin, Jean-eug�ne

Original name �Jean-Eug�ne Robert� French magician who is considered to be the father of modern conjuring. He was the first magician to use electricity; he improved the signalling method for the �thought transference� trick; and he exposed �fakes� and magicians who relied on supernatural explanations for their feats. Although he did not do away with apparatus, he

Hydroid

Any member of the invertebrate order Hydroida (class Hydrozoa, phylum Cnidaria). Hydroids have three basic life-cycle stages: (1) a tiny free-swimming planula larva about 1 mm (0.04 inch) long, which settles and grows into (2) a sessile (attached), usually colonial hydroid stage, which in turn liberates (3) medusae. This cycle is exemplified by the genus Obelia (q.v.), whose members are widely

Niccolite

An ore mineral of nickel, nickel arsenide (NiAs). It is commonly found associated with other nickel arsenides and sulfides, as in the Natsume nickel deposits, Japan; Andreas-Berg, Ger.; Sudbury, Ont.; and Silver Cliff, Colo. Niccolite is classified in a group of sulfide minerals that exhibit a characteristic hexagonal structure. The name, a derivative of the German word Kupfernickel,

Anastasius Ii

He was chosen to take the throne after an army coup deposed Philippicus, whose secretary he had been. Anastasius reversed the ecclesiastical policies of Philippicus and tried to reform the army before he, too, was deposed. Assuring Pope Constantine of his orthodoxy, Anastasius withdrew Philippicus' monothelite decrees, which had imposed

Music, Western, The sonata and concerto

The major new categories of instrumental music during the Baroque period were the sonata and the concerto. Originally applied to instrumental ensemble pieces derived from the canzona, the term sonata became the designation for a form that was to dominate instrumental music from the mid-18th until the 20th century. In its keyboard manifestation, it was a binary (two-part)