Wyndham, John

Educated in Derbyshire, Wyndham tried his hand at various jobs, from farming to advertising. During the mid-1920s he wrote short stories for various American

Basellaceae

The Madeira-vine family of flowering plants in the order Caryophyllales, with 4 genera and 15 to 25 species of herbaceous perennial vines, distributed primarily in the New World tropics. Members of the family have fleshy, untoothed leaves, tuberous rootstocks, and red or white flowers in branched or unbranched clusters. Madeira-vine, or mignonette-vine (Anredera

Aeschylus

This is the third and only surviving play of a connected trilogy, presented in 467 BC, that dealt with the impious transgressions of Laius and the doom subsequently inflicted upon his descendants. The first play seems to have shown how Laius, king of Thebes, had a son despite the prohibition of the oracle of the god Apollo. In the second play it appears that that son, Oedipus,

Houston, Sam

In his youth Houston moved with his family to a farm in rural Tennessee after the death of his father in 1807. He ran away in his mid-teens and lived for nearly three years with

Francis I

Also called �(until 1515) Francis Of Angoul�me, �French �Fran�ois D'angoul�me� king of France (1515 - 47), the first of five monarchs of the Angoul�me branch of the House of Valois. A Renaissance patron of the arts and scholarship, a humanist, and a knightly king, he waged campaigns in Italy (1515 - 16) and fought a series of wars with the Holy Roman Empire (1521 - 44).

Ernest I

When Ernest succeeded to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld on the death of his father (Francis) in 1806, the duchy was occupied by Napoleon,

Cospicua

Town, eastern Malta, one of the Three Cities (the others being Senglea and Vittoriosa), at the head of Dockyard Creek, just south of Valletta across Grand Harbour. It developed as a suburb of Vittoriosa in the mid-16th century and was a thriving settlement (known as Bormla) before it was severely damaged by the Turks in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. It was rebuilt and refortified

Kamen-na-obi

City and administrative centre of Kamensky rayon (sector), Altay kray (region), south-central Russia. A port on the Ob River, it was founded in 1670 and designated an urban settlement in 1915 and became a city in 1925. Its economic base is the food-processing industry; other factories produce bricks and furniture. Teacher-training and veterinary colleges are located in the city. Pop. (1993 est.)

Lahore Museum

Also called �Central Museum, � in Lahore, Pak., archaeological museum opened in 1894 and containing examples of the arts and crafts of the province of Punjab, including sculpture, coins, and Kangra (Pahari) and Mughal paintings and fabrics. Greco-Buddhist sculptures excavated from sites in the Peshawar district are on display. The central part of the archaeological gallery has a stupa drum of Sikri, carved

Lahore Museum

Also called �Central Museum, � in Lahore, Pak., archaeological museum opened in 1894 and containing examples of the arts and crafts of the province of Punjab, including sculpture, coins, and Kangra (Pahari) and Mughal paintings and fabrics. Greco-Buddhist sculptures excavated from sites in the Peshawar district are on display. The central part of the archaeological gallery has a stupa drum of Sikri, carved

Lahore Museum

Also called �Central Museum, � in Lahore, Pak., archaeological museum opened in 1894 and containing examples of the arts and crafts of the province of Punjab, including sculpture, coins, and Kangra (Pahari) and Mughal paintings and fabrics. Greco-Buddhist sculptures excavated from sites in the Peshawar district are on display. The central part of the archaeological gallery has a stupa drum of Sikri, carved

Heisenberg, Werner

In full �Werner Karl Heisenberg � German physicist and philosopher who discovered a way to formulate quantum mechanics in terms of matrices (1925). For that discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for 1932. In 1927 he published his indeterminacy, or uncertainty, principle, upon which he built his philosophy and for which he is best known. He also made important contributions

Guadalupe, Basilica Of

Officially �Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe�, Spanish �Bas�lica de Guadalupe�, or �Bas�lica de Nuestra Se�ora de Guadalupe� Roman Catholic church that is the chief religious centre of Mexico, located in Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, a northern neighbourhood of Mexico City. The church was erected near the spot where two apparitions of the Virgin are said to have appeared to an Indian convert named Juan Diego in December 1531 and commanded that a church be built. The second apparition resulted

Holden, William

While attending Pasadena Junior College, Beedle acted in local radio plays and became involved with the Pasadena Playhouse. He was discovered by a Paramount Pictures talent scout and given the more

Cordia

The leaves of the tropical American geiger tree, aloewood, or sebesten plum (C.

France, History Of, Economic life

Agriculture was the principal economic activity, and during the entire Frankish age the great estate, inherited from antiquity, remained the predominant characteristic of rural life. These estates were the residence and principal source of income of the aristocracy. The estates appear to have long been placed under cultivation by servile labour, which was abundant

Aliquippa

City, Beaver county, western Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies along the Ohio River, just northwest of Pittsburgh. Settled about 1750 as a post for trade with Delaware, Iroquois, and Shawnee Indians, it was first known as Logstown and later renamed for �Queen� Aliquippa, probably an Iroquois. After the French and Indian War (1754 - 63), the Indian peoples lost their title to the land, and Logstown

Paddle Wheel

The device is highly efficient and is competitive even

Pacific Mountain System, Plant life

Climate is the major influence on vegetation type. Conifers predominate and can grow to enormous size, especially on the moister, western slopes. The Sitka spruce is dominant along the coast from southern British Columbia to northern California. The largest standing mid-latitude rain forest in the United States is on the west side of the Olympic Mountains. Inland

Swabia

Swabia's name is derived from that of the Suebi, a Germanic people who, with the Alemanni, occupied the upper Rhine and upper Danube region in the 3rd century

Pyrobitumen

Pyrobitumens may be either asphaltic or nonasphaltic. The asphaltic pyrobitumens are derived from petroleum, are relatively hard, and have

Buckingham, George Villiers, 2nd Duke Of

His father, the 1st Duke of Buckingham,

Ibn Al-athir

Ibn al-Athir spent a scholarly life in Mosul, but often visited Baghdad. He was for a time with Saladin's army in Syria and later lived in Aleppo and Damascus. His chief work was a history of the world, al-Kamil fi at-tarikh (�The Complete History�), starting with

Dies, Martin, Jr.

A graduate of the University of Texas (1919) and the law school of National University in Washington, D.C. (1920), Dies opened a law practice in Texas but quickly turned his attention to politics. In 1931 he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives,

Thompson, J(ohn) Lee

British-born film director (b. Aug. 1, 1914, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng. - d. Aug. 30, 2002, Sooke, B.C.), achieved international fame with The Guns of Navarone (1961), which exemplified his acute visual style and use of suspenseful narrative. Thompson, who was sometimes billed as J. Lee-Thompson, began his film career as an actor and screenwriter, and the first movie he directed, Murder Without

Yalow, Rosalyn S.

Yalow graduated with honours from Hunter College

Taeniodont

Any member of an extinct order (Taeniodonta) of mammals that lived in North America throughout the Paleocene and into the middle Eocene Epoch (66.4 to 43 million years ago). The taeniodonts may have been related to early edentates (insect-eating mammals) and probably evolved from an insectivorous to an herbivorous diet. They were distinguished by high-crowned teeth extending

Memory Abnormality, Traumatic amnesia

On recovery of consciousness after trauma, a person who has been knocked out by a blow on the head at first typically is dazed, confused, and imperfectly aware of his whereabouts and circumstances. This so-called posttraumatic confusional state may last for an hour or so up to several days or even weeks. While in this condition, the individual appears unable to store

Fusel Oil

A mixture of volatile, oily liquids produced in small amounts during alcoholic fermentation. A typical fusel oil contains 60 - 70 percent of amyl alcohol (q.v.), smaller amounts of n-propyl and isobutyl alcohols, and traces of other components. Before industrial production of synthetic amyl alcohols began in the 1920s, fusel oil was the only commercial source of these compounds,

Iran, Ancient, Xerxes I

Xerxes (reigned 486 - 465 BC), Darius's eldest son by Queen Atossa, was born after his father had come to the throne; he had been designated official heir perhaps as early as 498, and while crown prince he had ruled as the king's governor in Babylon. The new king quickly suppressed the revolt in Egypt in a single campaign in 484. Xerxes then broke with the policy followed by Cyrus and Darius of