Wyspianski, Stanislaw

Wyspianski's early education included classical literature and fine arts. In 1890 he received a grant enabling him

Haakon Iii Sverresson

During his short reign he tried to heal the breach between the crown and the church, so that exiled bishops returned to their sees. It was said that the sickness which caused his sudden death was the result of poison put into his drink at the instigation of his Swedish stepmother, Margaret.

Zanuck, Darryl F.

Abandoned by his parents at age 13, Zanuck joined the U.S. Army and fought in Belgium during World War I. He worked as a steelworker, garment factory foreman, and a professional boxer while pursuing his career as a

Lipscomb, Gene

Byname of �Eugene Allen Lipscomb� American gridiron football player and larger-than-life �character� whose exploits helped make professional football the most popular sport in the United States during the late 1950s. A 6-foot 6-inch (2-metre), 284-pound (129-kg) defensive tackle, Lipscomb joked that he gathered up all the opponent's players and �peeled them off� until

Dow Chemical Company

Dow Chemical Company was founded in 1897 by chemist Herbert H. Dow of Midland to supplement the Midland Chemical Company (1890) and Dow Process Company (1895). Created in part because Dow required

Osa

City and administrative centre of Osa rayon (sector), Perm oblast (province), Russia, on the left bank of the Kama River near its confluence with the Tulva River. The city is about 60 miles (100 km) southwest of the city of Perm. Originally a village of Khanty (Ostyak), a Ugric-speaking people, it became the Russian town of Nikolskaya Sloboda in 1557 and was renamed Osa in 1737. Yemelyan Pugachov

Zonda

The name zonda in Argentina also refers to a hot, humid wind that blows from the north over the plains and precedes a low-pressure centre.

Pottery, Archaic period (c. 750 - c. 480 BC)

By c. 550 BC Athens had once again become the principal centre of pottery manufacture in Greece, having ousted its Corinthian rivals from the overseas markets. Its success is at least partially due to a sudden improvement in technique, for its potters had learned how to obtain the familiar orange-red surface of their vases by mixing a proportion of ruddle, or red ochre, with

Takla Makan Desert

The Takla Makan is flanked by high mountain ranges: the Tien Shan in the north, the Kunlun Mountains in the south, and the Pamirs in the west. There is a gradual transition to the Lop Nor basin in the east, and, in the south and west, between the sandy desert and the mountains, lies a band of sloping desert lowland composed of pebble-detritus deposits.

Zodiacal Light

Band of light in the night sky, thought to be sunlight reflected from meteoroids concentrated in the plane of the zodiac, or ecliptic. The light is seen in the west after twilight and in the east before dawn, being easily visible in the tropics where the ecliptic is approximately vertical. In mid-northern latitudes it is best seen in the evening in February and March

Belasco, David

As a child actor, Belasco appeared with Charles Kean in Richard III and later played in stock companies touring the mining camps. During

Nur Al-din

Nur al-Din succeeded his father as the atabeg (ruler) of Halab in 1146, owing nominal allegiance to the 'Abbasid caliph of Baghdad. Before his rule, a major reason for the success of the Crusaders was the disunity of the Muslim rulers of the region, who

Wright, Wilbur And Orville

American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight (1903) and built and flew the first fully practical airplane (1905).

Anderson, John Henry

Described on playbills as �Professor Anderson, the Wizard of the North,� he first performed in 1831. Seasons at Edinburgh (1837) and Glasgow (1838 - 39) followed. In London (1840) he made use of the most elaborate collection of magical apparatus

Quant, Mary

Quant attended Goldsmith's College of Art, London, and spent two years designing hats for the Danish milliner Erik. In partnership with her husband and

Earring

A personal ornament worn pendent from the ear, usually suspended by means of a ring or hook passing through a pierced hole in the lobe of the ear or, in modern times, often by means of a screwed clip on the lobe. The impulse to decorate or to modify the appearance of the ear seems to be almost universal. In general, usage appears to call for wearing earrings in pairs, the two

Tapestry, Collection catalogs

Important illustrated catalogs of tapestry collections include: A.S. Cavallo, Tapestries of Europe and Colonial Peru in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2 vol. (1967); D. Du Bon, Tapestries from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1964); H.C. Marillier, The Tapestries at Hampton Court Palace, London, 2nd ed. (1962), and with A.J. Wace, Marlborough Tapestries at Blenheim Palace (1968); N.Y. Biryukova, The Leningrad Hermitage Gothic and Renaissance Tapestries (1966); M. Crick Kuntziger, Musees royaux d'Art et d'Histoire: Catalogues des tapisseries (1956); A.m. Erkelens, Wandtapijten I. Late Goteik en vroege Renaissance, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (1962); and A.F. Kendrick, Catalogue of Tapestries at the Victoria and Albert Museum (1924). Tapestries of the second half of the 20th century are shown in numerous exhibition catalogs, such as Erika Sellman-B�sching, Tapisserien 1970 bis 1981 (1981); F. Vialet, Tapisseries contemporaines d'Aubusson (1981); Swiss Tapestries, Artists of Today (1981).

Luther, Martin, Luther's questioning of authority

Eck was able to go off to Rome with new prestige to give sharpness to the process of Luther's official condemnation. Luther had now to examine the further implications of his actions to date, in relation to the authority of the church, of councils, and of Scripture; his correspondence shows that he was reaching something like a crisis in his attitude to papal

Arts, Central Asian, Tibetan literature

Tibetan was developed as a literary language from the 7th century onward as a result of earlier cultural contacts with neighbouring Buddhist countries - namely, the small states of the Takla Makan, especially Khotan (Ho-t'ien) and the kingdoms of ancient northwestern India (modern Gilgit, Kashmir, and Kullu) and Nepal. Scripts of Indian origin were in use in these countries,

United States, Madison as president and the War of 1812

In historical retrospect, the most important aspect of the peace settlement was an agreement to set up a boundary commission for the Canadian border, which could thenceforth be left unguarded. It was not the end of Anglo-American hostility, but the agreement marked the advent of an era of mutual trust. The conclusion of the War of 1812, which has sometimes been called the Second War of American Independence, marked a historical cycle. It resulted in a pacification of the old feelings of pain and resentment against Great Britain and her people - still for many Americans a kind of paternal relationship. And, by freeing them of anxieties on this front, it also freed Americans to look to the west.

Peter Nolasco, Saint

Peter dedicated himself to helping the poor.

Tabla

Pair of small drums fundamental (since the 18th century) to Hindustani music of northern India. The higher-pitched of the two drums, which is played with the right hand, is also referred to individually as the tabla or as the daya (dahina or dayan, meaning �right�). It is a single-headed drum usually of wood and having the profile of two truncated cones bulging at the centre,

Stakman, Elvin Charles

Stakman received his B.A. (1906), M.A. (1910), and Ph.D. (1913) from the University of Minnesota. In 1909 he became instructor in the newly established department of plant pathology, and in 1940 he became

Angus

Formerly �Forfarshire� council area and historic county in eastern Scotland, bounded on the east by the North Sea and on the south by the Firth of Tay. The council area lies entirely within the historic county of Angus, which also includes the city of Dundee and a small area south of Coupar Angus in the Perth and Kinross council area. The chief city of the county is Dundee, which constitutes a

Computers And Information Systems, E-Commerce.

Alexander I

Alexander probably acknowledged King Henry

Laguna Beach

City, Orange county, southwestern California, U.S., on the Pacific Ocean. Originally called Lagonas (for the two lagoons at the head of Laguna Canyon), it was founded in 1887 as Lagona. Renamed Laguna Beach (1904), it developed as a coastal resort and art colony. Since 1932 the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters have been held at Irvine Bowl, a natural amphitheatre just east of the city.

Aedui

Celtic tribe of central Gaul (occupying most of what was later Burgundy), chiefly responsible for the diplomatic situation exploited by Julius Caesar when he began his conquests in that region in 58 BC. The Aedui had been supported by Rome since 121 BC, but they were heavily defeated in about 61 BC by the Sequani and lost their revenue from tolls on the Arar (Sa�ne) River. Appealing to