Deformation And Flow
Everyday substances are ordinarily classed as either solids, liquids, or gases, and, under normal circumstances, gases and liquids flow relatively freely and solids deform when they are subjected
Wang Xizhi
It is said that even in his lifetime a few of Wang's characters or his signature were priceless; down through the ages, aspiring students of that most basic yet highest art in China, calligraphy, have copied and preserved traces of his style. The most famous example of his writing is the
Pedestal
In Classical architecture, support or base for a column, statue, vase, or obelisk. Such a pedestal may be square, octagonal, or circular. The name is also given to the vertical members that divide the sections of a balustrade. A single pedestal may also support a group of columns, or colonnade. A pedestal is divided into three parts, from bottom to top: the plinth (or foot), the
Banaba
Also called �Ocean Island, � coral and phosphate formation 250 miles (400 km) west of the nearest Gilbert Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west central Pacific Ocean. It has a circumference of 6 miles and an area of 2 square miles (6 square km). Sighted in 1804 by the British ship Ocean, the island was annexed by Britain in 1900. In that same year the mining and shipping of phosphate from the island began. By the early 1970s, annual
Vald�s, Juan De
Juan studied under Spain's leading Humanists and developed religious views that closely followed the ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam, with
Madeleine
Napoleon, who had ordered its design and construction, originally intended the building
Braccio Da Montone
Born of a noble Perugian family, Braccio became the pupil of Alberico da Barbiano, the first great Italian condottiere, initiating a lifelong rivalry with another
Fuad Pasa, Mehmed
The son of a well-known Turkish poet, Fuad Pasa was trained in medicine, but his knowledge of French allowed him to enter the diplomatic service, where he
Antarctic Circumpolar Current
Also called �West Wind Drift, � surface oceanic current encircling Antarctica and flowing from west to east. Affected by adjacent landmasses, submarine topography, and prevailing winds, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is irregular in width and course. Its motion is further complicated by continuous exchange with other water masses at all depths. The volume of transport south of latitude
Aldabra Islands
Atoll, one of the world's largest, in the Indian Ocean about 600 miles (1,000 km) southwest of the Seychelles group, and part of the Republic of the Seychelles. The Aldabras, together with Farquhar and Desroches islands and the Chagos Archipelago, formed part of the British Indian Ocean Territory from 1965 to 1976. The Aldabra Islands were formerly under the hegemony of the Seychelles, to
Haldane, J.b.s.
Son of the noted physiologist John Scott Haldane, he began studying science as assistant to his father at the age of eight and later received formal education in the
Babeuf, Fran�ois-no�
The son of a tax farmer, Babeuf
Pien-tsung-lun
Pinyin �Bianzonglun� (Chinese: �Discussions of Essentials�), treatise by Hsieh Ling-yun, an early Chinese Buddhist intellectual, valued chiefly as one of the few sources of information about the author's eminent teacher, Tao-sheng (d. 434). According to Tao-sheng, enlightenment is a sudden and all-encompassing experience, rather than a gradual process as described by his contemporaries. This assertion,
Sankara
Also spelled �Shankara�, also called �Sankaracarya� philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy, from whose doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived. He wrote commentaries on the Brahma-sutra and the principal Upanisads, affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality
Anarchism, Decline of anarchism in East Asia
By the early 1920s anarchism in most parts of East Asia had entered a decline from which it would not recover. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bolshevik communists in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Korea established their own revolutionary societies, which were eventually transformed into clandestine political parties, and began to compete with anarchists for influence
Colophon
Ancient Ionian Greek city, located about 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Ephesus, in modern Turkey. It was a flourishing commercial city from the 8th to the 5th century BC with its harbour at Notium. Colophon was ruled by a timocracy (government based on wealth) and was famous for its cavalry, its luxury, and its production of rosin (colophonium). It was the birthplace of the philosopher
Macdonald, Flora
Scottish Jacobite heroine who helped Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, the Stuart claimant to the British throne, to escape from Scotland after his defeat in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 - 46. The daughter of Ranald Macdonald, a tacksman or farmer of Milton in the island of South Uist (Hebrides),
Harmony, Rise of the intervals of the third and the sixth
Until the late 14th century the attitude toward consonance, especially among continental composers, adhered largely to the Pythagorean ideal, which accepted as consonances only intervals expressible in the simplest numerical ratios - fourths, fifths, and octaves. But in England the interval of the third (as from C to E) had been in common use for some time, although it
Palau, Flag Of
As part of the United States-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), Palau was under the flags of the United Nations, the United States, and the Trust Territory. Local desire for a separate state and government was realized on January 1, 1981, and a Palauan flag was hoisted on that occasion. A competition had been held in 1979 that resulted in more than a thousand
Bahraich
City, east-central Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, located on a tributary of the Ghaghara River and on a rail line between Lucknow and Nepalganj, Nepal. Bahraich is a centre of trade (agricultural products and timber) with Nepal; there is also some sugar processing. The tomb of Sayyid Salar Mas'ud, an Afghan warrior-saint who died there in 1033, is visited by Muslim and Hindu pilgrims.
Xia Gui
Xia's birth and death dates are unknown. According to most Chinese sources, however, he served in the Imperial Academy (Yuhuayuan) under the emperor Ning Zong (reigned 1194/95 - 1224/25), eventually attaining the rank of daizhao, or �painter in attendance,� and being awarded the highest honour a court painter could receive, the Golden Belt. The earliest source of information on him, however,
Gasp� Current
Outflow from the St. Lawrence River, which moves around the Gasp� Peninsula and along the southern shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It merges with a cold branch of the Labrador (Cabot) Current before flowing through the Cabot Strait and into the North Atlantic Ocean. The current responds to the river's flow, being strong and warm in the summer and cold and weak in the winter.
Dachlan, Kijai Hadji Ahmad
Dachlan was a wealthy merchant who made the pilgrimage to Mecca shortly after 1900. On his return, he became active in religious reform activities, first in formalistic issues of ritual and subsequently
Saran
City, east-central Kazakstan. A major centre of coal mining in the Qaraghandy coal basin, it was established in 1946 near the Saran coal deposit and became a city in 1954. The city's manufactures include chemical and rubber product plants. Pop. (1991 est.) 62,600.
Palembang
Kotamadya (municipality) and capital, Sumatera Selatan provinsi (�province�), Indonesia. It lies on both banks of the Musi River, there spanned by the Ampera Bridge. Sumatra's second largest city (after Medan), it was long the chief town of the Palembang sultanate. The city served as the capital of the Buddhist Srivijaya empire from the 7th century until the kingdom was overthrown
