Henr�quez Ure�a, Pedro

Henr�quez Ure�a's father, a doctor, became president of the Dominican Republic, and his mother was a poet and teacher. After finishing

Valens

Eastern Roman emperor from 364 to 378. He was the younger brother of Valentinian I, who assumed the throne upon the death of the emperor Jovian (Feb. 17, 364). On March 28, 364, Valentinian appointed Valens to be co-emperor. Valens was assigned to rule the Eastern part of the empire, while Valentinian took the throne in the West. Soon Valens was challenged by the pagan Procopius, who had himself

Valens

Eastern Roman emperor from 364 to 378. He was the younger brother of Valentinian I, who assumed the throne upon the death of the emperor Jovian (Feb. 17, 364). On March 28, 364, Valentinian appointed Valens to be co-emperor. Valens was assigned to rule the Eastern part of the empire, while Valentinian took the throne in the West. Soon Valens was challenged by the pagan Procopius, who had himself

Kerouac, Jack

Of French-Canadian descent, Kerouac learned English as a second language as a schoolboy. Discharged from

Cambridge

City, regional municipality of Waterloo, southeastern Ontario, Can. It lies 55 miles (90 km) west-southwest of Toronto. Cambridge was created in 1973 from the consolidation of the city of Galt, the towns of Hespeler and Preston, and parts of the townships of Waterloo and North Dumfries. Galt was founded about 1817 and, along with Dumfries Township, became the home of large numbers of Scottish

Aym�, Marcel

He grew up in the country among farmers, in a world of close-knit families bounded by the barnyard on one side, the schoolhouse on the other.

Petroleum Refining, Aromatics

The aromatic compounds, produced in the catalytic reforming of naphtha, are major sources of petrochemical products. In the traditional chemical industry, aromatics such as benzene, toluene, and the xylenes were made from coal during the course of carbonization in the production of coke and town gas. Today a much larger volume of these chemicals are made as refinery

Computers, Herman Hollerith's census tabulator

The U.S. Constitution mandates that a census of the population be performed every 10 years. The first attempt at any mechanization of the census was in 1870, when statistical data were transcribed onto a rolling paper tape displayed through a small slotted window. As the size of America's population exploded in the 19th century, and the number of census questions expanded, the

Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake

Biblical Literature, Jewish versions

Though Jews in English-speaking lands generally utilized the King James Version and the Revised Version, the English versions have presented great difficulties. They contain departures from the traditional Hebrew text; they sometimes embody Christological interpretations; the headings were often doctrinally objectionable and the renderings in the legal

Optics, Theory

Holography is a two-step coherent image-forming process in which an intermediate record is made of the complex optical field associated with the object. The invention of the wave-front reconstruction process (now called holography) was first described in 1948 by Dennis Gabor, a Hungarian-born physicist, with a specific application in mind - to attempt to improve the resolution

Thomas, Saint

Thomas' character is outlined in The Gospel

Aerobatics

For a historical overview of the sport, see Annette Carson, Flight Fantastic: The Illustrated History of Aerobatics (1986). Information on aerobatic techniques may be found in Geza Szurovy and Michael Goulian, Advanced Aerobatics (1997); and Peter Mallinson, The Handbook of Glider Aerobatics (1999). Detailed information on the latest competition events and their formats may be obtained by contacting the International Aerobatics Commission of the F�d�ration A�ronautique Internationale in Paris.

Metauro River

Italian �Fiume Metauro, �also called �Metro, �Latin �Metaurus, � river, Marche region, central Italy, rising in the Etruscan Apennines (Appennino Tosco-Emiliano) and flowing for 68 mi (109 km) east-northeast into the Adriatic Sea just south of Fano. The lower valley of the river (the ancient Metaurus) was the scene of a great Roman victory over the Carthaginians in 207 BC, when the consuls Marcus Livius Salinator and Claudius Nero defeated and slew

Mahavairocana-sutra

Japanese �Dainichi-kyo, � text of late Tantric Buddhism and a principal scripture of the large Japanese Buddhist sect known as Shingon (�True Word�). The text received a Chinese translation, under the title Ta-jih Ching, about AD 725, and its esoteric teachings were propagated a century later in Japan by Kukai. These teachings, which have been called cosmotheism, centre upon Mahavairocana (in Japanese,

Mahavairocana-sutra

Japanese �Dainichi-kyo, � text of late Tantric Buddhism and a principal scripture of the large Japanese Buddhist sect known as Shingon (�True Word�). The text received a Chinese translation, under the title Ta-jih Ching, about AD 725, and its esoteric teachings were propagated a century later in Japan by Kukai. These teachings, which have been called cosmotheism, centre upon Mahavairocana (in Japanese,

Epistemology, Knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description

The distinction between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description was introduced by Bertrand Russell in connection with his celebrated theory of descriptions. Here only the epistemological (as distinct from the logical) version of his theory will be considered. It was invented by Russell to lend support to the basic thesis of empiricism that all

Afghanistan, Habibollah Khan (1901 - 19)

Habibollah Khan visited British

Wagner, Richard

For a realistic analysis of Wagner's complex character, see Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner, 4 vol. (1933 - 47). Ronald Taylor, Richard Wagner: The Life, Art and Thought (1979), emphasizes the historical background of his life; Charles Osborne, Wagner and His World (1977), is a brief introductory biography. Important sources include The Diary of Richard Wagner, ed. by Joachim Bergfeld (1980); Cosima Wagner's Diaries, ed. by Martin Gregor-Dellin and Dietrich Mack (1978 - ); and Wagner's Mein Leben, 2 vol. (1870 - 81; Eng. trans., My Life, 1911). See also the official German and English biographies by C.F. Glasenapp, Das Leben Richard Wagners, 6 vol. (1894 - 1911); and W.A. Ellis, Life of Richard Wagner, 6 vol. (1900 - 08). Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind and His Music (1968), is a largely hostile biography. An analytical introduction to Wagner's music dramas is Ernest Newman, The Wagner Operas (1949; republished with the title Wagner Nights, 1950). A detailed study of Wagner's development as a musical dramatist is Jack M. Stein, Richard Wagner and the Synthesis of the Arts (1960). A.O. Lorenz, Das Geheimnis der Form bei Richard Wagner, 4 vol. (1924 - 33), provides an exhaustive bar-by-bar analysis of the musical construction of his major works. George Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite, 4th ed. (1922, reprinted 1967), which has much of value to say about the social, political, and economic ideas behind The Ring; Jungian interpretation of the same work is Robert Donington, Wagner's Ring and Its Symbols, 2nd ed. (1969).

Tiepolo, Giovanni Domenico

Also called �Giandomenico Tiepolo � son of the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo; he was a talented genre painter, especially of scenes from contemporary life and the popular theatre (as in the decorations of his villa at Zianigo, Italy, now in the Civico Museo Correr, Venice). Notable among his early works are the paintings of the Stations of the Cross for S. Polo, Venice (1747 - 49), and

Dehon, L�on-gustave

Educated at the Sorbonne, Dehon was ordained priest in 1868 at Rome. After attending the first Vatican Council

Dehon, L�on-gustave

Educated at the Sorbonne, Dehon was ordained priest in 1868 at Rome. After attending the first Vatican Council

Hyrax

Also called �Dassie, � any of the small hoofed mammals of the order Hyracoidea. Both hyraxes and the unrelated pikas (order Lagomorpha) are also sometimes called rock rabbits; the term is misleading for hyraxes, which are neither rabbits nor exclusively rock dwellers. The term cony (coney) in the Bible actually refers not to the true cony (also a lagomorph) but to the

Leonardo Pisano

Little is known about Leonardo's life beyond the few facts given in his mathematical writings. During Leonardo's boyhood his father, Guglielmo, a Pisan merchant, was appointed consul over the community of Pisan merchants in the North African port of Bugia (now Beja�a, Alg.). Leonardo was sent to study calculation with an Arab master. He later went to Egypt, Syria, Greece,

Kirkman, Jacob

Kirkman was trained as a cabinetmaker and went to England in the early 1730s to work for an obscure immigrant Flemish harpsichord maker in London. He eventually became harpsichord

Jeakins, Dorothy

U.S. Academy Award-winning costume designer whose striking creations for Joan of Arc, Samson and Delilah, and Night of the Iguana merited her three Oscars (b. Jan. 11, 1914--d. Nov. 21, 1995).

Argentina

The federal republic of Argentina occupies the eastern section of the Southern Cone of South America, along the Atlantic Ocean. Area: 2,780,400 sq km (1,073,518 sq mi). Pop. (1993 est.): 33,507,000. Cap.: Buenos Aires. Monetary unit: peso, with (Oct. 4, 1993) an official rate of 1 peso to U.S. $1 (1.52 pesos = � 1 sterling). President in 1993, Carlos Sa�l Menem.

Leninsk-kuznetsky

Formerly �(until 1925) Kolchugino, � city, in Kemerovo oblast (province), central Russia. It lies along the Inya River, a tributary of the Ob. In 1912 a French company started coal-mining operations there; from the 1930s the city developed rapidly to become a major coal-mining centre, with many pits located in the city itself. Other industries produce chemicals, mining machinery, electric lamps, and timber goods. Pop.

Ryukyu Islands

Also called �Nansei Islands�, Japanese �Ryukyu-Shoto�, or �Nansei-Shoto�, Ryukyuan �Okinawa� archipelago, extending almost 400 miles (650 km) southwest from Kyushu, southern Japan, to the northern tip of Taiwan bordering the Philippine Sea (east) and the East China Sea (west). Since 1972 the islands have comprised Okinawa ken (prefecture), Japan. With a total land area of 870 square miles (2,254 square km), they consist of 55 islands and islets divided into three major groups: the Amami island

Asheboro

City, seat (1796) of Randolph county, central North Carolina, U.S. It lies in the forested Uwharrie Mountains about 25 miles (40 km) south of Greensboro. Asheboro (originally Asheborough) was founded in 1796 on land that was once the home of Keyauwee Indians; a prehistoric Native American burial ground nearby was excavated in 1936. The name honours North Carolina Governor Samuel Ashe (1725 - 1813). The community