Razi, Ar-

One tradition holds that ar-Razi was already an alchemist before he gained his medical knowledge. After serving as chief physician in a Rayy hospital, he held a similar position in Baghdad for some time. Like many

Athanaric

Visigothic chieftain from 364 to 376 who fiercely persecuted the Christians in Dacia (approximately modern Romania). The persecutions occurred between 369 and 372; his most important victim was St. Sabas the Goth. In 376 Athanaric was defeated by the Huns. He fled with a few followers to Transylvania (region in present-day Romania), but the bulk of his people, led by Fritigern, fled to the

Domestic System

Also called �Putting-out System� production system widespread in 17th-century western Europe in which merchant-employers �put out� materials to rural producers who usually worked in their homes but sometimes laboured in workshops or in turn put out work to others. Finished products were returned to the employers for payment on a piecework or wage basis. The domestic system differed from the handicraft

Interior Design, Commercial interiors

Contemporary designers are much involved with commercial spaces - such as stores, hotels, motels, and restaurants. Many designers and design firms specialize in highly specific spaces such as restaurants, and others may become specialists in the design of showrooms for the garment industry. Frequently, the design of a restaurant, shop, or hotel must be keyed to a theme.

Nero

In full �Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus�, also called (AD 50 - 54) �Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus�, original name �Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus� the fifth Roman emperor (AD 54 - 68), stepson and heir of the emperor Claudius. He became infamous for his personal debaucheries and extravagances and, on doubtful evidence, for his burning of Rome and persecutions of Christians.

Binary Number System

In mathematics, positional numeral system employing 2 as the base and requiring only two different symbols, 0 and 1. The importance of the binary system to information theory and computer technology derives mainly from the compact and reliable manner in which data can be represented in electromechanical devices with two states - such as �on-off,� �open-closed,� or �go-no

Earth Sciences, Knowledge of the hydrologic cycle

The idea of the hydrological cycle developed independently in China as early as the 4th century BC and was explicitly stated in the L

Race, Enlightenment philosophers and taxonomists

The development of the idea and ideology of race coincided with the rise of science in American and European cultures. Much of the inspiration for the growth of science has been credited to the period known as the Enlightenment that spanned most of the 18th century. Many early Enlightenment writers believed in the power of education and fostered very liberal ideals

Aalto, Alvar

Aalto's commissions after 1950, in addition to being greater in number, were more varied and widely dispersed: a high-rise apartment building in Bremen, W.Ger. (1958), a church in Bologna, Italy (1966), an art museum

Tabernacle

Israel's earliest sanctuary was a simple tent within which, it was believed,

Walter Of Coventry

Walter was not a historian or chronicler in his own right; he merely brought together the works of Marianus Scotus, Florence of Worcester, Henry of Huntingdon, Roger of Hoveden, and

Earth Exploration

Texts on methodology and discoveries in Earth exploration include Arthur W. Rose, Herbert E. Hawkes, and John S. Webb, Geochemistry in Mineral Exploration, 2nd ed. (1979); Robert F. Legget and Allen W. Hatheway, Geology and Engineering, 3rd ed. (1988); Sampling of Soil and Rock (1971), published by the American Society for Testing and Materials; Martin H.P. Bott, Interior of the Earth: Its Structure, Constitution, and Evolution, 2nd ed. (1982); George D. Garland, Introduction to Geophysics: Mantle, Core, and Crust, 2nd ed. (1979); Robert E. Sheriff (compiler), Encyclopedic Dictionary of Exploration Geophysics, 3rd ed. (1991); Robert E. Sheriff, Geophysical Methods (1989); Robert E. Sheriff and L.P. Geldart, Exploration Seismology, 2 vol. (1982 - 83); W.M. Telford, L.P. Geldart, and Robert E. Sheriff, Applied Geophysics, 2nd ed. (1980); Chuji Tsuboi, Gravity (1983; originally published in Japanese, 1979); W.D. Parkinson, Introduction to Geomagnetism (1983); J.A. Jacobs, A Textbook on Geonomy (1974); and Floyd F. Sabins, Jr., Remote Sensing: Principles and Interpretation, 2nd ed. (1987).

Armidale

City, northeastern New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the valley slopes of Dumaresq Creek in the New England Range. Founded in 1839 by G.J. Macdonald, commissioner of crown lands, and named for his father's Scottish baronial estate on the Isle of Skye, it developed a pastoral-agricultural economy. It has become a regional cultural centre with Anglican and Roman Catholic

Tlalpan

Delegaci�n, central distrito federal (�federal district�), central Mexico. At 1,425 feet (2,294 m) above sea level in the Valley of Mexico, it is on the northeastern slopes of the extinct Cerro Ajusco volcano. In the district are remains of a pre-Columbian town, and 1.5 miles (2.5 km) west of Tlalpan is the Cuicuilco Pyramid, considered to be the oldest man-made structure on the North American continent

Yogyakarta

In the 7th century the locality formed part of the Buddhist kingdom of Sailendras, which was contemporaneous with the Srivijaya empire of Palembang (Sumatra). It was probably included in

Huizinga, Johan

Huizinga was educated at the universities of Groningen and Leipzig. After teaching history in Haarlem and lecturing in Indian literature at Amsterdam, he was professor of history first at Groningen (1905 - 15) and then at Leiden

T'ien-t'ai

The chief scripture of the school is the Lotus Sutra (Chinese: Fa-hua Ching; Sanskrit: Saddharmapu

Ashiya

City, Hyogo ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It is surrounded by the Rokko Mountains and faces Osaka Bay. Located on railway lines and highways between Kobe (west) and Osaka (east), it has been known for its beauty since the Heian period (794 - 1185), when court nobles and men of letters lived there. After the establishment of the first railway line to it in 1905, the city became a renowned residential

Norfolk

County, eastern Massachusetts, U.S., southwest and south of Boston, bordered by Massachusetts Bay to the northeast and Rhode Island to the southwest. It consists of an upland region, including the Blue Hills, that is drained by the Charles and Neponset rivers. The main parklands are Wrentham State Forest and F. Gilbert Hills, Bristol Blake, and Webb Memorial state

Buddhism, All Souls festival

The importance of the virtues of filial piety and the reverence of ancestors in China and Japan have established Ullambana, or All Souls Day, as one of the major Buddhist festivals in those countries. In China, worshipers in Buddhist temples make �boats of the law� ( fa-ch'uan) out of paper, some very large, which are then burned in the evening. The purpose of the celebration

Gippsland

Region of southeastern Victoria, Australia, extending northeast from Western Port (near Melbourne) to the New South Wales border and south from the Eastern Highlands to the coast, with an area of 13,600 square miles (35,200 square km). Fertile and well watered (34 inches [860 mm] annually), Gippsland is the focus of the state's dairy industry, supplying most of Melbourne's liquid milk. Lignite

Owain Cyfeiliog

After ruling over the people of Powys from 1149 to 1195, Owain retired to the Cistercian monastery of Strata Marcella (Ystrad Marchell), which he had established in 1170. He died and was buried there, despite his previous excommunication (1188) for failing to support the Third Crusade.

Te�filo Otoni

City, east central Minas Gerais state, Brazil, on the Rio Todos os Santos in the Rio Mucuri Valley, at 1,047 ft (319 m) above sea level. It was given city status in 1878. Te�filo Otoni is a trade centre for an agricultural hinterland in which coffee is the principal crop. Livestock raising is also of some importance, and the city has manufacturing and food-processing plants. Extensive mining

Sanger, Margaret

The sixth of 11 children, she attended Claverack College and then took nurse's training in New York at the White Plains Hospital and the Manhattan Eye and Ear Clinic. She was married

Levertin, Oscar Ivar

Levertin was educated at Uppsala University and became in 1899 professor of literature at the University of Stockholm. After the death of his first wife and an attack of tuberculosis, which sent him to Davos, Switz., he abandoned his early Naturalism for

World War I, Rival strategies and the Dardanelles campaign, 1915 - 16

Erich von Falkenhayn had succeeded the dispirited Moltke as chief of the German general staff in September 1914. By the

Boiardo, Matteo Maria, Conte (count) Di Scandiano

Poet whose Orlando innamorato, the first poem to combine elements of both Arthurian and Carolingian traditions of romance, gave new life to the chivalrous epic, which was declining in popularity. Boiardo spent much of his childhood at Ferrara, and served the dukes of Este. He was captain of the ducal forces at Modena

Entente Cordiale

(April 8, 1904), Anglo-French agreement that, by settling a number of controversial matters, ended antagonisms between Great Britain and France and paved the way for their diplomatic cooperation against German pressures in the decade preceding World War I (1914 - 18). The agreement in no sense created an alliance and did not entangle Great Britain with a French commitment to Russia