Scottish physicist and meteorologist who, through a series of experiments and observations in which he used apparatus of his own design, elucidated the crucial role that microscopic particles, now called Aitken nuclei, play in the condensation of atmospheric water vapour ...
city, Bouches-du-Rhone departement, Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur region, southern France, north of Marseille. Lying on the plain 1 mile (1.6 km) from the right bank of the Arc River, it is on the crossroads of main routes to Italy and the Alps. The ...
(Oct. 1-Nov. 15, 1818), the first of the four congresses held by Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and France to discuss and take common action on European problems following the Napoleonic Wars (1800-15). This congress (held at Aix-la-Chapelle-now Aachen, Ger.) ...
(Oct. 18, 1748), treaty negotiated largely by Britain and France, with the other powers following their lead, ending the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48). The treaty was marked by the mutual restitution of conquests, including the fortress of Louisbourg ...
city and Alpine spa, Savoie departement, Rhone-Alpes region, southeastern France, southwest of Geneva. A summer and winter resort with a beach on Bourget Lake (France's largest lake) and an aerial cableway up fir-covered Mount Revard (5,125 feet [1,562 m]), it ...
coeducational, state-financed, autonomous institutions of higher learning at Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, founded under France's 1968 Orientation Act, reforming higher education. The institutions developed out of the original University of Provence, founded in 1409 as a studium generale by Louis II ...
Japanese nationalist thinker whose writings helped provoke the movement that in 1868 overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored power to the emperor.
town and capital of Mizoram state, northeastern India. It is situated on a ridge at an elevation of about 2,950 feet (900 m) and is the most populous town in the state. In the 1970s Aizawl was the scene of ...
city, Fukushima ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the centre of the Aizu basin, surrounded by volcanic mountains. A castle was built on the site in 1384. Much of the present city dates from 1590, when the castle was rebuilt and ...
town, capital of Corse-du-Sud departement, Corsica region, France, and Mediterranean port, on the west coast of the island of Corsica. Napoleon's birthplace, Maison Bonaparte, is now a museum, as is part of the town ...
Buddhist rock-cut cave temples and monasteries, near Ajanta village, north-central Maharashtra state, western India, celebrated for their wall paintings. The temples are hollowed out of granite cliffs on the inner side of a 70-foot (20-metre) ravine in the Wagurna River ...
republic in Georgia, in the southwestern corner of that country adjacent to the Black Sea and the Turkish frontier. It is largely mountainous with the exception of a narrow coastal strip. Batumi (q.v.) is the capital and largest city. Ajaria ...
in Greek legend, son of Oileus, king of Locris. In spite of his small stature, he held his own among the other heroes before Troy; but he was also boastful, arrogant, and quarrelsome. For his crime of dragging King Priam's ...
in Greek legend, son of Telamon, king of Salamis, described in the Iliad as being of great stature and colossal frame, second only to the Greek hero Achilles in strength and bravery. He engaged Hector (the chief Trojan warrior) in ...
Polish logician and semanticist who was the chief contributor to the Warsaw school of philosophy and logic, which analyzed the relationship of language and knowledge. He is credited with developing in 1920 the first deductive theory for the study of ...
in the Jainist philosophy of India, "nonliving substance," as opposed to jiva, "soul" or "living matter." Ajiva is divided into: (1) akasa, "space," (2) dharma, "that which makes motion possible," (3) adharma, "that which makes rest possible," and (4) pudgala, ...
an ascetic sect that emerged in India about the same time as Buddhism and Jainism and that lasted until the 14th century; the name may mean "following the ascetic way of life." It was founded by Goshala Maskariputra (also called ...
ancient site in southern Palestine, located at the mouth of the Ghazzah Wadi just south of the town of Gaza (modern Ghazzah). The site, often called "ancient Gaza," was excavated between 1930 and 1934 by British archaeologists under the direction ...
constituent emirate of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman); the smallest state of the country. It is composed of three sections; the principal portion, on the Persian Gulf coast, is completely surrounded by the emirate of ...
city, central Rajasthan state, northwestern India. The city is on the lower slopes of Taragarh Hill, on the summit of which stands a fortress. It was probably founded about 1100 and was the capital of the former state. Architectural monuments ...
town, Pima county, southwestern Arizona, U.S. Spaniards mined in the area in the 1750s, and the Ajo Copper Company (1854) was the first incorporated mining concern in the Arizona Territory. Copper and silver were the most valuable minerals mined in ...
1947, Soviet assault rifle, one of the most widely used shoulder weapons in the world. The initials AK represent Avtomat Kalashnikov, Russian for "automatic Kalashnikov," for its designer, Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov (b. 1919). It has both semiautomatic and automatic capabilities ...
scientific research city located near Novosibirsk at the northeast corner of the Novosibirsk Reservoir, south-central Russia. Akademgorodok is home to numerous research institutes and is the seat of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is, after ...
("Academy of Sciences Range"), mountain range, western Pamirs, central Tajikistan. The mountains, extending north-south, are approximately 68 miles (110 km) in length and are composed mostly of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, together with some granite. Glaciation from permanent snowcaps extends ...
waterfall, Hawaii county, northeastern Hawaii island, Hawaii, U.S. A central feature of Akaka Falls State Park (65 acres [26 hectares]), it is easily reached by foot trail. The waterfall is located 14 miles (23 km) north of Hilo in a ...
(Punjabi: "Throne of the Timeless One"), the chief centre of religious authority for the Sikh community of India. The Akal Takht is located at the city of Amritsar (Punjab state), opposite the Harimandir, or Golden Temple, the principal Sikh house ...
(Punjabi: "Timeless One," or "Eternal One"), a movement in Sikhism; also any member of suicide squads in the armies of the Sikhs, a religious group of India. The Akali suicide squads first appeared about 1690 when the execution of two ...
ethnolinguistic grouping of peoples of the Guinea Coast who speak Akan languages (of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family). They include the speakers of the Akyem, Anyi, Asante (Ashanti), Attie, Baule, Brong, Chakosi, Fante (Fanti), and Guang languages; some ...
dialect cluster of the Nyo group within the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Its principal members are Asante (Ashanti), Fante (Fanti), Brong (Abron), and Akuapem. The Akan cluster is located primarily in southern Ghana, although many Brong speakers ...
historical complex of gold-producing forest states in western Africa lying between the Comoe and Volta rivers (in an area roughly corresponding to the coastal lands of the modern republics of Togo, Ghana, and, in part, Cote d'Ivoire). Their economic, political, ...
community, Canterbury local government region, eastern South Island, New Zealand. It is situated on the shore of French Bay, inside Akaroa Harbour, which is a rocky inlet on the Banks Peninsula formed when the sea breached the erosion-enlarged crater of ...
city, Hyogo ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. The city is adjacent to Kobe on the Akashi Strait of the Inland Sea. It developed as a castle town, and many relics of the Jomon and Yayoi periods remain on the nearby hills. ...
in occultism, a compendium of pictorial records, or "memories," of all events, actions, thoughts, and feelings that have occurred since the beginning of time. They are said to be imprinted on Akasha, the astral light, which is described by spiritualists ...
greatest of the Mughal emperors of India (reigning 1556-1605), who extended Mughal power over most of the Indian subcontinent. In order to preserve the unity of his empire, Akbar adopted programs that won the loyalty of the non-Muslim populations of ...
building style that developed in India under the patronage of the Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556-1605). The style is best exemplified by the fort at Agra (built 1565-74) and the magnificent city of Fatehpur Sikri (1569-74), but fine examples are ...
genus of woody vines comprising two species native to Asia but introduced elsewhere for their ornamental foliage and fast growth. The genus belongs to the family Lardizabalaceae.
(Blighia sapida), tree of the soapberry family native to West Africa, widely cultivated throughout tropical and subtropical regions for its edible fruit. The tree grows about 9 metres (30 feet) tall and bears pinnate leaves and fragrant white flowers. Brought ...
American naturalist and explorer who developed the taxidermic method for mounting museum displays to show animals in their natural surroundings. His method of applying skin on a finely molded replica of the body of the animal gave results of unprecedented ...
poet and physician, best known for his poem The Pleasures of Imagination, an eclectic philosophical essay that takes as its starting point papers on the same subject written by Joseph Addison for The Spectator. Written in blank verse derived from ...
American economist who, with A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz, won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 for laying the foundation for the theory of markets with asymmetric information.
fylke (county), southeastern Norway. Covering 1,898 square miles (4,917 square km), it extends north from Oslo Fjord to the southern end of Lake Mjosa and east to the Swedish frontier. The Vorma River flows through Akershus from Mjosa into the ...
in Egyptian religion, the spirit of a deceased person and, with the ka and ba (qq.v.), a principal aspect of the soul. By enabling the soul to assume temporarily any form it desired, for the purpose of revisiting the earth ...
mountain range of northeastern Libya that extends along the Mediterranean coast for about 100 miles (160 km) in an east-northeasterly direction between the towns of al-Marj and Darnah. Rising sharply in two steps, the first reaching 985 feet (300 m) ...
king of Egypt (1353-36 BC) of the 18th dynasty, who established a new monotheistic cult of Aton (hence his assumed name, Akhenaton, meaning "One Useful to Aton").
town, western Turkey, in a fertile plain on the Great Zab River (the ancient Lycus). The ancient town, originally called Pelopia, was probably founded by the Lydians. It was made a Macedonian colony about 290 BC and renamed Thyatira. It ...
ancient Semitic nomads of northern Syria and Mesopotamia and traditional enemies of the Assyrians. They are first mentioned about 1375 BC in an Egyptian source (one of the Tell el-Amarna letters), in which they are said to have advanced as ...
