French mathematician whose study of irrational numbers and the concept of continuity of functions that approximate them greatly influenced the French school of mathematics.
town, southeastern Victoria, Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Mitchell River on Lake King, a lagoon. Its development dates from the late 19th century, when the town served initially as a port for the east Gippsland goldfields; ship ...
chartered city and port, southeastern Negros island, Philippines. Fronting the Tanon Strait on the east, the port accommodates oceangoing vessels and is the shipping centre for sugar refined in Bais. The Sacred Heart Academy, a Roman Catholic liberal arts college, ...
peninsula, northwestern Mexico, bounded to the north by the United States, to the east by the Gulf of California, and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula is approximately 760 miles (1,220 km) long and 25 ...
state, northwestern Mexico, bounded to the north by the United States, to the east by the Gulf of California, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by the state of Baja California Sur. Its terrain, occupying ...
state, northwestern Mexico, occupying the southern half of the Baja California peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the state of Baja California, to the east by the Gulf of California, and to the west and south by the ...
broad slope of debris spread at the bottoms of mountains by descending streams, usually found in arid or semiarid climates; the term was adopted because of its use in the U.S. Southwest. A bajada is often formed by the coalescing ...
town, northern Tunisia. The town lies in the hills on the northern edge of the Majardah (Medjerda) Valley and is built on the site of ancient Vacca (or Vaga)-a Punic town and Roman colony. An important agricultural market since the ...
basin, or plains, region on the Mexican Plateau, west-central Mexico. It is bounded north by the Sierra de Guanajuato, south by the volcanic axis marking the southern edge of the plateau, east by the hills separating the valleys of Celaya ...
synthetic resin formed from the chemical combination of phenols and formaldehydes. Bakelite is a hard, infusible, and chemically resistant plastic whose properties as a nonconductor of electricity have made it exceptionally useful in all sorts of electrical appliances. It is ...
city, seat (1868) of Baker county, northeastern Oregon, U.S. It is situated along the Powder River, in Baker Valley, between the Blue Mountains (west) and the Wallowa Mountains (east). Lying on the old Oregon Trail and settled during the Oregon ...
unincorporated territory of the United States in the South Pacific Ocean, 1,650 miles (2,650 km) southwest of Honolulu. A coral atoll rising to 25 feet (8 m), it measures 1 mile long by 0.7 mile wide and has a land ...
(1962), U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the Tennessee legislature to reapportion itself on the basis of population. Traditionally, particularly in the South, the populations of rural areas had been overrepresented in legislatures in proportion to those of urban and ...
American singer whose three-octave range and powerful, emotional delivery brought her international acclaim in the 1980s and '90s. She was one of the most popular artists in urban contemporary music, a genre that her sophisticated, tradition-oriented soul and rhythm-and-blues singing ...
American librarian and storyteller who worked long and prolifically in the field of children's literature. Her many accomplishments included the first extensive bibliography of children's books portraying positive African-American role models.
American jazz trumpeter and vocalist noted for the plaintive, fragile tone of both his playing and singing. He was a cult figure whose well-publicized struggles with drug addiction curtailed a promising career.
English operatic mezzo-soprano, known for her vocal expression, stage presence, and effective diction. As a recitalist she was noted for her interpretations of the works of Gustav Mahler, Sir Edward Elgar, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
American community organizer and political activist who brought her skills and principles to bear in the major civil rights organizations of the mid-20th century.
teacher of some of the most notable American dramatists, among them Eugene O'Neill, Philip Barry, Sidney Howard, and S.N. Behrman. Emphasizing creative individuality and practical construction (he guided students' plays through workshop performances), Baker fostered an imaginative realism. The critic ...
African-American educator and critic who proposed new standards, based on African-American culture and values, for the interpretation and evaluation of literature.
American government official, political manager, and lawyer who occupied important posts in the Republican presidential administrations of the 1980s and early '90s, including that of U.S. secretary of state (1989-92).
American newspaper columnist, author, humorist, and political satirist, who used good-natured humour to comment slyly and trenchantly on a wide range of social and political matters.
city, seat (1875) of Kern county, south-central California, U.S. Located in the San Joaquin Valley, it was founded along the Los Angeles and Stockton road in 1869 by Thomas Baker, who reclaimed swamplands along the nearby Kern River. Bakersfield was ...
glassware produced at the factory completed in 1808 in Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S., by Benjamin Bakewell, an Englishman from Derby who became known as the father of the flint-glass industry in the United States. The Pittsburgh Flint Glass Manufactory, then Bakewell ...
city, southern Crimea, Ukraine, on the Simferopol-Sevastopol railway. Before passing to Russia in 1783, it was the capital of the Crimean khanate. The city has many buildings of historical and architectural interest, including the palace of the Tatar khans built ...
handwoven pile floor covering made under Bakhtyari patronage in certain villages southwest of Esfahan in central Iran. Bakhtiari rugs are symmetrically knotted on a foundation of cotton.
Russian literary theorist and philosopher of language whose wide-ranging ideas significantly influenced Western thinking in cultural history, linguistics, literary theory, and aesthetics.
one of the nomad peoples of Iran; its chiefs have been among the greatest tribal leaders in Iran and have long been influential in Persian politics. The Bakhtyari population of approximately 880,000 occupies roughly 25,000 square miles (65,000 square km) ...
range of hills, west central Suriname, running north-south, about 70 miles (110 km) in length and separating the basins of the Kabalebo and Nickerie rivers (west) from that of the Coppename River (east). The range is relatively low-lying, comprising a ...
