Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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erythromycin ... Eskimo

erythromycin: drug synthesized by the soil bacterium Streptomyces erythraeus and used in the treatment of throat infections, pneumonia, and other diseases. Erythromycin, an antibiotic that inhibits the synthesis of vital proteins in susceptible bacteria, may be either bacteriostatic ...
Erythronium: genus of about 20 species of spring-blooming plants of the family Liliaceae, commonly known as dog's tooth violet. All the species are native to North America except for the purple- or pink-flowered dog's tooth violet of Europe (E. dens-canis). The ...
Erzberger, Matthias: leader of the left wing of the Roman Catholic Centre Party in Germany and signatory of the Armistice of World War I.
Erzincan: city, eastern Turkey, on the northern bank of the Kara River, a major tributary of the Euphrates. The city is situated in a fertile plain, 3,900 feet (1,200 m) above sea level, enclosed by snowcapped mountains. It was taken by ...
Erzurum: city, eastern Turkey. It lies 6,400 feet (1,950 m) above sea level in a fertile plain surrounded by high mountains. On a caravan route from Anatolia to Iran, Erzurum has been a major commercial and military centre since antiquity and ...
Esagila: most important temple complex in ancient Babylon, dedicated to the god Marduk (q.v.), the tutelary deity of that city. The temple area was located south of the huge ziggurat called Etemenanki; it measured 660 feet (200 m) on its longest ...
Esaki, Leo: Japanese solid-state physicist and researcher in superconductivity who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1973 with Ivar Giaever and Brian Josephson.
Esarhaddon: king of Assyria 680-669 BC, a descendant of Sargon II. Esarhaddon is best known for his conquest of Egypt in 671.
Esau: in the Old Testament (Genesis 25:19-34; 27; 28:6-9; 32:3-21; 33:1-16; 36), son of Isaac and Rebekah, elder twin brother of Jacob, and in Hebrew tradition the ancestor of the Edomites.
Esau, Katherine: Russian-born American botanist who did groundbreaking work in the structure and workings of plants. Her Plant Anatomy is a classic in the field.
Esbjerg: city, Ribe amtskommune (county commune), southwestern Jutland, Denmark, opposite Fano Island on the North Sea. Founded in 1868, after the loss of North Slesvig (Schleswig) to Germany, to provide a new export outlet for Jutland's agricultural produce, it grew rapidly ...
Escalante, Silvestre Velez de: Spanish Franciscan missionary-explorer, who in 1776-77 with his superior Francisco Dominguez, while seeking a route to Monterey in California from Santa Fe (now in New Mexico), rediscovered the Grand Canyon (Arizona). He explored what is now western Colorado and made ...
escalator: moving staircase used as transportation between floors or levels in subways, buildings, and other mass pedestrian areas.
Escallonia: genus of South American evergreen trees and shrubs in the family Grossulariaceae, order Rosales, comprising about 50 species. Members of the genus are found mainly in mountainous areas-notably in the Andes Mountains-although species in the temperate, southernmost portions of the ...
Escanaba: city, seat (1861) of Delta county, southern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S., and a port on Little Bay de Noc, an inlet of Green Bay, 54 miles (87 km) north-northeast of Menominee. Lumber operations began there in the 1830s. The ...
escape velocity: in astronomy and space exploration, the velocity that is sufficient for a body to escape from a gravitational centre of attraction without undergoing any further acceleration. Escape velocity decreases with altitude and is equal to the square root of 2 ...
escapement: in mechanics, ratchet device that permits motion in steps in one direction only; also the mechanism that causes a piano hammer to rebound after striking. In a watch or clock it is the mechanism that controls the transfer of energy ...
Esch-sur-Alzette: town, southern Luxembourg, on the upper Alzette River, southwest of Luxembourg city, near the French border. A small village until 1870, it has become the second largest town in Luxembourg, largely because of the local phosphoric iron ore. The centre ...
eschatology: the doctrine of the last things. It was originally a Western term, referring to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim beliefs about the end of history, the resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, the messianic era, and the problem of theodicy ...
escheat: in feudal English land law, the return or forfeiture to the lord of land held by his tenant. There were generally two conditions by which land would escheat: the death of the tenant without heirs or the conviction of the ...
Escher, Alfred: dominant figure in 19th-century Zurich politics and legislator of national prominence who, as a railway magnate, became a leading opponent of railway nationalization.
Escher, Hans Conrad: Swiss scientist and politician who was president of the Great Council of the Helvetic Republic (1798-99) and who was an outspoken opponent of federalism. He directed the canalization of the Linth River.
Escher, M.C.: Dutch graphic artist who is known for his realistic, detailed prints that achieve bizarre optical and conceptual effects.
Escher, Rudolf: Dutch composer and music theoretician especially noted for his chamber works.
Eschweiler: city, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany, on the edge of the Eifel Mountains. First mentioned in the 9th century, it belonged to the duchy of Julich until the French Revolutionary Wars and was annexed by Prussia in 1815. The ...
Escobar y Mendoza, Antonio: Spanish Jesuit preacher and moral theologian who was derided for his support of probabilism, the theory according to which when the rightness or wrongness of a course of action is in doubt, any probable right course may be followed, even ...
Escobedo, Juan de: Spanish politician, secretary to Don Juan of Austria.
Escoffier, Auguste: French culinary artist known as "the king of chefs and the chef of kings," who earned a worldwide reputation as director of the kitchens at the Savoy Hotel (1890-99) and afterward at the Carlton Hotel, both in London.
Escola Velha: (Portuguese: "Old School"), Spanish dramatists in the early 16th century who were influenced by the Portuguese dramatist Gil Vicente.
Escondido: city, San Diego county, southern California, U.S. It is situated about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of San Diego and 18 miles (29 km) inland. The area was the site of Spanish exploration, and in 1843 it became part of ...
Escravos River: distributary of the Niger River in the western Niger delta, southern Nigeria. Its 35-mile (56-kilometre) westerly course traverses zones of mangrove swamps and coastal sand ridges before entering the Bight of Benin of the Gulf of Guinea. There are no ...
Escriva de Balaguer, Josemaria, Saint: Spanish prelate of the Roman Catholic church, founder in 1928 of Opus Dei, a Catholic organization of laymen and priests claiming to strive to live Christian lives in their chosen professions. By the time of Escriva's death in 1975, its ...
escrow: in Anglo-American law, an agreement, usually a written instrument, concerning an obligation between two or more parties, that gives a third party instructions that concern property put in his control upon the happening of a certain condition. In commercial usage, ...
Escudero, Vicente: Gypsy dancer widely respected for his mastery of flamenco dance and for his adherence throughout his public career to an authentic style rarely distorted or commercialized.
Escuintla: city, southwestern Guatemala. It lies near the Guacalate River, on the southern flanks of the central highlands, at 1,109 feet (338 m) above sea level. It is located 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Guatemala City. Escuintla, one of Guatemala's ...
escutcheon: in furniture design, an armorial shield sometimes applied to the centre of pediments on pieces of fine furniture and, also, the metal plate that surrounds a keyhole or the pivoting metal plate that sometimes covers the keyhole. The keyhole escutcheon ...
Esdraelon, Plain of: lowland in northern Israel, dividing the hilly areas of Galilee in the north and Samaria (in the Israeli-occupied West Bank) in the south. Esdraelon is the Greek derivation of the Hebrew Yizre'el, meaning "God will sow" or "May God make ...
Esdras, First Book of: apocryphal work that was included in the canon of the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) but is not part of any modern biblical canon; it is called Greek Ezra by modern scholars to distinguish it from the ...
Esdras, Second Book of: apocryphal work printed in the Vulgate and many later Roman Catholic bibles as an appendix to the New Testament. The central portion of the work (chapters 3-14), consisting of seven visions revealed to the seer Salathiel-Ezra, was written in Aramaic ...
Esen Taiji: Mongol chief who succeeded in temporarily reviving Mongol power in Central Asia by descending on China and capturing the Emperor.
Esfahan: major city of western Iran. Situated on the north bank of the Zayandeh River at an elevation of about 5,200 feet (1,600 metres), Esfahan is roughly 210 miles (340 km) south of the capital city of Tehran. The city first ...
Esfahan carpet: floor covering handwoven in Esfahan (Isfahan), a city of central Iran that became the capital under Shah 'Abbas I at the end of the 16th century. Although accounts of European travelers reveal that court looms turned out carpets there in ...
Esfahan school: last great school of Persian miniature painting, at its height in the early 17th century under the patronage of the Safavid ruler Shah 'Abbas I (d. 1629). The Esfahan school's leading master was Reza 'Abbasi, who was greatly influenced by ...
Esfahan, Great Mosque of: ' ("Universal Mosque"), a complex of buildings in Esfahan, Iran, that centres on the 11th-century domed sanctuary and includes a second smaller domed chamber, built in 1088, known for its beauty of proportion and design. The central sanctuary was built ...
Eshkol, Levi: prime minister of Israel from 1963 until his death.
Eshnunna: ancient city in the Diyala River valley lying about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Baghdad in east-central Iraq. The excavations carried out by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago revealed that the site was occupied sometime before ...
Esipova, Anna: Russian pianist celebrated for her singing tone, grace, and finesse. Critics liked to contrast her playing with that of her great contemporary, the fiery Teresa Carreno.
esker: a long, narrow, winding ridge composed of stratified sand and gravel deposited by a subglacial or englacial meltwater stream. Eskers may range from 16 to 160 feet (5 to 50 m) in height, from 160 to 1,600 feet (500 m) ...
Eskil: archbishop who restored the unity of the Danish church and championed its independence.
Eskilstuna: town, lan (county) of Sodermanland, southeastern Sweden, on the Eskilstuna River, west of Stockholm. Although it was a trade centre as early as the 12th century, it did not receive its charter until 1659. In the 17th and 18th centuries ...
Eskimo: any member of a group of peoples who, with the closely related Aleut, constitute the chief element in the native population of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Greenland, Alaska, Canada, and far eastern Russia (Siberia).