Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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German Trade Union Federation ... gesso

German Trade Union Federation: dominant union organization in Germany. The DGB was founded in Munich in 1949 and soon became the largest labour organization in West Germany, with 16 constituent unions. With the reunification of Germany in 1990, workers of the former East Germany ...
German wirehaired pointer: breed of sporting dog developed in mid-19th-century Germany as an all-purpose, all-weather hunting dog. It generally has a keen "nose" and a rugged constitution. It stands 56 to 66 cm (22 to 26 inches), weighs 23 to 32 kg (50 ...
German, Sir Edward: popular composer of light operas whose music was noted for its lyric quality and distinctly English character.
German-American Bund: American pro-Nazi, quasi-military organization that was most active in the years immediately preceding the United States' entry into World War II. The Bund's members were mostly American citizens of German ancestry. The organization received covert guidance and financial support from ...
German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact: (August 23, 1939), nonaggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union that was concluded only a few days before the beginning of World War II and which divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
germander: any of about 300 species of plants belonging to the genus Teucrium, which is a worldwide genus of the mint family (Lamiaceae), order Lamiales. American germander (T. canadense) of North America has slender spikes of purple to cream flowers on ...
Germanic languages: branch of the Indo-European language family. Scholars often divide the Germanic languages into three groups: West Germanic, including English, German, and Netherlandic; North Germanic, including Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Faroese; and East Germanic, now extinct, comprising only Gothic and ...
Germanic law: the law of the various Germanic peoples from the time of their initial contact with the Romans until the change from tribal to national territorial law. This change occurred at different times with different peoples. Thus some of the characteristics ...
Germanic peoples: any of the Indo-European speakers of Germanic languages.
Germanic religion and mythology: complex of stories, lore, and beliefs about the gods and the nature of the cosmos developed by the Germanic-speaking peoples before their conversion to Christianity.
Germanicus Caesar: nephew and adopted son of the Roman emperor Tiberius (AD 14-37). He was a successful and immensely popular general who, had it not been for his premature death, would have become emperor.
germanium: (Ge), a chemical element between silicon and tin in Group IVa of the periodic table, a silvery-gray metalloid, intermediate in properties between the metals and the nonmetals. Although germanium was not discovered until 1886 by Clemens Winkler, a German chemist, ...
Germantown: historic residential section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., extending for more than a mile along Germantown Avenue (formerly High Street). The site was first settled by German Pietists led by Francis Daniel Pastorius in 1683, and the development of handicraft industries ...
Germantown, Battle of: (October 4, 1777), in the American Revolution, abortive attack by 11,000 American troops upon 9,000 British regulars stationed at Germantown (now part of Philadelphia) under General Sir William Howe. Not discouraged by his recent defeat at the Battle of the ...
Germanus I, Saint: Byzantine patriarch of Constantinople and theologian who led the orthodox opposition during the Iconoclastic Controversy (q.v.). His writings also fostered the doctrine and devotion to the Virgin Mary.
Germanus of Auxerre, Saint: Gallic prelate who was twice sent on crucial missions to England that helped effect the consolidation of the British church.
Germanus of Paris, Saint: abbot, bishop, one of France's most revered saints, who was an important, though unsuccessful, mediator in the fratricidal conflicts among several Merovingian kings.
Germany: country of north-central Europe, traversing the continent's main physical divisions, from the outer ranges of the Alps northward across the varied landscape of the Central German Uplands and then across the North German Plain.
Germer, Lester Halbert: American physicist who, with his colleague Clinton Joseph Davisson, conducted an experiment (1927) that first demonstrated the wave properties of the electron. This experiment confirmed the hypothesis of Louis-Victor de Broglie, a founder of wave mechanics, that the electron should ...
germfree life: biological condition characterized by the complete absence of living microorganisms. Gnotobiology comprises the study of germfree plants and animals, as well as living things in which specific microorganisms, added by experimental methods, are known to be present. When one or ...
germinal mutation: alteration in the genetic constitution of the reproductive cells, occurring in the cell divisions that result in sperm and eggs. Germinal mutations can be caused by radiation or chemical mutagens and may affect a single gene or an entire chromosome. ...
germination: the sprouting of a seed, spore, or other reproductive body, usually after a period of dormancy (see afterripening). The absorption of water, passage of time, chilling, warming, oxygen availability, and light exposure may all operate in initiating the process.
Germiston: city, Gauteng province, South Africa. Germiston lies 5,550 feet (1,690 metres) above sea level and is situated in the Witwatersrand directly southeast of Johannesburg. It is the largest railway junction of South Africa and has substantial rail repair shops. Germiston ...
Gernreich, Rudi: Austrian-born American avant-garde fashion designer of the 1960s.
Gernsback, Hugo: American inventor and publisher who was largely responsible for the establishment of science fiction as an independent literary form.
Gerome, Jean-Leon: painter, sculptor, and teacher, one of the most prominent late 19th-century academic artists in France.
Gerona: provincia, in the Catalonia comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community"), Spain. Gerona is the northeasternmost province of the autonomous community and of Spain. It is bounded to the north by France and the Pyrenees, to the ...
Gerona: city, capital of Gerona provincia, in the Catalonia comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community"), northeastern Spain. It lies on the Onar River in the foothills of the Los Angeles Mountains, a short distance inland from a ...
Geronimo: Indian name Goyathlay ("One Who Yawns") Bedonkohe Apache leader of the Chiricahua Apache, who led his people's defense of their homeland against the military might of the United States.
gerontology and geriatrics: scientific and medical disciplines, respectively, that are concerned with all aspects of health and disease in the elderly, and with the normal aging process. Gerontology is the scientific study of the phenomena of aging, by which is meant the progressive ...
Gerould, Katharine Elizabeth Fullerton: American writer, noted for short stories that reveal her elevated sensibilities and fine craftsmanship.
gerousia: in ancient Sparta, council of elders, one of the two chief organs of the Spartan state, the other being the apella (assembly). The functions of both were likely delineated at the time of the reforms of Lycurgus, probably in the ...
Gerry, Elbridge: signer of the American Declaration of Independence and fifth vice president of the United States (1813-14) in the second term of President James Madison. From his name the term gerrymander later was derived.
gerrymandering: in U.S. politics, drawing the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one party an unfair advantage over its rivals. The term is derived from the name of Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, whose administration enacted a law ...
Gershom ben Judah: eminent rabbinical scholar who proposed a far-reaching series of legal enactments (taqqanot) that profoundly molded the social institutions of medieval European Jewry.
Gershwin, George: one of the most significant and popular American composers of all time. He wrote primarily for the Broadway musical theatre, but important as well are his orchestral and piano compositions in which he blended, in varying degrees, the techniques and ...
Gershwin, Ira: American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, George Gershwin, on more than 20 Broadway musicals and motion pictures until George's death (1937) and who later collaborated on films and plays with others-Moss Hart, Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, Harry Warren, ...
Gerson, Jean de: theologian and Christian mystic, leader of the conciliar movement for church reform that ended the Great Schism (between the popes of Rome and Avignon).
Gerstenberg, Heinrich Wilhelm von: German poet, critic, and theorist of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") literary movement, whose Briefe uber die Merkwurdigkeiten der Literatur (1866-67; "Letters About the Peculiarities of Literature") contained the first definite formulation of the critical principles of this ...
Gervais, Paul: paleontologist and zoologist who succeeded Georges Cuvier and Henri de Blainville as principal French contributor to vertebrate paleontology.
Gervase Of Canterbury: monk at Christ Church, Canterbury, from 1163, compiler of chronicles having considerable value for the reign of Richard I (1189-99) and the first decade of King John's reign (from 1199).
Gerzean culture: predynastic Egyptian cultural phase given the sequence dates 40-65 by Sir Flinders Petrie and later dated c. 3400-c. 3100 BC. Evidence indicates that the Gerzean culture was not brought by invaders but was rather a further development of the culture ...
Gesell, Arnold: U.S. psychologist and pediatrician who pioneered the use of motion-picture cameras to study the physical and mental development of normal infants and children; his books influenced child rearing in the United States. As director of the Clinic of Child Development ...
Gesenius, Wilhelm: German biblical critic and an important figure in Hebrew and other Semitic language studies.
Geshov, Ivan Evstatiev: Bulgarian statesman and founder of the Bulgarian National Bank. He was prime minister from March 1911 to July 1913.
Gesner, Conrad: Swiss physician and naturalist, best known for his systematic compilations of information on animals and plants.
Gesneriaceae: one of 18 families in the flowering plant order Scrophulariales, consisting of about 140 genera and more than 1,800 species of mostly tropical and subtropical herbaceous or slightly woody plants. None is of economic importance except in the area of ...
Gessi, Romolo: Italian soldier and explorer who served in the Egyptian Sudan under Gen. Charles George Gordon (governor general of the Sudan) and participated in the final stages of the exploration of the Nile River. By becoming the first person to circumnavigate ...
Gessler, Otto: German minister of war during the Weimar Republic who was instrumental in rebuilding the country's armed forces after World War I.
Gessner, Salomon: Swiss writer, translator, painter, and etcher, known throughout Europe for literary works of pastoral themes and rococo style.
gesso: (Italian: "gypsum," or "chalk"), fluid, white coating composed of plaster of paris, chalk, gypsum, or other whiting mixed with glue, applied to smooth surfaces such as wood panels, plaster, stone, or canvas to provide the ground for tempera and oil ...