Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Hertwig, Richard von ... Hesychius Of Miletus

Hertwig, Richard von: German biologist particularly noted for the development of the germ-layer theory, which proposes that all organs and tissues are derived variously from three basic tissue layers, and for his contributions to the study of protozoans.
hertz: unit of frequency. The number of hertz (abbreviated Hz) equals the number of cycles per second. The frequency of any phenomenon with regular periodic variations can be expressed in hertz, but the term is used most frequently in connection with ...
Hertz, Gustav: German physicist who, with James Franck, received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1925 for the Franck-Hertz experiment, which confirmed the quantum theory that energy can be absorbed by an atom only in definite amounts and provided an important confirmation ...
Hertz, Heinrich: German physicist who was the first to broadcast and receive radio waves.
Hertz, Henrik: dramatist and poet, once among the most popular Danish dramatists.
Hertz, Joseph Herman: chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth and author of books on Judaism and of influential commentaries on the Bible expressing a fundamentalist viewpoint.
Hertzberg, Ewald Friedrich, Graf von: (count of) Prussian statesman and foreign minister who aimed at the expansion of Prussia and its establishment as the arbiter of Europe through a strong alliance between Britain, the Netherlands, Russia, and Prussia aimed against France, Austria, and Spain.
Hertzog, J B M: soldier and statesman who held the post of prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1924 to 1939. His political principles, as first stated in his speeches in 1912, were "South Africa First" (even before the British Empire) ...
Hertzsprung, Ejnar: Danish astronomer who classified types of stars by relating their colour to their absolute brightness-an accomplishment of fundamental importance to modern astronomy. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of stellar types was named (in part) for him. In 1913 he established the luminosity ...
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram: in astronomy, graph in which the absolute magnitudes (intrinsic brightness) of stars are plotted against their spectral types. Of great importance to theories of stellar evolution, it evolved from charts begun in 1911 by the Danish astronomer Ejnar Hertzsprung and ...
Heruli: a Germanic people originally from Scandinavia. They raided towns in the Roman Empire, scoring their greatest success in AD 267, when they captured Byzantium and sacked Greek cities. Two years later, the eastern Heruli were crushingly defeated by the Roman ...
Hervey Bay: inlet and city on the Pacific Ocean between Fraser Island and Burnett Heads, southeastern Queensland, Australia. The bay was named in 1770 by the British navigator Captain James Cook and was surveyed in 1804 by the British navigator Matthew Flinders. ...
Hervey, John Hervey, Baron: politician and wit whose Memoirs of the Reign of George the Second are of first importance and, along with the writings of Horace Walpole, are largely responsible for many of posterity's impressions of 18th-century England.
Hervieu, Paul-Ernest: French novelist and playwright, most of whose dramas were tragedies centring on family conflicts and relationships, intended to teach some moral lesson.
Herwegh, Georg: poet whose appeal for a revolutionary spirit in Germany was strengthened by a lyric sensitivity unusual among the poets of the period.
Herz, Henri: brilliant Austrian pianist, teacher, and composer.
Herzberg, Gerhard: Canadian physicist and winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work in determining the electronic structure and geometry of molecules, especially free radicals-groups of atoms that contain odd numbers of electrons. His work provided the foundation for ...
Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovich: political thinker, activist, and writer who originated the theory of a unique Russian path to socialism known as peasant populism. Herzen chronicled his career in My Past and Thoughts (1861-67), which is considered to be one of the greatest works ...
Herzl, Theodor: founder of the political form of Zionism, a movement to establish a Jewish homeland. His pamphlet The Jewish State (1896) proposed that the Jewish question was a political question to be settled by a world council of nations. He organized ...
Herzliyya: city, west central Israel, on the Plain of Sharon and the Mediterranean Sea, at the north of the Tel Aviv-Yafo metropolitan area. Founded in 1924 with the financial backing of American Zionists, it was named for Theodor Herzl, the founder ...
Herzog, Chaim: Irish-born Israeli politician, soldier, lawyer, and author. He was an eloquent and passionate spokesman for the Zionist cause and was instrumental in the development of Israel, both as a soldier and as the country's longest-serving president (1983-93).
Herzog, Isaac Halevi: scholar, author, religious philosopher, lecturer, chief rabbi of the Irish Free State (1925-36), and chief rabbi of Palestine (later Israel) from 1936. Herzog made significant contributions to reconciling the necessities of modern living with the demands of the Talmud. For ...
Herzog, Johann Jakob: German Protestant theologian, professor of church history (University of Halle, 1847-54) and New Testament exegesis (University of Erlangen, 1854-77), and authority on the Hussite-Waldensian church. He compiled and edited the standard theological reference work Real-Encyklopadie fur protestantische Theologie und Kirche ...
Herzog, Werner: German motion-picture director whose unusual films capture men and women at psychological extremes. With Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlondorff, Herzog led the influential postwar West German cinema movement.
Hesburgh, Theodore M.: American Roman Catholic priest and educator under whose presidency the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., became as respected for its academic record as for its athletic one and who achieved national prominence through his public-service work.
Heschel, Abraham Joshua: Jewish theologian and philosopher, noted for his presentation of the prophetic and mystical aspects of Judaism and for his attempt to construct a modern philosophy of religion on the basis of the ancient and medieval Jewish tradition.
Hesilrige, Sir Arthur, 2nd Baronet: a leading English Parliamentarian from the beginning of the Long Parliament (1640) to the founding of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate (1653). He emerged briefly as a powerful figure during the confusion that followed the fall of the Protectorate in 1659.
Hesiod: one of the earliest Greek poets, often called the "father of Greek didactic poetry." Two of his complete epics have survived, the Theogony, relating the myths of the gods, and the Works and Days, describing peasant life.
Hesperides: in Greek mythology, clear-voiced maidens who guarded the tree bearing golden apples that Gaea gave to Hera at her marriage to Zeus. According to Hesiod, they were the daughters of Erebus and Night; in other accounts, their parents were Atlas ...
Hesperornis: extinct birds found as fossils in Late Cretaceous Period deposits dating from about 120 million to 65 million years ago; this bird is known mostly from the Great Plains region of the United States, but some remains have been found ...
Hesperorthis: extinct genus of brachiopods, or lamp shells, which as fossils are especially characteristic of Ordovician marine rocks (438 to 505 million years old). The plano-convex shell of Hesperorthis consists of two units (or valves), the brachial valve being flat and ...
Hesperus: in Greco-Roman mythology, the evening star, son or brother of Atlas. He was later identified with the morning star, Phosphorus, or Eosphorus (Latin: Lucifer), the bringer of light. Hesperus is variously described by different authors as the father of the ...
Hess's law of heat summation: rule first enunciated by Germain Henri Hess, a Swiss-born Russian chemist, in 1840, stating that the heat absorbed or evolved in any chemical reaction is a fixed quantity and is independent of the path of the reaction or the number ...
Hess, Dame Myra: English pianist known for her interpretations of the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Robert Schumann.
Hess, Germain Henri: chemist whose studies of heat in chemical reactions formed the foundation of thermochemistry.
Hess, Moses: German journalist and socialist who influenced Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and who was an important early proponent of Zionism.
Hess, Rudolf: German National Socialist who was Adolf Hitler's deputy as party leader. He created an international sensation when in 1941 he secretly flew to Great Britain on an abortive self-styled mission to negotiate a peace between Britain and Germany.
Hess, Victor Francis: Austrian-born physicist who was a joint recipient, with Carl D. Anderson of the United States, of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1936 for his discovery of cosmic rays-high-energy radiation originating in outer space.
Hess, Walter Rudolf: Swiss physiologist, who received (with Antonio Egas Moniz) the 1949 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the role played by certain parts of the brain in determining and coordinating the functions of internal organs.
Hesse, Hermann: German novelist, poet, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, whose main theme deals with man's breaking out of the established modes of civilization to find his essential spirit. With his appeal for self-realization and his celebration ...
Hesse-Darmstadt: former landgraviate, grand duchy, and state of Germany. It was formed in 1567 in the division of old Hesse; after Hesse-Kassel was absorbed by Prussia in 1866, Hesse-Darmstadt was usually known simply as Hesse.
Hesse-Kassel: former landgraviate of Germany, formed in 1567 in the division of old Hesse.
Hessen: Land (state) of Germany, eighth largest of the 16 Lander, occupying an area of 8,152 square miles (21,114 square km) in the west-central part of that country. Hessen is bounded by the states of ...
Hessian fly: (Mayetiola or Phytophaga destructor), small fly of the gall midge (q.v.) family Cecidomyiidae (order Diptera); it is very destructive to wheat crops. Though a native of Asia it was transported into Europe and later into North America, supposedly in the ...
hessonite: translucent, semiprecious, reddish-brown variety of grossular (q.v.), a garnet mineral.
Hestia: in Greek religion, goddess of the hearth, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and one of the 12 Olympian deities. When the gods Apollo and Poseidon became suitors for her hand she swore to remain a maiden forever, whereupon Zeus, the ...
Heston, Charlton: American actor, known for his chiseled features and compelling speaking voice and for his numerous roles as historical figures and famous literary characters.
Hesychasm: in Eastern Christianity, type of monastic life in which practitioners seek divine quietness (Greek hesychia) through the contemplation of God in uninterrupted prayer. Such prayer, involving the entire human being-soul, mind, and body-is often called "pure," or "intellectual," prayer or ...
Hesychius of Alexandria: author of the most important Greek lexicon known from antiquity, valued as a basic authority for the dialects and vocabularies of ancient inscriptions, poetic text, and the Greek Church Fathers.
Hesychius Of Jerusalem: priest-monk, renowned in the Eastern Church as a theologian, biblical commentator, and preacher. He played a prominent role in the 5th-century controversy on the nature of Christ and was acclaimed as having annotated the whole of sacred Scripture.
Hesychius Of Miletus: Byzantine historian and literary biographer whose chronicle of world history influenced later Byzantine historical accounts and provided singular data on the history of Constantinople. His works are also a valuable source for the history of Greek literature. A native of ...