Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Niemann-Pick disease ... Nijo Yoshimoto

Niemann-Pick disease: inherited metabolic disorder in which a deficiency of the enzyme sphingomyelinase impairs the breakdown of the phospholipids lecithin and sphingomyelin, causing them to accumulate in various body tissues. Symptoms consist of extreme liver and spleen enlargement, mental retardation, and a ...
Niemcewicz, Julian Ursyn: Polish playwright, poet, novelist, and translator whose writings, inspired by patriotism and concern for social and governmental reform, reflect the turbulent political events of his day. He was the first Polish writer to know English literature thoroughly, and he translated ...
Niemeyer, Oscar: Brazilian architect and early exponent of modern architecture in Latin America, particularly noted for his work on Brasilia, the new capital of Brazil.
Niemoller, Martin: prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and pastor, founder of the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) and a president of the World Council of Churches.
Nien Rebellion: (c. 1852-68), major revolt in the North China provinces of Shantung, Honan, Kiangsu, and Anhwei; it occurred when the Ch'ing dynasty was preoccupied with the great Taiping Rebellion (1850-64) in South and central China. An offshoot of the Buddhist-inspired White ...
Nien-ch'ing-t'ang-ku-la Mountains: mountain range forming the eastern section of a mountain system in the southern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. In the west the system comprises a northern range, the A-ling Mountains, and a southern range, the Kailas Range, which ...
nien-hao: system of dating that was adopted by the Chinese in 114/113 BC (retroactive to 140 BC). The nien-hao system was introduced by Emperor Wu-ti (reigned 140-87 BC) of the Western Han, and every emperor thereafter gave his reign a nien-hao ...
Nienhuys, Jacobus: Dutch businessman and planter, who was responsible for establishing the tobacco industry in Sumatra (now part of Indonesia).
Niepce, Nicephore: French inventor who was the first to make a permanent photographic image.
Nietzsche, Friedrich: German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. His attempts to unmask the motives that underlie traditional Western religion, morality, and philosophy deeply affected generations of theologians, philosophers, psychologists, ...
Nieuw Nickerie: port, northwestern Suriname. It lies on the Nickerie River, near the mouth of the Courantyne (Dutch Corantijn) River, 3 miles (5 km) from the Atlantic coast. Rice is the principal crop grown in the area, and cocoa, baboen lumber, and ...
Nieuwland, Julius Arthur: Belgian-born American chemist whose studies of acetylene culminated in the discovery of lewisite, a chemical-warfare agent, and neoprene, the first commercially successful synthetic rubber.
Nieuwpoort: municipality, West Flanders province, western Belgium, on the Yser (IJzer) River. Established in the 12th century as a new port for Ypres (replacing Lombardsijde), it was besieged 10 times after it was first fortified in 1163. The scene of a ...
Niflheim: in Norse mythology, the cold, dark, misty world of the dead, ruled by the goddess Hel. In some accounts it was the last of nine worlds, a place into which evil men passed after reaching the region of death (Hel). ...
Nifo, Agostino: Renaissance philosopher noted for his development from an anti-Christian interpreter of Aristotelian philosophy into an influential Christian apologist for the immortality of the individual soul.
Nigde: city, south-central Turkey; it lies at an elevation of 4,100 feet (1,250 m) below a hill crowned by a ruined 11th-century Seljuq fortress on the road between Kayseri and the Cilician Gates, north-northwest of Adana. The city is thought by ...
Niger: state, west-central Nigeria, bounded to the south by the Niger River. It is also bounded by the states of Kebbi and Sokoto to the north, Kaduna to the north and northeast, Kogi to the southeast, and Kwara to the south. ...
Niger: landlocked western African country. The republic has an area of 458,075 square miles (1,186,408 square kilometres). It is bounded on the northwest by Algeria, on the northeast by Libya, on the east by Chad, on the south by Nigeria and ...
Niger River: principal river of West Africa. With a length of 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometres), it is the third longest river in Africa, after the Nile and the Congo. The Niger is believed to have been named by the Greeks. Along its ...
Niger, Pescennius: rival Roman emperor from 193 to 194.
Niger-Congo languages: a family of languages of Africa, which in terms of the number of languages spoken, their geographic extent, and the number of speakers is by far the largest language family in Africa. The area in which these languages are spoken ...
Nigeria: country located on the coast of western Africa. It has an area of 356,669 square miles (923,768 square km). It is bordered to the north by Niger, the east by Chad and Cameroon, the south by the Gulf of Guinea, ...
Nigerian theatre: variety of folk opera of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria that emerged in the early 1940s. It combined a brilliant sense of mime, colourful costumes, and traditional drumming, music, and folklore. Directed toward a local audience, it uses Nigerian ...
Nigg: village, Highland council area, historic county of Ross-shire, historic region of Ross and Cromarty, northeast coast of Scotland. It is closely associated with and heavily dependent on the offshore petroleum industry. Construction of a huge dry dock began at Nigg ...
Niggli, Paul: Swiss mineralogist who originated the idea of a systematic deduction of the space group (one of 230 possible three-dimensional patterns) of crystals by means of X-ray data and supplied a complete outline of methods that have since been used to ...
Night and Fog Decree: secret order issued by Adolf Hitler on December 7, 1941, under which "persons endangering German security" in the German-occupied territories of western Europe were to be arrested and either shot or spirited away under cover of "night and fog" (that ...
night blindness: failure of the eye to adapt promptly from light to darkness and reduced ability to see in dim light or at night. It occurs as a symptom of numerous diseases that cause degeneration of the rods of the retina (the ...
night fighter: in military aviation, a fighter aircraft (q.v.) with special sighting, sensing, and navigating equipment enabling it to function at night.
night-blooming cereus: (genus Selenicereus), any member of a group of about 20 species of cacti in the family Cactaceae. The plants are native to tropical and subtropical America, including the West Indies. They are widely grown in suitable American climates and have ...
nightglow: weak, steady light emanating from the whole night sky. See airglow.
nighthawk: any of several species of birds comprising the subfamily Chordeilinae of the family Caprimulgidae (see caprimulgiform). Unrelated to true hawks, they are classified with the nightjars, frogmouths, and allies in the order Caprimulgiformes. They are buffy, rufous (reddish), or grayish ...
nightingale: any of several small Old World thrushes, belonging to the family Turdidae (order Passeriformes), renowned for their song. The name refers in particular to the Eurasian nightingale (Erithacus, or Luscinia, megarhynchos; see ), a brown bird, 16 centimetres (6 12 ...
nightingale thrush: any of 11 species of thrushes of the New World genus Catharus (family Turdidae). They are of slender build and have rather drab plumage and rich songs-qualities reminiscent of the European nightingale. In some tropical species, the eye rims, bill, ...
Nightingale, Florence: English nurse and the founder of trained nursing as a profession for women. In 1854-56, during the Crimean War, she was in charge of nursing in the military hospitals at Scutari, Turkey, where she coped with conditions of crowding, inadequate ...
nightjar: any of about 60 to 70 species of birds that make up the subfamily Caprimulginae of the family Caprimulgidae and sometimes extended to include the nighthawks, subfamily Chordeilinae (see nighthawk). The name nightjar is sometimes applied to the entire order ...
nightshade: any plant of the genus Solanum (family Solanaceae; q.v.), which has about 2,300 species, and certain other plants of the same family and other families. The species usually called nightshade in North America and England is Solanum dulcamara (see ), ...
nigun: wordless song sung by Hasidic Jews as a means of elevating the soul to God. Because they lacked words, the nigunim were felt to move the singer beyond the sensual and rational toward the mystic. Such songs were spontaneously extemporized ...
nihilism: (from Latin nihil, "nothing"), a philosophy of skepticism that originated in 19th-century Russia during the early years of the reign of Alexander II. The term is an old one, applied to certain heretics in the Middle Ages. In Russian literature ...
Nihon keizai shimbun: Japan's most widely respected daily business-oriented newspaper. It deals principally with news of commerce, industry, finance, government regulation of business, world trade, and economic news in general.
Nihon shoki: (Japanese: "Chronicles of Japan"), text that, together with the Kojiki (q.v.), comprises the oldest official history of Japan, covering the period from its mythical origins to AD 697.
Niigata: capital of Niigata ken (prefecture), north-central Honshu, Japan. Niigata lies on the coastal edge of the Echigo Plain at the mouth of the Shinano River. It was an important rice port in feudal times and has continued as the country's ...
Niigata: ken (prefecture), north-central Honshu, Japan. It lies along the Sea of Japan and includes the offshore islands of Sado and Awa. Silt deposited by the Shinano and Ara rivers in the central part of the long coastline has created the ...
Niihama: city, Ehime ken (prefecture), Shikoku, Japan. It lies on the Inland Sea coast. Originally a small fishing village, it grew after 1691 as a transit port for copper from an inland copper mine to Osaka. The foundation of modern smelting ...
Niihau: volcanic island, Kauai county, Hawaii, U.S. Niihau lies 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Kauai island. The smallest of the populated Hawaiian Islands, Niihau has an area of 70 square miles (180 square km). King Kamehameha IV sold it for ...
Niitsu: city, central Niigata ken (prefecture), north-central Honshu, Japan. It lies on the Niigata Plain, about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Niigata city. Oil was discovered southeast of Niitsu in the 17th century, and exploitation began in ...
Nijhoff, Martinus: greatest Dutch poet of his generation, who achieved not only an intensely original imagery but also an astounding command of poetic technique.
Nijinsky, Vaslav: Russian-born ballet dancer of almost legendary fame, celebrated for his spectacular leaps and sensitive interpretations. After a brilliant school career, Nijinsky became a soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, in 1907, appearing in such classical ballets as Giselle, Swan ...
Nijlen, Jan van: one of the most distinguished Flemish poets of his generation.
Nijmegen: gemeente (municipality), Gelderland provincie (province), eastern Netherlands, on the Waal River (southern arm of the Rhine). It originated as the Roman settlement of Noviomagus and is the oldest town in The Netherlands. Often an imperial residence in the Carolingian period, ...
Nijmegen, Treaties of: peace treaties of 1678-79 that ended the Dutch War (q.v.), in which France had opposed Spain and the Dutch Republic (now The Netherlands). France gained advantages by arranging terms with each of its enemies separately.
Nijo Yoshimoto: Japanese government official and renga ("linked-verse") poet of the early Muromachi period (1338-1573) who is best known for refining the rules of renga composition.