Belgian-born U.S. scholar and writer whose voluminous research and publications concerning the history of science did much to make the subject an independent discipline.
American poet, novelist, and essayist whose works were informed by themes of love, mind-body conflict, creativity, lesbianism, and the trials of age and illness.
(from the Latin sartor, "mender"), long, narrow, ribbonlike thigh muscle beginning at the front of the crest of the pelvic girdle, extending obliquely down the front and side of the thigh, and inserted at (attached to) the inner and upper ...
French novelist, playwright, and exponent of Existentialism-a philosophy acclaiming the freedom of the individual human being. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, but he declined it.
in Japanese mythology, an earthly deity who offered himself as a guide to the divine grandchild Ninigi, when he descended to take charge of the earth. His brilliance while he waited on the crossroad was so great it reached up ...
form of popular Japanese entertainment dating from at least the 11th century, which reached its high point by the 14th century. Originally, sarugaku involved mainly acrobatics, juggling, and mime. During the Heian period (794-1185) it was combined with drum dancing. ...
originally, floor covering handwoven in the village of Saruq, north of Arak (Soltanabad) in western Iran; later, floor covering commercially produced mainly in Arak but also in the weaving villages nearby for the U.S. market. The early carpets were of ...
mountain range on the Huon Peninsula, northeastern New Guinea, on the border of Morobe and Madang provinces, Papua New Guinea. The range, rising to 13,520 ft (4,121 m) at Mt. Bangeta, lies on the northern edge of the great Central ...
(Sanskrit: Doctrine That All Is Real), important early Buddhist school of philosophy. A fundamental concept in Buddhist metaphysics is the assumption of the existence of dharmas, cosmic factors and events that combine momentarily under the influence of a person's past ...
mountain range on the border of the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous oblast (province) of Tajikistan and the People's Republic of China. Lying in the eastern Pamirs parallel to the Kashgar (or Mustagh-Ata) Range to the east, it extends for 215 mi (350 ...
town, La Spezia province, Liguria region, northern Italy, on the fertile plain of the Magra River, just east of La Spezia. Mentioned as a fortress in 963 and as a town in 1084, it is believed to have been founded ...
French archaeologist whose excavation of the mound of Tello (ancient Girsu, Arabic Tall Luh), in present-day southern Iraq, uncovered the Sumerian capital of Lagash and revealed much of what is known about the art, language, and history of the most ...
largest ethnic group on Lombok, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia, constituting most of the island's population and numbering about 2,000,000 in 1977. The Sasak are of Deutero-Malay stock and speak Sasak or Sasak-Balinese. Concentrated most densely in ...
eponymous ancestor of the Sasanian dynasty in ancient Persia. Details of his life vary, but most scholars believe he was originally a prince in the province of Persis and a vassal of Gochihr, the chief petty king in Persis. His ...
(AD 224-651), ancient Iranian dynasty evolved by Ardashir I in years of conquest, AD 208-224, and destroyed by the Arabs during the years 637-651. The dynasty was named after Sasan, an ancestor of Ardashir I.
city, administrative headquarters of Rohtas district, Bihar state, northeastern India. Located at a major road and rail junction, it is an agricultural trade centre; carpet and pottery manufacture are important. The red sandstone mausoleum of Emperor Sher Shah of Sur ...
city, Nagasaki Prefecture (ken), Kyushu, Japan, near the mouth of Omura-wan (Omura Bay). Originally a small village on a good natural harbour, it expanded rapidly in the late 19th century as a naval base. The town was partially destroyed during ...
specialty of Japanese cuisine, fresh fish served raw. The fish, which must be utterly fresh, is sliced paper thin or alternately one-quarter to one-half inch (0.75-1.5 centimetres) thick, cubed, or cut in strips, according to the nature of the fish. ...
province of Canada, one of the Prairie Provinces. It is one of only two Canadian provinces without a saltwater coast, and it is the only province all of whose boundaries are wholly artificial (i.e., not formed by ...
largest river system of Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces, Canada, rising in the Canadian Rockies of western Alberta in two great headstreams, the North and South Saskatchewan rivers (800 miles [1,287 km] and 865 miles [1,392 km] long, respectively); these cross ...
city, south-central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Founded in 1883 as the proposed capital of a temperance colony, its name was derived from Mis-sask-guah-too-min, a Cree Indian word for a local edible red berry. Following the arrival of ...
town, northern Free State province, South Africa, south of Johannesburg. Established in 1954, it was built by Sasol Ltd. (the former South African Coal, Oil, and Gas Corporation Ltd.) to house employees at the world's first oil-from-coal plant producing commercial ...
a large, hairy humanlike creature believed by some persons to exist in the northwestern United States and western Canada. It seems to represent the North American counterpart of the Abominable Snowman, or Yeti.
(genus Damaliscus), any of a few species of antelope belonging to the family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla) and inhabiting sub-Saharan grasslands, floodplains, and dense brush from western to eastern Africa and southward to southern Africa. Modern classifications are not uniform, but ...
(species Sassafras albidum), North American tree of the laurel family (Lauraceae), the aromatic leaf, bark, and root of which are used as a flavouring, as a traditional home medicine, and as a tea. The roots yield about 2 percent oil ...
highest point in South Carolina, U.S., at 3,560 feet (1,085 metres). It lies in the Blue Ridge (a segment of the Appalachian Mountains) about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Greenville, in Pickens county, on the North Carolina border. Among ...
river in western Africa, rising as the Tienba in the highlands between Odienne and Boundiali, northwestern Cote d'Ivoire, and becoming the Sassandra 36 miles (58 km) east-northeast of Touba at its confluence with the Feredougouba (Bagbe) River from eastern Guinea. ...
city, capital of Sassari provincia, Sardinia, Italy, near the north coast of the island on the edge of the limestone hills above the plain of Riu Mannu, north-northwest of Cagliari. In the 12th century, Sassari, then called Tathari, grew as ...
English poet and novelist, known for his antiwar poetry and for his fictionalized autobiographies, praised for their evocation of English country life.
in full Valangiman Sankarana-rayana Srinivasa Sastri liberal Indian statesman and founder of the Indian Liberal Federation, who served his country under British colonial rule in many important posts at home and abroad.
Armenian folk epic dealing with the adventures of the Christian king David of Sasun in his defense against infidel invaders from Egypt and Persia. The epic was based on oral tradition that presumably dates from the 8th to the 10th ...
(Sanskrit: "the existent"), in Vedic and early Hindu thought, a significant notion of the nature of ultimate reality. While sat originally described the divine as manifest in the perceptible world and thus subordinated to the unmanifest existent (asat), in the ...
pejorative designation for the poets John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Leigh Hunt, and Lord Byron, used of them by Robert Southey in the preface to his A Vision of Judgement (1821). The term expressed Southey's disapproval of the unorthodox views ...
worship of Satan, or the devil, the personality or principle regarded by the Judeo-Christian tradition as embodying absolute evil in complete antithesis to God. This worship may be regarded as a gesture of extreme protest against Judeo-Christian spiritual hegemony. Satanic ...
town, southwestern Maharashtra state, western India, west of the confluence of the Krishna and Venna rivers, southeast of Pune (Poona). The town was named for the walls of its fort, numbering 17 (Marathi: satara); the fort was built by the ...
Indian family that, according to some interpretations based on the Puranas (ancient religious and legendary writings), belonged to the Andhra jati ("tribe") and was the first Deccanese dynasty to build an empire in daksinapatha-i.e., the southern region. At the height ...
natural object (moon) or spacecraft (artificial satellite) orbiting a larger astronomical body. Most known natural satellites orbit planets; the Earth's Moon is the most obvious example.
in telecommunication, the use of artificial satellites to provide communications links between various points on Earth. Communications satellites relay voice, video, and data signals between widely separated fixed locations (e.g., between the switching offices of two different national telephone networks), ...
Earth-orbiting spacecraft that allows celestial objects and radiation to be studied from above the atmosphere. Astronomy from Earth's surface is limited to observation in those parts of the electromagnetic spectrum (see electromagnetic radiation) that are not absorbed by the atmosphere. ...
desire to limit further food intake, as after completing a satisfying meal. The hypothalamus, part of the central nervous system, regulates the amount of food desired. Eating is thought to increase the body temperature, and as the temperature in the ...
any fabric constructed by the satin weave method, one of the three basic textile weaves. The fabric is characterized by a smooth surface and usually a lustrous face and dull back; it is made in a wide variety of weights ...
in the decorative arts, glass with a dull matte finish achieved by immersion in hydrofluoric or other abrasive acid. In the 19th century the process was synonymous with "frosting" and was a technique associated especially with the fancy art glass ...
(Chloroxylon swietenia), tree of the Rutaceae family native to Southeast Asia, India, and Sri Lanka (Ceylon), or its hard yellowish brown wood, which has a satiny lustre and is used for fine cabinetwork and farming tools. There are also satinwoods ...
