Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Valparaiso ... Van Zandt, Marie

Valparaiso: region, central Chile, bordering the Pacific Ocean on the west, Argentina on the east, and Santiago metropolitan region on the southeast. It was created in 1974 and encompasses Valparaiso, San Antonio, Quillota, Petorca, San Felipe, Los Andes, and Isla de ...
Valparaiso University: private, coeducational institution of higher education in Valparaiso, Ind., U.S. It is affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It grants associate, bachelor's, master's, and professional degrees. The college of arts and sciences is the largest academic division, comprising more than ...
Valsad: city, southeastern Gujarat state, west-central India. It lies along the Gulf of Cambay, south of the city of Surat. Valsad is known for its handloomed cloth, dyes, bricks, and pottery, and it also has a castor-oil-extraction industry. Fruit is grown ...
Valtellina: upper valley of the Adda River from its sources in the Ortles mountains westward to its entry into Lake Como, largely in Sondrio provincia, Lombardia (Lombardy) regione, northern Italy. The valley is enclosed by the Bernina Alps (north), the Ortles ...
value-added tax: government levy on the amount that a business firm adds to the price of a commodity during production and distribution of a good. Three major types of value-added tax have been identified, depending on the deductions allowed, but only one-called ...
valve: in music, a device, first used in 1815 by musicians Heinrich Stolzel and Friedrich Bluhmel of Berlin, that alters the length of the vibrating air column in brass wind instruments by allowing air to pass through a small piece of ...
valve: in mechanical engineering, device for controlling the flow of fluids (liquids, gases, slurries) in a pipe or other enclosure. Control is by means of a movable element that opens, shuts, or partially obstructs an opening in a passageway. Valves are ...
valve: in anatomy, any of various membranous structures, especially in the heart, veins, and lymph ducts, that function to close temporarily a passage or orifice, permitting movement of a fluid in one direction only. A valve may consist of a sphincter ...
Valverde: province, northwestern Dominican Republic. Created on territory removed in 1959 from Santiago province, the 220-sq-mi (570-sq-km) province lies mainly in the fertile and densely populated Valle del Cibao; it is drained by the Yaque del Norte River. The principal economic ...
Vamana: fifth of the 10 incarnations (avataras) of the Hindu god Vishnu. He made his appearance when the demon king Bali ruled the entire universe and the gods had lost their power. One day the dwarf Vamana visited the court of ...
vampire: in popular legend, a bloodsucking creature, supposedly the restless soul of a heretic, criminal, or suicide, that leaves its burial place at night, often in the form of a bat, to drink the blood of humans. By daybreak it must ...
vampire bat: any of three species of blood-eating bats, native to the New World tropics and subtropics. The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), together with the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus, or Desmodus, youngi) and the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata) are the ...
Van: city, eastern Turkey. It lies on the eastern shore of Lake Van at an altitude of about 5,750 feet (1,750 m). The city lies in an oasis at the foot of a hill crowned by an ancient ruined citadel. A ...
Van Allen radiation belt: doughnut-shaped zones of highly energetic charged particles trapped at high altitudes in the magnetic field of the Earth. The zones were named for James A. Van Allen, the American physicist who discovered them in 1958 using data transmitted by the ...
Van Allen, James A.: American physicist, whose discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts, two zones of radiation encircling Earth, brought about new understanding of cosmic radiation and its effects on Earth.
Van Buren: city, seat (1839) of Crawford county, western Arkansas, U.S., on the Arkansas River opposite Fort Smith. The site, settled (1818) by Thomas Martin, was later called Phillips Landing (for Thomas Phillips, who bought land rights there in 1836). In 1838 ...
Van Buren, Hannah: the wife of Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States. She died 18 years before her husband was sworn in as president and so did not serve as first lady.
Van Buren, Martin: eighth president of the United States (1837-41) and one of the founders of the Democratic Party. He was known as the "Little Magician" to his friends (and the "Sly Fox" to his enemies) in recognition of his reputed cunning and ...
Van Cortlandt, Stephanus: Dutch-American colonial merchant and public official who was the first native-born mayor of New York City and chief justice of the Supreme Court of New York.
Van de Graaff, Robert Jemison: American physicist and inventor of the Van de Graaff generator, a type of high-voltage electrostatic generator that serves as a type of particle accelerator. This device has found widespread use not only in atomic research but also in medicine and ...
Van Deman, Esther Boise: American archaeologist and the first woman to specialize in Roman field archaeology. She established lasting criteria for the dating of ancient constructions, which advanced the serious study of Roman architecture.
Van Deman, Ralph: American intelligence officer, called "the father of American military intelligence."
Van Depoele, Charles Joseph: Belgian-born American inventor who demonstrated the practicability of electrical traction (1874) and patented an electric railway (1883).
van der Waals forces: relatively weak electric forces that attract neutral molecules to one another in gases, in liquefied and solidified gases, and in almost all organic liquids and solids. The forces are named for the Dutch physicist Johannes van der Waals, who in ...
Van Devanter, Willis: associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1910-37).
Van Diemen Gulf: inlet of the Timor Sea of the Indian Ocean, indenting Northern Territory, Australia. Measuring 90 mi (145 km) by 50 mi and partially enclosed by Melville Island (northwest) and the Cobourg Peninsula (northeast), it is fronted by the mainland as ...
Van Diemen's Land: (1642-1855), the southeastern Australian island colony that became the commonwealth state of Tasmania. Named for Anthony van Diemen, governor general of the Dutch East Indies, the island was discovered and named in 1642 by Abel J. Tasman, a celebrated navigator ...
Van Dine, S.S.: American critic, editor, and author of a series of best-selling detective novels featuring the brilliant but arrogant sleuth Philo Vance.
Van Doren, Carl: U.S. author and teacher whose writings range through surveys of literature to novels, biography, and criticism.
Van Doren, Mark: American poet, writer, and eminent teacher. He upheld the writing of verse in traditional forms throughout a lengthy period of experiment in poetry. As a teacher at Columbia University for 39 years (1920-59), he exercised a profound influence on generations ...
Van Duyn, Mona: American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet noted for her examination of the daily lives of ordinary people and for mixing the prosaic with the unusual, the simple with the sophisticated. She is frequently described as a "domestic poet" who celebrated married love.
Van Dyck, Sir Anthony: after Rubens, the most prominent Flemish painter of the 17th century. A prolific painter of portraits of European aristocracy, he also executed many works on religious and mythological subjects and was a fine draftsman and etcher. Appointed court painter by ...
Van Dyke, Henry: U.S. short-story writer, poet, and essayist popular in the early decades of the 20th century.
Van Fleet, James Alward: U.S. military officer who was a division and corps commander during crucial World War II battles, notably the Normandy Invasion and the Battle of the Bulge, and was commander of U.S. ground forces during much of the Korean War.
van Gennip, Yvonne: Dutch athlete who was considered the greatest speed skater from The Netherlands since Ard Schenk. She won three Olympic gold medals in 1988.
Van Halen: American heavy metal band, widely popular in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, distinguished by the innovative electric-guitar playing of Eddie Van Halen. The original members were Eddie Van Halen (b. Jan. 26, 1957, Nijmegen, Neth., ), Alex Van ...
Van Heusen, Jimmy: U.S. songwriter who composed for films, stage musicals, and recordings that most often featured singers Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.
Van Hise, Charles Richard: U.S. geologist who conducted basic geological studies of the Precambrian (570,000,000 to 4,600,000,000 years ago) formations of the Lake Superior region, particularly the iron ores in these formations. These studies were useful for the economic exploitation of the vast iron-ore ...
Van Horne, Sir William Cornelius: U.S.-born Canadian railway official who directed the construction of Canada's first transcontinental railroad.
Van Kleeck, Mary Abby: American social researcher and reformer, a dynamic and influential figure in the investigation and improvement of labour conditions in the first half of the 20th century.
Van Lerberghe, Charles: Belgian poet, short-story writer, and playwright whose reputation rests largely on two collections of poems-Entrevisions (1898; "Glimpses") and La Chanson d'Eve (1904; "The Song of Eve")-that exemplify his lyrical talent and idealistic outlook.
Van Lew, Elizabeth L.: American Civil War agent who, through clever planning and by feigning mental affliction, managed to gather important intelligence for the Union.
Van Loo, Charles-Andre: Rococo painter especially known for his elegant portraits of European royalty and fashionable society in the mid-18th century.
Van Nu en Straks circle: group of writers associated with an influential Flemish review, Van Nu en Straks ("Today and Tomorrow"; 1893-94 and 1896-1901). Though holding a variety of opinions, they strove for an art that should comprehend all human activity and give universal significance ...
Van Peebles, Melvin: American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and starred in Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), a groundbreaking film that spearheaded the rush of African American action films known as "blaxploitation" in the 1970s. He also served as the film's ...
van Praagh, Dame Peggy: British-born ballet dancer and director, and founder and tireless artistic director (1963-74) of the Australian Ballet.
Van Rensselaer, Mariana Alley Griswold: American writer and critic who is perhaps best remembered for her insightful works on architecture and landscaping.
Van Vechten, Carl: U.S. novelist and music and drama critic, an influential figure in New York literary circles in the 1920s; he was an early enthusiast for the culture of U.S. blacks.
Van Vleck, John H.: American physicist and mathematician who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1977 with Philip W. Anderson and Sir Nevill F. Mott. The prize honoured Van Vleck's contributions to the understanding of the behaviour of electrons in magnetic, noncrystalline solid ...
Van Vogt, A.E.: Canadian author of science fiction who emerged as one of the leading writers of the genre in the mid-20th century. His stories are characterized as fast-paced adventures with complex, sometimes confusing plots.
Van Zandt, Marie: American opera singer who achieved major European success in a career marked by dramatic heights and depths.