(Chinese: "guard post"), any of the military garrison units utilized by China's Ming dynasty (1368-1644) to maintain peace throughout its empire. Originally developed by the preceding Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty (1206-1368), the system consisted of a guard unit of 5,600 ...
major division of late Pleistocene deposits and time in western Europe (the Pleistocene Epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Weichsel Glacial Stage followed the Eemian Interglacial Stage and marks the last major incursion ...
city, Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany, on the Naab River at the entrance to the Oberpfalzerwald, a section of the Bohemian Forest, west of the Czech frontier. Chartered in 1268, it is a characteristically medieval fortified town with gabled houses, ...
German anatomist and physical anthropologist whose reconstruction of prehistoric human remains and work on Peking man (then called Sinanthropus pekinensis) and other hominids brought him to preeminence in the study of human evolution.
genus with 12 species of East Asian flowering shrubs belonging to the family Caprifoliaceae, some widely grown as ornamentals for their spring and summer flowers. The tubular, white to red blossoms are borne on upright shrubs to 4 metres (13 ...
gravitational force of attraction on an object, caused by the presence of a massive second object, such as the Earth or Moon. Weight is a consequence of the universal law of gravitation: any two objects, because of their masses, attract ...
sport of throwing a weight for distance or height. Men have long matched strength and skill at hurling objects. The roth cleas, or wheel feat, reputedly was a major test of the ancient Tailteann Games in Ireland. The competition consisted ...
system of physical conditioning using free weights (barbells and dumbbells) and weight machines (e.g., Nautilus-type equipment). It is a training system rather than a competitive sport such as Olympic weightlifting or powerlifting.
condition experienced while in free-fall (q.v.), in which the effect of gravity is canceled by the inertial (e.g., centrifugal) force resulting from orbital flight. The term zero gravity is often used to describe such a condition. Excluding spaceflight, true weightlessness ...
the standard or agreed upon units for expressing the amount of some quantity, such as capacity, volume, length, area, number, and weight. See measurement system.
French mathematician who was one of the most influential figures in mathematics during the 20th century, particularly in number theory and algebraic geometry.
French mystic, social philosopher, and activist in the French Resistance during World War II, whose posthumously published works had particular influence on French and English social thought.
city, Thuringia Land (state), eastern Germany. Weimar lies along the Ilm River, just east of Erfurt. First mentioned in documents in 975 as Wimare, it was declared a town in 1254 and was chartered in 1348. Ruled ...
the government of Germany (q.v.) from 1919 to 1933, so called because the assembly that adopted its constitution met at Weimar from Feb. 6 to Aug. 11, 1919.
sporting-dog breed developed in the early 19th century by German nobles of the court of Weimar. First used to hunt big game, the dog was later trained as a bird dog and retriever. The Weimaraner is a graceful dog with ...
American nuclear physicist who in 1979 shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Sheldon Lee Glashow and Abdus Salam (qq.v.) for work in formulating the electroweak theory, which explains the unity of electromagnetism with the weak nuclear force.
city, Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along the Mountain Road, at the west foot of the Oden Forest, northeast of Mannheim. A Frankish village in 500, it was mentioned in chronicles in 755 as Winenheim, chartered in 1250, ...
Aboriginal community and mining town, northern Queensland, Australia, on the northwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula; it lies on Albatross Bay at the estuaries of the Hey, Embley, and Mission rivers, facing the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 1802 the explorer ...
any control or barrier placed in an open channel to permit measurement of water discharge. The latter may be computed from a formula expressing the discharge in terms of crest length of the weir, depth of flow above the weir, ...
city, Brooke and Hancock counties, in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, U.S., on the Ohio River (bridged just south to Steubenville, Ohio). The area, originally settled during the American Revolution, has a long history of iron making. In the ...
German biologist and one of the founders of the science of genetics, who is best known for his opposition to the doctrine of the inheritance of acquired traits and for his "germ plasm" theory, the forerunner of DNA theory.
German theologian known for his work in New Testament criticism. He wrote the first eschatological interpretations of the Gospel (1892) and also set forth the principles of "form-criticism" (1912)-the analysis of biblical passages through the examination of their structural form.
Austrian-born American biologist who did pioneering research on the mechanics of nerve regeneration, nerve repair, and cellular organization. During World War II Weiss and his colleagues developed and tested the first practical system of preserving human tissue for later surgical ...
German dramatist and novelist whose plays achieved widespread success in both Europe and the United States in the 1960s. He was a Marxist, but a heterodox one.
city, Saxony-Anhalt Land (state), eastern Germany. It lies on the right bank of the Saale River, south of Halle. A German town on the site of an old Slav settlement, it was chartered in 1185, when it belonged to the ...
American freestyle swimmer of the 1920s who won five Olympic gold medals and set 67 world records. He became even more famous as a motion-picture actor, most notably in the role of Tarzan, a "noble savage" who had been abandoned ...
city, seat of McDowell county, southern West Virginia, U.S., at the confluence of Elkhorn Creek and Tug Fork. Settled in 1885, it was named for I.A. Welch, an early settler. The county seat was moved there from Perryville in 1891. ...
American pathologist who played a major role in the introduction of modern medical practice and education to the United States while directing the rise of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, to a leading position among the nation's medical centres.
politician, statesman, and prime minister of New Zealand (1864-65), whose "self-reliant" policy was that the colony have full responsibility for the conduct of all Maori affairs, including the settlement of difficulties without help from the crown.
technique used for joining metallic parts usually through the application of heat. This technique was discovered during efforts to manipulate iron into useful shapes. Welded blades were developed in the first millennium AD, the most famous being those produced by ...
Northern Rhodesian trade unionist and statesman who helped found the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and served as its deputy minister (1953-56) and prime minister (1956-63).
