Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

0-9

Wake Island, Battle of ... Walker, Maggie Lena Draper

Wake Island, Battle of: battle for a small atoll named Wake Island in the central Pacific in December 1941, waged between U.S. Marine and civilian defenders and Japanese invaders. At that time, Wake Island was the site of a half-completed U.S. air and submarine ...
Wakefield: urban area, city, and metropolitan borough (district) in the southeastern portion of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough extends eastward from the former coal-mining and wool-manufacturing area in the Pennine foothills to ...
Wakefield plays: a cycle of 32 scriptural plays, or "mystery plays," of the early 15th century, which were performed during the European Middle Ages at Wakefield, a town in the north of England, as part of the summertime religious festival of Corpus ...
Wakefield, Edward Gibbon: British colonizer of South Australia and New Zealand and inspirer of the Durham Report (1839) on Canadian colonial policy.
Wakefield, William Wavell Wakefield, Baron: one of England's finest rugby players, known for his quick speed and skillful dribbling as a forward.
Wakkanai: city, northernmost Hokkaido, Japan. It is situated on the Noshappu Peninsula, facing Soya Bay and the Soya Peninsula. Most of the city occupies the Soya plateau, which is a northern extension of the Teshio Range. The Soya Line (railway) was ...
wako: any of the groups of marauders who raided the Korean and Chinese coasts between the 13th and 16th centuries. They were often in the pay of various Japanese feudal leaders and were frequently involved in Japan's civil wars during the ...
Wakoski, Diane: American poet known for her personal verses that examine loss, pain, and sexual desire and that frequently reproduce incidents and fantasies from her own turbulent life. Her poetry probes the difficulties that the individual encounters in relationships with others, with ...
Waksman, Selman Abraham: Ukrainian-born American biochemist who was one of the world's foremost authorities on soil microbiology. After the discovery of penicillin, he played a major role in initiating a calculated, systematic search for antibiotics among microbes. His consequent codiscovery of the antibiotic ...
Wal-Mart: U.S. operator of discount stores founded by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas (1962). With headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart focused its early growth in rural areas, thereby avoiding direct competition with other American retailing giants such as Sears and Kmart.
Wala, Saint: Frankish count, Benedictine abbot, and influential minister at the courts of the Holy Roman emperors Charlemagne and Louis I the Pious. He stood for imperial unity against the traditionalist party, which looked for partition of the emperors' lands.
Walachia: principality on the lower Danube River, which in 1859 joined Moldavia to form the state of Romania. Its name is derived from that of the Vlachs, who constituted the bulk of its population. Walachia was bounded on the north and ...
Walafrid Strabo: Benedictine abbot, theologian, and poet whose Latin writings were the principal exemplar of German Carolingian culture.
Walasiewicz, Stanislawa: Polish-American athlete who, during an unusually long career (over 20 years), won two Olympic medals and some 40 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and was credited with nearly a dozen world records in women's running and jumping events. While on ...
Walbrzych: city, Dolnoslaskie wojewodztwo (province), southwestern Poland, in the central Sudeten (Sudety) mountains. The second largest town in Lower Silesia (after Wroclaw), it is an important rail junction.
Walburga, Saint: abbess and missionary who, with her brothers Willibald of Eichstatt and Winebald of Heidenheim, was important in St. Boniface's organization of the Frankish church.
Walcott, Derek: West Indian poet and playwright noted for works that explore the Caribbean cultural experience. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.
Walcott, Jersey Joe: American world heavyweight boxing champion from July 18, 1951, when he knocked out Ezzard Charles in seven rounds in Pittsburgh, Pa., until Sept. 23, 1952, when he was knocked out by Rocky Marciano in 13 rounds in Philadelphia.
Walcott, Mary Morris Vaux: American artist and naturalist who is remembered for her paintings of the wildflowers of North America, particularly as published by the Smithsonian Institution.
Wald, George: American biochemist who received (with Haldan K. Hartline of the United States and Ragnar Granit of Sweden) the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1967 for his work on the chemistry of vision.
Wald, Lillian D.: American nurse and social worker who founded the internationally known Henry Street Settlement in New York City (1893).
Waldeck: a former Kreis (administrative district) and state of Germany, between Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau. For centuries a principality and from November 1918 to March 1929 a republic and constituent state of the Weimar Republic, it was on April 1, 1929, amalgamated ...
Waldeck-Rousseau, Rene: politician who, as premier of France, settled the Dreyfus Affair. He was also responsible for the legalization of trade unions in France (1884).
Walden Pond: small pond (about 64 acres [26 hectares]) in Concord town (township), Middlesex county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies just south of the village of Concord in Walden Pond State Reservation (304 acres [123 hectares]). The pond was immortalized by Henry ...
Walden, Paul: chemist who discovered the Walden inversion, a reversal of stereochemical configuration that occurs in many reactions of covalent compounds.
Waldenses: members of a Christian movement that originated in 12th-century France, the devotees of which sought to follow Christ in poverty and simplicity. In modern times the name has been applied to members of a Protestant church (centred on the Franco-Italian ...
Waldheim, Kurt: Austrian diplomat who served two terms as the fourth secretary-general of the United Nations, from 1972 to 1981. He was the elected president of Austria from 1986 to 1992.
Waldmann, Hans: Swiss leader who was for a time the burgomaster and virtual dictator of Zurich. He supplied mercenaries for half the countries of Europe, making himself one of the richest and most powerful men in the Swiss Confederation.
Waldo: county, south-central Maine, U.S. It comprises a coastal region bounded to the east by the Penobscot River and Bay and includes several islands in the Atlantic Ocean, notably Isleboro Island. Other waterways are the Sebasticook, Passagassawakeag, and St. George rivers ...
Waldseemuller, Martin: German cartographer who in 1507 published the first map with the name America for the New World.
Waldteufel, Emil: French (Alsatian) pianist and one of the best-known waltz composers of his time.
Wales: constituent unit of the United Kingdom that forms a westward extension of the island of Great Britain. The capital and main commercial and financial centre is Cardiff.
Wales, Church in: independent Anglican church in Wales that changed from the Roman Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. At the time of the Reformation, the Welsh church was directly controlled by the English church and was thus separated ...
Wales, prince of: title reserved exclusively for the heir apparent to the British throne. It dates from 1301, when King Edward I, after his conquest of Wales and execution (1283) of David III, the last native prince of Wales, gave the title to ...
Walesa, Lech: labour activist who helped form and led (1980-90) communist Poland's first independent trade union, Solidarity. The charismatic leader of millions of Polish workers, he went on to become the president of Poland (1990-95) and received the Nobel Prize for Peace ...
Walewski, Alexandre-Florian-Joseph Colonna, Comte: French statesman and minister of foreign affairs under Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon III). He was the illegitimate son of Napoleon I and Maria, Countess Walewska.
Waley, Arthur David: English sinologist whose outstanding translations of Chinese and Japanese literary classics into English had a profound effect on such modern poets as W.B. Yeats and Ezra Pound. (The family name was changed from Schloss to Waley, his mother's maiden name, ...
Walgreen, Charles R.: American pharmacist and businessman, known as the father of the modern drugstore. He created the largest retail drugstore chain in the United States.
Wali Allah, Shah: Indian theologian and founder of modern Islamic thought who first attempted to reassess Islamic theology in the light of modern changes.
Walid, al-: sixth caliph (reigned 705-715) of the Umayyad Arab dynasty, who is best known for the mosques constructed during his reign.
walk: in horsemanship, moderately slow four-beat gait of a horse, during which each foot strikes the ground separately and the horse is supported by two or three feet at all times.
Walker Cup: golf trophy awarded to the winner of a competition between amateur men's teams from the United States and the British Isles, held biennially since 1922 on sites alternating between the United States and Britain. The cup is named for George ...
Walker Law: (1920), first significant U.S. legislation concerning the sport of boxing, enacted in the state of New York under the sponsorship of James J. Walker, speaker of the state senate. The bill legalized professional boxing in New York, and its code ...
Walker, A'Lelia: American businesswoman associated with the Harlem Renaissance as a patron of the arts who provided an intellectual forum for the black literati of New York City during the 1920s.
Walker, Alice: American writer whose novels, short stories, and poems are noted for their insightful treatment of African American culture. Her novels, most notably The Color Purple (1982), focus particularly on women.
Walker, David: African American abolitionist whose pamphlet Appeal&elipsis;to the Colored Citizens of the World&elipsis; (1829), urging slaves to fight for their freedom, was one of the most radical documents of the antislavery movement.
Walker, Francis A.: American economist and statistician who broadened and helped modernize the character and scope of economics.
Walker, James J: flamboyant mayor of New York City (1925-32), a frequenter of Broadway theatre and the upper-class speakeasies, such as the Central Park Casino. His administration was marred by corruption.
Walker, John E.: British chemist who was corecipient, with Paul D. Boyer, of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1997 for their explanation of the enzymatic process that creates adenosine triphosphate (ATP). (Danish chemist Jens C. Skou also shared the award for separate ...
Walker, Kath: Australian Aboriginal writer and political activist, considered the first of the modern-day Aboriginal protest writers. Her first volume of poetry, We Are Going (1964), is the first book by an Aboriginal woman to be published.
Walker, Maggie Lena Draper: American businesswoman, who played a major role in the organizational and commercial life of Richmond's African American community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.