Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Zen ... Zhelyabov, Andrey Ivanovich

Zen: (from Sanskrit dhyana, "meditation"), important school of Buddhism in Japan that claims to transmit the spirit or essence of Buddhism, which consists in experiencing the enlightenment (bodhi) achieved by Gautama the Buddha. The school arose in the 6th century in ...
zen'ei ikebana: in Japanese floral art, modern style in which freedom of expression takes precedence over classic rules. Zen'ei ikebana was established in 1930 by a group of art critics and floral masters led by Teshigahara Sofu, founder of the Sogetsu school ...
Zenger, John Peter: New York printer and journalist whose famous acquittal in a libel suit (1735) established the first important victory for freedom of the press in the English colonies of North America.
Zengzi: Chinese philosopher, disciple of Confucius, believed to be the author of the Daxue ("Great Learning"). In this classic, a part of the Liji ("Collection of Rituals") and one of the Four Books, he discussed the great importance of the Confucian ...
zenith: point on the celestial sphere directly above an observer on the Earth. The point 180° opposite the zenith, directly underfoot, is the nadir. Astronomical zenith is defined by gravity; i.e., by sighting up a plumb line. If the line were ...
Zeno: Eastern Roman emperor whose reign (474-491) was troubled by revolts and religious dissension.
Zeno Of Citium: Greek thinker who founded the Stoic school of philosophy, which influenced the development of philosophical and ethical thought in Hellenistic and Roman times.
Zeno Of Elea: (c. 495 BC-c. 430 BC), Greek philosopher and mathematician, whom Aristotle called the inventor of dialectic. He is especially known for his paradoxes that contributed to the development of logical and mathematical rigour and that were insoluble until the development ...
Zeno, Carlo: Venetian admiral whose victory over the Genoese at Chioggia, near Venice, in 1380 was a turning point in the struggle between the two great maritime republics.
Zenobia: queen of the Roman colony of Palmyra, in present-day Syria, from 267 or 268 to 272. She conquered several of Rome's eastern provinces before she was subjugated by the emperor Aurelian (ruled 270-275).
Zenodotus Of Ephesus: Greek grammarian and first superintendent (from c. 284 BC) of the library at Alexandria, noted for editions of Greek poets and especially for producing the first critical edition of Homer.
Zenta, Battle of: (Sept. 11, 1697), decisive military victory of Austrian forces over an Ottoman army at Zenta (now Senta, Yugos.) on the Tisa River during a war (1683-99) between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League (Austria-Poland-Venice-Russia), a victory that made Austria ...
zeolite: any member of a family of hydrated aluminosilicate minerals that contain alkali and alkaline-earth metals. The zeolites are noted for their lability toward ion-exchange and reversible dehydration. They have a framework structure that encloses interconnected cavities occupied by large metal ...
zeolitic facies: one of the major divisions of the mineral facies classification of metamorphic rocks, the rocks of which formed at the lowest temperatures and pressures associated with regional metamorphism. It represents the transition between the sedimentary processes of diagenesis and the ...
zeon: in the Eastern Orthodox church, a part of the Eucharistic liturgy in which the deacon pours a few drops of hot water (known as the zeon, or "living water") into the chalice. The origin of the rite is not known, ...
Zephaniah: Israelite prophet, said to be the author of one of the shorter Old Testament prophetical books, who proclaimed the approaching divine judgment. The first verse of the Book of Zephaniah makes him a contemporary of Josiah, king of Judah (reigned ...
Zephaniah, Book of: the ninth of 12 Old Testament books that bear the names of the Minor Prophets, collected in one book, The Twelve, in the Jewish canon. The book consists of a series of independent sayings, many of which are rightly attributed ...
Zephyrinus, Saint: pope from c. 199 to 217.
zeppelin: rigid airship of a type originally manufactured by Luftschiffsbau-Zeppelin and consisting of a cigar-shaped, trussed, and covered frame supported by internal gas cells. The first Zeppelin airship was designed by Ferdinand, Graf von Zeppelin, a retired German army officer, and ...
Zeppelin, Ferdinand, Graf von: first notable builder of rigid dirigible airships, for which his surname is still a popular generic term.
Zera'im: (Hebrew: "Seeds"), the first of the six major divisions, or orders (sedarim), of the Mishna (codification of Jewish oral laws), which was completed early in the 3rd century AD by Judah ha-Nasi. Zera'im contains 11 tractates (treatises), the first of ...
Zeravshan Range: mountain range in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, forming a part of the Gissar-Alay system. It extends for more than 230 miles (370 km) east-west parallel to the Turkistan Range between the Zeravshan Valley on the north and the Yagnob and Iskanderdarya ...
Zeravshan River: river rising in the eastern Turkistan Range and flowing 545 miles (877 km) west through Tajikistan and southeastern Uzbekistan to disappear in the desert north of Charjew near the Amu Darya, of which it was at one time a tributary. ...
Zermatt: town, Valais canton, southern Switzerland. It lies at the head of the Mattervisp Valley and at the foot of the Matterhorn (14,692 feet [4,478 m]), 23 miles (37 km) southeast of Sion. Its name is derived from its position Zur ...
Zernike, Frits: Dutch scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope, an instrument that permits the study of internal cell structure without the need to stain and thus kill the cells.
Zero: fighter aircraft, a single-seat, low-wing monoplane used with great effect by the Japanese during World War II. The Zero was made in two conformations: as a land-based fighter and, with folding wingtips for stowage, for carrier use. It was designed ...
zero-point energy: vibrational energy that molecules retain even at the absolute zero of temperature. Temperature in physics has been found to be a measure of the intensity of random molecular motion, and it might be expected that, as temperature is reduced to ...
Zeromski, Stefan: Polish novelist admired for the deep compassion about social problems that he expressed in naturalistic, yet lyrical, novels.
Zerubbabel: governor of Judaea under whom the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem took place. Of Davidic origin, Zerubbabel is thought to have originally been a Babylonian Jew who returned to Jerusalem at the head of a band of Jewish ...
Zetkin, Clara: nee Eissner German feminist, Socialist, and Communist leader, who after World War I played a leading role in the new Communist Party of Germany (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands; KPD) and the Comintern (Third International).
Zeus: in ancient Greek religion, chief deity of the pantheon, a sky and weather god who was identical with the Roman god Jupiter (q.v.). Zeus was regarded as the sender of thunder and lightning, rain, and winds, and his traditional weapon ...
Zeus, Statue of: at Olympia, Greece, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The statue was one of two masterpieces by the Greek sculptor Phidias (the other being the statue of Athena in the Parthenon) and was placed in the huge Temple ...
Zeuxis: one of the best-known painters of ancient Greece, who seems to have carried a trend toward illusionism to an unprecedented level.
Zewail, Ahmed H.: Egyptian-born chemist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1999 for developing a rapid laser technique that enabled scientists to study the action of atoms during chemical reactions. The breakthrough created a new field of physical chemistry known as ...
Zeyarid Dynasty: (927-c. 1090), Iranian dynasty that ruled in the Caspian provinces of Gurgan and Mazandaran. The founder of the dynasty was Mardaviz ebn Zeyar (reigned 927-935), who took advantage of a rebellion in the Samanid army of Iran to seize power ...
Zhabotinsky, Leonid Ivanovich: Soviet weight lifter who won gold medals in the superheavyweight class at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics and set 17 world records.
zhang: an old Chinese measure of length equal to 10 chi, or 3.58 metres (11 feet 9 inches). The value was agreed upon by China in treaties (1842-44 and 1858-60) with England and France. It was thereafter used ...
Zhang Ailing: Chinese writer whose sad, bitter love stories gained her a large devoted audience as well as critical acclaim.
Zhang Daqian: painter and collector who was one of the most internationally renowned Chinese artists of the 20th century.
Zhang Junxiang: leading playwright and motion-picture director in China.
Zhang Tianyi: Chinese writer whose brilliant, socially realistic short stories achieved considerable renown in the 1930s.
Zhang Ziping: Chinese author of popular romantic fiction and a founder of the Creation Society, a literary association devoted to the propagation of romanticism.
Zhao Mengfu: Chinese painter and calligrapher who, though occasionally condemned for having served in the foreign Mongol court (Yuan dynasty, 1206-1368), has been honoured as an early master within the tradition of the literati painters (wenrenhua), who sought personal ...
Zhao Shuli: Chinese novelist and short-story writer.
Zhao Youqin: Chinese astronomer, mathematician, and Daoist who calculated the value of pi, constructed astronomical instruments, conducted experiments with a camera obscura, and compiled an influential astronomical compendium.
Zhao Ziyang: premier of China (1980-87) and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (1987-89).
Zhdanov, Andrey Aleksandrovich: Soviet government and Communist Party official.
Zhdanovshchina: cultural policy of the Soviet Union during the Cold War period following World War II, calling for stricter government control of art and promoting an extreme anti-Western bias. Originally applied to literature, it soon spread to other arts and gradually ...
Zhe school: group of conservative, academic Chinese painters who worked primarily in the 15th century, during the Ming dynasty. These painters specialized in large and decorative paintings that perpetuated the styles and interests of the Southern Song (1127-1279) academy of painting and ...
Zheleznogorsk: city, Kursk oblast (province), western Russia. It is located 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Kursk city and was founded in 1958 in connection with the development of the KMA (Kursk Magnetic Anomaly), one of the Soviet Union's largest iron-ore-mining ...
Zhelyabov, Andrey Ivanovich: Russian revolutionary and a leading Narodnik.