Theiler, Max

Theiler received his medical training at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, graduating in 1922. In that year he joined the department

Aum Shinrikyo

AUM emerged out of Asahara's dissatisfaction

Jacobsen, Jens Peter

The son of a Jutland merchant, Jacobsen was a student of the natural sciences. He became a follower of Charles Darwin and translated into Danish both On the Origin of Species, in 1871–73, and The Descent

Irminger Current

Branch of the warm North Atlantic Current, flowing generally westward along the south coast of Iceland. It divides into two currents west of Iceland. One proceeds northward and then eastward around Iceland, and the other flows westward and then southwestward, merging with the East Greenland and, eventually, the West Greenland currents. The Irminger Current is a

Furo

Japanese-style bath, typically using water heated to 110° F (43.3° C) or hotter. It is claimed that, because the bather may linger in the wooden or metal tub, the furo may have properties for the therapeutic relaxation of tensions. To achieve cleanliness, the bather washes before entering the tub. In bathrooms in private Japanese homes and in public bathhouses, the bathing facilities

Zakarpattya

Russian  Zakarpatskaya,  also spelled  Zakarpatskaia, or Zakarpatskaja,   oblast (province), western Ukraine. It is bounded by Slovakia and Hungary on the west, Poland on the northwest, and Romania on the south. The oblast extends from the northwest-southeast–trending Carpathian Mountain crestline (the Verkhovyna and Gorgany ranges, respectively), across the successive parallel Polonina and Vulhanichnyy ranges, and southwestward down

Allen, Phog

Allen succeeded James Naismith, who created the sport, as basketball coach in 1908–09 at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Allen's Kansas teams of 1920–56 won 771 games and lost 233; his 1951–52 Kansas team won the championship of the National Collegiate Athletic

Benda, František

The eldest son of Jan Jirí Benda and his wife Dorota Brixi, both talented musicians, Benda studied under Johann Gottlieb Graun and joined the orchestra of Frederick II the Great (then crown prince). On Frederick's accession (1740) to the Prussian

Zodiac

In astronomy and astrology, a belt around the heavens extending 9° on either side of the ecliptic, the plane of the earth's orbit and of the sun's apparent annual path. The orbits of the moon and of the principal planets (except Pluto) also lie entirely within the zodiac. The 12 astrological signs of the zodiac are each considered to occupy 1/12 (or 30°) of its great circle. These signs no

Turban

Early Persians wore a conical cap sometimes encircled by bands of cloth, which perhaps may be considered one of the origins of the turban. The turban did not become common among the Turks, however, until after the capture of Constantinople in 1453, when the Ottoman sultan

Steppe, The

The military advantages of nomadism became apparent even before the speed and strength of horses had been fully harnessed for military purposes. The early conquests of Sargon of Akkad (c. 2250 BC) and the Amorite invasions of Mesopotamia before 1800 BC attest to the superior force that nomadic or seminomadic peoples held, but the full effect of their military strength came with