ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0-9
Bainville, Jacques ... Balaguer, Victor
Bainville, Jacques
French political writer and historian, a leading exponent of conservative ideals between World Wars I and II.
Baird, Bil and Cora
puppeteers who led the 20th-century revival of puppet theatre in the United States.
Baird, John Logie
Scottish engineer, the first man to televise pictures of objects in motion.
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
American naturalist, vertebrate zoologist, and in his time the leading authority on North American birds and mammals.
Baire, Rene-Louis
French mathematician whose study of irrational numbers and the concept of continuity of functions that approximate them greatly influenced the French school of mathematics.
Bairnsdale
town, southeastern Victoria, Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Mitchell River on Lake King, a lagoon. Its development dates from the late 19th century, when the town served ...
Bairnsfather, Bruce
cartoonist best known for his grimly humorous depictions of British soldiers in the trenches of World War I.
Bais
chartered city and port, southeastern Negros island, Philippines. Fronting the Tanon Strait on the east, the port accommodates oceangoing vessels and is the shipping centre for sugar refined in Bais. ...
Baius, Michael
theologian whose work powerfully influenced Cornelius Jansen, one of the fathers of Jansenism.
Baja California
peninsula, northwestern Mexico, bounded to the north by the United States, to the east by the Gulf of California, and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. The ...
Baja California
state, northwestern Mexico, bounded to the north by the United States, to the east by the Gulf of California, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, and to the south ...
Baja California Sur
state, northwestern Mexico, occupying the southern half of the Baja California peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the state of Baja California, to the east by the Gulf ...
bajada
broad slope of debris spread at the bottoms of mountains by descending streams, usually found in arid or semiarid climates; the term was adopted because of its use in the ...
Bajah
town, northern Tunisia. The town lies in the hills on the northern edge of the Majardah (Medjerda) Valley and is built on the site of ancient Vacca (or Vaga)-a Punic ...
Bajer, Fredrik
Danish reformer and politician, cowinner (with Klas Pontus Arnoldson) of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1908.
Bajio
basin, or plains, region on the Mexican Plateau, west-central Mexico. It is bounded north by the Sierra de Guanajuato, south by the volcanic axis marking the southern edge of the ...
Bajor, Gizi
Hungarian actress known not only for her magnetic charm and attractiveness but also for her craftsmanship and versatility.
Bakelite
synthetic resin formed from the chemical combination of phenols and formaldehydes. Bakelite is a hard, infusible, and chemically resistant plastic whose properties as a nonconductor of electricity have made it ...
Bakema, Jacob B.
Dutch architect who, in association with J.H. van den Broek, was particularly active in the reconstruction of Rotterdam after World War II.
Baker City
city, seat (1868) of Baker county, northeastern Oregon, U.S. It is situated along the Powder River, in Baker Valley, between the Blue Mountains (west) and the Wallowa Mountains (east). Lying ...
Baker Island
unincorporated territory of the United States in the South Pacific Ocean, 1,650 miles (2,650 km) southwest of Honolulu. A coral atoll rising to 25 feet (8 m), it measures 1 ...
Baker v. Carr
(1962), U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the Tennessee legislature to reapportion itself on the basis of population. Traditionally, particularly in the South, the populations of rural areas had been ...
Baker, Alan
British mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1970 for his work in number theory. (See the table of Fields Medalists.)
Baker, Anita
American singer whose three-octave range and powerful, emotional delivery brought her international acclaim in the 1980s and '90s. She was one of the most popular artists in urban contemporary music, ...
Baker, Augusta Braxton
American librarian and storyteller who worked long and prolifically in the field of children's literature. Her many accomplishments included the first extensive bibliography of children's books portraying positive African-American role ...
Baker, Augustine
English Benedictine monk who was an important writer on ascetic and mystical theology.
Baker, Carlos
American teacher, novelist, and critic known for his definitive biographies of Ernest Hemingway and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Baker, Chet
American jazz trumpeter and vocalist noted for the plaintive, fragile tone of both his playing and singing. He was a cult figure whose well-publicized struggles with drug addiction curtailed a ...
Baker, Dame Janet
English operatic mezzo-soprano, known for her vocal expression, stage presence, and effective diction. As a recitalist she was noted for her interpretations of the works of Gustav Mahler, Sir Edward ...
Baker, Ella
American community organizer and political activist who brought her skills and principles to bear in the major civil rights organizations of the mid-20th century.
Baker, George Fisher
American financier, bank president, and philanthropist who endowed the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard.
Baker, George Pierce
teacher of some of the most notable American dramatists, among them Eugene O'Neill, Philip Barry, Sidney Howard, and S.N. Behrman. Emphasizing creative individuality and practical construction (he guided students' plays ...
Baker, Houston A., Jr.
African-American educator and critic who proposed new standards, based on African-American culture and values, for the interpretation and evaluation of literature.
Baker, James Addison, III
American government official, political manager, and lawyer who occupied important posts in the Republican presidential administrations of the 1980s and early '90s, including that of U.S. secretary of state (1989-92).
Baker, Josephine
dancer and singer who symbolized the beauty and vitality of black American culture, which took Paris by storm in the 1920s.
Baker, LaFayette Curry
chief of the U.S. Federal Detective Police during the American Civil War and director of Union intelligence and counterintelligence operations.
Baker, LaVern
American rhythm-and-blues singer notable for her vocal power and rhythmic energy.
Baker, Newton D
lawyer, political leader, and U.S. secretary of war during World War I.
Baker, Ray Stannard
American journalist, popular essayist, literary crusader for the League of Nations, and authorized biographer of Woodrow Wilson.
Baker, Russell
American newspaper columnist, author, humorist, and political satirist, who used good-natured humour to comment slyly and trenchantly on a wide range of social and political matters.
Baker, Sara Josephine
American physician who contributed significantly to public health and child welfare in the United States.
Baker, Sir Benjamin
English civil engineer and the chief designer of the railway bridge over the Firth of Forth, Scotland.
Baker, Sir Richard
British writer and author of A Chronicle of the Kings of England.
Baker, Sir Samuel White
English explorer who, with John Hanning Speke, helped to locate the sources of the Nile River.
Baker, Theodore
American music scholar and lexicographer.
Bakersfield
city, seat (1875) of Kern county, south-central California, U.S. Located in the San Joaquin Valley, it was founded along the Los Angeles and Stockton road in 1869 by Thomas Baker, ...
Bakewell glass
glassware produced at the factory completed in 1808 in Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S., by Benjamin Bakewell, an Englishman from Derby who became known as the father of the flint-glass industry in ...
Bakewell, Robert
agriculturist who revolutionized sheep and cattle breeding in England by methodical selection, inbreeding, and culling.
Bakhchysaray
city, southern Crimea, Ukraine, on the Simferopol-Sevastopol railway. Before passing to Russia in 1783, it was the capital of the Crimean khanate. The city has many buildings of historical and ...
Bakht Khan
commander in chief of rebel forces in the early stages of the anti-British Indian Mutiny (1857).
Bakhtiar, Shahpur
Iranian politician, the last prime minister (Jan. 4-Feb. 11, 1979) under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Bakhtiari rug
handwoven pile floor covering made under Bakhtyari patronage in certain villages southwest of Esfahan in central Iran. Bakhtiari rugs are symmetrically knotted on a foundation of cotton.
Bakhtin, Mikhail
Russian literary theorist and philosopher of language whose wide-ranging ideas significantly influenced Western thinking in cultural history, linguistics, literary theory, and aesthetics.
Bakhtyari
one of the nomad peoples of Iran; its chiefs have been among the greatest tribal leaders in Iran and have long been influential in Persian politics. The Bakhtyari population of ...
Bakhuis Gebergte
range of hills, west central Suriname, running north-south, about 70 miles (110 km) in length and separating the basins of the Kabalebo and Nickerie rivers (west) from that of the ...
Baki
one of the greatest lyric poets of the classical period of Ottoman Turkish literature.
baking
process of cooking by dry heat, especially in some kind of oven. It is probably the oldest cooking method. Bakery products, which include bread, rolls, cookies, pies, pastries, and muffins, ...
baking powder
leavening agent (q.v.) used in making baked goods.
Bakke decision
ruling in which, on June 28, 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court declared affirmative action constitutional but invalidated the use of racial quotas. The medical school at the University of California, ...
baklava
rich Turkish, Greek, and Middle Eastern pastry of phyllo (filo) dough and nuts. Phyllo is a simple flour-and-water dough that is stretched to paper thinness and cut into sheets, a ...
Bakony Mountains
mountain range in western Hungary, covering about 1,500 square miles (4,000 square km) between Lake Balaton and the Little Alfold and running southwest-northeast for 70 miles (110 km) from the ...
Bakoye River
river in western Africa, rising in the Fouta Djallon massif of Guinea and flowing generally northeast through the sandstone Mandingues Hills to the Mali border. It then flows north-northwest through ...
Bakr, Ahmad Hassan al-
president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979.
Baksar, Battle of
(Oct. 22, 1764), conflict between the East India Company's forces, commanded by Major Hector Munro, and those of the Mughal emperor, Shah 'Alam; the Mughal governor of Oudh, Shuja' ud-Dawlah; ...
Bakst, Leon
Russian artist who revolutionized theatrical design both in scenery and in costume.
Baku
city, capital of Azerbaijan. It lies on the western shore of the Caspian Sea and the southern side of the Abseron Peninsula, around the wide, curving sweep of the Bay ...
Baku rug
handwoven floor covering made in the vicinity of Baku, Azerbaijan, a major port on the Caspian Sea. Rugs have been woven in this area since at least the 18th century ...
Bakunin, Mikhail Aleksandrovich
chief propagator of 19th-century anarchism, a prominent Russian revolutionary agitator, and a prolific political writer. His quarrel with Karl Marx split the anarchist and Marxist wings of the revolutionary socialist ...
Bala
market town, Gwynedd county, historic county of Merioneth (Meirionnydd), Wales, in Snowdonia National Park at the northern end of mountain-girt Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid), the largest natural lake in Wales. ...
Balaam
a non-Israelite prophet described in the Old Testament (Num. 22-24) as a diviner who is importuned by Balak, the king of Moab, to place a malediction on the people of ...
Balabac
island, extreme southwestern Philippines. It is located about 19 miles (30 km) southwest of the southern tip of Palawan island, and hardly twice that north of Borneo. Balabac rises to ...
Baladhuri, al-
Arabic historian best known for his history of the formation of the Arab Muslim empire.
Balaghat
town, south-central Madhya Pradesh state, central India. The town lies just east of the Wainganga River and is about 95 miles (155 km) south of Jabalpur. A major road and ...
Balaghat Range
series of hills in western Maharashtra state, western India. Originating in the Western Ghats at the Harishchandra Range, the range extends southeastward for about 200 miles (320 km) to the ...
Balaguer, Joaquin
lawyer, writer, and diplomat who was vice president of the Dominican Republic (1957-60) during the regime of President Hector Trujillo and was president from 1960 to 1962, 1966 to 1978, ...
Balaguer, Victor
Catalan poet and Spanish politician and historian.