Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Shop

0-9

Gelisol ... General Confederation of Labour

Gelisol: one of the 12 soil orders of the U.S. Soil Taxonomy. Gelisols are perennially frozen soils of the Arctic and Antarctic regions, but they are also found at extremely high ... [1 Related Articles]
Gell-Mann, Murray: American physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics for 1969 for his work pertaining to the classification of subatomic particles and their interactions. [6 Related Articles]
Gellar, Sarah Michelle: In recent years a number of American television shows that catered to the youth market had emerged, with varying degrees of success. In 2000, however, one stood out as a ...
Gellert: in Welsh tradition, the trusted hound of Prince Llewellyn the Great of Wales. Having been left to guard his master's infant son, Gellert killed a wolf that attempted to attack ...
Gellert Hill: (from the article "Budapest") To the south of Castle Hill rises the higher Gellert Hill (771 feet), a steep limestone escarpment overlooking the Danube, which provides a panoramic view of the whole city. At ...
Gellert, Christian Furchtegott: poet and novelist, a prominent representative of the German Enlightenment whose works were, for a time, second in popularity only to the Bible.
Gellert, Hans-Georg: (from the article "Ziegler, Karl") Between 1952 and 1953, Ziegler and Hans-Georg Gellert, one of his former students from Halle, found that in the polymerization reaction organolithium compounds, except for lithium aluminum hydride, irreversibly decomposed ...
Gellhorn, Martha Ellis: American journalist and novelist (b. Nov. 8, 1908, St. Louis, Mo.--d. Feb. 15, 1998, London, Eng.), as one of the first female war correspondents, candidly described ordinary people in times ...
Gelligaer: community formerly known for mining, Caerphilly county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), Wales, lying in the middle of the River Rhymney valley. Old Gelligaer village is located on the ...
Gellius, Aulus: Latin author remembered for his miscellany Noctes Atticae ("Attic Nights"), in which many fragments of lost works are preserved. Written in Athens to beguile the winter evenings, the work is ... [3 Related Articles]
Gellner, Ernest Andre: Czech-born British philosopher, social anthropologist, and director of the Centre for the Study of Nationalism at the Central European University in Prague (b. Dec. 9, 1925--d. Nov. 5, 1995).
Gelman, Juan: At a ceremony in Spain in 2008 during which the Argentine poet Juan Gelman received the Cervantes Prize-the highest literary honour in the Spanish-speaking world-King Juan Carlos praised Gelman's poetry ... [2 Related Articles]
Gelmirez, Diego: Spanish bishop and archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, site of the supposed shrine of St. James, which he developed as a place of pilgrimage.
Gelon: tyrant of the cities of Gela (491-485) and Syracuse (485-478) in Sicily. [2 Related Articles]
Gelosi, Compagnia dei: (Italian: "Company of Jealous Ones"), one of the earliest and most famous of the commedia dell'arte companies of 16th-century Italy. The name was derived from the troupe's motto, Virtu, fama ... [3 Related Articles]
Gelpcke v. City of Dubuque: (from the article "Swayne, Noah H.") ...at the urging of his predecessor John McLean and of the Ohio congressional delegation. He was a diligent worker and an ardent supporter of expanded federal powers. His most notable ...
Gelre: (from the article "Gelderland") The province's history began with the countship of Gelre, or Geldern, established in the 11th century around castles near Roermond and Geldern (now in Germany). The counts of Gelre acquired ...
Gelsemiaceae: (from the article "Gentianales") Gelsemiaceae is a small family of 2 shrubby or lianoid genera and 11 species that were formerly placed in Loganiaceae but appear to be close to Apocynaceae. Gelsemium elegans (allspice ...
Gelsenkirchen: city, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It lies just north of Essen. Gelsenkirchen was a village of fewer than 1,000 inhabitants in 1850, but the opening ...
Geltzer, Yekaterina Vasilyevna: prima ballerina of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre who, during the period of disorder following the Revolution of 1917, helped preserve and pass on the classical technique and repertory of the ... [1 Related Articles]
gem cutting: (from the article "jewelry") Until the 15th century, stones were only polished or the part to be left visible was rounded into a dome shape called cabochon. The cutting known as faceting gradually developed ...
gem engraving: (from the article "gemstone") In addition to unfaceted stones being cabochon cut, some are engraved. High-speed, diamond-tipped cutting tools are used. The stone is hand-held against the tool, with the shape, symmetry, size, and ...
gem setting: (from the article "jewelry") The evolution of techniques of setting has followed that of stonecutting. The insertion of gems in jewelry can be done in various ways. The setting can have a round, square, ...
gem-dithiol: (from the article "organosulfur compound") ...which in some cases can be isolated. Thioenolization of thioacetone would give 2-propenethiol, CH₃C(SH)&doublehorzbond;CH₂. Thioketones reversibly add hydrogen sulfide to yield gem-dithiols (i.e., having both &singlehorzbond;SH groups on the same ...
Gemara: (from the article "Gemara") a rabbinic commentary on and interpretation of the collection of Jewish law known as the Mishna. See Talmud.major referenceTalmud and ...
gematria: the substitution of numbers for letters of the Hebrew alphabet, a favourite method of exegesis used by medieval Kabbalists to derive mystical insights into sacred writings or obtain new interpretations ... [1 Related Articles]
Gemayel Family: Maronite Christian family prominent in Lebanese politics before and after the start of that country's civil war in 1975.
Gemayel, Amin: (from the article "Gemayel Family") Bashir's older brother, Amin Gemayel (b. 1942, Bikfaya), was elected president of Lebanon a week after Bashir died. In contrast to his warlike brother, Amin had shown himself to be ...
Gemayel, Bashir: (from the article "Gemayel Family") Pierre's youngest son, Bashir Gemayel (b. Nov. 10, 1947, Bikfaya-d. Sept. 14, 1982, Beirut), emerged during the fighting of the late 1970s as the able and ruthless leader of the ...
Gemayel, Pierre: (from the article "Gemayel Family") Pierre Gemayel (b. Nov. 1/6, 1905, Bikfaya?, Leb.-d. Aug. 29, 1984, Bikfaya) was born into a Christian family already powerful in the region immediately north of Beirut. He attended St. ...
Gembloux, Battle of: (from the article "Farnese, Alessandro, duke of Parma and Piacenza") ...freed him from inactivity when, in 1577, Don Juan, by then the Spanish governor-general, charged with suppressing the revolt, appealed for his support. In 1578 Farnese fought energetically in the ...
gemeen: (from the article "Low Countries, history of") ...the homines novi, a new class of up-and-coming merchants, tried to become part of the patriciate, as in Dordrecht and Utrecht. Beneath the patriciate a lower class formed, called the ...
Gemeinde: (from the article "Germany") ...(counties). Larger communities enjoy the status of what in the United Kingdom was formerly the county borough. The counties themselves are further subdivided into the Gemeinden (roughly ...
gemeines Recht: (from the article "German Civil Code") The concept of law embodied in the code was the gemeines Recht, the common law based on the 6th-century codification of Roman law put in force by the emperor Justinian. ...
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft: ideal types of social organizations that were systematically elaborated by German sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies in his influential work Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (1887; Community and Society). [3 Related Articles]
gemilut hesed: ("bestowing kindnesses"), in Judaism, an attribute of God said to be imitated by those who in any of countless ways show personal kindness toward others. A Jew who does not ...
geminal dihalide: (from the article "organohalogen compound") Treatment of a geminal dihalide (both halogens on the same carbon) or a vicinal dihalide (halogens on adjacent carbons) with a base such as sodium ethoxide (NaOCH₂CH₃) yields a vinylic ...
Geminga: isolated pulsar (a rapidly rotating neutron star) about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini, unique in that about 99 percent of its radiation is in the gamma-ray region ...
Gemini: (Latin: "Twins"), in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying between Cancer and Taurus, at about 7 hours right ascension (the coordinate of the celestial sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and ... [1 Related Articles]
Gemini: any of a series of 12 two-man spacecraft launched into orbit around the Earth by the United States between 1964 and 1967. The Gemini (Latin: "Twins") program was preceded by ... [21 Related Articles]
Geminiani, Francesco: Italian composer, violinist, teacher, writer on musical performance, and a leading figure in early 18th-century music.
Geminid meteor shower: (from the article "Principal nighttime meteor showers") ...within the perihelion distance of 0.31 AU for Mercury, the innermost planet. By contrast, Phaethon's aphelion distance of 2.4 AU is in the main asteroid belt. This object is the ...
Gemistus Plethon, George: Byzantine philosopher and humanist scholar whose clarification of the distinction between Platonic and Aristotelian thought proved to be a seminal influence in determining the philosophic orientation of the Italian Renaissance. [3 Related Articles]
gemma: (from the article "fern") ...growth and fragmentation, but this does not spread the gametophyte very far. Some ferns (Vittaria, Grammitis, and the family Hymenophyllaceae) produce specialized filaments, or gemmae, that break off and are ...
Gemma Augustea: sardonyx cameo depicting the apotheosis of Augustus. He is seated next to the goddess Roma, and both are trampling the armour of defeated enemies. It is one of the most ... [1 Related Articles]
gemmail: in stained glass, technique employing fused layers of coloured glass fragments illuminated from behind, creating an illusion of three-dimensionality in the design. Gemmail is frequently used to reproduce works from ...
Gemmell, David: British fantasy novelist (b. Aug. 1, 1948, London, Eng.-d. July 28, 2006, Udimore, East Sussex, Eng.), wrote more than 30 historic fantasy adventure stories, notably his first novel, Legend (1984), ...
Gemmingen, Uriel von: (from the article "Grunewald, Matthias") ...or Aschaffenburg. By about 1509 Grunewald had become court painter and later the leading art official (his title was supervisor or clerk of the works) to the elector of Mainz, ...
gemmulation: (from the article "sponge") Asexual reproduction also occurs in sponges in various ways; the best known method is called gemmulation. Gemmulation begins when aggregates of cells, mostly archaeocytes, which, when they become laden with ...
gemmule: (from the article "sponge") ...of cells, mostly archaeocytes, which, when they become laden with reserve food granules become isolated at the surface of a sponge and surrounded by a protective covering. These so-called "gemmules" ...
Gempei War: (1180-85), final struggle in Japan between the Taira and Minamoto clans that resulted in the Minamoto's establishment of the Kamakura shogunate, a military dictatorship that dominated Japan from 1192 to ... [3 Related Articles]
gemsbok: (from the article "oryx") The beisa and gemsbok, subspecies of O. gazella, inhabit eastern and southern Africa, respectively. The scimitar oryx (O. dammah), once found throughout northern Africa, was restricted to the southern rim ...
gemstone: any of various minerals highly prized for beauty, durability, and rarity. A few noncrystalline materials of organic origin (e.g., pearl, red coral, and amber) also are classified as gemstones. [13 Related Articles]
Genazino, Wilhelm: (from the article "Literature") Wilhelm Genazino, who had won the Georg Buchner Prize in 2004, published his novel Die Liebesblodigkeit in 2005, an exploration of the consciousness of a middle-aged man who, while trying ...
Gencer, Leyla: Turkish soprano performed more than 70 roles throughout her 35-year operatic career. Known as the Turkish Diva, Gencer was most famous for her roles in the operas of Gaetano Donizetti ...
Genda Minoru: Japanese naval officer and air strategist who was chosen by Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku to draft the plan for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor (in Oahu Island, Hawaii, U.S.), which ...
gendai mono: (from the article "Noh theatre") ...the third, katsura mono ("wig play"), has a female protagonist; the fourth type, varied in content, includes the gendai mono ("present-day play"), in which ...
gendai-geki: (from the article "motion picture, history of the") ...period films set before 1868 (the year marking the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, 1868-1912, and the abolition of the feudal shogunate), or gendai-geki, films of contemporary ...
gendarmerie: (from the article "France") ...was still considered a noble pursuit par excellence. The core of Charles's army that marched into Italy, the compagnies d'ordonnance, known collectively as the gendarmerie, consisted of ...
Gendarmes, Corps of: (from the article "Third Department") ...prisons for "state criminals." It was also responsible for prosecuting counterfeiters of money and official documents and for conducting censorship. It functioned in conjunction with the Corps of Gendarmes (formed ...
gender: in language, a phenomenon in which the words of a certain part of speech, usually nouns, require the agreement, or concord, through grammatical marking (or inflection), of various other words ... [13 Related Articles]
gender: (from the article "percussion instrument") ...a trough metallophone depicted as early as about AD 800 on the Borobudur stupa (Buddhist monument), Java, and the frame metallophone gender, now usually supplied with tubular ...
gender identity: an individual's self-conception as being male or female, as distinguished from actual biological sex. For most persons, gender identity and biological characteristics are the same. There are, however, circumstances in ... [3 Related Articles]
gender identity disorder: (from the article "mental disorder") In gender identity disorder a person feels a discrepancy between his anatomical sex and the gender that he ascribes to himself. This disorder is much more common in males than ...
gender study: (from the article "Shakespeare, William") Gender studies such as those of Bruce R. Smith and Valerie Traub also dealt importantly with issues of gender as a social construction and with changing social attitudes toward "deviant" ...
gene: unit of hereditary information that occupies a fixed position (locus) on a chromosome. Genes achieve their effects by directing the synthesis of proteins. [31 Related Articles]
gene conversion: (from the article "nucleic acid") ...products of replication will not be true reciprocal events, but rather one of the original parental molecules will appear to have been maintained to the exclusion of the other-a process ...
gene deletion: (from the article "radiation") Chromosome breaks often heal spontaneously, but a break that fails to heal may cause the loss of an essential part of the gene complement; this loss of genetic material is ...
gene disruption: (from the article "recombinant DNA technology") Another version of in vitro mutagenesis is gene disruption, or gene knockout. Here, the resident functional gene is replaced by a completely nonfunctional copy. The advantage of this technique over ...
gene flow: the introduction of genetic material (by interbreeding) from one population of a species to another, thereby changing the composition of the gene pool of the receiving population. The introduction of ... [4 Related Articles]
gene frequency: (from the article "evolution") Processes of gene-frequency changeheredityChanges in gene frequenciesChanges in gene frequenciesrole in natural selection
gene pool: (from the article "Amazon River") The unique gene pool of the Amazon Rainforest, with perhaps two-thirds of the known organisms of the world, is threatened by continuing deforestation. Particular emphasis has been placed on the ...
gene regulation: (from the article "heredity") Not all genes in a cell are active in protein production at any given time. Gene action can be switched on or off in response to the cell's stage of ...
gene splicing: (from the article "heredity") ...the 5' end of the mRNA, a modified guanine nucleotide, called a cap, is added. Noncoding nucleotide sequences called introns are excised from the RNA at this stage in a ...
gene targeting: (from the article "Nobel Prizes") ...their development of a technique for introducing modified genes into mice. The technique, which involved introducing a gene that "knocks out" (replaces) a mouse's own version of a targeted gene, ...
gene therapy: (from the article "cancer") Knowledge about the genetic defects that lead to cancer suggests that cancer can be treated by fixing these altered genes. One strategy is to replace a defective gene with its ...
gene-for-gene coevolution: (from the article "community ecology") In some interactions between parasites and hosts, coevolution can take a specific form called gene-for-gene coevolution or matching-gene coevolution. It is a form of reciprocal evolutionary change based on the ...
Genealogical Office: (from the article "heraldry") ...authorities. Photostat copies were made of the records and sent to the College of Arms, London. The Irish government appointed a Chief Herald of Ireland, and the Ulster Office became ...
genealogy: the study of family origins and history. Genealogists compile lists of ancestors, which they arrange in pedigree charts or other written forms. The word genealogy comes from two Greek words-one ... [6 Related Articles]
genecentre: any of a number of areas on the Earth from which arose important crop plants and domestic animals. As few as four of these centres of origin have probably provided ...
Genee, Dame Adeline: dancer, choreographer, and teacher who was founder-president of the Royal Academy of Dancing.
Geneen, Harold: American business executive who built the International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. (ITT) into a worldwide business conglomerate. During Geneen's tenure (1959-77) as president and CEO of ITT, the company came ... [1 Related Articles]
Genentech Inc.: (from the article "South San Francisco") ...industrialized, with meatpacking, steel and other metal fabrication, chemical processing, and other manufacturing. The city has since become a centre of the biotechnology industry, which includes Genentech (founded 1976). South ...
general: title and rank of a senior army officer, usually one who commands units larger than a regiment or its equivalent or units consisting of more than one arm of the ... [1 Related Articles]
general account: (from the article "government budget") The budget is prepared on a fiscal-year basis by the budget division of the Ministry of Finance. The centre of the budget system is the general account, which theoretically includes ...
general adaptation syndrome: (from the article "motivation") This three-part mechanism for coping with a stressor is called the general adaptation syndrome and appears to have evolved primarily to deal with systemic stressors. As noted earlier, however, this ...
General Administration of Civil Aviation of China: (from the article "China") Chinese civil air efforts were carried out solely by the state-run General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) from 1949 until the mid-1980s. In an effort to improve efficiency ...
General Agreement: (from the article "Mexico") Even before Mexico entered the war, it supplied vital raw materials to the United States. Mexico and the United States in November 1941 signed a general agreement that resolved most ...
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: set of multilateral trade agreements aimed at the abolition of quotas and the reduction of tariff duties among the contracting nations. When GATT was concluded by 23 countries at Geneva, ... [11 Related Articles]
general anesthetic: (from the article "drug") Anesthetics are drugs that induce a temporary inability to perceive any sensory stimuli. They achieve this effect by acting on the brain or peripheral nervous system to suppress responses to ...
General Arrangements to Borrow: (from the article "international payment and exchange") ...to the countries that happened to be in credit at that time but was extended to other important countries, the currencies of which might run short at some future time. ...
General Assembly: (from the article "South Carolina") ...and commissioner of agriculture. The governor, although able to veto bills and specific items in the budget, has much less authority over state government than does the legislative branch. The ...
General Assembly, United Nations: one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and the only body in which every member of the organization is represented and allowed to vote. As of ... [7 Related Articles]
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches: association of independent conservative Baptist churches in the United States, organized in 1932 after 22 Baptist churches withdrew from the Northern (later American) Baptist Convention. These churches withdrew because they ... [1 Related Articles]
general average: (from the article "average") ...by the perils of the sea. An average may be particular or general. A particular average is one that is borne by the owner of the lost or damaged property ...
general average clause: (from the article "insurance") The general average clause in ocean marine insurance obligates the insurers of various interests to share the cost of losses incurred voluntarily to save the voyage from complete destruction. Such ...
General Bathymetric Chart of the World: (from the article "map") ...Hydrographic Bureau was founded in 1921 in Monaco, where it has been headquartered through the years. It serves as a clearinghouse for information related to hydrography and charting and maintains ...
General Certificate of Education: (from the article "secondary education") Those students seeking university entrance must successfully complete a series of examinations that result in the General Certificate of Education. These examinations have two levels: General Certificate of Secondary Education ...
General Chemical Company: (from the article "AlliedSignal") The corporation was formed in 1920 in the consolidation of several chemical manufacturers; the Barrett Company (founded 1903), supplying coal-tar chemicals and roofing; General Chemical Company (founded 1899), specializing in ...
General Company for Wines of Alto Douro: (from the article "Portugal") ...and another to trade with northern Brazil. In 1756 he founded a board of trade with powers to limit the privileges enjoyed by the English merchants under the treaties of ...
General Confederation of Labour: major labour-union federation in Argentina. The CGT was formed in 1930. Its leadership was contested by socialist, anarchist, and syndicalist factions from 1935 until the early 1940s, when it came ...