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Mars Global Surveyor: robotic U.S. spacecraft launched to the planet Mars to carry out long-term study from orbit of the entire surface, the atmosphere, and aspects of the interior. High-resolution images returned from ...
Mars Pathfinder: robotic U.S. spacecraft launched to Mars to demonstrate a new way to land a spacecraft on the planet's surface and the operation of an independent robotic rover. Developed by NASA ...
Mars, canals of: apparent systems of long, straight linear markings on the surface of Mars that are now known to be illusions caused by the chance alignment of craters and other natural surface ...
Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte, Battles of: (Aug. 16-18, 1870), two major engagements of the Franco-German War in which the 130,000-man French Army of the Rhine, under Marshal Achille-Francois Bazaine, failed to break through the two German ...
Marsa al-Burayqah: Mediterranean port on the Gulf of Sidra, northeastern Libya. The site, which was located by a small fishing village destroyed during World War II, contained nothing but land mines when ...
Marsa Matruh: town and capital of Matruh muhafazah (governorate), on the Mediterranean coast, Western Desert, in northwestern Egypt. The town serves as a market and distribution centre for the surrounding agricultural region. ...
Marsala: town, Trapani province, western Sicily, Italy. It is situated on the Boeo Cape, also called Lilibeo, south of Trapani. It originated as Lilybaeum, which was founded by the Carthaginians in ...
Marsalis family: American family, considered the "first family of jazz," who (particularly brothers Wynton and Branford) had a major impact on jazz in the late 20th century. The family includes Ellis (b. ...
Marsaxlokk: village, southeastern Malta. It lies along Marsaxlokk Bay, southeast of Valletta. It was the first landing place and anchorage of the Turkish fleet in the Great Siege of Malta in ...
Marschner, Heinrich August: composer who helped establish the style of German Romantic opera.
Marsden, William: British historian, linguist, and numismatist, pioneer of the scientific study of Indonesia.
Marseillaise, La: French national anthem, composed in one night during the French Revolution (April 24, 1792) by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, a captain of the engineers and amateur musician.
Marseille: city, capital of Bouches-du-Rhone departement, France, and also the administrative and commercial capital of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, one of France's fastest growing regions. Located west ...
Marseille faience: tin-glazed earthenware made in Marseille in the 18th century. The Joseph Clerissy factory, active in 1677-1733, produced wares usually in blue with purple outlines. The Fauchier factory excelled in trompe ...
marsh: type of wetland ecosystem characterized by poorly drained mineral soils and by plant life dominated by grasses. The latter characteristic distinguishes a marsh from a swamp (q.v.), whose plant life ...
marsh cress: any of the 70 plant species of the genus Rorippa of the mustard family (Brassicaceae). Most members of the genus are found in the Northern Hemisphere. The genus has at ...
marsh fly: any of several hundred insect species of the family Sciomyzidae (order Diptera), notable because the larval phase preys parasitically on slugs, snails, and other mollusks. These medium-sized flies occur worldwide; ...
marsh frog: (Rana ridibunda), large aquatic frog (family Ranidae), similar in appearance and habits to the closely related pool frog (R. lessonae) and the edible frog (R. esculenta). In Europe they are ...
marsh hawk: common name for the best-known harrier species. See harrier.
marsh mallow: (Althaea officinalis), perennial herbaceous plant of the mallow family (Malvaceae), native to eastern Europe and northern Africa. It has also become established in North America. The plant is usually found ...
marsh marigold: perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) native to wetlands in Europe and North America. It is grown in boggy wild gardens.
marsh treader: any insect of the family Hydrometridae (order Heteroptera), so named because of its slow, deliberate manner of moving as it walks along the surface of a pond or crawls among ...
Marsh, George Perkins: was one of the most significant advances in geography, ecology, and resource management of the 19th century.
Marsh, Ngaio: New Zealand author known especially for her many detective novels featuring Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard, and, in later novels, his wife Troy.
Marsh, Othniel Charles: American paleontologist who made extensive scientific explorations of the western United States and contributed greatly to knowledge of extinct North American vertebrates.
Marsh, Reginald: American painter and printmaker noted for his realistic depictions of New York City life.
Marsh, Sir Edward Howard: scholar, civil servant, and art collector who influenced the development of contemporary British art by patronizing unestablished artists. He was also an editor, translator, and biographer who was well-known in ...
Marsh, Warne: American tenor saxophonist, a jazz musician noted for his devotion to purely lyrical improvisation.
marshal: in some past and present armies, including those of Britain, France, Germany, Russia or the Soviet Union, and China, the highest ranking officer. The rank evolved from the title of ...
Marshall: city, seat (1842) of Harrison county, northeastern Texas, U.S. The city lies 34 miles (55 km) west of Shreveport, Louisiana, and is part of a metropolitan and industrial area centred ...
Marshall Field's: former department store chain whose flagship store on State Street in Chicago was for a time the largest in the world, comprising 73 acres of floor space and having larger ...
Marshall Islands: country of the central Pacific Ocean. It consists of some of the easternmost islands of Micronesia. The Marshalls are composed of two parallel chains of coral atolls-the Ratak, or Sunrise, ...
Marshall Plan: (April 1948-December 1951), U.S.-sponsored program designed to rehabilitate the economies of 17 western and southern European countries in order to create stable conditions in which democratic institutions could survive. The ...
Marshall University: public, coeducational institution of higher learning, with its main campus in Huntington, West Virginia, U.S., and a graduate college in South Charleston. Marshall University offers associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees, ...
Marshall, Alfred: one of the chief founders of the school of English neoclassical economists and the first principal of University College, Bristol (1877-81).
Marshall, Barry J.: Australian physician who won, with J. Robin Warren, the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discovery that stomach ulcers are an infectious disease caused by bacteria.
Marshall, Clara: American physician and educator, whose leadership engendered a notable increase in quality and course offerings at the Women's Medical College.
Marshall, David Saul: politician, lawyer, and diplomat who was the chief minister (1955-56) of Singapore's first elected government.
Marshall, George Catlett: general of the army and U.S. Army chief of staff during World War II (1939-45) and later U.S. secretary of state (1947-49) and of defense (1950-51). The European Recovery Program ...
Marshall, John: fourth chief justice of the United States and principal founder of the U.S. system of constitutional law, including the doctrine of judicial review. The first of Marshall's great cases in ...
Marshall, Louis: lawyer and leader of the American Jewish community who worked to secure religious, political, and cultural freedom for all minority groups.
Marshall, Paule: novelist whose works emphasize the need for black Americans to reclaim their African heritage.
Marshall, Penny: American actress, comedian, and director, one of the first woman motion picture directors to achieve consistent commercial success.
Marshall, Sir John Hubert: English director general of the Indian Archaeological Survey (1902-31) who in the 1920s was responsible for the large-scale excavations that revealed Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, the two largest cities of the ...
Marshall, Sir John Ross: lawyer, politician, and statesman who was prime minister of New Zealand (1972) and a leading figure in the economic planning of the Commonwealth for more than two decades.
Marshall, Stephen: Presbyterian minister and popular Puritan leader. He was an influential preacher to the English Parliament and a participant in the formulation of his church's creed.
Marshall, Thomas R: 28th vice president of the United States (1913-21) in the Democratic administration of President Woodrow Wilson. He was the first vice president in almost a century to serve two terms ...
Marshall, Thurgood: lawyer, civil rights activist, and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1967-91), the first African American member of the Supreme Court. As an attorney, he successfully ...
Marshalsea: a prison formerly existing in Southwark, London, on the south bank of the Thames and attached to the court of that name held by the steward and marshal of the ...
marshmallow: aerated candy that originated as a versatile medicinal syrup and ointment; it was made from root sap of the marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis), sugar, and egg white.
Marsi: ancient people of Italy, located on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (now drained) in the modern province of L'Aquila. They are principally known for their prominent part in the ...
Marsileaceae: only family of the fern order Marsileales. The three genera and about 70 species of small aquatic ferns root in mud or grow in shallow water. The family is typified ...
Marsilius Of Padua: Italian political philosopher whose work Defensor pacis ("Defender of the Peace"), one of the most original treatises on political theory produced during the Middle Ages, significantly influenced the modern idea ...
Marsman, Hendrik: one of the outstanding Dutch poets and critics active between World War I and World War II.
Marston Moor, Battle of: (July 2, 1644), the first major Royalist defeat in the English Civil War. In June 1644, King Charles I ordered a force under Prince Rupert of the Palatinate to relieve ...
Marston, John: English dramatist, one of the most vigorous satirists of the Shakespearean era, whose best known work is The Malcontent (1604), in which he rails at the iniquities of a lascivious ...
marsupial: any of more than 250 species belonging to the infraclass Metatheria (sometimes called Marsupialia), a mammalian group characterized by premature birth and continued development of the newborn while attached to ...
marsupial mole: either of the two species of small marsupial mammals of the genus Notoryctes, comprising the family Notoryctidae. Found in hot sandy wastes of south-central and northwestern Australia, the 18-centimetre (7-inch) ...
marsupial mouse: any of many small rat- or mouselike animals, belonging to the family Dasyuridae (order Marsupialia), found in Australia and New Guinea. The species vary in body length from 5 to ...
Marsyas: legendary Greek figure of Anatolian origin. According to the usual Greek version, Marsyas found the oboe that the goddess Athena had invented and, after becoming skilled in playing it, challenged ...
Marsyas Painter: Greek painter of the late Classical period, known for a pelike (wine container), now in the British Museum, of "Peleus Taming Thetis," and for a "Nuptial Lebes" (the bringing of ...
Martel, Edouard-Alfred: French geographer and speleologist, known for his pioneer work in 1894 on the physiography and accessibility of caves.
marten: any of several weasel-like carnivores of the genus Martes (family Mustelidae), found in Canada and parts of the United States and in the Old World from Europe to the Malay ...
Marten, Henry: a leading Parliamentary judge in the trial of King Charles I of England and the signer of his death warrant.
Martens, Fyodor Fyodorovich: Russian jurist and diplomat, international arbitrator, and historian of European colonial ventures in Asia and Africa.
Martens, Georg Friedrich von: Hanoverian diplomat, professor of jurisprudence at the University of Gottingen from 1783, the original editor of what remains the largest collection of treaties in the world. He singlehandedly edited Recueil ...
Martha and the Vandellas: American soul-pop vocal group that challenged the Supremes as Motown Records's premier female group in the 1960s. The original members were Martha Reeves (b. July 18, 1941, Eufaula, Ala., U.S., ...
Martha's Vineyard: island of glacial origin off the southeastern coast of Massachusetts, U.S., 4 miles (6 km) across Vineyard Sound from the mainland (Cape Cod). It accounts for most of the territory ...
Marti, Jose Julian: poet and essayist, patriot and martyr, who became the symbol of Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain. His dedication to the goal of Cuban freedom made his name a synonym ...
Martial: Roman poet who brought the Latin epigram to perfection and provided in it a picture of Roman society during the early empire that is remarkable both for its completeness and ...
martial art: any of various fighting sports or skills, mainly of East Asian origin, such as kung fu, judo, karate, and kendo.
martial law: temporary rule by military authorities of a designated area in time of emergency when the civil authorities are deemed unable to function. The legal effects of a declaration of martial ...
Martignac, Jean-Baptiste-Sylvere Gay, Viscount de: French politician, magistrate, and historian who, as leader of the government in 1828-29, alienated King Charles X with his moderate policy.
Martigues: town, Bouches-du-Rhone departement, Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur region, southeastern France, northwest of Marseille. The town is at the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte, which connects the Etang de Berre, a salt ...
martin: any of several swallows belonging to the family Hirundinidae (order Passeriformes). In America the name refers to the purple martin (Progne subis) and its four tropical relatives-at 20 cm (8 ...
Martin: king of Aragon from 1396 and of Sicily (as Martin II). He was the son of Peter IV and brother of John I of Aragon.