car festival of India, observed by taking an image of the deity in a procession through the streets, thus affording darshan (auspicious viewing) of the deity to worshipers who, because ...
German-Jewish statesman, industrialist, and philosopher who organized Germany's economy on a war footing during World War I and, after the war, as minister of reconstruction and foreign minister, was instrumental ...
German anatomist who first described the gill slits and gill arches in the embryos of mammals and birds. He also first described in 1839 the embryonic structure, now known as ...
in yacht racing, rule used to classify sailing yachts of different designs to enable them to compete on relatively equal terms. The competition may be either among yachts in a ...
the philosophical view that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. Holding that reality itself has an inherently logical structure, the Rationalist asserts that a class of ...
government policy consisting of the planned and restrictive allocation of scarce resources and consumer goods, usually practiced during times of war, famine, or some other national emergency.
any bird whose sternum (breastbone) is smooth, or raftlike, because it lacks a keel to which flight muscles could be anchored. All species of ratites are thus unable to fly. ...
town, western Madhya Pradesh state, central India. Ratlam is a major rail junction, an agricultural trade centre, and a major industrial town. It is heavily engaged in cotton, silk, sugar, ...
town, southwestern Maharashtra state, western India, on the Arabian Sea coast. The town became an administrative capital under the Bijapur rulers. In 1731 it came under the control of Satara ...
town, southwestern Sri Lanka (Ceylon). It is situated southeast of Colombo, on the Kalu Ganga (river). Dominating the town is a hill on which the Portuguese built a fort. Ratnapura ...
city, seat (1897) of Colfax county, northeastern New Mexico, U.S. It lies at the southern end of Raton Pass (7,834 feet [2,388 metres] above sea level) in the Sangre de ...
theologian, priest, and monk at the Benedictine abbey of Corbie whose important 9th-century work provoked the eucharistic controversy and was posthumously condemned.
Piedmontese lawyer and statesman who held many important cabinet positions in the early years of the Italian Republic, including that of prime minister; his ambiguous policies brought him into conflict ...
percussion instrument consisting of resonant objects strung together and set in a sliding frame or enclosed in a container such that when it is shaken the parts strike against each ...
any of 33 species of venomous New World vipers characterized by a segmented rattle at the tip of the tail that produces a buzzing sound when vibrated. Rattlesnakes are found ...
German geographer and ethnographer and a principal influence in the modern development of both disciplines. He originated the concept of Lebensraum, or "living space," which relates human groups to the ...
Austrian soldier, military jurist, and sociologist, a Social Darwinist who conceived of society as a universe of conflicting ethnic groups, and who thought that sociology could guide the human species ...
one of the foremost Indian jurists of his time. He helped to draft the constitutions of Burma (Myanmar) in 1947 and India in 1950. As India's representative on the United ...
town, central Peninsular (West) Malaysia, about 50 miles (80 km) north-northeast of Kuala Lumpur. Situated in the eastern foothills of the Main Range, it began in the 1880s as a ...
city, southwestern Finland. It lies along the Gulf of Bothnia north-northwest of Turku. Rauma was first noted in official records in 1442. In 1550, King Gustav I Vasa of Sweden ...
genus of plants in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), with about 85 species of shrubs and trees native to tropical areas of the world. The flowers are small and usually white ...
French philosopher whose writings had an extensive influence in the Roman Catholic world during the 19th century. He was appointed inspector general of public libraries (1839-46, 1846-53) and later served ...
in Hindu mythology, the 10-headed king of the demons (raksasas). His abduction of Sita and eventual defeat by her husband Rama are the central incidents of the ...
French composer of Swiss-Basque descent, noted for his musical craftsmanship and perfection of form and style in such works as Bolero (1928), Pavane pour une infante defunte (1899; Pavane for ...
any of several species of heavy-billed, dark birds, larger than crows. Closely related, both ravens and crows are species of the genus Corvus. The raven has a heavier bill and ...
collection of oral trickster-transformer tales popular mainly among the Indians of the Northwest Pacific Coast from Alaska to British Columbia. The tales feature Raven as a culture hero, an alternately ...
English novelist, playwright, and journalist, known particularly for his satiric portrayal of the hedonism of the mid-20th-century upper classes of English society.
capital of the provincia of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna regione, northeastern Italy. The city is on a low-lying plain near the confluence of the Ronco and Montone rivers, 6 miles (10 km) ...
Nazi German concentration camp for women (Frauenlager) located in a swamp near the village of Ravensbruck, 50 miles (80 km) north of Berlin. Ravensbruck served as a ...
city, Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along the Schussen River, just north of Lake Constance (Bodensee), northeast of Konstanz. Founded and chartered in the 12th ...
English glassmaker, developer of flint glass, a heavy, blown type (shaped by blowing when in a plastic state) characterized by both brilliance and dark shadow.
in northwestern India and northeastern Pakistan, one of the rivers that give the Punjab (meaning "five rivers") its name. It rises in the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh state, India, and ...
one of the oldest outdoor summer music and cultural centres in the United States, located in Highland Park, Illinois, about 20 miles (30 km) north of downtown Chicago. It was ...
city, Punjab province, northern Pakistan. It was the capital of Pakistan from 1959 to 1969. The city lies on the Potwar Plateau 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Islamabad, the ...
(Arabic: "reciter"), in Arabic literature, professional reciter of poetry. The rawis preserved pre-Islamic poetry in oral tradition until it was written down in the 8th century.
military and political leader in Ghana who twice (1979, 1981) overthrew the government and seized power. His second period of rule (1981-2001) afforded Ghana political stability and competent economic management.
city, seat (1886) of Carbon county, south-central Wyoming, U.S. It lies just east of the Continental Divide at an elevation of 6,755 feet (2,059 metres). Founded in 1868 when the ...
British army officer and Orientalist who deciphered the Old Persian portion of the trilingual cuneiform inscription of Darius I the Great at Bisitun, Iran. His success provided the key to ...
American political and ethical philosopher, best known for his defense of egalitarian liberalism in his major work, A Theory of Justice (1971). He is widely considered the most important political ...
town, capital of Chubut province, southern Argentina. It lies along the Chubut River near the latter's mouth, about 5 miles (8 km) upriver from the Atlantic Ocean coast. It was ...
any of the cartilaginous fishes of the order Batoidei, related to sharks and placed with them in the class Chondrichthyes (or Selachii). The order includes 300 to 350 species.
any spider of the family Theridiosomatidae (order Araneida), known for their conelike webs. Most ray spiders are less than 3 mm (0.125 inch) in body length and are usually found ...
Belgian novelist, short-story writer, and journalist who is known for his crime fiction and narratives of horror and the fantastic in both French and Flemish (Dutch).
leading 17th-century English naturalist and botanist who contributed significantly to progress in taxonomy. His enduring legacy to botany was the establishment of species as the ultimate unit of taxonomy.
American motion-picture writer and director who showed great promise with such early low-budget films as They Live by Night (1948-49), Knock on Any Door (1949), and Johnny Guitar (1954).
Bengali motion-picture director, writer, and illustrator who brought the Indian cinema to world recognition with Pather Panchali (1955; The Song of the Road) and its two sequels, known as the ...
American political leader, who served as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 17 years. In 1912 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served ...
dispersion of electromagnetic radiation by particles that have a radius less than approximately 110 the wavelength of the radiation. The process has been named in honour of Lord Rayleigh, who ...
English physical scientist who made fundamental discoveries in the fields of acoustics and optics that are basic to the theory of wave propagation in fluids. He received the Nobel Prize ...
count of Toulouse (1093-1105) and marquis of Provence (1066-1105), the first-and one of the most effective-of the western European rulers who joined the First Crusade. He is reckoned as Raymond ...
Catalan Dominican friar who compiled the Decretals of Gregory IX, a body of medieval legislation that remained part of church law until the Code of Canon Law was promulgated in ...
town, eastern New South Wales, Australia, on the east bank of the Hunter River (near its junction with the Williams), just north of Newcastle. Founded in the 1830s, the town ...
count of Toulouse from 1194, who at first tolerated the heretical Cathari in Languedoc, then (1209) joined the Albigensian Crusade against them and afterward fought the crusaders to save his ...
count of Toulouse from 1222, who succeeded his father, Raymond VI, not only in the countship but also in having to face problems raised by the Albigensian Crusade against the ...
U.S. journalist and politician who, as first editor and chief proprietor of The New York Times (from 1851), did much to elevate the style and tone of contemporary newspapers and ...
