ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0-9
Whitney Museum of American Art ... Wiener, Norbert
Whitney Museum of American Art
collection in New York City of predominantly 20th-century American art, including painting, sculpture, and graphics. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a sculptor and promoter of American ...
Whitney, Adeline Dutton Train
American writer whose books, largely for young people, reflected her belief that the home was the ultimate key to virtue.
Whitney, Anne
American sculptor whose life-size statues and portrait busts frequently addressed abolitionist and feminist concerns.
Whitney, Charlotte Anita
American suffragist and political radical who was prominent in the founding and early activities of the Communist Party in the United States.
Whitney, Cornelius Vanderbilt
American businessman who turned inherited wealth and a variety of interests into significant achievements in business and public service.
Whitney, Eli
American inventor, mechanical engineer, and manufacturer, best remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin but most important for developing the concept of mass production of interchangeable parts.
Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt
American sculptor and art patron, founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
Whitney, John Hay
American multimillionaire and sportsman who had a multifaceted career as a publisher, financier, philanthropist, and horse breeder.
Whitney, Josiah Dwight
American geologist known for his studies of the regional geology of California.
Whitney, Mary Watson
American astronomer who built Vassar College's research program in astronomy into one of the nation's finest.
Whitney, Mount
highest peak (14,494 feet [4,418 metres] above sea level) in the 48 coterminous U.S. states. It is the culminating summit of the Sierra Nevada. In eastern California on the Inyo-Tulare ...
Whitney, Phyllis Ayame
American author who wrote for both juvenile and adult audiences-largely mysteries and maturation stories for the former and romantic mysteries for the latter.
Whitney, William C.
U.S. secretary of the navy (1885-89) who played a major role in the post-Civil War rebuilding of the navy.
Whitney, William Dwight
American linguist and one of the foremost Sanskrit scholars of his time, noted especially for his classic work, Sanskrit Grammar (1879).
Whitney, Willis Rodney
American chemist and founder of the General Electric Company's research laboratory, where he directed pioneering work in electrical technology and was credited with setting the pattern for industrial scientific laboratory ...
Whitstable
town east of the Isle of Sheppey on the Thames Estuary shore in the city (district) of Canterbury, administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. From Roman times it ...
Whitsunday Island
largest of the Cumberland Islands, lying 6 miles (10 km) off the northeastern coast of Queensland, Australia, in the Coral Sea. An inshore, coral-fringed continental island, it measures 12 by ...
Whittaker, Charles E.
associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1957-62).
Whittaker, Sir Edmund Taylor
English mathematician who made pioneering contributions to the area of special functions, which is of particular interest in mathematical physics.
Whittelsey, Abigail Goodrich
American editor whose mission in her magazine work was to provide information and instruction on the role of mothers.
Whittemore, Reed
American teacher and poet noted for his free-flowing ironic verse.
Whittier
city, Los Angeles county, southern California, U.S. It lies at the foot of the Puente Hills, about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of the city centre of Los Angeles. Part ...
Whittier, John Greenleaf
American poet and abolitionist who, in the latter part of his life, shared with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow the distinction of being a household name in both England and the United ...
Whittington, Dick
English merchant and lord mayor of London who became a well-known figure in legend and traditional pantomime.
Whittle, Sir Frank
English aviation engineer and pilot who invented the jet engine.
Whittredge, Worthington
American landscape painter associated with the Hudson River school.
Whitworth, Kathy
American athlete who was one of the great players of women's professional golf.
Whitworth, Sir Joseph, Baronet
English mechanical engineer who won international recognition as a machine toolmaker.
Who's Who
any of numerous biographical dictionaries that give brief and pertinent information about prominent living persons who are distinguished in a particular field or by official position or public standing and ...
Who, the
British rock group that was among the most popular and influential bands of the 1960s and '70s and that originated the rock opera. The principal members were Pete Townshend (b. ...
whole-tone scale
in music, scalar arrangement of pitches, each separated from the other by a whole-tone step, in contradistinction to the chromatic scale (half steps only) and the diatonic scale (intermixing whole ...
wholesale price index
measure of changes in the prices charged by manufacturers and wholesalers. Wholesale price indexes measure the changes in commodity prices at a selected stage or stages before goods reach the ...
wholesaling
the selling of merchandise to anyone other than a retail customer. The merchandise may be sold to a retailer, a wholesaler, or to an enterprise that will use it for ...
whooping cough
acute, highly communicable respiratory disease characterized in its typical form by paroxysms of coughing followed by a long-drawn inspiration, or "whoop." The coughing ends with the expulsion of clear, sticky ...
whooping crane
tallest American bird and one of the world's rarest. At the beginning of the 21st century fewer than 300 whooping cranes remained in the wild. Most are part of a ...
Whorf, Benjamin Lee
U.S. linguist noted for his hypotheses regarding the relation of language to thinking and cognition and for his studies of Hebrew and Hebrew ideas, of Mexican and Mayan languages and ...
Whyalla
city and port, southern South Australia, on the east coast of Eyre Peninsula, opposite Port Pirie, northwest of Adelaide. It was created in 1901 by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, ...
whydah
any of several African birds that have long dark tails suggesting a funeral veil. They belong to two subfamilies, Viduinae and Ploceinae, of the family Ploceidae (order Passeriformes). The name ...
Whymper, Edward
English mountaineer and artist who was associated with the exploration of the Alps and was the first man to climb the Matterhorn (14,691 feet [4,478 metres]).
Wicca
a predominantly Western movement whose followers practice witchcraft and nature worship and who see it as a religion based on pre-Christian traditions of northern and western Europe. It spread through ...
Wichale, Treaty of
(May 2, 1889), pact signed at Wichale, Ethiopia, by the Italians and Menilek II of Ethiopia, whereby Italy was granted the northern Ethiopian territories of Bogos, Hamasen, and Akale-Guzai (modern ...
Wichita
North American Indian people of Caddoan linguistic stock who in their early history lived near the Arkansas River in present-day Kansas. They were encountered by the Spanish in the mid-16th ...
Wichita
city, seat (1870) of Sedgwick county, south-central Kansas, U.S. It lies on the Arkansas River near the mouth of the Little Arkansas, about 140 miles (225 km) southwest of Topeka. ...
Wichita Falls
city, seat (1882) of Wichita county, northern Texas, U.S. The city is located on the Wichita River in the Red River Valley, 115 miles (185 km) northwest of Fort Worth. ...
Wichita orogeny
a period of block faulting in the southern part of the Wichita-Arbuckle System in western Oklahoma and northern Texas. The uplift is dated from the Late Carboniferous epoch (formerly the ...
Wichita State University
public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Wichita, Kan., U.S. The university comprises the W. Frank Barton School of Business, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School, ...
Wick
royal burgh (town) and fishing port, Highland council area, historic county of Caithness, Scotland. An ancient Norse settlement on the North Sea, situated about 14 miles (23 km) south of ...
wick
thread, strip, or bundle of fibres that, by capillary action, draws up the oil of a lamp or the melted wax in a candle to be burned. By 1000 BC, ...
wickerwork
furniture made of real or simulated osier (rods or twigs) plaited into appropriate shapes. The Egyptians made furniture of this kind in the 3rd millennium BC, and it has always ...
Wickford
resort village and administrative centre of North Kingstown town (township), Washington county, south-central Rhode Island, U.S., on an inlet of Narragansett Bay. It has an unusually large number of restored ...
Wicklow
seaport and county seat, County Wicklow, Ireland, south-southeast of Dublin. St. Mantan built a church there in the 5th century; and the town later became a settlement of the Vikings, ...
Wicklow
county in the province of Leinster, Ireland. It is bounded by the counties of Wexford (south), Carlow and Kildare (west), and Dublin (north) and by the Irish Sea (east). County ...
Wicklow Mountains
extensive mountain range in County Wicklow, Ireland, forming part of the Leinster Chain. The mountain area comprises a vast anticline (upwarp of rock strata), with granite exposed at the centre, ...
Wicksell, Knut
Swedish economist, the foremost in his generation and internationally renowned for his pioneering work in monetary theory.
Wicksteed, Philip Henry
British economist, classicist, literary critic, and theologian.
Wicomico
county, southeastern Maryland, U.S., bordered by Delaware to the north, the Pocomoke River to the east, the Wicomico River to the southwest, and the Nanticoke River to the west and ...
Widal, Fernand-Isidore
French physician and bacteriologist who made important contributions to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of many diseases.
Wideman, John Edgar
American writer regarded for his intricate literary style in novels about the experiences of black men in contemporary urban America.
Widener University
private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S. It comprises the College of Arts and Sciences and schools of Law, Hospitality Management, Human Service Professions, Engineering, Nursing, and ...
Widener, George D.
U.S. financier, breeder, owner and racer of Thoroughbred horses.
Widener, Peter A.B.
American transportation magnate and philanthropist.
Widmann, Joseph Viktor
Swiss writer, editor, and critic.
Widmanstatten pattern
lines that appear in some iron meteorites when a cross section of the meteorite is etched with weak acid. The pattern is named for Alois Josep Widmanstatten, a Viennese scientist ...
Widnes
town in the unitary authority of Halton, historic county of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Mersey at its lowest bridging point and on ...
Widor, Charles-Marie
French organist, composer, and teacher.
Widsith
Old English poem, probably from the 7th century, that is preserved in the Exeter Book, a 10th-century collection of Old English poetry. "Widsith" is an idealized self-portrait of a scop ...
Wied, Gustav
Danish dramatist, novelist, and satirist chiefly remembered for a series of what he called satyr-dramas.
Wied-Neuwied, Maximilian, Prinz zu
German aristocratic naturalist, ethnographer, and explorer whose observations on a trip to the American West in the 1830s provide valuable information about the Plains Indians at that time.
Wieland, Christoph Martin
poet and man of letters of the German Rococo period whose work spans the major trends of his age, from rationalism and the Enlightenment to classicism and pre-Romanticism.
Wieland, Heinrich Otto
German chemist, winner of the 1927 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his determination of the molecular structure of bile acids.
Wielkopolskie
wojewodztwo (province), west-central Poland. One of 16 provinces created in 1999 when Poland underwent administrative reorganization, it is bordered by the provinces of Zachodniopomorskie to the northwest, ...
Wielopolski, Aleksander, Hrabia, Margrabia Gonzaga Myszkowski
Polish statesman who undertook a program of major internal reforms coupled with full submission to Russian domination in order to gain maximum national autonomy.
Wieman, Carl E.
American physicist who, with Eric A. Cornell and Wolfgang Ketterle, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2001 for creating a new ultracold state of matter, the so-called Bose-Einstein condensate ...
Wien, Wilhelm
German physicist who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1911 for his displacement law concerning the radiation emitted by the perfectly efficient blackbody (a surface that absorbs all radiant ...
Wiener Neustadt
city, Niederosterreich Bundesland (federal state), northeastern Austria. It lies near the Leitha River south of Vienna. Founded in 1194 by the Babenberg duke Leopold V, it was chartered in 1277 ...
Wiener, Norbert
American mathematician who established the science of cybernetics. He attained international renown by formulating some of the most important contributions to mathematics in the 20th century.