city, capital of Hesse Land (state), southern Germany. It is situated on the right (east) bank of the Rhine River at the southern foot of the Taunus ...
American developmental biologist who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, with geneticists Edward B. Lewis and Christiane Nusslein-Volhard (qq.v.), for discovering the genetic controls of early embryonic ...
Romanian-born Jewish writer, whose works provide a sober yet passionate testament of the destruction of European Jewry during World War II. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in ...
Swedish neurobiologist, corecipient with David Hunter Hubel and Roger Wolcott Sperry of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. All three scientists were honoured for their investigations of brain ...
founder and head (1961-2003) of the Jewish Documentation Centre in Vienna. Wiesenthal was a longtime Nazi-hunter who, with the cooperation of the Israeli, West German, and other governments, tracked down ...
manufactured head covering of real or artificial hair worn in the theatre, as personal adornment, disguise, or symbol of office, or for religious reasons. The wearing of wigs dates from ...
town and metropolitan borough in the northwestern part of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, historic county of Lancashire, England. It lies along the River Douglas and the Leeds and ...
any of four species of dabbling ducks (family Anatidae), popular game birds and excellent table fare. The European wigeon (Anas, or Mareca, penelope) ranges across the Palaearctic and is occasionally ...
English entomologist, noted for his contribution to the study of insect physiology. His investigations of the living insect body and its tissues and organs revealed much about the dynamic complexity ...
island and unitary authority, part of the historic county of Hampshire, lying off the south coast of England, in the English Channel. The island is separated from the mainland by ...
trophy awarded the winner of women's tennis matches held annually from 1923 to 1989 between British and American teams. A competition comprised five singles and two doubles matches. The cup ...
American tennis player who dominated women's competition before World War I. Known as the "queen mother of American tennis," she was instrumental in organizing the Wightman Cup match between British ...
American legal scholar and teacher whose 10-volume Treatise on the Anglo-American System of Evidence in Trials at Common Law (1904-05), usually called Wigmore on ...
Hungarian-born American physicist, joint winner, with J. Hans D. Jensen of West Germany and Maria Goeppert Mayer of the United States, of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1963. He ...
historic county at the southwestern tip of Scotland, facing the Irish Sea to the south and the North Channel to the west. It is the western portion of the historic ...
American Indian dwelling, characteristic of the Algonquian-speaking nomadic tribes of what is now the northeastern United States. The wigwam was constructed of tall saplings driven into the ground, bent over, ...
World Wide Web (WWW) site that can be modified or contributed to by users. Wikis can be dated to 1995, when American computer programmer Ward Cunningham created a new collaborative ...
free, Internet-based encyclopaedia operating under an open-source management style. Wikipedia uses a collaborative software known as wiki that facilitates the creation and development of articles. The English-language ...
German classical scholar and teacher whose studies advanced knowledge in the historical sciences of metrics, epigraphy, papyrology, topography, and textual criticism.
private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Wilberforce, Ohio, U.S. It is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Wilberforce is a liberal arts university offering undergraduate programs in business, ...
British cleric, an Anglican prelate and educator and a defender of orthodoxy, who typified the ideal bishop of the Victorian era. He was a major figure in the preservation of ...
British politician and philanthropist who from 1787 was prominent in the struggle to abolish the slave trade and then to abolish slavery itself in British overseas possessions.
American poet and journalist who is perhaps best remembered for verse tinged with an eroticism that, while rather oblique, was still unconventional for her time.
American physicist who, with David J. Gross and H. David Politzer, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2004 for discoveries regarding the strong force-the nuclear force that binds ...
a collection of cowboy-outlaws who flourished in the 1880s and '90s in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and surrounding states and territories. Their chief hideouts were Hole in the Wall, a nearly ...
a tall, tropical forest tree of Central and South America closely related to the domesticated cashew, A. occidentale. The wild cashew grows to a height of over 30 metres (100 ...
(species Echinocystis lobata), climbing plant of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to eastern North America. The true balsam apple is Momordica balsamina.
any flowering plant growing without intentional human aid. Wild flowers are the source of all cultivated garden varieties of flowers. Although most wild flowers are native to the region in ...
(genus Asarum), any of about 75 species of perennial herbs of the birthwort family (Aristolochiaceae), distributed throughout North Temperate areas of the world. The leaves and underground stems (rhizomes) of ...
(Irvingia gabonensis), tropical African tree, of the family Ixonanthaceae (Irvingiaceae), notable for its edible yellow fruit, which somewhat resembles the mango. The seed is rich in a fat used locally ...
any of several tufted annual grasses of the genus Avena (family Poaceae), native to Eurasia. Wild oats are sometimes cut for hay, and young plants provide forage for grazing animals.
(species Raphanus raphanistrum), widespread annual weed of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and naturalized in North America. It is believed by some authorities to be the ancestor of ...
(species Zizania aquatica), coarse annual grass of the family Poaceae whose grain, now often considered a delicacy, has long been an important food of North American Indians. Despite its name, ...
any of a group of about 50 species of perennial forage grasses in the family Poaceae that are native to temperate and cool parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Giant wild ...
theatrical extravaganza begun in 1883 by William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Cody, an Indian scout and Western hero, first turned to acting and then to producing and promoting his own ...
canoe or kayak racing down swift-flowing, turbulent streams called wild water (often "white water" in the United States). The sport developed from the riding of rapids in small boats and ...
(species Felis silvestris), a small wild member of the cat family (Felidae) native to Eurasia. The name wildcat is also used as a general term for feral domestic cats and ...
unsound bank chartered under state law during the period of uncontrolled state banking (1816-63) in the United States. Such banks distributed nearly worthless currency backed by questionable security (e.g., mortgages, ...
American actor and filmmaker who attained stardom with his sensitive portrayal of composer Frederic Chopin in the motion picture A Song to Remember (1945), for which he received an Academy ...
Irish wit, poet, and dramatist whose reputation rests on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). He was a spokesman for the late ...
Austrian-born American motion-picture scenarist, director, and producer known for films that humorously treat subjects of controversy and offer biting indictments of hypocrisy in American life.
American politician, the first popularly elected African American governor in the United States. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Virginia Union University (1951) and a law degree from ...
(May 5-7, 1864), in the American Civil War, first stage of a carefully planned Union campaign to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. Crossing the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, ...
centre of the world's largest collection of waterfowl. It was established in 1946 by Sir Peter Scott on 418 acres (169 hectares) along the River Severn near Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, Eng. ...
the regulation of wild animals and plants in such a way as to provide for their continuance as a natural resource. The term stands for the husbandry and use of ...
British mathematician who proved Fermat's last theorem; in recognition he was awarded a special silver plaque-he was beyond the traditional age limit of 40 years for receiving the gold Fields ...
also called Wilfrid Of York one of the greatest English saints, a monk and bishop who was outstanding in bringing about close relations between the Anglo-Saxon Church and the papacy. ...
queen of The Netherlands from 1890 to 1948, who, through her radio broadcasts from London during World War II, made herself the symbol of Dutch resistance to German occupation.
mountain range in central Suriname, forming part of South America's granitic Precambrian Guiana Shield, extending about 70 mi (113 km) from west to east. The range divides Suriname's western district ...
German violinist whose most famous work is his arrangement of the air from J.S. Bach's orchestral Suite in D major, which became known as the "Air on the G String."
city and port, Lower Saxony Land (state), northwestern Germany. It lies on Jade Bay (Jadebusen), a North Sea inlet on the coast of East Friesland (Ostfriesland). Founded ...
region in Antarctica, bordering the Indian Ocean between Queen Mary and George V coasts (100°-142°20' E). The region is almost entirely covered by a featureless ice cap averaging from 6,000 ...
outspoken 18th-century journalist and popular London politician who came to be regarded as a victim of persecution and as a champion of liberty because he was repeatedly expelled from Parliament. ...
city, seat (1786) of Luzerne county, northeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies in the Wyoming Valley and along the Susquehanna River, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Scranton. Wilkes-Barre is the ...
