Earth Sciences, Knowledge of the hydrologic cycle

The idea of the hydrological cycle developed independently in China as early as the 4th century BC and was explicitly stated in the L

Biograph Company

One of the major American motion-picture studios in the early days of filmmaking. Its most significant contribution to the film comes from the work of D.W. Griffith, the first great director, who developed the art of the cinema during his five years at Biograph. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company released its first film, Empire State Express, in 1896. It quickly became

Allport, Gordon W(illard)

Appointed a social science instructor at Harvard University in 1924, he became professor of psychology six years later and, in the last year of his life, professor of social ethics. He consistently related his approach to the study of personality to

Nitroglycerin

Pure nitroglycerin is a colourless, oily, somewhat toxic liquid having a sweet, burning taste. It was first prepared in 1846 by the Italian

Mesopotamia, History Of, The classical and medieval views of Mesopotamia; its rediscovery in modern times

Before the first excavations in Mesopotamia, about 1840, nearly 2,000 years had passed during which knowledge of the ancient Middle East was derived from three sources only: the Bible, Greek and Roman authors, and the excerpts from the writings of Berosus, a Babylonian who wrote in Greek. In 1800 very little more was known than in AD 800, although these sources had served to stir the imagination

Aelle

Also spelled  Aella, or Aelli   first king of Deira in northern England, whose people threw off the Bernician overlordship upon the death of Ida, king of Bernicia. Aelle became king in 559, while Ida's descendants continued to reign in the northern kingdom. On Aelle's death the Bernician king Aethelric again subdued Deira, but Aelle's son Edwin (q.v.) would return to rule as the most powerful English ruler

Alb

Derived from the long white tunic (tunica alba, or linea) commonly