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Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit (French ballet company)
...in Paris. In 1945 Petit was instrumental in creating Les Ballets des Champs-Elysées, where he remained as principal dancer, ballet master, and choreographer until 1947. In 1948 he formed the Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit (1948–50, 1953–54, 1955, and 1958), which made several tours of Europe and the United States. Dancers who rose to prominence in his companies include Je...
Ballets des Champs-Elysées, Les (French ballet company)
...Ballet school, he joined the company in 1940 but left in 1944 to create and perform his own works at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, in Paris. In 1945 Petit was instrumental in creating Les Ballets des Champs-Elysées, where he remained as principal dancer, ballet master, and choreographer until 1947. In 1948 he formed the Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit (1948–50,......
Ballets Russes (ballet company)
ballet company founded in Paris in 1909 by the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev. The original company included the choreographer Michel Fokine and the dancers Anna Pavlova and...
Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo (ballet company)
ballet company founded in Monte-Carlo in 1932. The name Ballets Russes had been used by the impresario Serge Diaghilev for his company, which revolutionized ballet in the first three decades of the 20th century. Under the direction of Colonel W. de Basil...
Balletti a cinque voci…per cantare, sonare, et ballare (work by Gastoldi)
...forms of the time, such as the canzonetta, villota, villanesca, and villanella. The term was first applied to musical compositions by the Italian Giovanni Gastoldi in 1591 in his Balletti a cinque voci . . . per cantare, sonare, et ballare (Balletti in Five Voices . . . to Sing, Play, and Dance)....
balletto (music)
in music, genre of light vocal composition of the late 16th–early 17th centuries, originating in Italy. Dancelike and having much in common with the madrigal, a major vocal form of the period, it is typically strophic (stanzaic) with each of the two repeated parts ending in a “fa-la-la” burden, or refrain. It has a clear alternation of strong and weak beats, a quality common ...
Balli di Sfessania (engravings by Callot)
Callot also had a genius for caricature and the grotesque. His series of plates of single or dual figures—for example, the Balli di Sfessania (“Dance of Sfessania”), the Caprices of Various Figures, and the Hunchbacks—are witty and picturesque and show a rare eye for factual detail....
Balli Kombëtar (political party, Albania)
...Party and began to fight the occupiers as a unified resistance force. After a successful struggle against the fascists and two other resistance groups that contended for power with them—the National Front (Balli Kombëtar) and the pro-Zog Legality Party (Legaliteti)—the communists seized control of the country on Nov. 29, 1944. Enver Hoxha, a college instructor who had led t...
Ballia (India)
city, eastern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. It lies along the Ganges (Ganga) River, 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Varanasi (Benares). An ancient settlement, the city has occasionally been moved northward because of changes in the river’s course. Ballia is an administrative, trade, and business centre, with o...
Balliett, Whitney Lyon (American writer)
April 17, 1926 New York, N.Y.Feb. 1, 2007 New York CityAmerican writer who became the most influential of all jazz critics by describing the music and its musicians with vivid, sensual metaphors. During 1957–2001 The New Yorker...
Ballina (New South Wales, Australia)
town and port, north coastal New South Wales, Australia, at the mouth of the Richmond River. Founded (1842–43) as the shipping outlet for the river valley, it was significantly affected by a gold rush in 1860. Proclaimed a town in 1856 and a municipality in 1883, Ballina was an im...
Ballina (Ireland)
urban district, County Mayo, Ireland, on the River Moy. The town, the largest in Mayo, has a modern Roman Catholic cathedral and the remains of an Augustinian friary founded about 1375. Salmon and trout fishing nearby are notable. Hand tools, drills, and medical products are manufactured there. Pop. (2006) 10,056....
Ballinasloe (Ireland)
market town and urban district, County Galway, Ireland, on the River Suck and a northerly extension of the Grand Canal. Originally a small settlement beside the medieval castle guarding the important Suck crossing, the town was developed mainly in the 18th century. It is the main market town of east County Galway and is note...
balling (biology)
...under coils of their bodies. For most species with this habit, the body may be coiled loosely; however, it may also be tightly coiled so that it forms a compact ball with the head in the centre. Balling, as the latter habit is called, is a characteristic response of Calabaria and another African python, Python regius. The African armadillo lizard (Cordylus cataphractus),......
Balling, Pieter (Flemish author)
In 1661 Spinoza was visited by a former Collegiant, Pieter Balling, who belonged to a philosophical group in Amsterdam that was very interested in Spinoza’s ideas. Shortly after his visit, Balling published a pamphlet, Het licht op den kandelar (Dutch: “Light on the Candlestick”), that attempted to justify the tenets of Quakerism. The work, which eventually became...
Ballinger, Richard A. (American politician)
U.S. secretary of the interior (1909–11) whose land-use policy contributed to the rift between the conservative and progressive factions in the Republican party....
Ballinger, Richard Achilles (American politician)
U.S. secretary of the interior (1909–11) whose land-use policy contributed to the rift between the conservative and progressive factions in the Republican party....
Balliol College (college, University of Oxford, England, United Kingdom)
Scottish magnate of Norman descent, one of the richest landowners of his time in Britain, who is regarded as the founder of Balliol College, Oxford; he was the father of John de Balliol, king of Scots. The elder John served (1251–55) as guardian of the young Scottish king Alexander III. His loyalty to King Henry III of England in the Barons’ War (1264–67, against rebellious no...
Balliol, Edward de (king of Scotland)
son of King John de Balliol of Scotland and claimant to the title of King of Scots, who was crowned in September 1332. Expelled in December 1332, he was restored in 1333–56, having acknowledged Edward III of England as his lord....
Balliol family (British family)
medieval family that played an important part in the history of Scotland and came originally to England from Bailleul (Somme) in Normandy. Guy de Balliol already possessed lands in Northumberland and elsewhere during the reign of William II of England (1087–1100). Guy’s nephew and successor, Bernard (d. c. 1167) built ...
Balliol, John de (Scottish magnate)
Scottish magnate of Norman descent, one of the richest landowners of his time in Britain, who is regarded as the founder of Balliol College, Oxford; he was the father of John de Balliol, king of Scots. The elder John served (1251–55) as guardian of the young Scottish king Alexander III. His loyalty to King Henry III of England in the Barons...
Balliol, John de (king of Scotland [1250-1313])
king of Scotland from 1292 to 1296, the youngest son of John de Balliol and his wife Dervorguilla, daughter and heiress of the lord of Galloway. ...
ballista (ancient missile launcher)
ancient missile launcher designed to hurl javelins or heavy balls. Ballistas were powered by torsion derived from two thick skeins of twisted cords through which were thrust two separate arms joined at their ends by the cord that propelled the missile. The much smaller carroballistae were of similar design but were sufficiently mobile that Roman legions took t...
ballistic galvanometer
The ballistic galvanometer is designed to deflect its indicating needle (or mirror) in a way that is proportional to the total charge passing through its moving coil or to a voltage pulse of short duration. Any conventional galvanometer may also be employed as a ballistic type, but the latter has smaller torque and higher inertia in the coil....
ballistic missile (rocket)
In January China became only the third country (after the former Soviet Union and the United States) to have successfully tested an antisatellite weapon. The test involved using a medium-range ballistic missile, which rammed a disused Chinese weather satellite orbiting at an altitude of 850 km (530 mi)....
ballistic missile defense radar
The systems for detecting and tracking ballistic missiles and orbiting satellites are much larger than those for aircraft detection because the ranges are longer and the radar echoes from space targets can be smaller than echoes from aircraft. Such radars might be required to have maximum ranges of 2,000 to 3,000 nautical miles (3,700 to 5,600 km), as compared with 200 nautical miles (370 km)......
Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (radar technology)
...Two antennas make up a system, with each capable of covering a sector 120 degrees in azimuth. Vertical coverage is from 3 to 85 degrees. An upgraded variant of this type of radar is used in the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) network, with installations in Alaska, Greenland, and England. BMEWS is designed to provide warning of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Each......
ballistic pendulum (instrument)
device for measuring the velocity of a projectile, such as a bullet. A large wooden block suspended by two cords serves as the pendulum bob. When a bullet is fired into the bob, its momentum is transferred to the bob. The bullet’s momentum can be determined from the amplitude of the pendulum swing. The velocity of the bullet, in turn, can be derived from its calculated m...
ballistic vest
protective covering worn to protect the torso against bullets....
ballistics
science of the propulsion, flight, and impact of projectiles. It is divided into several disciplines. Internal and external ballistics, respectively, deal with the propulsion and the flight of projectiles. The transition between these two regimes is called intermediate ballistics. Terminal ballistics concerns the impact of projectiles; a separate category encompasses the woundin...
ballistite (chemical explosive)
In 1887 Nobel introduced another of his revolutionary inventions, which he called Ballistite. He mixed 40 percent of a lower nitrogen content, more soluble nitrocellulose, and 60 percent of nitroglycerin. Cut into flakes, this made an excellent propellant, and it continued in use for over 75 years. The British refused to recognize Nobel’s patent and developed a number of similar products un...
ballistocardiogram
...of the body, which in turn causes movements in a suspended supporting structure, usually a special table or bed on which the subject is lying, and these movements are recorded photographically (ballistocardiogram, or BCG) as a series of waves. The BCG is one of the most sensitive measures of the force of the heartbeat, and an abnormality appearing in the BCG of an apparently healthy subject......
ballistocardiography
graphic recording of the stroke volume of the heart for the purpose of calculating cardiac output. The heartbeat results in motion of the body, which in turn causes movements in a suspended supporting structure, usually a special table or bed on which the subject is lying, and these move...
ballistospore
in fungi, a spore forcibly propelled from its site. The basidiospores of the mushrooms, produced on the gills and on the walls of the spores, are ballistospores. They are shot a very short distance from the vertical walls of the fruiting structure and then drift down. In other fungi, including certain slime molds...
Ballivián, Lake (ancient lake, South America)
predecessor to modern Lake Titicaca, on the Bolivia-Peru border during the Pleistocene Epoch (approximately 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago). Its surface is thought to have been at least 100 metres (330 feet) higher than Lake Titicaca’s current level. As the lake drained, it formed two smaller lakes: Titicaca, in the northern portion of...
ballivus (English law)
About this time, the doctrine of principal and agent developed in England as an outgrowth or expansion of the doctrine of master and servant. Anglo-Norman law created the figures of ballivus and attornatus. His position in the household of his master empowered the ballivus to transact commercial business for his master, reminiscent of the power of the slave to bind his......
Ballmer, Steve (American executive)
March 24, 1956Detroit, Mich.In March 2011, Steve Ballmer, CEO since 2000 of mammoth computer software company Microsoft Corp., was ranked number 46 on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires in the world and number 17 in the U.S., w...
“ballo in maschera, Un” (opera by Verdi)
Two pieces for Italian theatres, Simon Boccanegra (1857) and Un ballo in maschera (1859; A Masked Ball), affected to a lesser extent by the impact of the grand operatic style, show the enrichment of Verdi’s power as an interpreter of human character and as a master of orchestral colour. ......
Ballon de Guebwiller (mountain, France)
...elevation in the south, near the Alps, where crystalline rocks are exposed; the highest summits are called ballons, and the highest is the Ballon de Guebwiller (Mount Guebwiller), with an elevation of 4,669 feet (1,423 metres). To the north the Vosges massif dips beneath a cover of forested sandstone from the Triassic Period (about 250 to 200......
Ballon, Jean (French dancer)
ballet dancer whose extraordinarily light, elastic leaps reputedly inspired the ballet term “ballon” used to describe a dancer’s ability to ascend without apparent effort and to land smoothly and softly. The ballet term is also thought to derive from the French word ballon (“balloon”)....
Ballonius, Guillaume de (French physician)
physician, founder of modern epidemiology, who revived Hippocratic medical practice in Renaissance Europe. Dean of the University of Paris medical faculty (1580), he compiled a clear account of epidemics between 1570 and 1579, the first comprehensive w...
balloon (aircraft)
large airtight bag filled with hot air or a lighter-than-air gas, such as helium or hydrogen, to provide buoyancy so that it will rise and float in the atmosphere. Transport balloons have a basket or container hung below for passengers or cargo. A self-propelled, steerable balloon is called an airship, or dirigible....
balloon angioplasty (medicine)
...have been saved by coronary bypass surgery, in which sections of blood vessels from other parts of the body are used to route blood flow around the obstructions. Some occlusions can be opened by balloon angioplasty, in which a catheter is inserted to the site of obstruction and a balloon is inflated in order to dilate the artery and flatten the plaque deposits. Passages opened in this way......
balloon flight (aviation)
passage through the air of a balloon that contains a buoyant gas, such as helium or heated air, for which reason it is also known as lighter-than-air free flight. Unmanned balloons have been used to carry meteorological instruments and may be radio-controlled. Manned balloons have a basket, or gondola, attached below the balloon for the pilot and passengers. A simple harness or boatswain’s ...
balloon fly (insect)
any member of a family of flies in the insect order Diptera that are named for their swollen abdomen. It is also characterized by an extremely small head and a humped back. Some adults have a slender proboscis (feeding organ) and feed from flowers, whereas others lack a proboscis and probably do not feed in their adult stage. Eggs are laid on leaves and flowers. Upon hatching, the larvae are small...
balloon framing (architecture)
framework of a wooden building in which the elements consist of small members nailed together. In balloon framing, the studs (vertical members) extend the full height of the building (usually two stories) from foundation plate to rafter plate, as contrasted with platform framing, in which each floor is framed separately....
balloon tuboplasty (medical procedure)
...tube can be used to remove an obstruction and, as a result, correct the underlying fertility problem. Less-invasive techniques also may be used to unblock obstructed fallopian tubes. For example, balloon tuboplasty involves the insertion of a catheter through the cervix into the fallopian tube to the point of obstruction; a small deflated balloon is then inserted through the catheter and......
balloon vine (plant)
(species Cardiospermum halicacabum), woody perennial vine in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae) that is native to subtropical and tropical America. It is naturalized and cultivated widely as an ornamental for ...
balloonflower (plant)
plant that is the only species of its genus, an East Asian perennial of the bellflower family (Campanulaceae). The balloonflower has balloonlike buds that become flaring, five-lobed, bell-shaped flowers with a thick, rubbery texture....
ballooning (aviation)
unpowered balloon flight in competition or for recreation, a sport that became popular in the 1960s. The balloons used are of plastic, nylon, or polyethylene, and are filled with hydrogen, helium, methane, or hot air....
ballooning (arthropod locomotion)
...stage. Small larvae spin silk from glands in their mouthparts and hang from branches high up in trees. If the silk lines are long enough, the wind breaks them from the tree, and the silk acts as a parasail, carrying the young larvae to new, uninfested trees to feed. When larval development is complete, they crawl down the tree trunk, settle in leaf litter at the base of the tree, and enter the....
ballot (voting and elections)
The ballot makes secret voting possible. Its initial use seems to have been as a means to reduce irregularities and deception in elections. However, this objective could be achieved only if the ballot was not supplied by the voter himself, as was the case in much early voting by secret ballot, or by political parties, as is still the case in some countries. Ballot procedures differ widely,......
ballot (politics)
the system of voting in which voters mark their choices in privacy on uniform ballots printed and distributed by the government or designate their choices by some other secret means. Victoria and South Australia were the first states to introduce secrecy of the ballot (1856), and for that reason the ...
Ballot Act (United Kingdom [1872])
(1872) British law that introduced the secret ballot for all parliamentary and municipal elections. The secret ballot was also called the Australian ballot, because it was first used in Australian elections (1856). The British law, which was designed to protect voters fro...
Ballota nigra (herb)
Black horehound (Ballota nigra) is a hairy perennial herb with a fetid odour, belonging to the same family. It has purplish flowers and lacks the woolly white appearance of white horehound. It is sometimes used to adulterate extracts of white horehound. It is native to the same regions as white horehound and is naturalized in North America....
ballotade (horsemanship)
...is more upward than forward; the levade, in which the horse stands balanced on its hindlegs, its forelegs drawn in; the courvet, which is a jump forward in the levade position; and the croupade, ballotade, and capriole, a variety of spectacular airs in which the horse jumps and lands again in the same spot....
Ballou, Adin (American theologian)
...for sinners after death; members of MAUR, however, embraced the position that there would be a limited punishment followed by a general restoration to God. One of MAUR’s leading proponents was Adin Ballou (1803–90), Hosea’s cousin and an outstanding advocate of a program of social reform grounded in the New Testament that he called “Practical Christianity.” Wh...
Ballou, Hosea (American theologian [1771-1852])
American theologian who for more than 50 years was an influential leader in the Universalist church....
Ballou, Hosea (American educator [1796–1861])
Hosea Ballou (1796–1861), nephew of the theologian Hosea Ballou (1771–1852), was joined by Universalist church members in founding Tufts College in 1852 and served as its first president. It was named for its original benefactor, Charles Tufts of Somerville. Women were first admitted in 1892 and were segregated in 1910 with the creation of Jackson College for Women; the physical......
ballpoint pen (writing implement)
...his father’s import-export firm, and by his early 20s he was managing his own import-export company in San Francisco. He expanded his business in 1949 by purchasing a bankrupt fabricator of ballpoint pen components for $18,000. Ballpoint pens, which had been invented in the mid-1930s, were unpopular at the time: they leaked, the ink smeared, and most of them were expensive. By......
ballroom dance
type of social dancing, originally practiced in Europe and the United States, that is performed by couples and follows prescribed steps. The tradition was historically distinguished from folk or country dance by its association with the elite ...
Balluat, Paul-Henri-Benjamin, baron de Constant de Rébecque d’Estournelles (French diplomat)
French diplomat and parliamentarian who devoted most of his life to the cause of international cooperation and in 1909 was cowinner (with Auguste-Marie-François Beernaert) of the Nobel Prize for Peace....
Bally (India)
city, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India. Bally lies just west of the Hugli (Hooghly) River. A part of the Haora (Howrah) urban agglomeration, it is connected by road and rail with Haora, Kharagpur, and Burdwan and is a steamer station for traffic along the Hugli. Major industries in the city include jute, ...
Bally, Charles (Swiss philologist)
The traditional idea of style as something properly added to thoughts contrasts with the ideas that derive from Charles Bally (1865–1947), the Swiss philologist, and Leo Spitzer (1887–1960), the Austrian literary critic. According to followers of these thinkers, style in language arises from the possibility of choice among alternative forms of expression, as for example, between......
Ballycastle (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
town, Moyle district (established 1973), formerly in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is situated along Ballycastle Bay, opposite Rathlin Island, where Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, is said to have hidden in a cave. Ballycastle is at the mouth of...
Ballyman Church (church, Ireland)
...terminate southward in Bray Head, a 653-foot (199-metre) quartzite peak. Bray is an important tourist centre, both as a resort and as a base for touring the scenic areas of Wicklow. The remains of Ballyman Church, rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries, are nearby in the Bray River valley. The area has electronics and engineering industries. Pop. (2002) 26,244....
Ballymena (district, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
district, Northern Ireland. It was established in 1973 and was formerly in County Antrim. Ballymena borders the districts of Magherafelt to the west, Ballymoney and Moyle to the north, Larne to the east, and Antrim to the south. The desolate Antrim Mountains, which reach an elevation of ...
Ballymena (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
town and seat of Ballymena district, Northern Ireland. It lies in the River Main valley 24 miles (40 km) northwest of the city of Belfast. The town is the market centre for the surrounding countryside and has been long known for its production of linens and woolens; more recently, synthe...
Ballymoney (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
town, seat, and district (established 1973), formerly within County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The town of Ballymoney, located on the eastern side of the valley on a tributary of the River Bann, was the birthplace of James McKinley, grandfather of the U.S. president William McKinley. The town preserves a mar...
Ballymoney (district, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
...on a tributary of the River Bann, was the birthplace of James McKinley, grandfather of the U.S. president William McKinley. The town preserves a marketplace of 1775 and an old parish church (1637). Ballymoney town is now a thriving agricultural centre with textile and engineering industries as well as several bacon- and ham-processing plants....
Ballymun (Ireland)
After the war, as shortages eased, new suburbs began to spread. In 1969 high-rise apartment blocks were built in new satellite developments in the towns of Ballymun and Ballyfermot; unfortunately, these proved no more immune to the crime and vandalism that plagued such buildings practically everywhere. Recognizing this, in the early 21st century Dublin City Council approved the demolition of......
Ballynahinch (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
...chief crops are oats, barley, wheat, and hay. Livestock raising (sheep and pigs) is also important. Downpatrick is the district’s market and administrative seat and has some textile industry, while Ballynahinch, located farther west, has agricultural machinery and metal-fabrication industries. Newcastle in the south and Killyleagh in the east are popular seaside resorts. Tollymore Forest...
balm (herb)
any of several fragrant herbs of the mint family, particularly Melissa officinalis, also called balm gentle, or lemon balm, and cultivated in temperate climates for its fragrant leaves, which are used as a scent in perfumery, a...
balm fir (tree)
All North American tree species are distributed across the continent except jack pine (Pinus banksiana), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and balsam fir (Abies balsamea). Jack pine is a relatively small, short-lived, early successional tree occurring in the eastern and central parts of boreal forests east of the Rocky Mountains. Lodgepole pine is a longer-lived, early......
balm gentle (herb)
any of several fragrant herbs of the mint family, particularly Melissa officinalis, also called balm gentle, or lemon balm, and cultivated in temperate climates for its fragrant leaves, which are used as a scent in perfumery, a...
Balm in Gilead (work by Wilson)
...of Lady Bright (published together in 1968) are two one-act plays first performed in 1964; the former involves a pair of incestuous siblings, and the latter features an aging transvestite. Balm in Gilead (1965), Wilson’s first full-length play, is set in a crowded world of hustlers and junkies. The Rimers of Eldritch (1967) examines life in a small town....
balm of Gilead (herb)
...laevis, Molucca balm, or bells of Ireland. Aromatic exudations from species of Commiphora (trees and shrubs of the incense-tree family) may also be referred to as balm. Balm of Gilead, or balm of Mecca, is the myrrhlike resin from Commiphora opobalsamum of Arabia. The balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is sometimes called balm fir, or balm of Gilead fir. The......
balm of Gilead poplar (tree)
...tacamahac (P. tacamahaca or P. balsamifera), which is native throughout northern North America in swampy soil, is distinguished by its aromatic, resinous buds. The buds of the similar balm of Gilead poplar (P. jackii) are used to make an ointment. Western balsam poplar, or black cottonwood (P. trichocarpa), 60 metres (195 feet) tall, is one of the largest deciduous.....
Balmaceda, José Manuel (president of Chile)
liberal reformer and president of Chile (1886–91) whose conflict with his legislature precipitated a civil war in 1891....
Balmain, Pierre (French couturier)
French couturier who in 1945 founded a fashion house that made his name a byword for elegance. His clients included the Duchess of Windsor, the Queen of Belgium, and many of the leading film stars of the 1950s, as well as the experimental writer Gertrude Stein and her companion, Alice B. Toklas....
Balmain, Pierre-Alexandre-Claudius (French couturier)
French couturier who in 1945 founded a fashion house that made his name a byword for elegance. His clients included the Duchess of Windsor, the Queen of Belgium, and many of the leading film stars of the 1950s, as well as the experimental writer Gertrude Stein and her companion, Alice B. Toklas....
Balmat, Jacques (French mountaineer)
...offered prize money for the first ascent of Mont Blanc, but it was not until 1786, more than 25 years later, that his money was claimed by a Chamonix doctor, Michel-Gabriel Paccard, and his porter, Jacques Balmat. A year later de Saussure himself climbed to the summit of Mont Blanc. After 1850 groups of British climbers with Swiss, Italian, or French guides scaled one after another of the high....
Balmer, Johann Jakob (Swiss mathematician)
Swiss mathematician who discovered a formula basic to the development of atomic theory and the field of atomic spectroscopy....
Balmer series (physics)
Bohr’s model accounts for the stability of atoms because the electron cannot lose more energy than it has in the smallest orbit, the one with n = 1. The model also explains the Balmer formula for the spectral lines of hydrogen. The light energy is the difference in energies between the two orbits in the Bohr formula. Using Einstein’s formula to deduce the frequen...
Balmer-alpha line (spectroscopy)
...electric field in a space of a few millimetres. At electric field intensities of 100,000 volts per centimetre, Stark observed with a spectroscope that the characteristic spectral lines, called Balmer lines, of hydrogen were split into a number of symmetrically spaced components, some of which were linearly polarized (vibrating in one plane) with the electric vector parallel to the lines of......
Balmes, Jaime Luciano (Spanish philosopher)
ecclesiastic, political writer, and philosopher whose liberal ideas were strongly opposed by conservative Roman Catholics....
Balmont, Konstantin (Russian poet)
...new cry was “art for art’s sake,” and the new idols were the French Symbolists. The first, “decadent” generation of Russian Symbolists included the poets Valery Bryusov, Konstantin Balmont, and Zinaida Gippius. The second, more mystically and apocalyptically oriented generation included Aleksandr Blok (perhaps the most talented lyric poet Russia ever produced)...
Balmoral Castle (castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom)
private residence of the British sovereign, on the right bank of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, at 926 feet (282 metres) above sea level. After its acquisition (1852) by Albert, the prince consort (husband of Queen Victoria), the small castle ...
Balnaves, Henry (Scottish politician)
politician and diplomat who was one of the chief promoters of the Reformation in Scotland....
Baloch (people)
group of tribes speaking the Balochi language and estimated at about five million inhabitants in the province of Balochistān in Pakistan and also neighbouring areas of Iran and Afghanistan. In Pakistan the Baloch people are divided into two groups, the Sulaimani and the Makrani, separated from each o...
Balochi language
one of the oldest living languages of the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European languages. Balochi is spoken by about five million people as a first or second language in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, India, and Baloch diaspora communities....
Balochi rug
floor covering woven by the Baloch people living in Afghanistan and eastern Iran. The patterns in these rugs are highly varied, many consisting of repeated motifs, diagonally arranged across the field. Some present a maze of intricate latch-hooked forms. Prayer rugs, with a simple rectangular arch-head des...
Balochistan (region, Iran)
traditional region of southeastern Iran, the greater part of which is in Sīstān va Balūchestān ostān (province). With harsh physical and social conditions, the region is among the least developed in Iran. Precipitation, scarce and falling mostly in violent rainstorms, causes floods and heavy erosion, whil...
Balochistān (province, Pakistan)
westernmost province of Pakistan. It is bordered by Iran (west), by Afghanistan (northwest), by North-West Frontier and Punjab provinces (northeast and east), by Sindh province (southeast), and by the Arabian Sea (south)....
Balochistān Plateau (plateau, Pakistan)
The vast tableland of Balochistan contains a great variety of physical features. In the northeast a basin centred on the towns of Zhob and Loralai forms a trellis-patterned lobe that is surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges. To the east and southeast is the Sulaiman Range, which joins the Central Brahui Range near Quetta, and to the north and northwest is the Toba Kakar Range (which......
Balochistan Students Union (Pakistani organization)
...Province. Ethnic interests are served by organizations such as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (formerly the Muhajir Qaumi Movement) in Karachi and Hyderabad, the Sindhi National Front in Sind, and the Balochistan Students Union in Balochistan....
Balochistān, University of (university, Quetta, Pakistan)
The University of Balochistān was established in Quetta in 1970. The Balochi Academy and the Pashto Academy, also in Quetta, promote the preservation of traditional cultures. Area 134,051 square miles (347,190 square km). Pop. (2003 est.) 7,450,000....
Balodis, Jānis (Latvian politician)
army officer and politician who was a principal figure in the foundation and government of independent Latvia. He was commander in chief of the army and navy in Latvia’s war of independence and later was a cabinet member and vice president....
Balon, Jean (French dancer)
ballet dancer whose extraordinarily light, elastic leaps reputedly inspired the ballet term “ballon” used to describe a dancer’s ability to ascend without apparent effort and to land smoothly and softly. The ballet term is also thought to derive from the French word ballon (“balloon”)....
Baloochi rug
floor covering woven by the Baloch people living in Afghanistan and eastern Iran. The patterns in these rugs are highly varied, many consisting of repeated motifs, diagonally arranged across the field. Some present a maze of intricate latch-hooked forms. Prayer rugs, with a simple rectangular arch-head des...