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aerobatic box (aviation)
Pilots perform their sequences in the “aerobatic box,” an imaginary cube of airspace whose sides measure 1,000 metres (3,300 feet), with a minimum lower safety limit below which pilots may not fly. Penalties are imposed for flying outside or below these limits. A pilot is expected to perform each sequence correctly, accurately, and precisely, and further penalties are assessed when.....
aerobatics (sport)
maneuvers in which an aircraft is flown under precise control in unusual attitudes (the position of an aircraft determined by the relationship between its axes and a reference such as the horizon). A myriad of aerobatic maneuvers exist, some of the better-known being rolls, loops, stall turns (hammerheads), and tailslides. The term aerobatics came into use in early 1914 a...
aerobe (microbiology)
an organism able to live and reproduce only in the presence of free oxygen (e.g., certain bacteria and certain yeasts). Organisms that grow in the absence of free oxygen are termed anaerobes; those that grow only in the absence of oxygen are obligate, or strict, anaerobes. Some species, called facultative anaerobes, are able to grow either with or with...
Aerobee (United States rocket)
...Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, Silver Spring, Md. He supervised the testing and use of captured German V-2 rockets for upper atmosphere exploration and assisted in the development of the Aerobee, one of the first rockets built for research purposes....
aerobic dancing (exercise)
system of physical conditioning that increases the efficiency of the body’s intake of oxygen, thereby stimulating the cardiovascular system, developing endurance, and reducing body fat. Increased energy, lower blo...
aerobic exercise (exercise)
system of physical conditioning that increases the efficiency of the body’s intake of oxygen, thereby stimulating the cardiovascular system, developing endurance, and reducing body fat. Increased energy, lower blo...
aerobic oxidation (biology)
...animals, carry the oxidation of glucose farther. They rapidly use anaerobic glucose breakdown products such as lactic acid, ethanol, or acetate with Krebs-cycle intermediates in the mitochondria. Aerobic oxidation of glucose requires an additional 60 enzyme-catalyzed steps. The anaerobic breakdown of glucose uses enzymes suspended freely in solution in the cells. The aerobic steps occur on......
aerobic respiration (biology)
...cell from respiration, a process in which the electrons from molecules of sugar are transferred not to another organic molecule but to an inorganic molecule. The most familiar respiratory process (aerobic respiration) uses oxygen as the final electron acceptor. The sugar is completely broken down to carbon dioxide and water, yielding a maximum of 38 molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose.......
aerobic scope (biology)
...to the muscles’ needs occur up to a limit that is twice as high in the athlete as in the untrained individual. This range of possible oxidative metabolism from rest to maximal exercise is called the aerobic scope. The upper limit to oxygen consumption is not conferred by the ability of muscles to do work, but rather by the limited ability of the respiratory system to provide or utilize o...
aerobics (exercise)
system of physical conditioning that increases the efficiency of the body’s intake of oxygen, thereby stimulating the cardiovascular system, developing endurance, and reducing body fat. Increased energy, lower blo...
aerobraking (space exploration)
After a 10-month journey, Mars Global Surveyor took up a highly elliptical orbit above Mars on September 12, 1997. It employed a technique known as aerobraking—using the drag of the Martian upper atmosphere on the spacecraft to slow it down gradually—to achieve a final 400-km (250-mile) circular polar orbit in which it circled Mars 12 times a day. This orbital configuration allowed.....
aerodontalgia (pathology)
pain caused by the expansion or contraction of air beneath the filling of a tooth when pressure within the mouth cavity is increased or decreased. Aircraft pilots and underwater divers are common victims of tooth squeeze, as the pressures that they experience vary widely from the normal atmospheric pressures. As one goes deeper under water, pressure increases. Air beneath a filling is reduced in v...
aerodrome
site and installation for the takeoff and landing of aircraft. An airport usually has paved runways and maintenance facilities and serves as a terminal for passengers and cargo....
Aerodrome, The (novel by Warner)
...by Auden and Isherwood, of which The Ascent of F6 (1936) is the most notable, owed much to Bertolt Brecht; the political parables of Rex Warner, of which The Aerodrome (1941) is the most accomplished, owed much to Franz Kafka; and the complex and often obscure poetry of David Gascoyne and Dylan Thomas owed much to the Surrealists. Even so,......
aerodynamic ground-effect machine (vehicle)
...those, more closely related to true aircraft, that require forward speed before the pressure differential can be generated. The former are classed as aerostatic craft (ACVs); the latter are called aerodynamic ground-effect machines (GEMs)....
aerodynamic lift (physics)
Upward-acting force on an aircraft wing or airfoil. An aircraft in flight experiences an upward lift force, as well as the thrust of the engine, the force of its own weight, and a drag force. The lift force arises because the speed at which the displaced air moves over the top of the air...
aerodynamics (fluid mechanics)
branch of physics that deals with the motion of air and other gaseous fluids and with the forces acting on bodies passing through such a fluid. Aerodynamics seeks, in particular, to explain the principles governing the flight of aircraft, rockets, and missiles. It is also concerned with the design of automobiles, high-speed trains, and ships, as well as with the construction of such structures as...
Aeroflot (Russian airline)
Russian airline that was formerly the national airline of the Soviet Union....
Aeroflot-Russian Airlines (Russian airline)
Russian airline that was formerly the national airline of the Soviet Union....
Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines (Russian airline)
Russian airline that was formerly the national airline of the Soviet Union....
aerofoil (aircraft part)
shaped surface, such as an airplane wing, tail, or propeller blade, that produces lift and drag when moved through the air. An airfoil produces a lifting force that acts at right angles to the airstream and a dragging force that acts in the same direction as the airstream....
aerogel
The most significant instrument was the Stardust Sample Collection Apparatus, two arrays of aerogel mounted on opposite sides of a common plate. Aerogel is an inert silica-based substance that has the lowest density (2 mg per cubic centimetre [0.001 ounce per cubic inch]) of any solid. It is designed to capture particles by gently slowing and then stopping them in the aerogel matrix. One side......
aerogram (postal)
For individual correspondence, the most practical and inexpensive form of airmail remains the compact aerogram, which was introduced in Britain during World War II as a convenient way of writing to overseas military personnel. It consists of a sheet of lightweight paper suitably folded and gummed on all sides. Recognized by the UPU, the aerogram is available in most countries....
aerolite (astronomy)
any meteorite consisting largely of rock-forming (silicate) minerals. Stony meteorites, which are the most abundant kind of meteorite, are divided into two groups: chondrites and achondrites. Chondrites are physically and chemically the most primitive meteorites in the solar system. They appear to be primarily aggregates o...
aerolith (astronomy)
any meteorite consisting largely of rock-forming (silicate) minerals. Stony meteorites, which are the most abundant kind of meteorite, are divided into two groups: chondrites and achondrites. Chondrites are physically and chemically the most primitive meteorites in the solar system. They appear to be primarily aggregates o...
aeromancy (occult practice)
...This book interprets the hexagram created by the tossing of yarrow stalks. Among the vast number of sources of augury, each with its own specialist jargon and ritual, were atmospheric phenomena (aeromancy), cards (cartomancy), dice or lots (cleromancy), dots and other marks on paper (geomancy), fire and smoke (pyromancy), the shoulder blades of animals (scapulimancy), entrails of sacrificed......
Aeromexico (Mexican airline)
...This book interprets the hexagram created by the tossing of yarrow stalks. Among the vast number of sources of augury, each with its own specialist jargon and ritual, were atmospheric phenomena (aeromancy), cards (cartomancy), dice or lots (cleromancy), dots and other marks on paper (geomancy), fire and smoke (pyromancy), the shoulder blades of animals (scapulimancy), entrails of sacrificed.......
Aeronautes saxatalis (bird)
...islands, nesting in caves and behind waterfalls. The white-rumped swift (Apus caffer), soft-tailed and black with white markings, is resident throughout Africa south of the Sahara. The white-throated swift (Aeronautes saxatalis), soft-tailed and black with white markings, breeds in western North America and winters in southern Central America, nesting on vertical rock......
Aeronautical Battalion (Italian aviation unit)
Trained as an artillery officer, from 1912 to 1915 Douhet served as commander of the Aeronautical Battalion, Italy’s first aviation unit (also the first to practice aerial bombardment, in Libya during Italy’s war with Turkey, 1911–12). Largely because of his efforts, the three-engine Caproni bomber was ready for use by the time Italy entered World War I. He soon grasped the po...
aeronautical chart (navigation)
Aeronautical charts provide essential data for the pilot and air navigator. They are, in effect, small-scale topographic maps on which current information on aids to navigation have been superimposed. To facilitate rapid recognition and orientation, principal features of the land that would be visible from an aircraft in flight are shown to the exclusion of less important details....
Aeronautical Chart Service (United States Air Force)
...Only when World War II brought requirements for the mapping of many foreign areas did the U.S. military become involved on a large scale, with the expansion of the Oceanographic Office (Navy), Aeronautical Chart Service (Air Force), and the U.S. Army Topographic command....
aeronautical engineering
field of engineering concerned with the design, development, construction, testing, and operation of vehicles operating in the Earth’s atmosphere or in outer space. In 1958 the first definition of aerospace engineering appeared, considering the Earth’s atmosphere and the space above it as a single realm for development of flight ...
aeronautical public correspondence system
...described above, there also exist several systems that permit the placement of telephone calls to the PSTN by passengers on commercial aircraft. These in-flight telephones, known by the generic name aeronautical public correspondence (APC) systems, are of two types: terrestrial-based, in which telephone calls are placed directly from an aircraft to an en route ground station; and......
aeronautics (technology)
...described above, there also exist several systems that permit the placement of telephone calls to the PSTN by passengers on commercial aircraft. These in-flight telephones, known by the generic name aeronautical public correspondence (APC) systems, are of two types: terrestrial-based, in which telephone calls are placed directly from an aircraft to an en route ground station; and.........
Aeronaves de Mexico, SA (Mexican airline)
...described above, there also exist several systems that permit the placement of telephone calls to the PSTN by passengers on commercial aircraft. These in-flight telephones, known by the generic name aeronautical public correspondence (APC) systems, are of two types: terrestrial-based, in which telephone calls are placed directly from an aircraft to an en route ground station; and............
Aeronian Stage (geology)
second of three stages of the Llandovery Series, encompassing all rocks deposited during the Aeronian Age (439 million to 436 million years ago) of the Silurian Period. The name of the interval is derived from the Cemcoed-Aeron Farm near Llandovery, Powys, Wales....
aeronomy (atmospheric science)
study of the physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere, including the distribution of temperature, density, and chemical constituents, and the chemical reactions that occur. Studies of aurora, airglow, the ionosphere, Van Allen radiation belts, ...
Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (United States satellite)
U.S. satellite designed to study noctilucent clouds. AIM was launched on April 25, 2007, by a Pegasus XL rocket that was dropped from an airplane. Noctilucent clouds are faint ice-bearing clouds that form at a height of about 80 km (50 miles) in the layer of the atmosphere called the mesosphere. These clouds were first seen in 1885 and have ...
aerophone (musical instrument)
any of a class of musical instruments in which a vibrating mass of air produces the initial sound. The basic types include woodwind, brass, and free-reed instruments, as well as instruments that fall into none of these groups, such as the bull-roarer and the siren. Bagpipes and organs are hybrids with different kinds of pip...
aeroplane (aircraft)
any of a class of fixed-wing aircraft that is heavier than air, propelled by a screw propeller or a high-velocity jet, and supported by the dynamic reaction of the air against its wings. For an account of the development of the airplane and the advent of civil aviation see history of flight....
aeropyle (zoology)
...which has the effect of timing the emergence of the larva to coincide with suitable conditions of weather and the growth of the food plant. Respiration in the egg is carried on through an aeropyle, a system of air passages in the shell (chorion) that enables oxygen exchange with the environment to occur whether the egg is dry or wet. In a few species of scavenger moths and pierid......
aerosinusitis (pathology)
pain, inflammation, and possible bleeding of the membranes lining the sinus cavities in the head, caused by a difference between the pressure inside the sinuses and that outside. Sinus squeeze is a common malady of persons flying in unpressurized aircraft and of divers....
Aerosmith (American rock group)
American heavy metal band. One of the biggest arena-rock attractions of the late 1970s, Aerosmith became even more popular with its career revival in the mid-1980s. Principal members were lead singer Steven Tyler (byname of Steven Tallarico; b. March 26, 1948New York, N.Y., U.S....
aerosol (physics)
a system of liquid or solid particles uniformly distributed in a finely divided state through a gas, usually air. Aerosol particles play an important role in the precipitation process, providing the nuclei upon which condensation and freezing take place. They participate in chemical processes and influence the electrical properties of the atmosphere. ...
aerosol container
any package, usually a metal can or plastic bottle, designed to dispense its liquid contents as a mist or foam. This type of container was developed in 1941 by the American chemist Lyle D. Goodhue and others for dispensing insecticides. Since that time a wide variety of products ranging from disinfectants to whipping cream have been packaged in a...
Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (instrument)
...to study Earth’s climate through measuring the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere and determining precisely the amount of solar energy Earth receives. Glory had two main science instruments: the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS) and the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM). The APS would have used the polarization of light caused by the presence of aerosols such as soot and sulfates, which......
aerospace engineering
field of engineering concerned with the design, development, construction, testing, and operation of vehicles operating in the Earth’s atmosphere or in outer space. In 1958 the first definition of aerospace engineering appeared, considering the Earth’s atmosphere and the space above it as a single realm for development of flight ...
Aerospace Industries Association of America (American organization)
The interests of the U.S. aerospace industry are represented through the Aerospace Industries Association of America (AIA), an aerospace-industry-funded organization whose membership consists of the major companies in the field. The AIA provides a forum for technical and policy issues concerning the industry and serves as a lobbying agent for the common interests of its members. Its parallel in......
aerospace industry
assemblage of manufacturing concerns that deal with vehicular flight within and beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. (The term aerospace is derived from the words aeronautics and spaceflight.) The aerospace industry is engaged in the research, development, and manufacture of flight vehicles, including unpowered gliders and sailplanes (see gl...
aerospace medicine
specialized branch of medical science concerned with those medical problems encountered in human flight in the atmosphere (aviation medicine) and beyond the atmosphere (space medicine)....
aerospace telemetry (communications)
Aerospace telemetry dates from the 1930s, with the development of the balloon-borne radiosonde, a device that automatically measures such meteorological data as temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity and that sends the information to an Earth station by radio. Aerospace telemetry for rockets and satellites was inaugurated with the Soviet satellite Sputnik, launched in 1957, and systems......
Aerospatiale (French company)
...Economique (GIE; “Grouping of Mutual Economic Interest”), a unique form of partnership instituted in French law in 1967. Originally, 50 percent of the funding came from France’s Aerospatiale (later Aerospatiale Matra), created by the merger of Sud Aviation with Nord Aviation and the French missile maker SEREB, and 50 percent came from Germany’s Deutsche Airbus (later...
Aerospatiale Matra (French company)
...Economique (GIE; “Grouping of Mutual Economic Interest”), a unique form of partnership instituted in French law in 1967. Originally, 50 percent of the funding came from France’s Aerospatiale (later Aerospatiale Matra), created by the merger of Sud Aviation with Nord Aviation and the French missile maker SEREB, and 50 percent came from Germany’s Deutsche Airbus (later...
Aérospatiale SE 210 Caravelle (aircraft)
France succeeded with its first effort at a jet airliner, creating the Sud-Est (later Aérospatiale) SE 210 Caravelle, a medium-range turbojet intended primarily for the continental European market. First flown on May 27, 1955, the Caravelle achieved sales of 282 aircraft, and a turbofan-powered variant was used for domestic routes by airlines in the United States—a marketing coup......
aerostatic craft
...differential irrespective of forward speed; and those, more closely related to true aircraft, that require forward speed before the pressure differential can be generated. The former are classed as aerostatic craft (ACVs); the latter are called aerodynamic ground-effect machines (GEMs)....
aerostatics (physics)
...to that of the velocity of falling bodies, appreciating that the question was whether velocity was proportional to time or to space. He was also one of the first to understand what is now known as aerostatics, as he maintained that a light balloon would rise and remain suspended in the air if a particle of fire were enclosed in it. Finally, his search for mathematical formulas to express laws.....
Aérostier (French military group)
...balloons in 1783, they were adopted quickly for military duties. In 1793 the French National Convention authorized formation of a military tethered-balloon organization, and a company of “Aérostiers” was formed on April 2, 1794. Two months later the first military reconnaissance from such a balloon was made before the city of Maubeuge. Until the Aérostiers were......
aerotitis (physiology)
effects of a difference in pressure between the internal ear spaces and the external ear canal. These effects may include severe pain, inflammation, bleeding, and rupture of the eardrum membrane. Underwater divers and airplane ...
Aerotrain
Once air-cushion suspension was proved practical in Hovercraft, the system was quickly applied to other forms of transport, and it soon became clear that a tracked vehicle, similar to a train or monorail, would benefit considerably from the lack of friction inherent in an air-cushion system. A French company was the first in the world to produce a practical device, and a later version of its......
Aerschot, Philip de Croy, duke of (Dutch political leader)
...leading Calvinist preacher, Petrus Dathenus, Hembyze led some 2,000 troops and Calvinist townspeople in battle against their Catholic neighbours on Oct. 28, 1577. He arrested Philip de Croy, duke of Aerschot, the stadholder of Flanders, as well as Ghent’s several Catholic magistrates, and replaced them with 18 Calvinists, with himself as mayor. Encouraged by Hembyze, the Calvinist townsp...
AES (cryptology)
a data encryption standard endorsed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a replacement for the Data Encryption Standard (DES). AES offers far greater security than DES for communications and commercial transactions over the Inte...
AES (physics)
Energies of Auger electrons (named after French physicist Pierre Auger), like energies of XPS photoelectrons, are characteristic of the individual chemical elements. Thus, it is possible to use AES to analyze surfaces in much the same way as XPS is used. However, because of the differences in the characteristics and limitations of the primary beams for the two techniques, photons versus......
aes grave (Roman coin)
These aes signatum bars were halfway between aes rude and true coinage. In 269 true coinage appeared. It consisted of aes grave, large circular cast coins of bronze all bearing marks of value, from the as (weighing one pound) down to its 12th, the uncia; the obverses showed the head of a deity, the reverses a ship’s prow. These were paralleled at mints elsewhere by similar cast coins; their...
aes rude (Roman coin)
...silver coinage, as well as with bronze stamped with the device of cattle. Roman historical tradition, however, seriously confused the elements of the true picture. Rough, unworked lumps of bronze (aes rude) were certainly used as a metal currency from the 6th century, if not much earlier, perhaps in rare conjunction with very small quantities of unworked gold and silver, themselves also......
aes signatum (Roman coin)
...of tresviri (a board of three officials) who should be aeris flatores (“bronze melters”); and this mint (in the temple of Juno Moneta) did not yet produce true coins but aes signatum, bronze bars (of about six pounds) lacking a mark of value but bearing on each side a clearly recognizable type (including cattle) and perhaps equivalent in value to a Greek silver......
Aeschbacher, Hans (Swiss sculptor)
Swiss sculptor of severe and massive abstract forms....
Aeschines (Greek orator)
Athenian orator who advocated peace with Philip II of Macedonia and who was a bitter political opponent of the statesman Demosthenes....
Aeschines of Sphettus (Greek orator)
Athenian orator who advocated peace with Philip II of Macedonia and who was a bitter political opponent of the statesman Demosthenes....
Aeschronectida (crustacean)
...limbs massive; marine; about 350 species.†Order PalaeostomatopodaCarboniferous.†Order AeschronectidaCarboniferous.Subclass EumalacostracaLate Devonian to Holocene; carapace...
Aeschylus (work by Bentley)
...number of accents in the line is irregular, and one line is usually extended to tease the ear. Another requisite of the successful clerihew is an awkward rhyme, as in Bentley’s Aeschylus:“Steady the Greeks!” shouted Aeschylus.“We won’t let such dogs as these kill us!”Nothing, he thought, could be ...
Aeschylus (Greek dramatist)
the first of classical Athens’ great dramatists, who raised the emerging art of tragedy to great heights of poetry and theatrical power....
Aesculapian snake (reptile)
...the four-lined snake (E. quatuorlineata), which may be 1.8 m (about 6 feet) long. It ranges from Italy to the Caucasus and Turkey and is grayish, with two dorsal and two lateral stripes. The Aesculapian snake (E. longissima), plain and dark coloured, is native to southeastern Europe and Asia Minor. In ancient times it was sacred to Aesclepius, god of medicine; the present isolated...
Aesculapius (Greco-Roman god)
Greco-Roman god of medicine, son of Apollo (god of healing, truth, and prophecy) and the mortal princess Coronis. The Centaur Chiron taught him the art of healing. At length Zeus (the king of the gods), afraid that Asclepius might render all men immortal, slew him with a thunderbolt. Apollo slew the Cyclopes who had made the thunderbolt and was then forced by Zeus to serve Admet...
Aesculus (plant genus)
Hippocastanaceae had only two genera of trees and shrubs. Aesculus (horse chestnuts and buckeyes), with about 13 deciduous species, has an interrupted distribution in temperate forests from western and eastern North America (seven species) to the Balkan Peninsula in Europe (one species) and in Asia from India to China and Japan (five species). The two evergreen species of Billia......
Aesculus carnea (plant)
...large leaves, up to 60 cm (2 feet) across. The Indian horse chestnut (A. indica), with slender, pointed leaflets, has attractive feathery flower spikes with a bottlebrush effect. Red horse chestnut (A. × carnea), a hybrid of A. hippocastanum and A. pavia, grows up to 20 m (65 feet) and has flesh-coloured to scarlet flower spikes....
Aesculus flava (plant)
The sweet, or yellow, buckeye (A. flava, or A. octandra), with yellow flowers, is the largest buckeye, up to 27 m (89 feet), and is naturally abundant in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Red buckeye (A. pavia), with red flowers, is an attractive small tree, reaching a height of up to 7.6 m (25 feet), rarely taller....
Aesculus glabra (plant)
Among the most notable is the Ohio buckeye (A. glabra), also called fetid buckeye and American horse chestnut, a tree growing up to 21 m (70 feet) in height, with twigs and leaves that yield an unpleasant odour when crushed. The digitate leaves, of five to seven leaflets, turn orange to yellow in fall....
Aesculus hippocastanum (plant)
...palmately compound leaves and erect flower clusters, often in the shape of an inverted cone. Prickly green husks ripen and split in fall to release one or two shiny mahogany-brown nuts. The tree’s common name is said to come from Turkey, where the nuts were fed to horses to cure broken wind....
Aesculus indica (plant)
Japanese horse chestnut (A. turbinata) is as tall as the European species but is distinctive for its remarkably large leaves, up to 60 cm (2 feet) across. The Indian horse chestnut (A. indica), with slender, pointed leaflets, has attractive feathery flower spikes with a bottlebrush effect. Red horse chestnut (A. × carnea), a hybrid of A.......
Aesculus octandra (plant)
The sweet, or yellow, buckeye (A. flava, or A. octandra), with yellow flowers, is the largest buckeye, up to 27 m (89 feet), and is naturally abundant in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Red buckeye (A. pavia), with red flowers, is an attractive small tree, reaching a height of up to 7.6 m (25 feet), rarely taller....
Aesculus parviflora (plant)
Bottlebrush buckeye (A. parviflora), from Georgia and Alabama, is an attractive shrub, up to 3.5 m (11 feet) high. The white flowers are borne in erect spikes about 30 cm (1 foot) long. Painted, or Georgia, buckeye (A. sylvatica), a rounded shrub or small tree, up to 7.6 m (25 feet), has variably coloured flowers, yellow to reddish on the flower spikes....
Aesculus pavia (plant)
...or yellow, buckeye (A. flava, or A. octandra), with yellow flowers, is the largest buckeye, up to 27 m (89 feet), and is naturally abundant in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Red buckeye (A. pavia), with red flowers, is an attractive small tree, reaching a height of up to 7.6 m (25 feet), rarely taller....
Aesculus sylvatica (plant)
Bottlebrush buckeye (A. parviflora), from Georgia and Alabama, is an attractive shrub, up to 3.5 m (11 feet) high. The white flowers are borne in erect spikes about 30 cm (1 foot) long. Painted, or Georgia, buckeye (A. sylvatica), a rounded shrub or small tree, up to 7.6 m (25 feet), has variably coloured flowers, yellow to reddish on the flower spikes....
Aesculus turbinata (plant)
Japanese horse chestnut (A. turbinata) is as tall as the European species but is distinctive for its remarkably large leaves, up to 60 cm (2 feet) across. The Indian horse chestnut (A. indica), with slender, pointed leaflets, has attractive feathery flower spikes with a bottlebrush effect. Red horse chestnut (A. × carnea), a hybrid of A.......
Aesernia (Italy)
town, Molise region, south central Italy, between the Carpino and Sordo rivers, west of Campobasso. It originated as Aesernia, a town of the Samnites (an ancient Italic people), and later became a Roman colony. Isernia suffered severe damage in World War...
Aeshma (Zoroastrian figure)
...Nāsatya), Tauru (difficult to identify), and Zairi (the personification of Haoma, the sacred drink related to the sacrifices of both ahuras and daevas). Among other demonic figures is Aēshma (violence, fury, or the aggressive impulse that consumes man)—who may well be the demon Asmodeus of the book of Tobit, Āz (Concupiscence or Lust), Mithrāndruj (He W...
Aesir (Scandinavian mythology)
in Scandinavian mythology, either of two main groups of deities, four of whom were common to the Germanic nations: Odin, chief of the Aesir; Frigg, Odin’s wife; Tyr, god of war; and Thor, whose name was the Teutonic word for thunder. Some of the other important Aesir were Balder, J...
Aesis (Italy)
town and episcopal see, Marche regione, east-central Italy. Jesi lies along the Esino River, just southwest of Ancona. The Roman colony of Aesis from 247 bc, it was destroyed by the Goths and Lombards and formed part of the Frankish king Pippin III’s gift to the church in 756. In the early medieval conflicts between the Holy Roman emperors and the pap...
Aesop (legendary Greek fabulist)
the supposed author of a collection of Greek fables, almost certainly a legendary figure. Various attempts were made in ancient times to establish him as an actual personage. Herodotus in the 5th century bc said that he had lived in the 6th century and that he was a slave, and Plutarch in the 1st century ad made him adviser to Croesus, the 6th-century...
Aesop’s fables (literature)
the supposed author of a collection of Greek fables, almost certainly a legendary figure. Various attempts were made in ancient times to establish him as an actual personage. Herodotus in the 5th century bc said that he had lived in the 6th century and that he was a slave, and Plutarch in the 1st century ad made him adviser to Croesus, the 6th-century...
Aesopus, Claudius (Roman tragedian)
most eminent of the Roman tragedians, contemporary and intimate friend of Cicero, whom he instructed in elocution, and regarded by Horace as the equal of the great Roman comic actor Roscius. Aesopus became completely absorbed in his roles; the biographer Plutarch mentions that, while playing the part of Atreus deliberating revenge, Aesopus forgot himself and i...
Aesopus, Clodius (Roman tragedian)
most eminent of the Roman tragedians, contemporary and intimate friend of Cicero, whom he instructed in elocution, and regarded by Horace as the equal of the great Roman comic actor Roscius. Aesopus became completely absorbed in his roles; the biographer Plutarch mentions that, while playing the part of Atreus deliberating revenge, Aesopus forgot himself and i...
Aesthetic (work by Croce)
After Kant and Hegel, the most important influence on modern aesthetics has been Croce. His oft-cited Estetica come scienza dell’ espressione e linguistica generale (1902; Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistics, or Aesthetic) presents, in a rather novel idiom, some of the important insights underlying the theories of his predecessors. In thi...
“Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistics” (work by Croce)
After Kant and Hegel, the most important influence on modern aesthetics has been Croce. His oft-cited Estetica come scienza dell’ espressione e linguistica generale (1902; Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistics, or Aesthetic) presents, in a rather novel idiom, some of the important insights underlying the theories of his predecessors. In thi...
aesthetic distance (literature)
the frame of reference that an artist creates by the use of technical devices in and around the work of art to differentiate it psychologically from reality. German playwright Bertolt Brecht built his dramatic theory known in English as the alienation effect to accomplish aesthetic dista...
aesthetic experience
2. A philosophical study of certain states of mind—responses, attitudes, emotions—that are held to be involved in aesthetic experience. Thus, in the seminal work of modern aesthetics Kritik der Urteilskraft (1790; The Critique of Judgment), Immanuel Kant located the distinctive features of the aesthetic in the faculty of “judgment,” whereby we take up a......
aesthetic judgment
...called it the antinomy of taste. As an exercise of reason, he argued, aesthetic experience must inevitably tend toward a reasoned choice and therefore must formulate itself as a judgment. Aesthetic judgment, however, seems to be in conflict with itself. It cannot be at the same time aesthetic (an expression of sensory enjoyment) and also a judgment (claiming universal assent). Yet all rational....
aesthetic object (philosophy)
3. The philosophical study of the aesthetic object. This approach reflects the view that the problems of aesthetics exist primarily because the world contains a special class of objects toward which we react selectively and which we describe in aesthetic terms. The usual class singled out as prime aesthetic objects is that comprising works of art. All other aesthetic objects (landscapes, faces,......
aesthetic surgery (medicine)
Aesthetic, or cosmetic, surgery is the enhancement of normal structures that are subject to age-related changes or that have unusual features that are distressing to the patient. The procedures used to address these issues are often performed in the physician’s office (as opposed to a hospital) and are relatively simple, entailing only injections of botulinum toxin or hyaluronic soft-tissue...
Aesthetica (work by Baumgarten)
Baumgarten’s most significant work, written in Latin, was Aesthetica, 2 vol. (1750–58). The problems of aesthetics had been treated by others before Baumgarten, but he both advanced the discussion of such topics as art and beauty and set the discipline off from the rest of philosophy. His student G.F. Meier (1718–77), however, assisted him to such an extent that credit ...