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Back Bay (region, Virginia, United States)
...extends 28 miles (45 km) southward from the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to the North Carolina border, covering 302 square miles (782 square km) of land and water, with 28 miles (45 km) of ocean front. Back Bay is a brackish lagoon and a national wildlife refuge that occupies about 39 square miles (101 square km) and parallels the ocean at the south end of the city. Founded in 1887, Virginia Beach.....
back bonding
...The second mode of interaction with the metal is the simultaneous back-donation of electron density from the metal to the carbonyl ligand, which is called back πぱい bonding....
“back door to war” theory (World War II analysis)
Was there a “back door” to World War II, as some revisionist historians have asserted? According to this view, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, inhibited by the American public’s opposition to direct U.S. involvement in the fighting and determined to save Great Britain from a Nazi victory in Europe, manipulated events in the Pacific in order to provoke a Japanese attack on the...
back emf (physics)
...the increase of a current than the same coil with an air core. The iron core increases the inductance; for the same rate of change of the current in the coil, a greater opposing electromotive force (back emf) is present to choke the current....
Back for the First Time (album by Ludacris)
...word of mouth the album managed to enter the Billboard 200 chart, and Ludacris was soon signed to the record label Def Jam South, which repackaged Incognegro as Back for the First Time (2000). That major label debut ultimately reached number four in the Billboard 200....
“Back from the U.S.S.R.” (work by Gide)
...him that he had found a faith in Communism. In 1936 he set out on a visit to the Soviet Union, but later expressed his disillusionment with the Soviet system in Retour de l’U.R.S.S. (1936; Return from the U.S.S.R.) and Retouches à mon retour de l’U.R.S.S. (1937; Afterthoughts on the U.S.S.R.)....
back furrow (agriculture)
...is plowed across the field; on the return trip, a furrow slice is lapped over the first slice. This leaves a slightly higher ridge than the second, third, and other slices. The ridge is called a back furrow. When two strips of land are finished, the last furrows cut leave a trench about twice the width of one bottom, called a dead furrow. When land is broken by continuous lapping of furrows,......
Back in Black (album by AC/DC)
...by Scott’s alcohol-related death in February 1980, but replacement Johnson’s falsetto fit in well with the group’s tight, clean metal punch and their raucous bad-boy image. The band’s next album, Back in Black (1980), sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone, and For Those About to Rock (1981) was also a million-seller. The early to m...
back junction layer (engineering)
The three energy-conversion layers below the antireflection layer are the top junction layer, the absorber layer, which constitutes the core of the device, and the back junction layer. Two additional electrical contact layers are needed to carry the electric current out to an external load and back into the cell, thus completing an electric circuit. The electrical contact layer on the face of......
Back, Kurt W. (American sociologist)
...to be closed down and fumigated because of reports of toxic insect bites—reports that could not subsequently be substantiated. The U.S. sociologist Alan C. Kerckhoff and the U.S. psychologist Kurt W. Back found that the crisis came after a period during which the women employees had performed unusual amounts of overtime work. The women who became ill from the mysterious insect bites had....
back mutation (genetics)
...against which to compare a mutant allele. Mutation can occur in two directions; mutation from wild type to mutant is called a forward mutation, and mutation from mutant to wild type is called a back mutation or reversion....
Back of the Yards Council (community group, Chicago, Illinois, United States)
...and criminology, Alinsky worked as a criminologist in Illinois for eight years. In 1938, he undertook his first community organizing campaign in a working-class area of Chicago; the result was the Back of the Yards Council, which became a prototype for a generation of community organizations. In 1940, Alinsky founded the Industrial Areas Foundation and trained cadres of organizers in his......
back pain (pathology)
...and criminology, Alinsky worked as a criminologist in Illinois for eight years. In 1938, he undertook his first community organizing campaign in a working-class area of Chicago; the result was the Back of the Yards Council, which became a prototype for a generation of community organizations. In 1940, Alinsky founded the Industrial Areas Foundation and trained cadres of organizers in his.........
back pi bonding
...The second mode of interaction with the metal is the simultaneous back-donation of electron density from the metal to the carbonyl ligand, which is called back πぱい bonding....
back projection (photography)
...viewing angle increases). They are therefore especially suitable for screenings in small rooms—e.g., for home movies. The glass-beaded screen is made up of many tiny beads on a canvas backing, the lenticular screen of tiny, uniformly spaced, cylindrical lenses....
Back River (river, Nunavut, Canada)
river in northern Mackenzie and Keewatin districts, Nunavut, Canada, that rises from several small lakes northeast of Great Slave Lake. It flows northeastward through the Barren Grounds (a sub-Arctic prairie region) for 605 miles (975 km), widening to f...
Back, Sir George (British explorer)
naval officer who helped to trace the Arctic coastline of North America. He twice accompanied the British explorer John Franklin to Canada’s Northwest Territories (1819–22 and 1825–27) and later conducted two expeditions of his own...
"Back Stabbers" (recording by the O’Jays)
...funk rhythm, and socially conscious lyrics. Massey departed in 1971, and the next year the group released the classic album Back Stabbers, with the album’s title track initiating a long string of hit singles, including For the Love of Money (1973) and the disco-influenced pop hit I Love Music, Pt. 1......
back stroke (cricket)
...stroke, in which the batsman advances his front leg to the pitch (direction) of the ball and plays it in front of the wicket (if played with aggressive intent, this stroke becomes the drive); back stroke, in which the batsman moves his rear leg back before playing the ball; leg glance (or glide), in which the ball is deflected behind the wicket on the leg side; cut, in which the batsman......
back swimmer (insect)
any of about 200 species of insects (order Heteroptera) that occur worldwide and are named for their ability to swim on their backs, which are shaped like the keel and sides of a boat. The back swimmer uses its long, oarlike legs for propulsion and has an oval-shaped head and an elongated body, generally less than 15 mm (0.6 inch) in length. It is a good example of countershading, as its light-col...
Back to Basics (album by Aguilera)
...off her ingenue image and took on a more provocative sexualized persona, epitomized by her hit single Dirrty. Reminiscent of the work of Etta James and Billie Holiday, Back to Basics (2006) pays tribute to Aguilera’s jazz and blues influences. She returned to dance pop with Bionic (2010), though the album was considered a......
Back to Black (album by Winehouse)
...followed for Winehouse, none more fevered than her on-again, off-again relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, about whom many of the heartbreak songs on her next album, Back to Black, were written. Her singing on that album, more in the vein of Motown and 1960s and ’70s soul, delighted critics. A very different-looking Winehouse had begun appearing in the......
Back to Methuselah (work by Shaw)
...bloodshed. Attempting to keep from falling into “the bottomless pit of an utterly discouraging pessimism,” Shaw wrote five linked plays under the collective title Back to Methuselah (1922). They expound his philosophy of creative evolution in an extended dramatic parable that progresses through time from the Garden of Eden to 31,920 ce....
Back to the Future (film by Zemeckis [1985])
...success was the action-adventure comedy Romancing the Stone (1984), starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. With his time-traveling teen comedy Back to the Future (1985) and its sequels, Zemeckis began earning a reputation for visual innovation, which he cemented with Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), a feature......
back vowel (linguistics)
...part of the tongue pushed forward in the mouth and somewhat arched. The a in “had,” the e in “bed,” and the i in “fit” are front vowels. A back vowel—e.g., the u in “rule” and the o in “pole”—is produced with the back part of the tongue raised toward the soft palate (vel...
back-arc basin (geology)
submarine basin that forms behind an island arc. Such basins are typically found along the western margin of the Pacific Ocean near the convergence of two tectonic plates. Back-arc basins are sites of significant hydrothermal activity, and the deep-sea vents that occur in these regions o...
back-formation (linguistics)
Back-formations and blends are becoming increasingly popular. Back-formation is the reverse of affixation, being the analogical creation of a new word from an existing word falsely assumed to be its derivative. For example, the verb to edit has been formed from the noun editor on the reverse analogy of the noun actor from to act, and similarly the verbs automate,......
back-propagating error correction (computing)
...and Wesley Clark of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had applied to only two-layer networks so that the procedure could be applied to multilayer networks. Rosenblatt used the phrase “back-propagating error correction” to describe his method. The method, with substantial improvements and extensions by numerous scientists, and the term back-propagation are now in......
back-propagation algorithm (computing)
Two modifications of this simple feedforward neural network account for the growth of commercial applications. First, a network can be equipped with a feedback mechanism, known as a back-propagation algorithm, that enables it to adjust the connection weights back through the network, training it in response to representative examples. Second, recurrent neural networks can be developed,......
back-strap loom (weaving instrument)
...known of the American Indian weavers, have used the simple two-bar vertical loom for several centuries to produce their beautiful rugs and blankets. A form of the horizontal two-bar loom was the back-strap loom, in which one bar was tied to a tree or other stationary device, the second being attached to the weaver’s waist by a strap. The weaver could control the tension of the warp yarns...
"Back-up Plan, The" (film by Poul [2010])
...and Brave (2007). In February 2008 Lopez gave birth to twins, her first children and Anthony’s fourth and fifth. She returned to the big screen in The Back-up Plan (2010), a romantic comedy in which she starred as a single woman who finds Mr. Right after becoming pregnant through artificial insemination. In January 2011 Lopez joined ...
backache
...and Brave (2007). In February 2008 Lopez gave birth to twins, her first children and Anthony’s fourth and fifth. She returned to the big screen in The Back-up Plan (2010), a romantic comedy in which she starred as a single woman who finds Mr. Right after becoming pregnant through artificial insemination. In January 2011 Lopez joined ...
backarc basin (ocean basin)
Behind the volcanic line of island arcs are sometimes found young, narrow ocean basins. These basins are bounded on the opposite side by submarine ridges. Such interarc, or backarc, basins are sites of seafloor spreading directly caused by the dynamics of subduction. They originate at the volcanic line, so that the outer bounding submarine ridge, or third arc, represents an older portion of the......
backbiting (chemistry)
...at some point in the middle of the chain, thus forming a new radical site from which chain growth continues. This reaction, shown in Figure 4, is referred to as backbiting or, more technically, chain transfer. The result is a polymer chain with the branched structure of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), also shown in Figure 1B. Chain-transfer reactions may also occur intermolecularly....
backblocks farce (film genre)
...dominated by the development of two genres: the bushranging film, as exemplified by The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), which depicted the life of Ned Kelly; and the “backblocks” farce, a genre that satirized farming families of the era. The most significant film of the silent era was The Sentimental Bloke (1919), a tale of a......
backboard (sports)
...deflect the ball to favour one side and hinder the other; in 1895 teams were urged to provide a 4-by-6-foot (1.2-by-1.8-metre) screen for the purpose of eliminating interference. Soon after, wooden backboards proved more suitable. Glass backboards were legalized by the professionals in 1908–09 and by colleges in 1909–10. In 1920–21 the backboards were moved 2 feet (0.6 metr...
backbone (anatomy)
in vertebrate animals, the flexible column extending from neck to tail, made of a series of bones, the vertebrae. The major function of the vertebral column is protection of the spinal cord; it also provides stiffening for the body and attachment for the pectoral and pelvic girdles and many muscles. In humans an additional function is to transmit body wei...
Backbone Mountain (mountain, Maryland, United States)
highest point in Maryland, U.S., reaching an elevation of 3,360 feet (1,024 metres). It is located on a ridge of the Allegheny and Appalachian mountains, located in Garrett county 12 miles (19 km) south of Oakland. The ridge is 35 miles (56 km) long and extends southwestward into Preston and Tucker counties of ...
Backbone Range (landform, Japan)
The Chūgoku Range consists of three landforms—the Backbone Range, the Kibi Plateau, and the Iwami Plateau. The Backbone Range constitutes a sharp divide between the Sea of Japan and the Inland Sea, broken only by the gorge of the Gōno River in the west. The Gōno River has been bordered by an important highway since ancient times. The Kammuri Mountains to the west of the...
backburning (fire fighting)
...
backcross (genetics)
the mating of a hybrid organism (offspring of genetically unlike parents) with one of its parents or with an organism genetically similar to the parent. The backcross is useful in genetics studies for isolating (separating out) certain characteristics in a related group of animals or plants. In animal breeding, a backcross i...
Bäcken (work by Aspenström)
...the poet treats his metaphysical and social concerns in a symbolic form. Aspenström also wrote a number of poetic dramas. He re-created the world of his childhood in Bäcken (1958; “The Brook”), a series of short stories. He wrote several collections of essays on current issues, including Sommar (1968;......
Backer, Jacob (Dutch painter)
...seems to be the case, for instance, in his portrait of the famous, banned Remonstrant preacher Johannes Wtenbogaert (1577–1644), who was also portrayed by Michiel Janszoon van Miereveld and Jacob Adriaenszoon Backer....
Backfire (Soviet aircraft)
...such bombers altogether, while the United States and the Soviet Union switched to a new generation of aircraft equipped with variable wings. The two countries developed the medium-range F-111 and Tu-26 Backfire and the long-range B-1 and Tu-160 Blackjack, respectively. These planes were designed to slip under early-warning radar at low level and to approach military targets using......
backgammon (board game)
game played by moving counters on a board or table, the object of the game being a race to a goal, with the movement of the counters being controlled by the throw of two dice. Elements of chance and skill are nicely balanced in backgammon so that each is usually essential to victory. The game became highly popular worldwide in the late 20th century....
background extinction rate (biology)
To discern the effect of modern human activity on the loss of species requires determining how fast species disappeared in the absence of that activity. Studies of marine fossils show that species last about 1–10 million years (see the table, second column). Assume that all these extinctions happened independently and gradually—i.e., the......
background matching (biology)
in animals, the use of biological coloration to mask location, identity, and movement, providing concealment from prey and protection from predators. Background matching is a type of concealment in which an organism avoids recognition by resembling its background in coloration, form, or movement. In disruptive coloration, the identity and location of an animal may be concealed through a......
background radiation (astrophysics)
electromagnetic radiation filling the universe that is a residual effect of the big bang 13.8 billion years ago. Because the expanding universe has cooled since this primordial explosion, the background radiation is in the microwave region of the ...
backhander (sports)
There are three common types of shots in hockey: the slap shot, the wrist shot, and the backhander. The slap shot has been timed at more than 100 miles an hour (160 km an hour). The slap shot differs from the wrist shot in that the player brings his stick back until it is nearly perpendicular with the ice and then brings the stick down in an arc, swatting the puck as he follows through. It is......
Backhaus, Wilhelm (German pianist)
German pianist who was best known for his interpretation of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven....
backhoe
In certain cases placer material is most economically excavated with a shore-mounted dragline or backhoe and a floating (barge-mounted) concentrating plant. (The digging equipment may also be mounted on a separate barge or on the same barge as the plant.) Material is dug from the sides and bottom of the mining pond and deposited into the washing plant’s hopper. Oversized material is rejecte...
Backhuysen, Ludolf (Dutch painter)
Dutch painter, celebrated for his sea pieces....
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (work by Faludi)
...she joined the San Francisco bureau of The Wall Street Journal, and in 1991 she won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism. That same year saw the publication of her influential book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. The book, which argues that the media distort news about women in order to retaliate against feminist advances, resulted in a National Book......
backlight (electronics)
The backlight of LCDs typically accounts for more than 80 percent of the display’s power consumption. For mobile complex displays, battery lifetime is of great importance, and clearly the development of products that can be viewed in ambient light without recourse to backlighting is highly desirable. Such displays are known as reflective displays, and they can be realized in a number of way...
backpack
The backlight of LCDs typically accounts for more than 80 percent of the display’s power consumption. For mobile complex displays, battery lifetime is of great importance, and clearly the development of products that can be viewed in ambient light without recourse to backlighting is highly desirable. Such displays are known as reflective displays, and they can be realized in a number of way...
backpacking (recreation)
recreational activity of hiking while carrying clothing, food, and camping equipment in a pack on the back. Originally, in the early 20th century, backpacking was practiced in the wilderness as a means of getting to areas inaccessible by car or by day hike. It demands physical conditioning and practice, knowledge of camping and survival techni...
backsaw (tool)
Among the saws that are neither loops nor disks are three of the most common hand saws used by the carpenter: the ripsaw, the crosscut saw, and the backsaw. The first two have roughly triangular blades about 50 cm (20 inches) long, 10 cm (4 inches) wide at the handle, and tapering to about 5 cm (2 inches) at the opposite end. Ripsaws are used for cutting wood with the grain, crosscut saws for......
backshore (geology)
...profile typically can be divided into two distinct parts: (1) the seaward and relatively steep sloping foreshore, which is essentially the intertidal beach, and (2) the landward, nearly horizontal backshore. Beach profiles take on two different appearances, depending on conditions at any given time. During quiescent wave conditions, the beach is said to be accretional, and both the foreshore......
Backspacer (album by Pearl Jam)
The band debuted its 2009 album, Backspacer, on the social networking site MySpace, and it was one of the first releases to take advantage of Apple’s iTunes LP format—a software enhancement meant to more closely replicate the experience of a physical album by offering liner notes, lyric sheets, and photographs of the band....
backstaff (nautical instrument)
...observer to look directly into the Sun. Coloured shades were fitted to the crosspiece, but the decisive improvement was made in 1594 by the English navigator John Davis. His instrument, called the backstaff because it was used with the observer’s back to the Sun, remained common even after 1731 when the octant (an early form of the modern sextant) was demonstrated independently by John H...
backstage (theatre)
Those elements of the design of a theatre that serve primarily the aesthetics of theatre performance are the stage and the stage support facilities, often referred to as backstage spaces (though the spaces will not necessarily be behind the stage or even in the same building as the stage). A stage, regardless of the form of the theatre, can be a cleared space on the ground or a simple raised......
backstroke (swimming)
The backstroke began to develop early in the 20th century. In this stroke, the swimmer’s body position is supine, the body being held as flat and streamlined as possible. The arms reach alternately above the head and enter the water directly in line with the shoulders, palm outward with the little finger entering the water first. The arm is pulled back to the thigh. There is a slight body r...
backup intercept control system (military technology)
...or foe (IFF) equipment constitute the forward elements of complex systems that have appeared throughout the world. Examples include the semiautomatic ground environment (SAGE), augmented by a mobile backup intercept control system called BUIC in the United States, NATO air defense ground environment (NADGE) in Europe, a similar system in Japan, and various land-mobile, airborne, and ship comman...
Backus, Bob (American athlete)
American weight thrower who dominated his sport during the 1950s; he won seven consecutive Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) titles in the 25.4-kg (56-lb) weight throw (1953–59) and captured an eighth title in the event in 1965; he won six consecutive AAUえーゆー titles in the 15.9-kg (35-lb) weight throw (1954–59) and a se...
Backus, Isaac (American clergyman and historian)
controversial American religious leader and historian....
Backus, Jim (American actor)
...dealt with the topic. The film was partially shot in black and white, but the studio then stopped production and reshot in colour. A strong supporting cast included Dennis Hopper, Edward Platt, and Jim Backus, who received praise for his memorable role as Dean’s henpecked father. All three lead actors met untimely deaths. Dean died in a car crash at age 24; Mineo was stabbed to death at ...
Backus, John W. (American mathematician)
American computer scientist and mathematician who led the team that designed FORTRAN (formula translation), the first important algorithmic language for computers....
Backus, John Warner (American mathematician)
American computer scientist and mathematician who led the team that designed FORTRAN (formula translation), the first important algorithmic language for computers....
Backus Normal Form (computer language notation)
ALGOL contributed a notation for describing the structure of a programming language, Backus–Naur Form, which in some variation became the standard tool for stating the syntax (grammar) of programming languages. ALGOL was widely used in Europe, and for many years it remained the language in which computer algorithms were published. Many important languages, such as Pascal, are its......
Backus, Robert (American athlete)
American weight thrower who dominated his sport during the 1950s; he won seven consecutive Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) titles in the 25.4-kg (56-lb) weight throw (1953–59) and captured an eighth title in the event in 1965; he won six consecutive AAUえーゆー titles in the 15.9-kg (35-lb) weight throw (1954–59) and a se...
Backus-Naur Form (computer language notation)
ALGOL contributed a notation for describing the structure of a programming language, Backus–Naur Form, which in some variation became the standard tool for stating the syntax (grammar) of programming languages. ALGOL was widely used in Europe, and for many years it remained the language in which computer algorithms were published. Many important languages, such as Pascal, are its......
backward dive (sport)
...forward dives, in which the person faces the water, dives out from the edge of the board or platform, and rotates forward one-half or more turns before entering the water. The second comprises the backward dives, in which the diver stands at the edge, facing away from the water, then springs and rotates backward. The third is the reverse group, in which the diver takes off in the forward......
backward pawn (chess)
...rooks adjoining open files along which to attack. A pawn on an open file whose advance is restrained by an enemy pawn on an adjoining file and that is unguardable by any other pawn is termed a backward pawn. Two pawns that occupy the same file (through captures) are called doubled pawns....
Backwoods of Canada, The (work by Traill)
...Moodie and Catherine Parr Strickland Traill. Moodie’s harsh, yet at times comical, Roughing It in the Bush (1852) was written to discourage prospective emigrants, but Traill’s Backwoods of Canada (1836) presents a more favourable picture of the New World....
Bacolod (Philippines)
city, northwestern portion of the island of Negros, Philippines. On a coastal plain washed by Guimaras Strait, it lies opposite Guimaras Island and has been called the Philippine sugar capital because of its central location within the nation’s most important sugar-producing area. Bacolod’s growth began after 1...
bacon (pork)
a side of a pig that, after removal of the spare ribs, is cured, either dry or in pickle, and smoked. Some varieties, notably Canadian bacon, are cut from the loin portion of the pork, which is more lean....
Bacon, Albion Fellows (American reformer and author)
American reformer and writer, remembered largely for her campaigns to improve public housing standards....
Bacon, Delia Salter (American author)
American writer who developed the theory, still subscribed to by some, that Francis Bacon and others were the true authors of the works attributed to William Shakespeare....
Bacon, Edmund Norwood (American urban planner)
American urban planner (b. May 2, 1910, Philadelphia, Pa.—d. Oct. 14, 2005, Philadelphia), revitalized Philadelphia as executive director of the City Planning Commission (1949–70). During his tenure he oversaw the development of Penn Center, a downtown project of office buildings, shops, and hotels. He designed plans for the deve...
Bacon, Francis (British painter)
British painter whose powerful, predominantly figural images express isolation, brutality, and terror....
Bacon, Francis Thomas (British engineer)
British engineer who developed the first practical hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, which convert air and fuel directly into electricity through electrochemical processes....
Bacon, Francis, Viscount Saint Alban, Baron of Verulam (British author, philosopher, and statesman)
lord chancellor of England (1618–21). A lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and master of the English tongue, he is remembered in literary terms for the sharp worldly wisdom of a few dozen essays; by students of constitutional history for his power as a speaker in Parliament and in famous trials and as James I’s lo...
Bacon, Henry (American architect)
American architect, best-known as the designer of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C....
Bacon, James (Australian politician)
...state was struck by tragedy in 1996, when an assassin killed 35 people in Port Arthur. Indifferent performance by successive Liberal governments led in 1998 to a decisive ALP electoral victory under James (“Jim”) Bacon; during his six-year tenure, Bacon achieved more than had any of his most recent predecessors. Management of the state’s finances improved; the transportatio...
Bacon, Jim (Australian politician)
...state was struck by tragedy in 1996, when an assassin killed 35 people in Port Arthur. Indifferent performance by successive Liberal governments led in 1998 to a decisive ALP electoral victory under James (“Jim”) Bacon; during his six-year tenure, Bacon achieved more than had any of his most recent predecessors. Management of the state’s finances improved; the transportatio...
Bacon, John (British sculptor [1777-1859])
...sculpture at the Royal Academy and one of the few British artists of the period with an international reputation. The last generation of Neoclassicists included the sculptors Sir Richard Westmacott, John Bacon the Younger, Sir Francis Chantrey, Edward Hodges Baily, John Gibson, and William Behnes....
Bacon, John (American clergyman and legislator)
American clergyman, legislator, and judge who was an early advocate of civil and religious liberty....
Bacon, John (British sculptor [1740-1799])
British Neoclassical sculptor who perfected certain sculpturing techniques....
Bacon, John (English theologian and philosopher)
English theologian and philosopher who, although he did not subscribe to the heterodox doctrine of the great Muslim philosopher Averroës, was regarded by the Renaissance Averroists as Princeps Averroistarum (“the prince of the Averroists”), and who strongly influenced the Carmelite scholastics for two centuries....
Bacon, John M. (English inventor)
In 1903 the Rev. John M. Bacon invented the forerunner of the modern hot-air balloon in England. While coal gas was plentiful and inexpensive locally, expeditionary forces had severe logistic problems with producing hydrogen in the field or transporting heavy compressed-gas cylinders. Bacon promoted the concept of performing military observations with a hot-air balloon that would burn......
Bacon, John, the Elder (British sculptor [1740-1799])
British Neoclassical sculptor who perfected certain sculpturing techniques....
Bacon, John, the Younger (British sculptor [1777-1859])
...sculpture at the Royal Academy and one of the few British artists of the period with an international reputation. The last generation of Neoclassicists included the sculptors Sir Richard Westmacott, John Bacon the Younger, Sir Francis Chantrey, Edward Hodges Baily, John Gibson, and William Behnes....
Bacon, Nathaniel (American colonist)
Virginia planter and leader of Bacon’s Rebellion. His wife’s disinheritance (her father opposed her marriage) and his involvement in a plan to defraud a neighbour of his inheritance contributed to Bacon’s decision to migrate to North America. Financed by his father, Bacon acquired two ...
Bacon, Roger (English philosopher and scientist)
English Franciscan philosopher and educational reformer who was a major medieval proponent of experimental science. Bacon studied mathematics, astronomy, optics, alchemy, and languages. He was the first European to describe in detail the process of making gunpowder, and he proposed flying machines and motorized ships and carriages. Bacon (as he himself complacently remarked) dis...
Bacon, Sir Francis (British author, philosopher, and statesman)
lord chancellor of England (1618–21). A lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and master of the English tongue, he is remembered in literary terms for the sharp worldly wisdom of a few dozen essays; by students of constitutional history for his power as a speaker in Parliament and in famous trials and as James I’s lo...
Bacon, Sir Nicholas (English government official)
high official in the government of Queen Elizabeth I and father of the renowned philosopher Francis Bacon....
Bacon, Tom (British engineer)
British engineer who developed the first practical hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, which convert air and fuel directly into electricity through electrochemical processes....
Baconian method (philosophy)
methodical observation of facts as a means of studying and interpreting natural phenomena. This essentially empirical method was formulated early in the 17th century by Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, as a scientific substitute for the prevailing systems of thought, which, to his mind, relied all to often on fanciful guessing and the m...
Bacon’s Rebellion (United States history)
...ate together, played together, and frequently ran away together. Moreover, the poor of all colours protested together against the policies of the government (at least 25 percent of the rebels in Bacon’s Rebellion [1676] were blacks, both servants and freedmen). The social position of Africans and their descendants for the first six or seven decades of colonial history seems to have been ...
Baconthorpe, Johannes de (English theologian and philosopher)
English theologian and philosopher who, although he did not subscribe to the heterodox doctrine of the great Muslim philosopher Averroës, was regarded by the Renaissance Averroists as Princeps Averroistarum (“the prince of the Averroists”), and who strongly influenced the Carmelite scholastics for two centuries....