espalier, tree or other plant that is trained to grow flat against a support (such as a trellis or wall). The term also denotes the trellis or other support on which such trees or plants are trained, as well as the method or technique itself. Espalier was developed in Europe to encourage fruit-tree

river: Drainage patterns: Trellis (or espalier) drainage patterns result from adjustment to tight regional folding in which the folds plunge. Denudation produces a zigzag pattern of outcrops, and adjustment to this pattern produces a stream net in which the trunks are aligned on weak rocks exposed along fold…

Nicolás Guillén: …came the poems collected in España (1937; “Spain”).

Spain, country located in extreme southwestern Europe. It occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbour Portugal. Spain is a storied country of stone castles, snowcapped mountains, vast monuments, and sophisticated cities, all of which have made it a

Pablo Neruda: Communism and poetry: …España en el corazón (1937; Spain in My Heart) to express his feelings of solidarity with them. The book was printed by Republican troops working with improvised presses near the front lines.

Enrique Flórez: …major scholar behind the 51-volume España sagrada (“Sacred Spain”), a monument of 18th-century historiography.

Spain: Finance: The central bank is the Banco de España (Bank of Spain). Having complied with the criteria for convergence, Spain joined the economic and monetary union of the EU in 1998, and the Banco de España became part of the European System of Central Banks. In addition to being the government’s…

Spain, country located in extreme southwestern Europe. It occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbour Portugal. Spain is a storied country of stone castles, snowcapped mountains, vast monuments, and sophisticated cities, all of which have made it a

Spanish language, Romance language (Indo-European family) spoken as a first language by some 360 million people worldwide. In the early 21st century, Mexico had the greatest number of speakers (more than 85 million), followed by Colombia (more than 40 million), Argentina (more than 35 million), the

Pedro Berruguete was the first great Renaissance painter in Spain and the father of Alonso Berruguete, the greatest Spanish sculptor of the 16th century. Berruguete is believed to have studied under Fernando Gallego or Colantonio and to have worked about 1474 at the “studiolo” of Federico da

Española Island, southernmost of the major Galápagos Islands, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 600 miles (965 km) west of Ecuador. Large seal and albatross colonies live on the island, which has an area of 18 square miles (47 square km), but there are no human

Hispaniola, second largest island of the West Indies, lying within the Greater Antilles, in the Caribbean Sea. It is divided politically into the Republic of Haiti (west) and the Dominican Republic (east). The island’s area is 29,418 square miles (76,192 square km); its greatest length is nearly

Baldomero Espartero, prince de Vergara was a Spanish general and statesman, victor in the First Carlist War, and regent. The son of working-class parents, Espartero entered the army at age 15 and fought with Spanish forces in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars and in the rebellious

esparto, either of two species of gray-green needlegrasses (Stipa tenacissima and Lygeum spartum) in the family Poaceae that are indigenous to southern Spain and northern Africa; the term also denotes the fibre obtained from those grasses. Esparto fibre has great strength and flexibility, and both

esparto, either of two species of gray-green needlegrasses (Stipa tenacissima and Lygeum spartum) in the family Poaceae that are indigenous to southern Spain and northern Africa; the term also denotes the fibre obtained from those grasses. Esparto fibre has great strength and flexibility, and both

Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeoamericana, encyclopaedia published in Madrid, an outstanding reference work of 70 volumes—published between 1905 and 1933—plus a series of supplements. Spanish and Spanish-American biography and gazetteer information are especially strong. Major

Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeoamericana: …1955 a miniature edition, entitled Espasa-Calpe: diccionario enciclopédico abreviado, was issued in a sixth edition of seven volumes.

wild cashew, (Anacardium excelsum), tropical forest tree of the cashew family (Anacardiaceae), native to Central and South America. Wild cashew trees are characteristic of both secondary and old growth forests. As its name suggests, the wild cashew is closely related to the domesticated cashew

Cecília Meireles: …reputation with the publication of Espectros (1919; “Ghosts”), a collection of sonnets in the Symbolist tradition.

Alfonso X: Siete partidas was the most important law code. It was based on Roman law and contained discourses on manners and morals and an idea of the king and his people as a corporation—superior to feudal arrangements—with the king as agent of both God and the…

Latin American literature: The earliest literary activity: …of this epic tradition is Espejo de paciencia (1608; “Model of Patience”). Written in Cuba by the Canarian Silvestre de Balboa y Troya de Quesada, it is about the defeat of a French pirate who abducts a local ecclesiastic for ransom, and it reflects anti-Protestant fervour in the Spanish empire.

Sierra Nevada National Park: …carries tourists from Mérida to Espejo (“Mirror”) Peak, which rises to about 15,600 feet (4,750 metres). Skiing and mountain climbing are among the other recreational activities.

Colombia: Plant and animal life: …cushion plants, and the treelike frailejón (Espeletia), a curious-looking hairy-leafed genus of some 50 different species. Fire-resistant and adapted to low temperatures and high humidity, it gives special character to the páramo landscape. The lower páramo, below 12,000 feet (3,650 metres), is a transitional belt in which scattered clumps of…

organosulfur compound: Reactions: Calichimicin (esperamicin) is a highly potent antitumour agent produced by bacteria of the Actinomycetales order and containing a pendant methyl trisulfide component (CH3SSS―). Acting much like a molecular “mouse trap,” cleavage of the sulfur-sulfur bond is thought to trigger a chain of events culminating in…

Manasseh ben Israel: …Lost Tribes of Israel in Esperança de Israel (“Hope of Israel”). To support the settlement of Jews in Protestant England, where their presence had been officially banned since 1290, he dedicated the Latin edition of this work (1650) to the English Parliament.

São Jorge Island: Its central peak, Esperança Peak, rises to 3,455 feet (1,053 meters).

Kermadec Islands: …Macauley, and Curtis islands and l’Esperance Rock and have a total land area of 13 sq mi (34 sq km). Raoul, the largest (11.3 sq mi), has rugged coastal cliffs that rise to Mt. Mumukai (1,723 ft [525 m]). It is heavily wooded and fertile, but its indigenous flora and…

Esperanto, artificial language constructed in 1887 by L.L. Zamenhof, a Polish oculist, and intended for use as an international second language. Zamenhof’s Fundamento de Esperanto, published in 1905, lays down the basic principles of the language’s structure and formation. Esperanto is relatively

L.L. Zamenhof was a Polish physician and oculist who created the most important of the international artificial languages—Esperanto. A Jew whose family spoke Russian and lived in an environment of racial and national conflict on the Polish-Russian borderland, Zamenhof dedicated himself to promoting

Esperanza Spalding: Esperanza, released in 2008, demonstrated her ability to fuse jazz with such world music as Brazilian and Argentine folk music and featured lyrics in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The record not only was critically acclaimed but also shot up the Billboard jazz album chart, on…

pre-Columbian civilizations: The Maya highlands and Pacific coast: …implanted Teotihuacán culture is called Esperanza. Mexican architects must have accompanied the elite, for Kaminaljuyú structures copy the older prototypes down to the last detail, including the support of the lower moldings around tableros with slate slabs. The abundant volcanic building stone, however, so freely used at Teotihuacán, was not…

Louis-Félix-François Franchet d’Esperey was a marshal of France and one of the most effective French military leaders of World War I. He was responsible for driving Bulgaria out of the war, thereby opening the road to Vienna for the Allies. Trained at Saint-Cyr, d’Esperey served during the prewar

Bandiera brothers: …they founded a secret society, Esperia, devoted to the cause of freeing Italy. In 1843 they began to agitate among their fellow officers and sailors, trying to get them to join a Malta-based revolutionary group, the Legione Italiana, in its plan for stealing a warship and bombarding Messina. The plot…

Spanish literature: Novels and essays: …by his invention of the esperpento style, is expressionistic, involving deliberate distortion and calculated inversion of heroic models and values. “Esperpentic” visions appear in the novels Tirano Banderas (1926; Eng. trans. The Tyrant), La corte de los milagros (1927; “The Court of Miracles”), and Viva mi dueño (1928; “Long Live…

Vilma Espín Guillois was a Cuban revolutionary and women’s rights activist. As the wife of Raúl Castro, the younger brother of longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro, she was for decades regarded as the unofficial first lady of Cuba and was the most politically powerful woman in the country. Espín

Spanish literature: Novecentismo: Concepción (Concha) Espina, often considered the first Spanish woman writer to earn her living exclusively from her writings, enjoyed tremendous popularity and was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. Her novels, with their detailed descriptions, most nearly approach the regional novel as epitomized by Pereda;…

Spanish literature: Novecentismo: Concepción (Concha) Espina, often considered the first Spanish woman writer to earn her living exclusively from her writings, enjoyed tremendous popularity and was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. Her novels, with their detailed descriptions, most nearly approach the regional novel as epitomized by Pereda;…

Andes Mountains: Physiography of the Central Andes: …the high passes of Mount Espinacito (16,000 feet) and Mount Patos (12,825 feet). South of Anconcagua the passes include Pircas (16,960 feet), Bermejo (more than 10,000 feet), and Iglesia (13,400 feet). Farther north the passes are more numerous but higher. The peaks of Mounts Bonete, Ojos del Salado, and

Gran Chaco: Plant life: …transition zone grades into the espinal, a dry forest of spiny, thorny shrubs and low trees. Chaco vegetation is adapted to grow under arid conditions and is highly varied and exceedingly complex. The climax vegetation is called quebrachales, and consists of vast, low hardwood forests where various species of quebracho…

Khaosai Galaxy: He defeated Eusebio Espinal of the Dominican Republic for the World Boxing Association (WBA) junior bantamweight (also known as super flyweight) championship on Nov. 21, 1984, knocking out his opponent in the sixth round. Galaxy retired after his 19th title defense, a 12-round decision (a fight whose…

Pierre Brasseur was a French stage and motion-picture actor. The son of an actress whose maiden name he adopted, Brasseur began his long career on the stage and, by the 1920s, had leading roles in such films as Madame Sans-Gêne (1925) and Le Sexe faible (1933; “The Weak Sex”). Brasseur’s theatrical

Vicente Espinel was a Spanish writer and musician remembered chiefly for his picaresque novel La vida del Escudero Marcos de Obregón (1618; “Life of Squire Marcos of Obregón”), upon which the French novelist Alain-René Lesage based parts of his Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane (1715–35; The

Vicente Espinel was a Spanish writer and musician remembered chiefly for his picaresque novel La vida del Escudero Marcos de Obregón (1618; “Life of Squire Marcos of Obregón”), upon which the French novelist Alain-René Lesage based parts of his Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane (1715–35; The

Espinhaço Mountains, mountain range of Minas Gerais and Bahia states, eastern Brazil. Their peaks reach heights between 3,600 and 6,500 feet (1,100 and 2,000 metres). With the Diamantina Upland of Bahia state, they form the divide between the tributaries of the São Francisco River and the streams

Héctor Espino was a professional baseball player with the Mexican League (an affiliate with U.S. Minor League Baseball). Although virtually unknown in the United States, Espino is considered by many in Mexico to be the greatest native-born hitter of all time and is a national hero in that country.

Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher, one of the foremost exponents of 17th-century Rationalism and one of the early and seminal figures of the Enlightenment. His masterwork is the treatise Ethics (1677). Spinoza’s Portuguese parents were among many Jews who were forcibly converted to

Pedro de Espinosa was a Spanish poet and editor of the anthology Flores de poetas ilustres de España (1605; “Flowers from the Illustrious Poets of Spain”), in which most of the important poets of Spain’s Siglo de Oro (Golden Age; c. 1500–1650) were published. The anthology choices of authors and

Victor Espinoza is a Mexican-born jockey who in 2015 became the oldest jockey to win American Thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown, riding American Pharoah. Espinoza grew up on a farm northeast of Mexico City and worked as a bus driver while he took riding lessons and attended jockey school.

espionage, process of obtaining military, political, commercial, or other secret information by means of spies, secret agents, or illegal monitoring devices. Espionage is sometimes distinguished from the broader category of intelligence gathering by its aggressive nature and its illegality. See

Eugene V. Debs: …charged with violation of the 1917 Espionage Act. He was released from prison by presidential order in 1921; however, his U.S. citizenship, which he lost when he was convicted of sedition in 1918, was restored only posthumously in 1976. Debs’s years of living in harsh prison conditions adversely affected his…

industrial espionage, acquisition of trade secrets from business competitors. A by-product of the technological revolution, industrial espionage is a reaction to the efforts of many businessmen to keep secret their designs, formulas, manufacturing processes, research, and future plans in order to

Spiritism, belief system founded by French author and educator Allan Kardec in the middle of the 19th century that is based on the idea that, alongside physical reality, a spirit world exists, which followers believe can be accessed through mediums. Spiritism maintains that spirits exist separately

Espírito Santo, estado (state) on the east coast of Brazil. It is bounded to the north by the state of Bahia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the state of Rio de Janeiro, and to the west and north by the state of Minas Gerais. Its area includes the uninhabited offshore islands of

Vila Velha, coastal city, east-central Espírito Santo estado (state), eastern Brazil. It lies along Espírito Santo Bay just southeast of Vitória, the state capital, and forms part of the Greater Vitória metropolitan area. Vila Velha was settled in 1535 and was given city status in 1896. Chocolate

Barretos, city, north-central São Paulo estado (state), Brazil. It lies near the Pardo River at 1,713 feet (522 metres) above sea level. Known at various times as Amaral dos Barretos, Espírito Santo de Barreto, and Espírito Santo dos Barretos, the settlement was given town status and was made the

Barretos, city, north-central São Paulo estado (state), Brazil. It lies near the Pardo River at 1,713 feet (522 metres) above sea level. Known at various times as Amaral dos Barretos, Espírito Santo de Barreto, and Espírito Santo dos Barretos, the settlement was given town status and was made the

Hiram Bingham: …important sites of Vitcos and Espíritu Pampa, a larger ruin that was thoroughly excavated in 1964 by the American archaeologist Gene Savoy, who demonstrated it to be a more likely site for Vilcabamba. Bingham’s publications on South America include Inca Land (1922), Machu Picchu, a Citadel of the Incas (1930),…

Espiritu Santo, largest (1,420 square miles [3,677 square km]) and westernmost island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Volcanic in origin, it has a mountain range running along its west coast; Tabwémasana rises to 6,165 feet (1,879 meters), the highest point in Vanuatu. The island is

Limpopo River, river in southeast Africa that rises as the Krokodil (Crocodile) River in the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and flows on a semicircular course first northeast and then east for about 1,100 miles (1,800 km) to the Indian Ocean. From its source the river flows northward to the

Bordeaux: …down the quay is the Esplanade des Quinconces, one of the largest squares in Europe; it contains a monument to the Girondins and huge statues of Montesquieu and Michel de Montaigne (the latter’s tomb is at the university, founded 1441). Bordeaux’s ecclesiastical antiquities include two 15th-century bell towers: that of…

ESPN, Inc.: …leading to the formation of ESPN International five years later. ESPN International broadcast regional sports programs, including cricket in India and association football (soccer) in Latin America, as well as sporting events in the United States. In the 1990s ESPN founded a radio sports network; added cable networks, including ESPN2,…

ESPN, Inc., cable television sports-broadcasting network based in Bristol, Conn. It was launched in 1979 and is one of the largest cable networks in the United States. Its success engendered additional ESPN networks, including an international sports network. New England sports announcer William

André Malraux: Life: His novel L’Espoir (Man’s Hope), based on his experiences in Spain, was published in 1937. A motion-picture version of L’Espoir that Malraux produced and directed in Barcelona in 1938 was not shown in France until after the country’s liberation at the end of World War II.

Icelandic literature: The 18th century: Jón Espólín published Íslands árbækur (1822–55; “Annals of Iceland”), a history of Iceland from 1262.

El Greco: Middle years: …another masterpiece of extraordinary originality—the Espolio (Disrobing of Christ). In designing the composition vertically and compactly in the foreground he seems to have been motivated by the desire to show the oppression of Christ by his cruel tormentors. He chose a method of space elimination that is common to middle…

Espoo, city, southern Finland, just west of Helsinki, in a region of broad, flat valleys covered with low clay hills. It is located in an area that has been inhabited since 3500 bc. The city has railway connections to Helsinki and the remainder of Finland. It is a thriving technology centre where

Fred Armisen: Portlandia and other work: Armisen cocreated and costarred in Los Espookys (2018–22), a Spanish-language HBO horror comedy set in an unnamed Latin American country.

esports, online gaming competitions in which amateur and professional gamers participate individually or on teams through organized leagues, often with monetary prizes on the line. Competitive gaming gained prominence about the cusp of the 21st century and swiftly grew into an organized form of

Giancarlo Esposito is a Danish-born American actor and filmmaker best known for his portrayal of the character Gustavo (Gus) Fring, a fast-food restaurateur and drug kingpin, in the acclaimed television series Breaking Bad (2009–11) and Better Call Saul (2017–22). Esposito’s film credits include an

Crash: …police detective, Ria (played by Jennifer Esposito), with her African American partner, Detective Graham Waters (Don Cheadle), has just been rear-ended by a car driven by an Asian American driver, Kim Lee (Alexis Rhee). Waters approaches a crime scene involving a dead man while Ria and Kim exchange racial insults.…

Phil Esposito is a Canadian-born U.S. professional ice hockey centre (1963–81) in the National Hockey League (NHL), who was a leading scorer in his day. Esposito played hockey from his youth onward, and after a season (1962–63) on a Chicago Black Hawk (later Blackhawk) farm team he played as a

Phil Esposito is a Canadian-born U.S. professional ice hockey centre (1963–81) in the National Hockey League (NHL), who was a leading scorer in his day. Esposito played hockey from his youth onward, and after a season (1962–63) on a Chicago Black Hawk (later Blackhawk) farm team he played as a

Chicago Blackhawks: Renaissance in the 1960s: …the Black Hawks acquired goaltender Tony Esposito, who would go on to set the franchise record with 418 wins and be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Francisco Espoz y Mina was an outstanding guerrilla leader during the Peninsular War, or Spanish War of Independence (1808–14), against the French; he later embraced the Liberal cause and played a role in various uprisings and in the First Carlist War (1833–39). Espoz y Mina farmed a small family

espresso, a strong brew of coffee produced by forcing boiled water under pressure through finely ground coffee. The finely ground coffee beans means an increased amount of surface contact with the water, resulting in a highly flavoured and aromatic brew. The nuances of brewing and enjoying the

Étienne Gilson: Among these are L’Esprit de la philosophie médiévale (1932; The Spirit of Mediæval Philosophy), his exposition and defense of the idea of a Christian philosophy; The Unity of Philosophical Experience (1937) and Being and Some Philosophers (1949), perhaps the best examples of his use of the history of…

Louis de Saint-Just: Publication of Esprit de la révolution: In 1791 he finally published Esprit de la révolution et de la constitution de France (The Spirit of the Revolution and the Constitution of France). The exposition was bold, vigorous, and lofty. The brief, forceful, and elliptical formulations characterized the author. According to him, the constitution framed by the Assembly…

The Spirit of Laws, principal work of the French political philosopher Montesquieu (in full Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu) first published in 1748 as De L’Esprit des loix; ou, du rapport que les loix doivent avoir avec la constitution de chaque gouvernement, les

Le Corbusier: Education and early years: …founded a polemic avant-garde review, L’Esprit Nouveau. Open to the arts and humanities, with brilliant collaborators, it presented ideas in architecture and city planning already expressed by Adolf Loos and Henri van de Velde, fought against the “styles” of the past and against elaborate nonstructural decoration, and defended functionalism.

José de Espronceda y Delgado was a Romantic poet and revolutionary, often called the Spanish Lord Byron. He fled Spain in 1826 for revolutionary activities and in London began a tempestuous affair with Teresa Mancha (the subject of Canto a Teresa) that dominated the next 10 years of his life. He

leishmaniasis: …a complication referred to as mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, or espundia. Destruction of the lips, throat, palate, and larynx can ensue. Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis may not appear until years after an initial cutaneous lesion has healed.

James Pollard Espy was an American meteorologist who apparently gave the first essentially correct explanation of the thermodynamics of cloud formation and growth. He was also one of the first to use the telegraph for collecting meteorological observations. Espy served as a meteorologist with the

buccaneer: …Americaensche zee-rovers, by the Dutchman Alexander Esquemelin (or Exquemelin), whose work was a fecund source of tales of these men.

Catalonia: Renaixença, the Spanish Civil War, and the autonomous community of Catalonia: …coalition party in Catalonia, the Esquerra Republicana. The Esquerra won a sweeping victory in the municipal elections of 1931, and two days later its leader proclaimed a Catalan Republic. A compromise was worked out with the central government, and in September 1932 the statute of autonomy for Catalonia became law.…

ancient Rome: The regal period, 753–509 bc: Archaeology also shows that the Esquiline Hill was next inhabited, thus disproving the ancient account which maintained that the Quirinal Hill was settled after the Palatine. Around 670–660 bc the Palatine settlement expanded down into the valley of the later Forum Romanum and became a town of artisans living in…

metalwork: Early Christian and Byzantine: …and Secondus, part of the Esquiline treasure found at Rome, is decorated with pagan scenes; and only the inscription shows that it was made for a Christian marriage. Among the few pieces with Christian subjects are small Roman cruets (condiment bottles) from Taprain, Scotland, and a small pyx (casket for…

Esquimalt, district municipality and western suburb of metropolitan Victoria, southwestern British Columbia, Canada, at the southeastern end of Vancouver Island, on Juan de Fuca Strait. The name means “place of gradually shoaling waters” in the local Indian language. Its harbour was visited (1790)

Esquipulas, town, southeastern Guatemala, in the central highlands near the borders of Honduras and El Salvador at an elevation of 3,018 feet (920 metres). The town itself is not large; it derives its great importance from its magnificent colonial church, now Central America’s greatest pilgrimage

Central America: Modern Central America (c. 1945 to the present): …American peace plan, also called Esquipulas II, instigated by Pres. Oscar Arias Sánchez of Costa Rica. The last included plans for a Central American national parliament along lines similar to those that established the European Union. While state sovereignty and the strength of the individual city-state elites remain strongly rooted…

Esquire, American monthly magazine, founded in 1933 by Arnold Gingrich. It began production as an oversized magazine for men that featured a slick, sophisticated style and drawings of scantily clad young women. It later abandoned its titillating role but continued to cultivate the image of

esquire, originally, a knight’s shield bearer, who would probably himself in due course be dubbed a knight; the word is derived from the Old French esquier and earlier from the Latin scutarius. In England in the later Middle Ages, the term esquire (armiger) was used to denote holders of knights’

Jean-Étienne-Dominique Esquirol was an early French psychiatrist who was the first to combine precise clinical descriptions with the statistical analysis of mental illnesses. A student of Philippe Pinel, Esquirol succeeded his distinguished teacher as physician in chief at the Salpêtrière Hospital

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet: …progrès de l’esprit humain (1794; Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind). Its fundamental idea is that of the continuous progress of the human race to an ultimate perfection. He represents humans as starting from the lowest stage of savagery with no superiority over the…

Jamaica: Early period: In 1509 Juan de Esquivel founded the first permanent European settlement, the town of Sevilla la Nueva (New Seville), on the north coast. In 1534 the capital was moved to Villa de la Vega (later Santiago de la Vega), now called Spanish Town. The Spanish enslaved many…

Like Water for Chocolate: …by Mexican author and screenwriter Laura Esquivel. First published in 1989, it became a bestseller in Mexico, and it was both filmed and published in English in 1992.

Belize: Independence of Belize: …in 1973 and led by Manuel Esquivel, won the general election in 1984, but in 1989 the PUP won the election and Price again became prime minister (as the office was now called). The UDP won in a close election in 1993, and Esquivel again assumed leadership. In 1998, however,…

steel: Electroslag remelting (ESR): In this process, there is a slowly melting consumable electrode and a water-cooled mold for solidification, as in vacuum arc remelting, but the melting is conducted under normal atmosphere and is accomplished by a thick, superheated layer of slag on top of…

electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), selective absorption of weak radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (in the microwave region) by unpaired electrons in the atomic structure of certain materials that simultaneously are subjected to a constant, strong magnetic field. The unpaired electrons,

blood analysis: Sedimentation and compatibility tests: The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is the rate at which red blood cells settle in a column of blood in one hour. It is a nonspecific indicator of inflammatory disease that is also increased in anemia. When blood cells clump together, owing to the presence of…

chemical analysis: Microwave absorptiometry: …for nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, electron spin resonance spectrometry is used to study spinning electrons. The absorbed radiation falls in the microwave spectral region and induces transitions in the spin states of the electrons. An externally applied magnetic field is required. The technique is effective for studying structures and reactions…