• Niceforo, Alfredo (Italian sociologist)

    Alfredo Niceforo was an Italian sociologist, criminologist, and statistician who posited the theory that every person has a “deep ego” of antisocial, subconscious impulses that represent a throwback to precivilized existence. Accompanying this ego, and attempting to keep its latent delinquency in

  • Nicely, Thomas (American mathematician)

    twin prime conjecture: In 1994 American mathematician Thomas Nicely was using a personal computer equipped with the then new Pentium chip from the Intel Corporation when he discovered a flaw in the chip that was producing inconsistent results in his calculations of Brun’s constant. Negative publicity from the mathematics community led Intel…

  • Nicene Creed (Christianity)

    Nicene Creed, a Christian statement of faith that is the only ecumenical creed because it is accepted as authoritative by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and major Protestant churches. The Apostles’ and Athanasian creeds are accepted by some but not all of these churches. Until the

  • Nicene party (Christian history)

    St. Basil the Great: Anti-Arian activities: …the leader of the strict Nicene minority, since he feared that the extreme Nicenes at this point were lapsing into Sabellianism, a heresy exaggerating the oneness of God. During Basil’s lifetime, however, this was prevented by the recognition of Paulinus by the bishops of Alexandria and—in spite of a series…

  • Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (Christianity)

    Nicene Creed, a Christian statement of faith that is the only ecumenical creed because it is accepted as authoritative by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and major Protestant churches. The Apostles’ and Athanasian creeds are accepted by some but not all of these churches. Until the

  • Nicephorus Bryennius (Byzantine commander of Albania)

    Nicephorus III Botaneiates: …rival claimant to the throne, Nicephorus Bryennius, the empire’s commander in Albania; he also defeated a later pretender, Nicephorus Basilacius, who succeeded Bryennius in Albania.

  • Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos (Byzantine historian)

    Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos was a Byzantine historian and litterateur whose stylistic prose and poetry exemplify the developing Byzantine humanism of the 13th and 14th centuries. His 23-volume Ecclesiasticae historiae (“Church History”), of which only the first 18 volumes survive, constitutes

  • Nicephorus I (Byzantine emperor)

    Nicephorus I was a Byzantine emperor from 802 who late in his reign alienated his subjects with his extremely heavy taxation and frequent confiscations of property. Nicephorus became a high financial official under the empress Irene, and, when a revolution deposed Irene in 802, he was proclaimed

  • Nicephorus I, Saint (Greek Orthodox patriarch)

    Saint Nicephorus I ; feast day March 13) was a Greek Orthodox theologian, historian, and patriarch of Constantinople (806–815) whose chronicles of Byzantine history and writings in defense of Byzantine veneration of icons provide data otherwise unavailable on early Christian thought and practice.

  • Nicephorus II Phocas (Byzantine emperor)

    Nicephorus II Phocas was a Byzantine emperor (963–969), whose military achievements against the Muslim Arabs contributed to the resurgence of Byzantine power in the 10th century. Nicephorus Phocas was the son of Bardas Phocas, an important Byzantine general in Anatolia, on the borders of the

  • Nicephorus III Botaneiates (Byzantine emperor)

    Nicephorus III Botaneiates was a Byzantine emperor (1078–81) whose use of Turkish support in acquiring and holding the throne tightened the grip of the Seljuq Turks on Anatolia. Nicephorus, who belonged to the military aristocracy of Asia Minor and who was related to the powerful Phocas family,

  • Nicephorus Phocas the Elder (Byzantine general)

    Basil I: …succeeded under the gifted general Nicephorus Phocas the Elder. Though Constantinople had lost much of its former naval supremacy in the Mediterranean, it still had an effective fleet. Cyprus appears to have been regained for several years.

  • Nicephorus the Hesychast, St. (Christian monk)

    Hesychasm: …In the late 13th century, St. Nicephorus the Hesychast produced an even more precise “method of prayer,” advising novices to fix their eyes during prayer on the “middle of the body,” in order to achieve a more total attention, and to “attach the prayer to their breathing.” This practice was…

  • Nicetas (Byzantine general)

    ancient Egypt: Egypt’s role in the Byzantine Empire: Nicetas, the general of the future emperor Heraclius, made for Alexandria from Cyrene, intending to use Egypt as his power base and cut off Constantinople’s grain supply. By the spring of 610 Nicetas’s struggle with Bonosus, the general of Phocas, was won, and the fall…

  • Nicetas of Remesiana (bishop, theologian, and composer)

    Nicetas of Remesiana was a bishop, theologian, and composer of liturgical verse, whose missionary activity and writings effected the Christianization of, and cultivated a Latin culture among, the barbarians in the lower Danube valley. After becoming bishop of Remesiana (later the Serbian village of

  • Nicetas Stethatos (Greek theologian)

    Nicetas Stethatos was a Byzantine mystic, theologian, and outspoken polemist in the 11th-century Greek Orthodox–Latin church controversy concluding in the definitive schism of 1054. A monk of the Stoudion monastery in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Nicetas allied himself c. 1020 with his spiritual

  • niche (ecology)

    niche, in ecology, all of the interactions of a species with the other members of its community, including competition, predation, parasitism, and mutualism. A variety of abiotic factors, such as soil type and climate, also define a species’ niche. Each of the various species that constitute a

  • niche (market segment)

    marketing: Market niches: Segments can be divided into even smaller groups, called subsegments or niches. A niche is defined as a small target group that has special requirements. For example, a bank may specialize in serving the investment needs of not only senior citizens but also senior…

  • niche (architecture)

    niche, in architecture, decorative recess set into a wall for the purpose of displaying a statue, vase, font, or other object. Niches were used extensively in both interior and exterior walls by the architects of ancient Rome. A fine extant example of such use is found at the Roman Temple of Diana

  • niche diplomacy (international relations)

    middle power: …powers has been labeled “niche diplomacy,” mainly because middle powers have to follow limited foreign-policy objectives as a result of their power capabilities, which are lower than those of great powers or superpowers. However, middle powers do not challenge the status quo in the international system; they are not…

  • Niche for Lights, The (work by al-Ghazālī)

    al-Ghazālī: …discussed in Mishkāt al-anwār (The Niche for Lights). Al-Ghazālī’s abandonment of his career and adoption of a mystical, monastic life is defended in the autobiographical work al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl (The Deliverer from Error).

  • nichification (marketing)

    Internet: Advertising and e-commerce: Nichification allows for consumers to find what they want, but it also provides opportunities for advertisers to find consumers. For example, most search engines generate revenue by matching ads to an individual’s particular search query. Among the greatest challenges facing the Internet’s continued development is…

  • Nichinan (Japan)

    Nichinan, city, southern Miyazaki ken (prefecture), southeastern Kyushu, Japan. It lies just inland from the Pacific Ocean. A type of Japanese cedar called obi has been cultivated in the area since the early 19th century and forms the basis of the city’s shipbuilding, timber, paper, and pulp

  • Nichiren (Japanese Buddhist monk)

    Nichiren was a militant Japanese Buddhist prophet who contributed significantly to the adaptation of Buddhism to the Japanese mentality and who remains one of the most controversial and influential figures in Japanese Buddhist history. After an exhaustive study of the various forms of Buddhism, he

  • Nichiren Buddhism (Buddhism)

    Nichiren Buddhism, school of Japanese Buddhism named after its founder, the 13th-century militant prophet and saint Nichiren. It is one of the largest schools of Japanese Buddhism. Nichiren believed that the quintessence of the Buddha’s teachings is contained in the Lotus Sutra (Sanskrit:

  • Nichiren-shu (Buddhist sect)

    Buddhism: Nichiren: They developed the Nichiren-shu (Japanese: “School of Nichiren”), which still controls the main temple founded by Nichiren at Mount Minobu. One of his disciples, Nikkō, established the Nichiren shō-shū (Japanese: “True School of Nichiren”), which taught that Nichiren, not Shakyamuni, was the saviour and that the mandala painted…

  • Nicholas (Russian grand duke)

    Nicholas was a Russian grand duke and army officer who served as commander in chief against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians in the first year of World War I and was subsequently (until March 1917) Emperor Nicholas II’s viceroy in the Caucasus and commander in chief against the Turks. The son of

  • Nicholas (antipope)

    Nicholas (V) was the last imperial antipope, whose reign (May 1328 to August 1330) in Rome rivalled the pontificate of Pope John XXII at Avignon. An assembly of priests and laymen in Rome under the influence of the Holy Roman emperor Louis IV the Bavarian, whom John had excommunicated, elected the

  • Nicholas and Alexandra (film by Schaffner [1971])

    Franklin J. Schaffner: …directed the opulent historical epic Nicholas and Alexandra, which centers on the end of the Romanov dynasty in Russia; the well-received drama was nominated for a best picture Academy Award. Even more popular was Papillon (1973), which was based on the autobiography of Henri Charrière, a French prisoner who escaped…

  • Nicholas Arnesson (Norwegian bishop)

    Sverrir Sigurdsson: …the dissident bishop of Oslo, Nicholas Arnesson, joined forces with the exiled archbishop Erik Ivarsson and returned to Norway with a fleet, precipitating the Crosier War, a rebellion of the Crosiers, a group headed by religious and secular leaders opposed to Sverrir’s ecclesiastical and administrative reforms. Nicholas gained control of…

  • Nicholas Brothers (American dance team)

    Nicholas Brothers, tap-dancing duo whose suppleness, strength, and fearlessness made them one of the greatest tap dance acts of all time. Fayard Antonio Nicholas (b. October 20, 1914, Mobile, Alabama, U.S.—d. January 24, 2006, Los Angeles, California) and his brother Harold Lloyd Nicholas (b. March

  • Nicholas Collegians (American orchestral group)

    Nicholas Brothers: Early life: …their own group called the Nicholas Collegians in the 1920s.

  • Nicholas I (tsar of Russia)

    Nicholas I was a Russian emperor (1825–55), often considered the personification of classic autocracy. For his reactionary policies, he has been called the emperor who froze Russia for 30 years. Nicholas was the son of Grand Duke Paul and Grand Duchess Maria. Some three and a half months after his

  • Nicholas I (king of Montenegro)

    Nicholas I was a prince (1860–1910) and then king (1910–18) of Montenegro, who transformed his small principality into a sovereign European nation. Heir presumptive to his uncle Danilo II, who was childless, Nicholas came to the throne in August 1860 after Danilo’s assassination. Educated abroad in

  • Nicholas I (Byzantine patriarch of Constantinople)

    Nicholas I was a Byzantine patriarch of Constantinople (901–907; 912–925), who contributed measurably to the attempted reunion of the Greek and Roman churches and who fomented the tetragamy controversy, or the question of a fourth marriage for the Eastern Orthodox. A close associate of the

  • Nicholas I, Saint (pope)

    Saint Nicholas I ; feast day November 13) was the pope from 858 to 867, master theorist of papal power, considered to have been the most forceful of the early medieval pontiffs, whose pontificate was the most important of the Carolingian period and prepared the way for the 11th-century reform

  • Nicholas II (tsar of Russia)

    Nicholas II was the last Russian emperor (1894–1917), who, with his wife, Alexandra, and their children, was killed by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. Nikolay Aleksandrovich was the eldest son and heir apparent (tsesarevich) of the tsarevitch Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (emperor as

  • Nicholas II (pope)

    Nicholas II was the pope from 1059 to 1061, a major figure in the Gregorian Reform. Born in a region near Cluny, Gerard was most likely exposed to the reformist zeal of the monastery there. As bishop of Florence from 1045, he imposed the canonical life on the priests of his diocese. His efforts at

  • Nicholas III (pope)

    Nicholas III was the pope from 1277 to 1280. Of noble birth, he was made cardinal in 1244 by Pope Innocent IV and protector of the Franciscans in 1261 by Pope Urban IV. After a colorful and celebrated service in the Curia, he was elected pope on November 25, 1277, and initiated an administrative

  • Nicholas III (patriarch of Constantinople)

    Nicholas III was an Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople (1084–1111), theologian and liturgical scholar noted for combatting doctrinal heresy and composing sacramental prayer texts for the Byzantine liturgy. Among Nicholas’ liturgical compositions are prayers and responses in the service

  • Nicholas IV (pope)

    Nicholas IV was the pope from 1288 to 1292, the first Franciscan pontiff. He joined the Franciscans when young and became their minister for Dalmatia. In 1272 Pope Gregory X sent him to Constantinople, where he took part in effecting a brief reunion with the Greeks. From 1274 to 1279 he was

  • Nicholas Mystikos (Byzantine patriarch of Constantinople)

    Nicholas I was a Byzantine patriarch of Constantinople (901–907; 912–925), who contributed measurably to the attempted reunion of the Greek and Roman churches and who fomented the tetragamy controversy, or the question of a fourth marriage for the Eastern Orthodox. A close associate of the

  • Nicholas Nicholas (American entrepreneur)

    WarnerMedia: Warner: , Nicholas Nicholas, about merging the two companies.

  • Nicholas Nickleby (novel by Dickens)

    Nicholas Nickleby, novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in 20 monthly installments under the pseudonym “Boz” from 1838 to 1839 and published in book form in 1839. An early novel, this melodramatic tale of young Nickleby’s adventures as he struggles to seek his fortune in Victorian England

  • Nicholas Of Autrecourt (French philosopher and theologian)

    Nicholas Of Autrecourt was a French philosopher and theologian known principally for developing medieval Skepticism to its extreme logical conclusions, which were condemned as heretical. Nicholas was an advanced student in liberal arts and philosophy at the Sorbonne faculty of the University of

  • Nicholas of Bari (bishop of Myra)

    St. Nicholas ; Western feast day December 6; Eastern feast day December 19) was one of the most popular minor saints commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches and now traditionally associated with the festival of Christmas. In many countries, children receive gifts on December 6, St.

  • Nicholas Of Clémanges (French theologian)

    Nicholas Of Clémanges was a theologian, humanist, and educator who denounced the corruption of institutional Christianity, advocated general ecclesiastical reform, and attempted to mediate the Western Schism (rival claimants to the papacy) during the establishment of the papal residence in Avignon,

  • Nicholas of Cologne (German child crusader)

    Hameln: …has also been likened to Nicholas of Cologne, who in 1212 led thousands of German children on the ill-fated Children’s Crusade. There is a ratcatcher collection in the local history museum, and there are ratcatcher inscriptions on two of the town’s many notable half-timbered Renaissance houses, the Rattenfängerhaus (“Ratcatcher’s House”)…

  • Nicholas Of Cusa (Christian scholar)

    Nicholas Of Cusa was a cardinal, mathematician, scholar, experimental scientist, and influential philosopher who stressed the incomplete nature of man’s knowledge of God and of the universe. At the Council of Basel in 1432, he gained recognition for his opposition to the candidate put forward by

  • Nicholas of Damascus (Greek historian and philosopher)

    Nicholas of Damascus was a Greek historian and philosopher whose works included a universal history from the time of the Assyrian empire to his own days. Nicholas instructed Herod the Great in rhetoric, philosophy, and history, and he attracted the notice of Augustus when he accompanied his patron

  • Nicholas of Flüe, Saint (Swiss folk hero)

    Saint Nicholas of Flüe ; canonized 1947; feast day in Switzerland September 25, elsewhere March 21) was a hermit, popular saint, and Swiss folk hero. His intervention in a conflict between cantonal factions over the admission of Fribourg and Solothurn to the Swiss Confederation led to the agreement

  • Nicholas Of Hereford (English scholar)

    Nicholas Of Hereford was a theological scholar and advocate of the English reform movement within the Roman Church who later recanted his unorthodox views and participated in the repression of other reformers. He collaborated with John Wycliffe on the first complete English translation of the

  • Nicholas Of Lyra (French biblical scholar)

    Nicholas Of Lyra was an author of the first printed commentary on the Bible and one of the foremost Franciscan theologians and influential exegetes (biblical interpreters) of the Middle Ages. Becoming a Franciscan c. 1300, by 1309 Nicholas was a professor at the Sorbonne, where he taught for many

  • Nicholas of Myra (bishop of Myra)

    St. Nicholas ; Western feast day December 6; Eastern feast day December 19) was one of the most popular minor saints commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches and now traditionally associated with the festival of Christmas. In many countries, children receive gifts on December 6, St.

  • Nicholas of Pelhřimov (Bohemian bishop)

    Taborite: Nicholas of Pelhřimov, first bishop of the Taborites, headed an independent church that replaced Latin with Czech in the liturgy, allowed married clergy, and rejected all the sacraments except Baptism and the Eucharist. The Taborites’ military campaigns and their destruction of churches, which took place…

  • Nicholas Of Verdun (Flemish enamelist)

    Nicholas Of Verdun was the greatest enamelist and goldsmith of his day and an important figure in the transition from late Romanesque to early Gothic style. He was an itinerant craftsman who travelled to the site of his commission; therefore most of what is known of his life is inferred from his

  • Nicholas the Great (pope)

    Saint Nicholas I ; feast day November 13) was the pope from 858 to 867, master theorist of papal power, considered to have been the most forceful of the early medieval pontiffs, whose pontificate was the most important of the Carolingian period and prepared the way for the 11th-century reform

  • Nicholas V (pope)

    Nicholas V was an influential Renaissance pope (reigned 1447–55) and founder of the Vatican Library. Soon after his election, he brought to an end the schism caused by rivalries between popes and councils. By 1455 he had restored peace to the Papal States and to Italy. He began a program for the

  • Nicholas, Adrian (British balloonist)

    Leonardo da Vinci’s parachute: …June 26, 2000, British balloonist Adrian Nicholas proved da Vinci right. In a parachute built of wood and canvas to the artist’s specifications, Nicholas was hoisted to 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) by a hot-air balloon and then released. He slowly and gently floated downward in da Vinci’s parachute, disproving predictions…

  • Nicholas, Barry (British historian)

    animal rights: Animals and the law: …British historian of Roman law Barry Nicholas has pointed out that in Rome “the slave was a thing…he himself had no rights: he was merely an object of rights, like an animal.”

  • Nicholas, Saint (legendary figure)

    Santa Claus, legendary figure who is the traditional patron of Christmas in the United States and other countries, bringing gifts to children. His popular image is based on traditions associated with Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century Christian saint who is typically depicted in red bishop’s robes. The

  • Nicholas, St. (bishop of Myra)

    St. Nicholas ; Western feast day December 6; Eastern feast day December 19) was one of the most popular minor saints commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches and now traditionally associated with the festival of Christmas. In many countries, children receive gifts on December 6, St.

  • Nichollò de Bari (Italian sculptor)

    Niccolò dell’Arca was an early Renaissance sculptor famed for his intensely expressionistic use of realism combined with southern Classicism and a plastic naturalism typical of the Burgundian School and especially the work of Claus Sluter. The Ragusa, Bari, and Apulia variants of his name suggest

  • Nicholls, Douglas (Australian activist, athlete, minister, and politician)

    Douglas Nicholls was a Yorta Yorta activist, athlete, minister, and politician who sought to establish the rights of Australian Aboriginal peoples. After early success as an athlete, Nicholls used his fame to advance the well-being of Indigenous communities, advocating for their citizenship and

  • Nicholls, Erith Gwyn (Welsh athlete)

    Gwyn Nicholls was one of the greatest rugby players of all time. Nicholls was captain of Cardiff four times, a club record, beginning in 1892 and was the only Welsh representative on the British team that toured Australia in 1899. Nicholls was also captain of Wales 10 times, leading the team to

  • Nicholls, Francis (American disc jockey and record producer)

    electronic dance music: Chicago and Detroit: In Chicago Frankie Knuckles, resident DJ at the members-only African American gay club the Warehouse, would make his own edits, on reel-to-reel tape, of the cult disco he played, extending the grooves to keep the all-night dance floor filled. When Knuckles—along with other DJs in Chicago, such…

  • Nicholls, Gwyn (Welsh athlete)

    Gwyn Nicholls was one of the greatest rugby players of all time. Nicholls was captain of Cardiff four times, a club record, beginning in 1892 and was the only Welsh representative on the British team that toured Australia in 1899. Nicholls was also captain of Wales 10 times, leading the team to

  • Nicholls, Mrs. Arthur Bell (British author)

    Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist noted for Jane Eyre (1847), a strong narrative of a woman in conflict with her natural desires and social condition. The novel gave new truthfulness to Victorian fiction. She later wrote Shirley (1849) and Villette (1853). Her father was Patrick Brontë

  • Nicholls, Rhoda Holmes (British-American artist)

    Rhoda Holmes Nicholls was a British-American artist and art instructor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a noted watercolourist of her day. Rhoda Holmes was the daughter of a vicar. Early on she displayed a talent for art and was sent to London to study at the Bloomsbury School of Art and

  • Nichols and May (American comedy duo)

    Mike Nichols: Early life and stage work: Nichols and May then traveled nationwide with their social-satire routines, and from 1960 to 1961 they performed on Broadway in An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May. The recording of their show won Nichols and May a Grammy Award for best comedy album of…

  • Nichols, Clarina Irene Howard (American journalist)

    Clarina Irene Howard Nichols was a 19th-century American journalist and reformer, a determined and effective campaigner for women’s rights. Clarina Howard was educated in Vermont public schools and for a year at an academy. From 1830 until 1843 she was married to Justin Carpenter, a Baptist

  • Nichols, Dudley (American writer and director)

    And Then There Were None: Production notes and credits:

  • Nichols, Herbert Horatio (American musician)

    Herbie Nichols was an American jazz pianist and composer whose advanced bop-era concepts of rhythm, harmony, and form predicted aspects of free jazz. Nichols attended the City College of New York and served in the U.S. Army in 1941–43. He participated in the Harlem sessions that led to the

  • Nichols, Herbie (American musician)

    Herbie Nichols was an American jazz pianist and composer whose advanced bop-era concepts of rhythm, harmony, and form predicted aspects of free jazz. Nichols attended the City College of New York and served in the U.S. Army in 1941–43. He participated in the Harlem sessions that led to the

  • Nichols, John (English writer)

    John Nichols was a writer, printer, and antiquary who, through numerous volumes of literary anecdotes, made an invaluable contribution to posterity’s knowledge of the lives and works of 18th-century men of letters in England. Apprenticed in 1757 to William Bowyer the younger (known as “the learned

  • Nichols, Kate (American writer and philanthropist)

    Kate Nichols Trask was an American writer and philanthropist remembered as one of the major forces behind the establishment of the Yaddo community for creative artists. Kate Nichols was of a wealthy family and was privately educated. In November 1874 she married Spencer Trask, a banker and

  • Nichols, Mary Gove (American writer and advocate)

    Mary Gove Nichols was an American writer and advocate of women’s rights and health reform. Nichols is best known as a promoter of hydropathy—the use of water-cures, cold baths, and vegetarianism to cure illness. She edited the Health Journal and Advocate of Physiological Reform in 1840, and

  • Nichols, Mike (American director)

    Mike Nichols was an American motion-picture, television, and stage director whose productions focus on the absurdities and horrors of modern life as revealed in personal relationships. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) At age seven, Nichols emigrated with his family

  • Nichols, Nichelle (American actress)

    Star Trek: Uhura (Nichelle Nichols); Mr. Sulu (George Takei); Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig); and Mr. Scott (James Doohan), the engineer who controls the Enterprise’s transporter (not to be confused with the transponder, a homing device), dematerializing and rematerializing his shipmates so that they can travel instantly through space.

  • Nichols, Terry (American terrorist)

    Terry Nichols is an American militant who in 1995, with Timothy McVeigh, was found guilty of the Oklahoma City bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. The incident caused the deaths of 168 people and constituted the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil until the

  • Nichols, Terry Lynn (American terrorist)

    Terry Nichols is an American militant who in 1995, with Timothy McVeigh, was found guilty of the Oklahoma City bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. The incident caused the deaths of 168 people and constituted the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil until the

  • Nichols-Herreshoff multiple-hearth furnace (chemical instrument)

    molybdenum processing: Technical molybdic oxide: …almost universally carried out in Nichols-Herreshoff-type multiple-hearth furnaces, into which molybdenite concentrate is fed from the top against a current of heated air and gases blown from the bottom. Each hearth has four air-cooled arms rotated by an air-cooled shaft; the arms are equipped with rabble blades that rake material…

  • Nicholson, Ben (British artist)

    Ben Nicholson was an English artist whose austere geometric paintings and reliefs were among the most influential abstract works in British art. The son of the painter Sir William Nicholson, he briefly attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London in 1910–11, but he was largely self-taught. He

  • Nicholson, Eliza Jane Poitevent Holbrook (American poet and journalist)

    Eliza Jane Poitevent Holbrook Nicholson was an American poet and journalist, the first woman publisher of a daily newspaper in the Deep South. Eliza Jane Poitevent completed her schooling with three years at the Female Seminary of Amite, Mississippi. From her graduation in 1867 she began

  • Nicholson, Harold George (British diplomat and author)

    Sir Harold Nicolson was a British diplomat and author of more than 125 books, including political essays, travel accounts, and mystery novels. His three-volume Diaries and Letters (1966–68) is a valuable document of British social and political life from 1930 to 1964. Nicolson was born in Iran,

  • Nicholson, Jack (American actor)

    Jack Nicholson is one of the most prominent American motion-picture actors of his generation, especially noted for his versatile portrayals of unconventional, alienated outsiders. Nicholson, whose father abandoned his family, grew up believing that his grandmother was his mother and that his mother

  • Nicholson, John (British colonial official)

    John Nicholson was a British soldier and administrator who brought relief to Delhi during the Indian Mutiny of 1857–58. Nicholson became a cadet in the Bengal Army at the age of 17 and fought at Ghaznī during the First Afghan War (1839–42). Subsequently, he held political posts in Kashmir and the

  • Nicholson, John Joseph (American actor)

    Jack Nicholson is one of the most prominent American motion-picture actors of his generation, especially noted for his versatile portrayals of unconventional, alienated outsiders. Nicholson, whose father abandoned his family, grew up believing that his grandmother was his mother and that his mother

  • Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne (British scholar)

    Reynold Alleyne Nicholson was an English orientalist who exercised a lasting influence on Islāmic studies. Educated at Aberdeen University and the University of Cambridge, Nicholson was lecturer in Persian (1902–26) and Sir Thomas Adams professor of Arabic (1926–33) at Cambridge. He was a leading

  • Nicholson, Seth Barnes (American astronomer)

    Seth Barnes Nicholson was an American astronomer best known for discovering four satellites of Jupiter: the 9th in 1914 (at Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California), the 10th and 11th in 1938, and the 12th in 1951 (all at Mount Wilson Observatory, Calif.). Educated at Drake University, Des

  • Nicholson, William (English chemist and inventor)

    William Nicholson was an English chemist, discoverer of the electrolysis of water, which has become a basic process in both chemical research and industry. Nicholson was at various times a hydraulic engineer, inventor, translator, and scientific publicist. He invented a hydrometer (an instrument

  • Nicholson, William R. (American clergyman)

    Christian fundamentalism: Origins: …as a biblical exegete; and William R. Nicholson (1822–1901), who left the Episcopal Church in 1873 and later became a bishop in the Reformed Episcopal Church. Near the end of the century, the millennial movement attracted other prominent leaders, such as Adoniram J. Gordon (1836–95), a Baptist minister in Boston;…

  • Nichomachean Ethics (work by Aristotle)

    free will and moral responsibility: Ancient and medieval compatibilism: In Book III of the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle (384–322 bce) wrote that humans are responsible for the actions they freely choose to do—i.e., for their voluntary actions. While acknowledging that “our dispositions are not voluntary in the same sense that our actions are,” Aristotle believed that humans have free will…

  • nichrome (metallurgy)

    diesel engine: Price’s engine: Nichrome wire was used for this because it could easily be heated to incandescence when an electric current was passed through it. The experimental engine had a single horizontal cylinder with a bore of 43 cm (17 inches) and a stroke (maximum piston movement) of…

  • Nicht löschbares Feuer (film by Farocki)

    Harun Farocki: In 1969 Farocki created Nicht löschbares Feuer (The Inextinguishable Fire), a 25-minute agitprop film that explored and criticized the use of napalm during the Vietnam War. Typifying what would become his characteristic film-essay structure, the film built an argument from found film clips and photographic images. Farocki incorporated footage…

  • Nicias (Greek artist)

    Nicias was an Athenian painter who was noted for his skill in chiaroscuro (the depiction of form by means of light and shadow). Nicias was famous for his ability to make his figures stand out by means of chiaroscuro. He seems to have excelled in the depiction of female figures in dramatic

  • Nicias (Greek general)

    Nicias was an Athenian politician and general during the Peloponnesian War (431–404 bc) between Sparta and Athens. He was in charge of the Athenian forces engaged in the siege of Syracuse, Sicily, and the failure of the siege contributed greatly to the ultimate defeat of Athens. In the first 10

  • Nicias, Peace of (Greek history)

    Athens: Athens at its zenith: Around the time of the Peace of Nicias (421 bce), the Erechtheum was begun. This was a small Ionic temple, of highly irregular plan, which housed various early cults and sacred tokens. When the building was about half-finished, work was suddenly interrupted, probably because of the disastrous Athenian expedition to…

  • Nicieza, Fabian (comic book writer)

    Deadpool: Birth of the Merc with a Mouth: …writer Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza. In the early 1990s Liefeld was hired from DC Comics to Marvel as a penciller for The New Mutants. As a part of his New Mutants run, Liefeld cocreated the X-Men character Cable with writer Louise Simonson and introduced Deadpool as an enemy…

  • Nick (American television channel)

    Nickelodeon, American-based cable television channel, focused on children’s programming. It is among the top-rated networks in the history of cable television. The channel launched as Pinwheel on December 1, 1977, originally airing educational fare from around the world for 12 hours a day, without