• pond turtle (reptile)

    pond turtle, any of several freshwater turtles of the families Emydidae and Bataguridae. Two of the best known are emydids: the Pacific, or western, pond turtle (Clemmys marmorata) and the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis). The Pacific pond turtle is one of the few turtles native to western

  • Pond, Arthur (English printmaker)

    caricature and cartoon: 18th century: About 1740 the English printmaker Arthur Pond published together 25 caricatures after original drawings by a number of artists. This collection must have been effective in spreading the idea and the word, for it was an excellent publication. Pier Leone Ghezzi, one of the artists included, was probably the first…

  • Pond, Ashley (American explorer)

    Los Alamos: …Alamos (Spanish: “the cottonwoods”) by Ashley Pond, founder of the Los Alamos Ranch School for Boys (1918–43).

  • Pond, John (British astronomer)

    John Pond was the sixth astronomer royal of England, who organized the Royal Greenwich Observatory to an efficiency that made possible a degree of observational precision never before achieved. Pond was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1807 and served from 1811 to 1835 as astronomer royal.

  • Pond, Peter (British explorer)

    Mackenzie River: History of Mackenzie River: In 1778 one of them, Peter Pond, found Portage La Loche (Methy Portage) connecting the headwaters of Churchill River with the Clearwater River, itself one of the east-bank tributaries of the Athabasca River. In 1789 Alexander Mackenzie made his historic journey northward from the trading post of Fort Chipewyan on…

  • Pondaungia (fossil primate genus)

    primate: Eocene: …remains of further early simiiforms, Pondaungia and Amphipithecus. These have been known since the 1920s, but it was only in the 1980s and ’90s that further remains were discovered to confirm their simiiform status.

  • Ponde Town (Connecticut, United States)

    Mansfield, town (township), Tolland county, northeastern Connecticut, U.S. It lies just north of Willimantic city. Settled in 1686, it was originally part of Windham, known as Ponde Town. In 1702 it was incorporated as a separate town and renamed for Major Moses Mansfield, an early settler. A busy

  • Ponder Heart, The (novella by Welty)

    The Ponder Heart, comic novella by Eudora Welty, published in 1954. Cast as a monologue, it is rich with colloquial speech and descriptive imagery. The narrator of the story is Miss Edna Earle Ponder, one of the last living members of a once-prominent family, who manages the Beulah Hotel in Clay,

  • ponderosa pine (tree)

    pine: Major North American pines: Ponderosa, western yellow, or bull pine (P. ponderosa), which grows 45 to 60 metres (148 to 197 feet) high, with a trunk 1.5 to 2.5 metres (5 to 8 feet) in diameter, is noted for its soft, easily worked wood. It is the most widely distributed American pine, found…

  • Pondicherry (union territory, India)

    Puducherry, union territory of India. It was formed in 1962 out of the four former colonies of French India: Pondicherry (now Puducherry) and Karaikal along India’s southeastern Coromandel Coast, surrounded by Tamil Nadu state; Yanam, farther north along the eastern coast in the delta region of the

  • Pondicherry (India)

    Puducherry, city, capital of Puducherry union territory, southeastern India. The city constitutes an enclave surrounded by Tamil Nadu state, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, 105 miles (170 km) south of Chennai (Madras). It originated as a French trade centre in 1674, when it was

  • Pondicherry vulture (bird)

    vulture: Old World vultures: …(Sarcogyps calvus), often called the Pondicherry vulture or the Indian (black) vulture, is an Old World vulture ranging from Pakistan to Malaysia. It is about 75 cm (30 inches) long and has a wingspan of about 2.7 metres (8.9 feet). It is black with white down on the breast and…

  • Pondicherry, Siege of (Anglo-French War [1778])

    Siege of Pondicherry, engagement that occurred August 21 to October 18, 1778, during the Anglo-French War. The outbreak of war between Britain and France over French support for the United States during the American Revolution had repercussions in India. The hostilities provided a convenient

  • Pondichéry (union territory, India)

    Puducherry, union territory of India. It was formed in 1962 out of the four former colonies of French India: Pondicherry (now Puducherry) and Karaikal along India’s southeastern Coromandel Coast, surrounded by Tamil Nadu state; Yanam, farther north along the eastern coast in the delta region of the

  • ponding (Earth science)

    hydrosphere: Groundwaters and river runoff: …a hillslope only after surface ponding takes place. Ponding cannot occur until the surface soil layers become saturated. It is now widely recognized that surface saturation can occur because of two quite distinct mechanisms—specifically, Horton overland flow (named for American hydraulic engineer and hydrologist Robert E. Horton) and Dunne overland…

  • Pondo (people)

    Mpondo, group of Nguni-speaking peoples who have for several centuries occupied the area between the Mtata and Mtamvuna rivers in Eastern province of South Africa. The Mpondo homeland formed one of the largest parts of the former Transkei (until 1994), an independent republic that was established

  • Pondoland (region, South Africa)

    Pondoland, region on the African coast of the Indian Ocean, located in Eastern Cape province, South Africa. It lies between the Mtamvuna and Mtata rivers, bordering KwaZulu-Natal province in the north. Settled by the Mpondo (Pondo) peoples at the end of the 16th century ad, it is divided by the

  • pondweed (plant)

    pondweed, any of numerous cosmopolitan freshwater plants sometimes grown in ponds or aquariums. They belong to two families in the order Alismatales: the Potamogetonaceae (pondweed family) and the Aponogetonaceae (Cape pondweed family), both of which have species that develop submerged or floating

  • poneratoxin (chemical compound)

    bullet ant: Sting: …in waves, is caused by poneratoxin, a paralyzing neurotoxic peptide found in the ant’s venom. Scientists are investigating potential medical applications of this bioactive peptide, including its potential use in analgesic drugs.

  • Ponferrada (Spain)

    Ponferrada, city, León provincia (province), in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northwestern Spain. It lies at the confluence of the Sil and Boeza rivers, west of the city of León. Identified with the Roman Interamnium Flavium, Ponferrada was refounded in the 11th

  • Pong (electronic game)

    Pong, groundbreaking electronic game released in 1972 by the American game manufacturer Atari, Inc. One of the earliest video games, Pong became wildly popular and helped launch the video game industry. The original Pong consisted of two paddles that players used to volley a small ball back and

  • Pongal (Hindu festival)

    Pongal, four-day harvest festival of Tamil Nadu state, southern India. Pongal is also celebrated by the Tamil diaspora in various other regions of southern India and around the world. The festival is observed in mid-January according to the Tamil solar calendar and marks the beginning of Thai, an

  • Ponge, Francis (French author)

    Francis Ponge was a French poet who crafted intricate prose poems about everyday objects. He sought to create a “visual equivalence” between language and subject matter by emphasizing word associations and by manipulating the sound, rhythm, and typography of the words to mimic the essential

  • Ponge, Francis Jean Gaston Alfred (French author)

    Francis Ponge was a French poet who crafted intricate prose poems about everyday objects. He sought to create a “visual equivalence” between language and subject matter by emphasizing word associations and by manipulating the sound, rhythm, and typography of the words to mimic the essential

  • Ponginae (primate subfamily)

    primate: Classification: Subfamily Ponginae (orangutans) 1 genus, 3 species. Southeast Asia. Subfamily Homininae (African apes and humans) 3 genera, 4 living species. Traditionally, zoologists divided subfamily Homininae into 2 “tribes”: Gorillini, containing the gorillas,

  • Pongo (primate)

    orangutan, (genus Pongo), any of three species of Asian great apes found in rainforests on the Southeast Asian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) inhabits large portions of Borneo, whereas the Sumatran orangutan (P. abelii) and the Tapanuli orangutan (P.

  • pongo (water gap)

    Andes Mountains: Physiography of the Central Andes: …narrow transverse water gaps (pongos) that cut the cordillera to reach the Amazon basin. These include Rentema (about one and one-fourth miles long and 200 feet wide), Mayo, Mayasito, and Huarcaya gaps and—the most important—Manseriche Gap, which is seven miles long.

  • Pongo abelii (mammal)

    orangutan: …portions of Borneo, whereas the Sumatran orangutan (P. abelii) and the Tapanuli orangutan (P. tapanuliensis) are limited to northern Sumatra. Orangutans possess cognitive abilities comparable to those of the gorilla and the chimpanzee, which are the only primates more closely related to humans.

  • Pongo pygmaeus (mammal)

    biodiversity loss: Human-driven biodiversity loss: …as the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), which could become extinct by the middle of the 21st century. Hunters killed 2,000–3,000 Bornean orangutans every year between 1971 and 2011, and the clearing of large areas of tropical forest in Indonesia and Malaysia for oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivation became an…

  • Pongo pygmaeus abelii (mammal)

    orangutan: …portions of Borneo, whereas the Sumatran orangutan (P. abelii) and the Tapanuli orangutan (P. tapanuliensis) are limited to northern Sumatra. Orangutans possess cognitive abilities comparable to those of the gorilla and the chimpanzee, which are the only primates more closely related to humans.

  • Pongo pygmaeus morio (primate)

    orangutan: Classification: …are divided into three subspecies: P. pygmaeus morio, P. pygmaeus pygmaeus, and P. pygmaeus wurmbii. During the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago), the orangutan range was much more extensive, and orangutan remains have been found as far north as southern China.

  • Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus (primate)

    orangutan: Classification: pygmaeus morio, P. pygmaeus pygmaeus, and P. pygmaeus wurmbii. During the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago), the orangutan range was much more extensive, and orangutan remains have been found as far north as southern China.

  • Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii (primate)

    orangutan: Classification: pygmaeus pygmaeus, and P. pygmaeus wurmbii. During the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago), the orangutan range was much more extensive, and orangutan remains have been found as far north as southern China.

  • Pongo tapanuliensis (primate)

    orangutan: abelii) and the Tapanuli orangutan (P. tapanuliensis) are limited to northern Sumatra. Orangutans possess cognitive abilities comparable to those of the gorilla and the chimpanzee, which are the only primates more closely related to humans.

  • Pongola Rift (geological feature, Africa)

    Precambrian: Sedimentary basins, basic dikes, and layered complexes: …and South Africa is the Pongola Rift, which is the oldest such continental trough in the world; it is 2.95 billion years old, having formed only 50 million years after the thrusting of adjacent greenstone-granite belts. If there were earlier rifts, they have not survived, or, more likely, this was…

  • Pongola River (river, Africa)

    Sobhuza I: …was situated somewhere near the Pongola River, south of Delagoa Bay (the exact area is still uncertain). About 1820, after being attacked by warriors from the Ndwandwe chieftaincy under Zwide, Sobhuza began to migrate with his people north of the Usutu River, where he was attacked on several more occasions.…

  • Pongoue (African people)

    African art: Gabon: …the Ogowe tribes, particularly the Mpongwe, is closely tied to death rituals. Their masks, painted white to symbolize death, represent dead female ancestors, though they are worn by male relatives of the deceased.

  • Poniatowski, Józef Antoni (Polish patriot)

    Józef Antoni Poniatowski was a Polish patriot and military hero, who became a marshal of France. Initially an officer in the Austrian army, Poniatowski was transferred to the Polish army in 1789 at the request of his uncle, King Stanisław II August Poniatowski of Poland. He distinguished himself

  • Poniatowski, Stanisław (king of Poland)

    Stanisław II August Poniatowski was the last king of an independent Poland (1764–95). He was unable to act effectively while Russia, Austria, and Prussia dismembered his nation. He was born the sixth child of Stanisław Poniatowski, a Polish noble, and his wife, Princess Konstancja Czartoryska.

  • Poniatowski, Stanisław (Polish statesman)

    Stanisław Poniatowski was a Polish soldier, state official, and nobleman who supported the Swedes against the Poles in the Great Northern War (1700–21) and was later a reconciled leader in Polish military and political affairs. Grandson of Jan Ciołek Poniatowski (d. c. 1676), founder of the

  • Ponnaiyar River (river, India)

    Ponnaiyar River, river of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states, southern India. It rises as the Southern Pinakim on the eastern slope of Nandidrug Mountain, in the Chennakaseva Hills of eastern Karnataka. It then flows southward for 50 miles (80 km) through Karnataka to northwestern Tamil Nadu, where it

  • Ponnani River (river, India)

    Ponnani River, river in central Kerala state, southwestern India. The Ponnani rises in the Western Ghats range northeast of Palakkad. Flowing first southwest and then west across the coastal plain, the river empties into the Arabian Sea at Ponnani after a course of about 100 miles (160

  • Ponnelle, Jean-Pierre (French opera director)

    Jean-Pierre Ponnelle was a French opera director and designer who mounted unorthodox and often controversial productions for opera houses throughout Europe and the United States. Ponnelle studied philosophy and art history at the Sorbonne in Paris and took art lessons from the painter Fernand

  • pons (anatomy)

    pons, portion of the brainstem lying above the medulla oblongata and below the cerebellum and the cavity of the fourth ventricle. The pons is a broad horseshoe-shaped mass of transverse nerve fibres that connect the medulla with the cerebellum. It is also the point of origin or termination for four

  • Pons Aelius (bridge, Rome, Italy)

    Ponte Sant’Angelo, ancient Roman bridge, probably the finest surviving in Rome itself, built over the Tiber River by the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138 ce) to connect the Campus Martius with his mausoleum (later renamed Castel Sant’Angelo). The bridge was completed about 135 ce. It consists of

  • Pons Asinorum (geometry)

    Euclid’s fifth proposition in the first book of his Elements (that the base angles in an isosceles triangle are equal) may have been named the Bridge of Asses (Latin: Pons Asinorum) for medieval students who, clearly not destined to cross over into more abstract mathematics, had difficulty

  • pons varolli (anatomy)

    pons, portion of the brainstem lying above the medulla oblongata and below the cerebellum and the cavity of the fourth ventricle. The pons is a broad horseshoe-shaped mass of transverse nerve fibres that connect the medulla with the cerebellum. It is also the point of origin or termination for four

  • Pons Vetus (Spain)

    Pontevedra, city, capital of Pontevedra provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Galicia, northwestern Spain. Situated on the Lérez River at its entry into the Pontevedra Estuary, an Atlantic inlet, Pontevedra has a long maritime and trading tradition. The city’s

  • Pons, Alice Joséphine (American singer)

    Lily Pons was a French-born American coloratura soprano known for her vocal range, musical skill, and warmth of expression. She was associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for more than 30 years. Pons was of French and Italian parentage. As a child she played the piano, and at age

  • Pons, Lily (American singer)

    Lily Pons was a French-born American coloratura soprano known for her vocal range, musical skill, and warmth of expression. She was associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for more than 30 years. Pons was of French and Italian parentage. As a child she played the piano, and at age

  • Ponselle, Rosa (American singer)

    Rosa Ponselle was an American coloratura soprano of great breadth of range and expressive ability, who is probably best known for her performance in the title role of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma. Ponzillo began singing at an early age in the cafés and motion-picture theatres of Meriden, Connecticut,

  • Ponsford, William Harold (Australian cricketer)

    William Harold Ponsford was an Australian cricketer, one of the game’s most prolific scorers. He was the first to make a quadruple century since Archie MacLaren first broke 400 in 1895 and the only player to exceed 400 twice in first-class matches. Ponsford made an inauspicious debut for Victoria

  • Ponsonby Treaty (United Kingdom-Turkey [1838])

    Henry Lytton Bulwer: In 1838 he negotiated the Ponsonby Treaty with Turkey, which secured important advantages for British trade in the Ottoman Empire. In 1843 he was appointed ambassador to Spain. Sympathetic to the cause of Spanish constitutionalism, he was expelled from the country in 1848 by the dictator Ramón Narváez.

  • Ponsonby, Lady Caroline (British aristocrat)

    Lord Melbourne: In June 1805 Lamb married Lady Caroline Ponsonby, the eccentric daughter of Frederic Ponsonby, 3rd earl of Bessborough. The marriage had failed even before Lady Caroline’s affair with Byron in 1812–13, and, after several estrangements and reconciliations, it ended in separation in 1825, three years before her death. Subsequently, Lamb…

  • Ponsonby, Sir Henry Frederick (British general)

    Victoria: Widowhood of Victoria: …Afghanistan, in 1881, for example, Sir Henry Ponsonby had never seen her so angry: “The Queen has never before been treated,” she told him, “with such want of respect and consideration in the forty three and a half years she has worn her thorny crown.”

  • Ponsot, Marie (American writer, critic, teacher, and translator)

    Marie Ponsot was an American poet, essayist, literary critic, teacher, and translator who has been described as a love poet, a metaphysician, and a formalist. Although she periodically published individual poems, her collections were few, and she released only one—True Minds (1957)—before 1981. Her

  • Pont Cysylltau aqueduct (aqueduct, Wales, United Kingdom)

    Thomas Telford: …in Wales at Chirk and Pontcysyllte (Pont Cysylltau), employed a novel use of troughs of cast-iron plates fixed in the masonry. These brought him national fame. Employed in 1803 by the government to assist in the development of the Scottish Highlands, he was responsible for the Caledonian Canal; harbour works…

  • Pont d’Arc, Le (geological formation, France)

    Chauvet–Pont d’Arc: Artists of the cave: …chosen for its closeness to Le Pont d’Arc (“The Arch Bridge”), a geological marvel carved by the Ardèche River that emerged from a limestone obstacle more than 400,000 years ago and was already an impressive natural monument at the time of the painters. It must have been felt as a…

  • Pont de la rivière Kwaï, Le (novel by Boulle)

    Pierre Boulle: …best known for his novel Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï (1952; U.S. title, The Bridge over the River Kwai; U.K. title, The Bridge on the River Kwai), dealing with a company of British soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese in World War II. An ambiguous moral fable, it presents…

  • Pont des Arts (bridge, Paris, France)

    Paris: The Institute of France: The Arts Bridge leads from the Institute of France across the Seine to the Louvre. One of the most charming of all the Parisian bridges, it was the first (1803) to be made of iron, and it has always been reserved for pedestrians; it provides an…

  • Pont Kulon National Park (national park, Indonesia)

    Ujung Kulon National Park, national park on the island of Java, in the province of Banten, Indonesia. It is best known as the last refuge of the one-horned Javan rhinoceros. A remote area of low hills and plateaus, with small lagoons and coastal dunes, it occupies 475 square miles (1,229 square km)

  • Pont Neuf (bridge, Paris, France)

    Pont Neuf, the oldest existing bridge across the Seine River via the Île de la Cité in Paris, built, with interruptions in the work, from 1578 to 1607. It was designed by Baptiste du Cerceau and Pierre des Illes, who may have made use of an earlier design by Guillaume Marchand. For centuries the

  • Pont-à-Mousson (French company)

    Compagnie de Saint-Gobain-Pont-à-Mousson: In 1970 Saint-Gobain merged with Pont-à-Mousson, a company founded in 1856 to produce pig iron and iron castings. By the time of the merger, Pont-à-Mousson had become a leader in metallurgy and the building trade.

  • Pont-Aven school (art)

    Pont-Aven school, group of young painters who espoused the style known as Synthetism and united under Paul Gauguin’s informal tutelage at Pont-Aven, Brittany, France, in the summer of 1888. The artists included Émile Bernard, Charles Laval, Maxime Maufra, Paul Sérusier, Charles Filiger, Meyer de

  • Pont-l’Évêque (cheese)

    Pont-l’Évêque, one of the classic cow’s-milk cheeses of Normandy, France, named for the eastern Normandy village in which it is produced. The traditional form of Pont-l’Évêque is a small, approximately 4-inch (10-cm) square, with a golden-brown rind crisscrossed by marks from the straw mats on

  • Ponta Delgada (Portugal)

    Ponta Delgada, city and concelho (municipality), capital of the região autónoma (autonomous region) of the Azores archipelago of Portugal in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is located on the southern coast of São Miguel Island. The city, the largest in the Azores, became São Miguel’s second capital

  • Ponta Delgada, Battle of (Spanish history [1582])

    Fought on July 26, 1582, off the Azores in the mid-Atlantic, the Battle of Ponta Delgada was a Spanish victory that ended Portuguese resistance to the takeover of their country by Spain’s king Philip II. It inspired the Spanish with a confidence in their naval power that led directly to the Armada

  • Ponta do Pico (volcano, Portugal)

    Pico Island: …and is dominated by the Ponta do Pico volcano, highest in the Azores (7,713 feet [2,351 m]). Its economy is basically agricultural (dairying, cattle raising, and viticulture). The landscape created by the viticulture of Pico Island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004. Whaling operations on the island…

  • Ponta Grossa (Brazil)

    Ponta Grossa, town, east-central Paraná estado (state), southeastern Brazil. Ponta Grossa is located on a plateau at an elevation of 2,930 feet (893 metres). It serves as a commercial centre, exporting maté (tea), timber, soy, corn, tobacco, rice, bananas, and xarque (jerked beef) through the

  • Ponta, Victor (prime minister of Romania)

    Romania: New constitution: Opposition lawmakers headed by Victor Ponta of the PSD had united under the banner of the Social-Liberal Union (Uniunea Social Liberală; USL), and they brought down the two-month-old government in a vote of no confidence on April 27, 2012. Ponta, who became prime minister the following month, acted quickly…

  • Pontaniana, Accademia (institution, Naples, Italy)

    Giovanni Pontano: Called the Accademia Pontaniana, it became one of the major Italian literary academies of the 15th century. Pontano’s writings, all in Latin, include a historical work (De bello neapolitano); philosophical treatises (De prudentia, De fortuna); an astrological poem (Urania); dialogues on morality and religion, philology and literature;…

  • Pontano, Giovanni (Italian writer)

    Giovanni Pontano was an Italian prose writer, poet, and royal official whose works reflect the diversity of interests and knowledge of the Renaissance. His supple and easy Latin style is considered, with that of Politian, to be the best of Renaissance Italy. Pontano studied language and literature

  • Pontanus, Jovianus (Italian writer)

    Giovanni Pontano was an Italian prose writer, poet, and royal official whose works reflect the diversity of interests and knowledge of the Renaissance. His supple and easy Latin style is considered, with that of Politian, to be the best of Renaissance Italy. Pontano studied language and literature

  • Pontardawe (Wales, United Kingdom)

    Pontardawe, locality, Neath Port Talbot county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), southern Wales. It is situated in the River Tawe valley 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Swansea. Pontardawe originated as a mining community and grew rapidly during the 18th- and 19th-century exploitation

  • Pontchartrain, Lake (lake, Louisiana, United States)

    Lake Pontchartrain, lake, southeastern Louisiana, U.S. The lake is 40 miles (64 km) long and 25 miles (40 km) wide at its widest point, with an area of 630 square miles (1,631 square km) and a mean depth of 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 metres). It is more a tidal lagoon than a lake, since it connects

  • Pontcysyllte aqueduct (aqueduct, Wales, United Kingdom)

    Thomas Telford: …in Wales at Chirk and Pontcysyllte (Pont Cysylltau), employed a novel use of troughs of cast-iron plates fixed in the masonry. These brought him national fame. Employed in 1803 by the government to assist in the development of the Scottish Highlands, he was responsible for the Caledonian Canal; harbour works…

  • Ponte Sant’Angelo (bridge, Rome, Italy)

    Ponte Sant’Angelo, ancient Roman bridge, probably the finest surviving in Rome itself, built over the Tiber River by the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138 ce) to connect the Campus Martius with his mausoleum (later renamed Castel Sant’Angelo). The bridge was completed about 135 ce. It consists of

  • Ponte Sant’Angelo (bridge, Rome, Italy)

    Ponte Sant’Angelo, ancient Roman bridge, probably the finest surviving in Rome itself, built over the Tiber River by the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138 ce) to connect the Campus Martius with his mausoleum (later renamed Castel Sant’Angelo). The bridge was completed about 135 ce. It consists of

  • Ponte Vecchio (bridge, Florence, Italy)

    Ponte Vecchio, the first segmental arch bridge built in the West, which crosses over the Arno River at Florence and is an outstanding engineering achievement of Europe’s Middle Ages. Its builder, Taddeo Gaddi, completed the bridge in 1345. Requiring fewer piers in the stream than the Roman

  • Ponte, Antonio da (Italian architect and engineer)

    Antonio da Ponte was an architect-engineer who built the Rialto Bridge in Venice. Though he was undoubtedly the builder of many previous structures, Antonio’s earlier works are entirely unknown. He won a competition in 1587 for a design for a permanent bridge over the Grand Canal at the busy

  • Ponte, Giacomo da (Italian painter)

    Jacopo Bassano was a late Renaissance painter of the Venetian school, known for his religious paintings, lush landscapes, and scenes of everyday life. The son of a provincial artist, Francesco the Elder, who adopted the name Bassano, he was the outstanding member of a thriving family workshop. His

  • Ponte, Jacopo da (Italian painter)

    Jacopo Bassano was a late Renaissance painter of the Venetian school, known for his religious paintings, lush landscapes, and scenes of everyday life. The son of a provincial artist, Francesco the Elder, who adopted the name Bassano, he was the outstanding member of a thriving family workshop. His

  • Ponte, Lorenzo Da (Italian writer)

    Lorenzo Da Ponte was an Italian poet and librettist best known for his collaboration with Mozart. Jewish by birth, Da Ponte was baptized in 1763 and later became a priest; freethinking (expressing doubts about religious doctrine) and his pursuit of an adulterous relationship, however, eventually

  • Ponte-Corvo, Prince de (king of Sweden and Norway)

    Charles XIV John was a French Revolutionary general and marshal of France (1804), who was elected crown prince of Sweden (1810), becoming regent and then king of Sweden and Norway (1818–44). Active in several Napoleonic campaigns between 1805 and 1809, he subsequently shifted allegiances and formed

  • Pontecorvo, Bruno (Italian-born physicist)

    Bruno Pontecorvo was an Italian-born nuclear physicist who defected to the Soviet Union after having done atomic research in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom from 1943 to 1950. One of eight children born to a Jewish textile merchant, Pontecorvo received a doctorate from the

  • Pontecorvo, Guido (Italian geneticist)

    Guido Pontecorvo was an Italian geneticist who discovered the process of genetic recombination in the fungus Aspergillus. Pontecorvo was educated at the universities of Pisa (doctorate in agricultural sciences, 1928), Edinburgh (Ph.D., 1941), and Leicester (D.Sc., 1968). While at Edinburgh he

  • Pontedera, Andrea da (Italian sculptor)

    Andrea Pisano was one of the most important Italian sculptors of the 14th century whose chief works were executed in Florence, where he came under the influence of Giotto. Andrea is recorded as the author of the earliest of three bronze doors for the baptistery of the cathedral of Florence, which,

  • Pontederia (plant genus)

    pickerelweed: …aquatic plants comprising the family Pontederiaceae, especially those of the genus Pontederia. Most species are perennials, native primarily to tropical America. They have creeping rootstocks, fibrous roots, and leaves in clusters at the base of the plant or borne on branched stems. The fruit is a capsule containing many seeds,…

  • Pontederiaceae (plant)

    pickerelweed, any of several genera of aquatic plants comprising the family Pontederiaceae, especially those of the genus Pontederia. Most species are perennials, native primarily to tropical America. They have creeping rootstocks, fibrous roots, and leaves in clusters at the base of the plant or

  • Pontefract (England, United Kingdom)

    Pontefract, historic market town, Wakefield metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, northern England. It lies east of the Pennine foothills, 4 miles (6 km) south of the River Calder above its confluence with the River Aire. Pontefract grew around a

  • Pontes, Marcos (Brazilian pilot and astronaut)

    Marcos Pontes is a Brazilian pilot and astronaut, the first Brazilian citizen in space. Pontes graduated in 1984 as a military pilot with a B.S. in aeronautical technology from the Brazil Air Force Academy in Pirassununga. For 14 years he investigated aeronautical accidents as a flight safety

  • Pontes, Marcos Cesar (Brazilian pilot and astronaut)

    Marcos Pontes is a Brazilian pilot and astronaut, the first Brazilian citizen in space. Pontes graduated in 1984 as a military pilot with a B.S. in aeronautical technology from the Brazil Air Force Academy in Pirassununga. For 14 years he investigated aeronautical accidents as a flight safety

  • Pontevedra (Spain)

    Pontevedra, city, capital of Pontevedra provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Galicia, northwestern Spain. Situated on the Lérez River at its entry into the Pontevedra Estuary, an Atlantic inlet, Pontevedra has a long maritime and trading tradition. The city’s

  • Pontevedra (province, Spain)

    Pontevedra, provincia (province) in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is mountainous, with an Atlantic coastline deeply indented by the picturesque rías (inlets) of Arousa, Pontevedra, and Vigo. Cattle, pigs, timber, agricultural produce, fish, and

  • Ponti, Gio (Italian architect)

    Gio Ponti was an Italian architect and designer associated with the development of modern architecture and modern industrial design in Italy. Ponti graduated in 1921 from the Milan Polytechnic. From 1923 to 1938 he did industrial design for the Richard-Ginori pottery factory. In 1928 he founded the

  • Ponti, Giovanni (Italian architect)

    Gio Ponti was an Italian architect and designer associated with the development of modern architecture and modern industrial design in Italy. Ponti graduated in 1921 from the Milan Polytechnic. From 1923 to 1938 he did industrial design for the Richard-Ginori pottery factory. In 1928 he founded the

  • Pontiac (Michigan, United States)

    Pontiac, city, seat (1820) of Oakland county, southeastern Michigan, U.S., lying on the Clinton River 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Detroit. Named for Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa tribe, it was located on the Saginaw Trail and became an important wagon and carriage production centre in the 1880s. It

  • Pontiac (Ottawa chief)

    Pontiac was an Ottawa Indian chief who became a great intertribal leader when he organized a combined resistance—known as Pontiac’s War (1763–64)—to British power in the Great Lakes area. Little is known of Pontiac’s early life, but by 1755 he had become a tribal chief. His commanding manner and

  • Pontiac (Illinois, United States)

    Pontiac, city, seat (1837) of Livingston county, central Illinois, U.S. It lies on the Vermilion River, about 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Chicago. It was laid out in 1837 and named for the famous Ottawa Indian chief (see Pontiac). Settlement began soon afterward, and industry developed with the

  • Pontiac fever (pathology)

    Legionnaire disease: Pontiac fever, an influenza-like illness characterized by fever, headache, and muscle pain, represents a milder form of Legionella infection.