Faberge \fa-ber-'zha\, (Peter) Carl orig. Karl Gustavovich Fab- erge (b. May 18, 1846, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Sept. 24, 1920, Lau¬ sanne, Switz.) Russian goldsmith, jeweler, and designer. Educated in Europe and England, he took over his father’s jewelry business in St. Petersburg in 1870. The objects he designed quickly won him the patron¬ age of European and Russian royalty. Specializing in gold, silver, mala¬ chite, jade, lapis lazuli, and gemstones, he manufactured not only conventional jewelry but objects of fantasy, much of it inspired by the decorative arts of the Louis XVI style. He opened workshops in Moscow, Kiev, and London and became most famous for his jeweled Easter eggs for Alexander III and Nicholas II. His workshops were shut down after the 1917 revolution, and he died in exile.
Fabian Society Vfa-be-9n\ Socialist society founded in 1883-84 in London, to establish a democratic socialist state in Britain. The name derived from Fabius Maximus Cunctator, whose elusive tactics in avoiding pitched battles led to victory over stronger forces. Fabians believed in evolutionary socialism rather than revolution, and used public meetings and lectures, research, and publishing to educate the public. Important early members included George Bernard Shaw and Sidney and Beatrice Webb. They helped organize a separate party that became the Labour Party in 1906, and many Labour members of Parliament have been Fabians.
Fabius Maximus Cunctator V'fa-be-ss-'mak-si-mss-.ksqk-'ta-tsrX, Quintus (d. 203 bc) Roman commander and statesman. He served as con¬ sul in 233 bc (an office he would hold five times) and censor in 230. Elected dictator in 217, he used a strategy of harassment and attrition in the Second Punic War against Hannibal (218-201). These cautious delaying tactics (Cunctator means “delayer”) allowed Rome to recover and take the offen¬ sive, but Roman impatience led to defeat at the Battle of Cannae. He unsuc¬ cessfully opposed the invasion of Africa by Scipio Africanus in 205.
fable Narration intended to enforce a useful truth, especially one in which animals or inanimate objects speak and act like human beings. Unlike a folktale, it has a moral that is woven into the story and often explicitly formulated at the end. The Western fable tradition began with tales ascribed to Aesop. It flourished in the Middle Ages, reached a high point in 17th-century France in the works of Jean de La Fontaine, and found a new audience in the 19th century with the rise of children’s literature. Fables also have ancient roots in the literary and religious traditions of India, China, and Japan.
Fables of Bidpai See Panca-tantra
fabliau \'fa-ble-,o\ or fableau \fa-'blo\ Short metrical tale made popu¬ lar in medieval France by jongleurs. Fabliaux were characterized by vivid detail and realistic observation and were usually comic, coarse, and cynical, especially in their treatment of women. Though understandable to the bourgeois and common people, they frequently contain an element of burlesque that depends for its appreciation on considerable knowledge of courtly society, love, and manners. About 150 fabliaux survive, by both amateur and professional writers.
Fabriano, Gentile da See Gentile da Fabriano
Fabricius \f9-'brish-9s\ (ab Aquapendente), Hierony¬ mus Italian Girolamo Fabrici (b. May 20, 1537, Acqua- pendente, Italy—d. May 21, 1619, Padua) Italian surgeon and anatomist. He studied under and later succeeded Gabriel Fallopius at the University of Padua (1562-1613). The first clear description of the valves of the veins, in his De venarum ostiolis (1603), provided his pupil William Harvey with a crucial point in his argument for blood circulation. His De formato foetu (1600) contained the first detailed description of the placenta and opened the field of comparative embry¬ ology. He was the first to perceive the larynx as a vocal organ and to dem¬ onstrate that the pupil of the eye changes size.
Fabricius \fa-'bre-se-us\, Johann Christian (b. Jan. 7, 1745, Tpndem, Den.—d. March 3, 1808, Kiel) Danish entomologist. He stud¬ ied at Uppsala University with Carolus Linnaeus and from 1775 taught not only natural history but also economics and finance at the University of Kiel. He advanced theories progressive for his time, particularly the view that new species and varieties could arise through hybridization and by environmental influence on anatomical structure and function. His taxo¬ nomic research was based on insect mouthparts rather than their wings.
Fabritius Nfa-'bret-se-msV, Corel (baptized Feb. 27, 1622, Midden- beemster, Neth.—d. Oct. 12, 1654, Delft) Dutch painter. He studied with Rembrandt in the early 1640s, then settled in Delft, entering its painters’ guild in 1652. The earliest work attributed to him, The Raising of Laz¬ arus (c. 1645), was strongly influenced by Rembrandt, but he soon devel¬ oped a personal Baroque style marked by cool colour harmonies, subtle lighting effects, and illusionistic perspective. His portraits and his genre and narrative paintings influenced Pieter de Hooch and Johannes Vermeer. All but about a dozen of his paintings were destroyed by an explosion of the Delft powder magazine, which killed him as well.
fabula Vfab-ys-b, Tab-yu-la\ Drama of ancient Rome. Particular types included the fabula Atellana, the earliest form of native farce in ancient Italy; the fabula crepidata, a form of Roman tragedy based on Greek models; the fabula palliata, an ancient Roman comedy based on Greek New Comedy and treating a Greek subject; the fabula praetexta, an ancient Roman drama with a theme from Roman history or legend; and the fab¬ ula togata, a Romancomedy based on Greek models but featuring Roman life and dress.
face Front part of the head, extending from the forehead to the chin and housing the eyes, nose, mouth, and jaws. The receding of the jaw and the increasing size of the brain in human evolution has made the face essen¬ tially vertical, with two distinctively human features: a prominent, pro¬ jecting nose and a clearly defined chin. The face and braincase follow different patterns of growth. While the face grows more slowly, it ends up much larger compared to the braincase in adults than at birth. The facial muscles move the features to express emotion.
fact-value distinction In philosophy, the ontological distinction between what is (facts) and what ought to be (values). David Hume gave
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factor ► Fairbairn I 653
the distinction its classical formulation in his dictum that it is impossible to derive an “ought” from an “is.” See also naturalistic fallacy.
factor In multiplication, one of two or more numerical or algebraic components of a product. A whole number’s factors are the whole num¬ bers that divide evenly into it (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 are factors of 12). To factor a counting number means to break it down into its prime number factors. To factor a polynomial is to find its prime polynomial factors, a basic procedure for solving algebraic equations. According to the funda¬ mental theorem of arithmetic, the prime factorization of any number or polynomial is unique.
factorial For any whole number, the product of all the counting numbers up to and including itself. It is indicated with an exclamation point: 4! (read “four factorial”) is 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 = 24. In order for certain formulas involv¬ ing permutations and combinations to work, 0! is defined to be 1. Factorials are particularly useful in calculating the number of ways an event can occur, for example, the number of possible orders of finish in a race.
factoring In finance, the selling of accounts receivable on a contract basis to an agency known as a factor in order to obtain cash payment before the accounts come due. The factor assumes full responsibility for credit analysis of new accounts, payments collection, and credit losses. Factor¬ ing is most often used in seasonal industries such as textiles and shoes to shift the functions of credit and collection to a specialized agency.
factory Structure in which work is organized to meet the need for pro¬ duction on a large scale usually with power-driven machinery. In the 17th- 18th century, the domestic system of work in Europe began giving way to larger units of production, and capital became available for investment in industrial enterprises. The movement of population from country to city also contributed to change in work methods. Mass production, which trans¬ formed the organization of work, came about by the development of the machine-tool industry. With precision equipment, large numbers of identi¬ cal parts could be produced at low cost and with a small workforce. The assembly line was first widely used in the U.S. meat-packing industry; Henry Ford designed an automobile assembly line in 1913. By mid-1914, chassis assembly time had fallen from \2Vi man-hours to 93 man-minutes. Some countries, particularly in Asia and South America, began industrializing in the 1970s and later. See also American System of manufacture.
factory farming System of modern animal farming designed to yield the most meat, milk, and eggs in the least amount of time and space pos¬ sible. The term, descriptive of standard farming practice in the U.S., is frequently used by animal-rights activists, who maintain that animal- protection measures routinely ignore farm animals. Animals are often fed growth hormones, sprayed with pesticides, and fed antibiotics to mitigate the problems of infestation and disease that are exacerbated by crowded living conditions. Chickens spend their lives crowded into small cages, often so tightly that they cannot turn around; the cages are stacked in high batteries, and the length of “day” and “night” are artificially controlled to maximize egg laying. Veal calves are virtually immobilized in narrow stalls for their entire lives. These and numerous other practices have long been decried by critics.
Fadlallah Uad-'bl-bV (Ayatollah Sayyid) Muhammad Husayn (b. c. 1935, Al-Najaf, Iraq) Muslim Shl'ite cleric associated with Lebanese Hezbollah organization. He was schooled at a traditional madrasah in his birthplace, where he studied under many of the eminent ShTite scholars of his day. His scholarly acumen eventually earned him the honourific ayatollah. He moved to Lebanon (where his parents were bom) in 1966 and quickly established a reputation as a leading religious authority. Fadlallah’s eloquence led many to believe that he was Hezbol¬ lah’s leader after the party was founded in 1982, but both he and the party have denied any direct link, while acknowledging his strong spiritual influence over the organization. Though impressed by the Islamic revo¬ lution in Iran (1979), he generally stood aloof from the more radical posi¬ tion of its leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.
Faenza majolica Nfa-'en-za-mo-'ja-li-koX Tin-glazed earthenware pro¬ duced in the Italian city of Faenza from the late 14th century. Early Faenza jugs were decorated in green and purple with Gothic lettering and heral¬ dic lions; the first major majolica piece is a wall plaque dated 1475. In the 15th century, Renaissance motifs appeared in dark blue, rich orange, and copper-green; vases with a peacock-feather design and a globular two- handled jar are characteristic of Faenza. The factory’s most outstanding wares date from the late 15th to the mid-16th century. See also faience.
Faeroe Islands See Faroe Islands
Fahrenheit, Daniel (Gabriel) (b. May 24, 1686, Gdansk, Pol.—d. Sept. 16, 1736, The Hague, Dutch Republic) German physicist and instru¬ ment maker. He spent most of his life in the Netherlands, where he devoted himself to the study of physics and the manufacture of precision meteorological instruments. He is best known for inventing a successful alcohol thermometer (1709) and mercury thermometer (1714) and for developing the Fahrenheit temperature scale, setting zero at the freezing point of an equal mixture of ice and salt. He discovered that water can remain liquid below its freezing point and that the boiling point of liq¬ uids varies with atmospheric pressure.
Faidherbe \fe-'derb\, Louis (-Leon-Cesar) (b. June 3, 1818, Lille, Fr.—d. Sept. 29, 1889, Paris) Governor of French Senegal (1854-61, 1863-65) and a founder of France’s colonial empire in Africa. Faidherbe was trained as a military engineer and served in Algeria and Senegal before becoming the colonial governor of Senegal. Alarmed by the grow¬ ing power of the Islamic leader 'Umar Tal, he took the offensive, driving off 'Umar Tal, subjugating the Moorish tribes in the north, and transform¬ ing his colony into the region’s dominant power. In 1857 he founded the capital city of Dakar.
faience \fa-'ans, fi-'a n s\ Tin-glazed earthenware made in France, Ger¬ many, Spain, and Scandinavia, simi¬ lar to Faenza majolica, for which it was named. The term is also applied to glazed earthenware made in ancient Egypt, where it was used for beads, amulets, jewelry, and small animal and human figures, most notably the blue-glazed hippopota¬ mus figures of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-c. 1670 bc). Faience tiles, first made in the early dynasties, were used to decorate the walls of the subterranean chambers of the pyramids. In the New Kingdom (c.
1550-c. 1070 bc), polychrome tiles with floral designs were used in houses and palaces.
fair Temporary market where buyers and sellers gather to transact busi¬ ness. Fairs are held at regular inter¬ vals, generally at the same location and time of year. An important form of commerce before the Industrial Revolution, fairs solved the problem of distribution and made possible the demonstration of arts and crafts and the sale and barter of goods. They were a fixture of the Roman Empire and medieval Europe, where they were held at major caravan crossroads and near religious festivals. The rules of the fairs eventually became the basis of European business law. Fairs began to die out as cities grew larger and transportation networks became more extensive, though some continued to exist as religious fes¬ tivals or recreational events. County, agricultural, and livestock fairs are still held in many countries. The trade fair or trade show, often an inter¬ national event in which exhibitors from one industry display their goods, gained popularity in the 20th century.
fair trade law In the U.S., any law allowing manufacturers of brand- name or trademarked goods to fix the actual or minimum resale prices of these goods. (Elsewhere the practice is called price maintenance.) Fair trade laws were passed by many states during the Great Depression in an effort to protect independent retailers from price-cutting by large chain stores and consequent loss of employment in distributive trades, but most were later repealed at the state level. Critics argued that such laws restricted competition; the complexity of post-World War II marketing channels also made enforcement impracticable. In 1975 the few that remained in existence were repealed by an act of Congress.
Fairbairn Vfer-.bernX, Sir William (b. Feb. 19, 1789, Kelso, Rox¬ burghshire, Scot.—d. Aug. 18, 1874, Moor Park, Surrey, Eng.) Scottish civil engineer and inventor. In 1835 he established a shipbuilding yard in London, where he constructed several hundred vessels. He was the first to use wrought iron for ship hulls, bridges, mill shafting, and structural beams. He experimented with the strength of iron and the relative merits of hot and cold blast in iron manufacture (see blast furnace). In 1845 he
German faience lobed dish painted with chinoiserie in blue and manga¬ nese, Frankfurt am Main, c. 1690; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Lon¬ don
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON
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654 I Fairbanks ► falcon
and Robert Stephenson designed two tubular railway bridges in Wales; Fairbairn designed the hydraulic riveters used in constructing one of them.
Fairbanks City (pop., 2000: 30,224), east-central Alaska, U.S., situ¬ ated at the junction of the Tanana and Chena rivers. Founded in 1902 after a gold strike, it was named for Charles W. Fairbanks. As the northern terminus of the Alaska Highway and the railroad, it is the main supply centre for the northern Alaskan oil business (see Trans-Alaska Pipeline). Located nearby are Fort Wainwright, Eielson Air Force Base, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (1917). Fairbanks is the site of the annual 800-mi (1,290-km) Yukon Marathon boat race and the North American Championship Sled Dog Races.
Fairbanks, Douglas orig. Douglas Elton Ulman (b. May 23,
1883, Denver, Colo., U.S.—d. Dec. 12, 1939, Santa Monica, Calif.) U.S. film actor. Fairbanks was a Broadway star by 1910, noted for his exuber¬ ance and physical agility. Fie made his film debut in The Lamb (1915). As cofounder of United Artists (1919), he produced and starred in such films as The Mark ofZorro (1920), Robin Hood (1922), and The Thief of Baghdad (1924). His films were so popular that he was called the “King of Hollywood” in the 1920s. His 15-year marriage to Mary Pickford ended in 1935. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (b. Dec. 9, 1909, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 7, 2000, New York City), Fairbanks’s son by his first wife, was a debonair leading man in U.S. and British films, including Cathe¬ rine the Great (1934), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), and State Secret (1950). In the 1960s he hosted and sometimes acted in the British TV drama series Douglas Fairbanks Presents.
Fairchild, David (Grandison) (b. April 7, 1869, Lansing, Mich., U.S.—d. Aug. 6, 1954, Coconut Grove, Fla.) U.S. botanist and agricultural explorer. He studied at Kansas State University of Agriculture. From 1904 to 1928, as head of the section of plant pathology of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he supervised the introduction of many useful plants into the U.S., including alfalfa, dates, mangoes, horseradish, and bamboos.
Fairfax (of Cameron), Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron (b. Jan. 17, 1612, Denton, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. Nov. 12, 1671, Nun Appleton, York¬ shire) Commander in chief of the Parliamentary army during the English Civil Wars. His tactical skill and courage helped bring about many Parlia¬ mentary victories, including the Battle of Marston Moor. As commander in chief of the New Model Army, he defeated Charles I at the Battle of Naseby. Fairfax disapproved of the purge of Parliament by his soldiers in 1648 and refused to serve on the commission that condemned Charles to death. In 1650 he resigned as commander in chief to protest the proposed invasion of Scotland. In 1658 he helped George Monck restore Parliamen¬ tary rule in the face of opposition from the army. He was a member of the Parliament that invited Charles’s son to return to England as Charles II.
Fairweather, Mount Mountain, British Columbia, Canada It is located on the Alaska border in the Fairweather Range of the St. Elias Mountains, at the southwestern end of the Glacier Bay National Park. The highest peak in the province, it reaches 15,299 ft (4,663 m). It was named by Capt. James Cook, who saw the peak in 1778 while navigating the bay in “fair weather.”
fairy In folklore, any of a race of supernatural beings who have magic powers and sometimes meddle in human affairs. Some have been described as of human size, while others are “little people” only a few inches high. The term was first used in medieval Europe. Fairy lore is especially common in Ireland, Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland. Though usually beneficent in modern children’s stories, the fairies of the past were powerful and sometimes dangerous beings who could be friendly, mis¬ chievous, or cruel, depending on their whim. Fairies were thought to be beautiful, to live much longer than human beings, and to lack souls.
They sometimes carried off human infants and left changelings as sub¬ stitutes. They occasionally took human lovers, but to enter fairyland was perilous for humans, who were obliged to remain forever if they ate or drank there. See also leprechaun.
fairy shrimp Any of the crusta¬ ceans in the order Anostraca, named for their graceful movements and
pastel colours. Some grow to 1 in. (2.5 cm) or more in length. They live in freshwater ponds in Europe, Central Asia, western North America, the drier regions of Africa, and Australia. See also shrimp.
fairy tale Simple narrative typically of folk origin dealing with super¬ natural beings. Fairy tales may be written or told for the amusement of children or may have a more sophisticated narrative containing super¬ natural or obviously improbable events, scenes, and personages and often having a whimsical, satirical, or moralistic character. The term embraces popular folktales such as “Cinderella” and “Puss in Boots,” as well as art fairy tales of later invention, such as those by Hans Christian Andersen. It is often difficult to distinguish between tales of literary and oral origin, because folktales have received literary treatment from early times, and literary tales can often be traced back to oral tradition.
Faisalabad Vfi-so-b-.bad \ formerly (until 1979) Lyallpur VlIl-.purN City (pop., 1998: 1,977,246) and district, Punjab province, Pakistan. Founded in 1890, it became headquarters of the Lower Chenab colony and in 1898 was incorporated as a municipality. A distributing centre located in the central Punjab plain, its industries produce chemicals and synthetics, textiles, and food products. It is the site of West Pakistan Agri¬ cultural University (1961 and of a number of colleges affiliated with the University of the Punjab.
faith healing Curing of an illness or disability by recourse to divine power, without the use of traditional medicine. A healer such as a clergy member or an inspired layperson may act as intermediary. Certain places, such as the grotto at Lourdes, France, are believed to effect cures among believers. In ancient Greece, temples honoring the god of medicine, Ascle- PlUS, were built near springs with healing waters. In Christianity, support for faith healing is based on the miraculous cures wrought by Jesus dur¬ ing his ministry. Christian Science is noted for faith healing, and it is also practiced in a more dramatic way in Pentecostalism through such customs as the laying on of hands.
Fakhr al-DTn al-RazT Vfa-ksr-al-'den-ar-'ra-zeV (b. 1149, Rayy, Iran—d. 1209, near Herat, Khwarezm) Islamic scholar and theologian. He traveled widely before settling in Herat (in modern Afghanistan). The author of more than 100 books (on subjects as diverse as medicine, min¬ eralogy, and grammar), he gained fame and wealth through his scholar¬ ship and skill in debate, in which he often presented unorthodox views fully and favorably before refuting them. Though this led to accusations of heresy, it has preserved information about little-known sects. His works include one of the major commentaries on the Qur’an, The Keys to the Unknown (or The Great Commentary), and Collection of the Opinions of Ancients and Moderns, a classic of kalam. His bad temper earned him many enemies, and he may have been poisoned to death.
Falange \fa-'lan-ha,\ English Vfa-lanj\ (Spanish: “Phalanx”) Extreme nationalist political group in Spain. Founded in 1933 by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and influenced by Italian fascism, the Falange gained popu¬ larity in opposition to the Popular Front government of 1936. Gen. Fran¬ cisco Franco merged the group with other right-wing factions by decree in 1937 and became the Falange’s absolute chief. 150,000 Falangists served in Franco’s armed forces in the Spanish Civil War. After their vic¬ tory, the Falange’s fascism was subordinated to the Franco regime’s con¬ servative values. On Franco’s death in 1975 a law was passed permitting other “political associations,” and the Falange was abolished in 1977.
Falasha Vfo-Ta-shoX Jewish Ethiopians. The Falasha call themselves House of Israel and claim descent from Menilek I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Probably descended from local Agew peoples converted by Jews in southern Arabia, they remained faithful to Judaism after the Ethiopian kingdom was converted to Christianity in the 4th cen¬ tury ad. Persecuted by Christians, they settled in the area around Lake Tana in northern Ethiopia. Though ignorant of the Talmud, members adhered strictly to the Mosaic law and observed some festivals of Juda¬ ism. In 1975 the Israeli rabbinate affirmed that Falashas were Jews, and from 1980 to 1992 some 45,000 Falasha emigrated to Israel, leaving probably only a few thousand in Ethiopia.
falcon Any of nearly 60 species of diurnal birds of prey in the family Falconidae, characterized by long, pointed wings and swift, powerful flight. The name is sometimes restricted to the more than 35 species of true falcons, genus Falco. Species range from 6 to 24 in. (15-60 cm) long. Females of the genus Falco are larger and bolder than males and are pre¬ ferred for falconry. Falcons, found worldwide, commonly nest in tree-
Fairy shrimp (Eubranchipus vernalis)
WILLIAM JAHODA-NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY FROM PHOTO RESEARCHERS/EB INC.
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Falconet ► False Decretals I 655
holes or on cliff ledges. Some species capture birds in midair; others live on hares, mice, lizards, and insects. See also gyrfalcon, hawk, kestrel, mer¬ lin, PEREGRINE FALCON.
Falconet \fal-ko-'ne\, Etienne-Maurice (b. Dec. 1, 1716, Paris, Fr.—d. Jan. 24, 1791, Paris) French sculptor. After being apprenticed to a carpenter, he studied sculpture in Paris. He developed an intimate style with a taste for erotic figures. Through Madame de Pompadour’s influ¬ ence, he became director of the Sevres porcelain factory (1757-66), and many of his figures were reproduced in Sevres biscuit ware. From 1766 to 1778 he worked in Russia; his masterpiece, the colossal equestrian statue of Peter I the Great in St. Petersburg (made famous as The Bronze Horseman by Aleksandr Pushkin), was unveiled in 1782. After suffering a stroke (1783), he gave up sculpture and devoted his time to writing. He is best known for adapting the classical style of the French Baroque period to the Rococo style ideal.
falconry Sport of employing falcons or other hawks in hunting game. Falconry has been practiced in the Middle East at least since the 8th cen¬ tury bc. It flourished among the privileged classes in Europe in the Middle Ages. It began to die out after the advent of the shotgun and the enclo¬ sure of open lands in the 17th century, but there was a renewed interest in the sport beginning in the 1970s; there are many hawking clubs and falconry associations. The bird most commonly used is the peregrine fal¬ con, though the goshawk and sparrow hawk have also been used. Birds are caught wild or raised from birth. Training involves selective use of a leather hood (called a rafter) and leg thongs (jesses) to keep the animal under control while familiarizing it with its new environment. During the hunt the trained bird is released to bring down its prey; it then returns to the hawker or is collected at the kill site.
Faldo, Nick (b. July 18, 1957, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, Eng.) British golfer. Faldo turned professional in 1976 and played the first of 11 successive Ryder Cup matches in 1977. He subsequently won three Masters (1989, 1990, 1996), three British Opens (1987, 1990, 1992), and many other international tournaments. In 1990 he became the first non- American to be named the PGA Player of the Year.
Falkland Islands Spanish Islas Malvinas Ves-.las-mal-'be-nasV British overseas territory (pop., 2001: 2,491), in the southwestern South Atlantic Ocean. Located about 300 mi (480 km) northeast of the south¬ ern tip of South America, the Falklands are made up of two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, and about 200 smaller islands. The islands are spread out over some 4,700 sq mi (12,200 sq km). The capi¬ tal is Stanley, on East Falkland. The population is English-speaking and of British descent. The economy is based on sheep raising. The French founded the islands’ first settlement, on East Falkland in 1764, and the British settled West Falkland in 1765. In 1770 the Spanish purchased the French settlement and expelled the British, but the latter’s settlement was restored in 1771. In 1820 Argentina proclaimed its sovereignty over the Falklands, but the British took them back in 1833. Argentina invaded in 1982, and the British reclaimed the islands after a brief conflict (see Falk¬ land Islands War).
Falkland Islands War or Malvinas War (1982) Brief but unde¬ clared war between Argentina and Great Britain over control of the Falk¬ land Islands (Islas Malvinas) and associated island dependencies. Both countries long had claimed sovereignty over the Falklands and had been in protracted negotiations over them. On April 2, 1982, Argentina’s mili¬ tary government, impatient with the negotiations, occupied the islands with some 10,000 troops. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher responded by sending a naval task force to the region, and within three months British forces had defeated the Argentines and reoccupied the islands. Britain lost about 250 men, and Argentina about 700. Argentina’s defeat discredited its military government and helped lead to the resto¬ ration of civilian rule in 1983.
Fall, Albert Bacon (b. Nov. 26, 1861, Frankfort, Ky., U.S.—d. Nov. 30, 1944, El Paso, Texas) U.S. secretary of the interior (1921-23). He began practicing law in New Mexico Territory in 1889. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1913 to 1921, when he was appointed Secretary of the Interior by Pres. Warren G. Harding. He resigned his cabinet post two years later and returned to New Mexico. In 1924 a Senate investigation revealed that Fall had accepted a large bribe to lease to private oil inter¬ ests, without competitive bidding, naval oil reserve lands in the Teapot Dome reserve in Wyoming and other reserves in California. He was con¬
victed of bribery in 1929 and served nine months of a one-year prison sentence. See also Teapot Dome scandal.
Falla \'fa-yo\, Manuel de (b. Nov. 23, 1876, Cadiz, Spain—d. Nov. 14, 1946, Alta Gracia, Arg.) Spanish composer. He studied with Felipe Pedrell and conceived a powerful musical nationalism. His first major work was the opera La vida breve (1905). He lived in Paris (1907-14), where he absorbed the music of Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and oth¬ ers. The intensely Spanish ballet El amor brujo (1915) gained him fur¬ ther acclaim. The Spanish Civil War caused him to leave Spain for Argentina c. 1938, and he never returned. His other works include Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1915), The Three-Cornered Hat (1919), the pup¬ pet opera El retablo de maese Pedro (1923; with Federico Garcia Lorca), a harpsichord concerto (1926), and the huge unfinished oratorio L 'Atldntida. He is regarded as the greatest Spanish composer of the 20th century.
fallacy, formal and informal In philosophy, reasoning that fails to establish its conclusion because of deficiencies in form or wording. For¬ mal fallacies are types of deductive argument that instantiate an invalid inference pattern (see deduction; validity); an example is “affirming the consequent: If A then B; B; therefore. A.” Informal fallacies are types of inductive argument the premises of which fail to establish the conclusion because of their content. There are many kinds of informal fallacy; examples include argumentum ad hominem (“argument against the man”), which consists of attacking the arguer instead of his argument; the fallacy of false cause, which consists of arguing from the premise that one event precedes another to the conclusion that the first event is the cause of the second; the fallacy of composition, which consists of arguing from the premise that a part of a thing has a certain property to the conclusion that the thing itself has that property; and the fallacy of equivocation, which consists of arguing from a premise in which a term is used in one sense to a conclusion in which the term is used in another sense.
Fallen Timbers, Battle of (Aug. 20, 1794) Decisive victory of U.S. Gen. Anthony Wayne over the northwestern Indian Confederation, secur¬ ing white settlement of former Indian territory, mainly in Ohio. Wayne led more than 1,000 soldiers to confront the 2,000 Indians, who had been promised British support and who had gathered behind a protective tangle of fallen trees along the Maumee River (near modern Toledo). The Indi¬ ans, abandoned by the British, fled in disarray. A treaty in 1795 ceded Indian lands to the U.S. and ended British influence in the area.
Fallopius \fo-To-pe-ds\, Gabriel Italian Gabriello Fallopio (b.
1523, Modena—d. Oct. 9, 1562, Padua) Italian anatomist. He contributed greatly to knowledge of the ear and reproductive system. His observa¬ tions of the dissection of cadavers are outlined in Observationes anatom- icae (1561). He discovered the fallopian tubes, which connect the ovaries to the uterus, and several major nerves of the head and face. He described the semicircular canals in the ear and named the vagina, placenta, clito¬ ris, palate, and cochlea. He and Andreas Vesalius overturned many of Galen’s principles, a development essential to Renaissance medicine.
fallout Descent of radioactive materials from the atmosphere to the earth. Radioactivity in the atmosphere may arise from natural causes such as cosmic rays as well as from nuclear explosions and atomic reactor operations. The explosion of nuclear weapons leads to three types of fall¬ out: local, tropospheric, and stratospheric. The first, intense but relatively short-lived, occurs as larger radioactive particles are deposited near the site of the explosion. Tropospheric fallout occurs when the finer particles enter the troposphere, and it spreads over a larger area in the month after the explosion. Stratospheric fallout, made of fine particles in the strato¬ sphere, may continue years after the explosion, and the distribution is nearly worldwide. Many different radioisotopes are formed during a nuclear explosion, but only long-lived isotopes (e.g., cesium- 137, strontium-90) are deposited as stratospheric fallout.
Falloux Law \fa-Tii\ (1850) Act granting legal status to independent secondary schools in France. It was sponsored by Count Frederic-Alfred- Pierre de Falloux (1811-1886), minister of education in the Second Repub¬ lic, and one of its main architects was a Catholic bishop, Felix-Antoine- Philibert Dupanloup (1802-1878). Under the guise of freedom of education, it restored much of the church’s traditional influence.
False Decretals Vdi-'kre-tolz, 'de-kro-tolzV Collection of church law from the 9th century, containing some forged documents. They are also called the Decretals of Pseudo-Isidore because they were issued under the
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
656 i falsework ► Fang Lizhi
name St. Isidore of Sevilla. The collection was intended to protect the rights of diocesan bishops against encroachment by their metropolitan superi¬ ors and to protect the clergy from lay interference. The decretals also emphasized the authority of the pope at the expense of that of the arch¬ bishops. They consist of laws, papal letters, and decrees of councils— some genuine but many (including the famous Donation of Constantine) forgeries. Widely accepted by the end of the 10th century, the collection was not proved a hoax until the 17th century.
falsework or centering Temporary framework used during construc¬ tion to support arches and similar structures while the mortar or concrete is setting or the steel is being joined. As soon as the work is set and the structure is self-supporting, the centering is struck (carefully removed).
Falun Gong Vfa-Jun-'goqV or Falun Dafa \'da-fa\ Controversial spiritual movement combining healthful exercises with meditation for the purpose of “moving to higher levels.” Its teachings draw from Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and the Western New Age movement. It was founded in China in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, a former grain-bureau clerk from Jilin province. He originally registered it as a form of the natural-healing dis¬ cipline qigong , but he later withdrew it from China’s Qigong Research Association to stress its spiritual (rather than health-related) emphasis. Its members nevertheless claim great health benefits from its practice. It claims a worldwide following of 100 million, with 70 million in China; Chinese authorities claim it has as few as 2 or 3 million members. The movement has been regarded as a threat by the Chinese government, which started arresting its followers in mid-1999. Many Falun Gong mem¬ bers were later tried and given long prison sentences. Li emigrated to the U.S. in 1998.
Falwell Vfol-.welV, Jerry L. (b. 1933, Lynchburg, Va., U.S.) Protestant evangelist. An engineering student before turning to religion, he founded Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1956 and later Liberty Baptist College. His Old-Time Gospel Hour television show serves as outreach for his church. In 1979 he organized the Moral Majority to encourage his fol¬ lowers to become involved in politics; he withdrew from its leadership in 1990 to return to preaching. A fundamentalist interpreter of the Bible, he is known for his sometimes extreme conservatism.
Familist Vfa-mo-lisA Member of the Family of Love religious sect. It was founded by a 16th-century Dutch merchant, Hendrik Niclaes, whose goal was to end religious wrangling and unite all “lovers of truth” in one great Christian fellowship of peace. His largest following was in England, where his works were privately published. Elizabeth I issued a proclama¬ tion against the Family of Love in 1580. The sect died out after the res¬ toration of the English monarchy in 1660; some of its members may have joined the Society of Friends.
family Basic social unit consisting of persons united by ties of marriage (affinity), “blood” (consanguinity), or adoption and usually representing a single household. The essence of the family group is the parent-child relationship, whose outlines vary widely among cultures. One prominent familial form is the nuclear family, consisting of the marital pair living with their offspring in a separate dwelling. While some scholars believe this to be the oldest form, others point to the inconclusive prehistorical record and the widespread existence of other forms such as the polygy- nous family (a husband, two or more wives, and their offspring) and the extended family (including at least parents, married children, and their offspring). The family as an institution provides for the rearing and social¬ ization of children, the care of the aged, sick, or disabled, the legitima¬ tion of procreation, and the regulation of sexual conduct in addition to supplying basic physical, economic, and emotional security for its mem¬ bers. See also adoption; marriage.
family In pedology, a group of soils that have similar profiles and include one or more subdivisions called series. The primary characteristics that define each of the nearly 6,600 identified soil families are the physical and chemical properties—especially texture, mineral composition, tem¬ perature, and depth—that are important for the growth of plants.
family planning Use of measures designed to regulate the number and spacing of children within a family, largely to curb population growth and ensure each family’s access to limited resources. The first attempts to offer family planning services began with private groups and often aroused strong opposition. Activists such as Margaret Sanger in the U.S., Marie Stopes in England, and Dhanvanthis Rama Rau in India eventually succeeded in establishing clinics for family planning and health care.
Today many countries have established national policies and encourage the use of public family services. The United Nations and the World Health Organization offer technical assistance. See also birth control.
family practice or family medicine or general practice Field of medicine that stresses comprehensive primary health care, emphasiz¬ ing the family unit. Practitioners must be familiar to some degree with medical specialties and, especially in health maintenance organizations, are now often gatekeepers who refer patients to specialists when neces¬ sary. Once virtually the only kind of medicine, family practice has been defined as a separate field only since increasing specialization in medi¬ cine led to a shortage of practitioners. A 1963 World Health Organization report stressing the need for medical education to focus on the patient as a whole throughout life led to specific programs in family practice.
family sagas See Icelanders' sagas
famine Extreme and protracted shortage of food, resulting in wide¬ spread hunger and a substantial increase in the death rate. General fam¬ ines affect all classes or groups in the region of food shortage; class famines affect some classes or groups much more severely than others; regional famines affect only a particular region of a country. Causes may be natural or human. Natural causes include drought, flooding, unfavour¬ able weather conditions, plant disease, and insect infestation. The chief human cause is war; others include overpopulation, bad distribution sys¬ tems, and high food prices. Several severe famines occurred in the 20th century, including those in China (1928-29, 5-10 million dead; 1958-62, up to 20 million), Russia (1921-22, 1.25-5 million; 1932-34, 6-8 mil¬ lion), India (1943-44, 1.5 million), Cambodia (1975-79, 1 million), and sub-Saharan Africa.
fan Rigid or folding handheld device used for cooling, air circulation, or ceremony or as a sartorial accessory throughout the world from ancient times. As evidenced by Egyptian reliefs, early fans were of the rigid type, with a handle or stick attached to a rigid leaf or to feathers. In China, the folding fan came into fashion during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644); much significance came to be attached to the fan in East Asia, and many great Chinese painters devoted their talents to fan decoration. Portuguese traders in the 15th century brought fans to Europe from China and Japan. Through the 19th century in the West, fan decoration and size varied with European fashion.
Fan Chung-yen See Fan Zhongyen
Fan Zhongyen Vfan-'juq-'ysiA or Fan Chung-yen (b. 989, Wu, Jiangsu province, China—d. 1052, China) Chinese scholar-reformer whose reforms anticipated those of Wang Anshi. He attempted to abolish nepotism and corruption, reclaim unused land, equalize landholdings, cre¬ ate a strong local militia system, reduce corvee labor, and reform the civil-service examination system. He proposed establishing a national school system to train men to deal with the problems of history and poli¬ tics; the proposal was adopted in 1044. See also Neo-Confucianism; Song
DYNASTY.
Fanfani \fan-'fa-ne\, Amintore (b. Feb. 6, 1908, Pieve Santo Stefano, Italy—d. Nov. 20, 1999, Rome) Italian premier who formed and led the centre-left coalition that dominated Italian politics in the late 1950s and ’60s. Elected to Italy’s constituent assembly (1946), he became secretary- general of the Christian Democratic Party (1954) after serving briefly as premier. With his party’s victory in 1958, he became premier (1958-59) and stressed social reforms. Buoyed by widespread public reaction against rising neofascist activity, he was returned to the premiership (1960-63) and again promoted a reformist program. He gained Italy’s election to the UN Security Council (1958) and served as president of the UN General Assembly in 1965. He again served as premier in 1982-83 and in 1987.
Fang \'faq\ Bantu-speaking peoples of southern Cameroon, mainland Equatorial Guinea, and northern Gabon. The Fang number about 3.6 mil¬ lion. Under colonial rule they engaged in ivory trading and after World War I in cacao farming. By 1939 much of the population was Christian, but since 1945 syncretistic sects have grown rapidly. The Fang are politi¬ cally influential, especially in Gabon.
Fang Lizhi \ , faq- , le-'je\ (b. Feb. 12, 1936, Beijing, China) Chinese astro¬ physicist and dissident held partially responsible for the 1989 student rebellion in Tiananmen Square. In 1957 he was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for a paper decrying the Marxist position on physics. He later taught at Beijing’s University of Science and Technology (Keda); in
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Fanon ► Farley I 657
1966 he was sent to a communal farm to be reeducated. After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, Fang’s party membership was restored. Appointed a vice president of one branch of Keda in 1985, he began work on restructuring it and reforming educational policy. During the demon¬ strations in Tiananmen Square he took refuge in the U.S. embassy, and in 1990 he and his wife were allowed to leave China. He subsequently conducted research in Britain and the U.S.
Fanon \fa-'no n \, Frantz (Omar) (b. 1925, Martinique—d. Dec. 6, 1961, Washington, D.C., U.S.) West Indian psychoanalyst and social phi¬ losopher. He served in the French army in World War II, earned a medi¬ cal degree, and became head of the psychiatric department of an Algerian hospital, where he edited the newspaper of the National Liberation Front (from 1956). In 1960 he was appointed ambassador to Ghana by the rebel provisional government. His widely read book The Wretched of the Earth (1961) urged colonized peoples to purge themselves of their degradation in a “collective catharsis” to be achieved through violence against Euro¬ pean oppressors. He died of leukemia at age 36.
fantasia \fan-'ta-zh9, .fan-to-'ze-oX Musical composition free in form and inspiration, often for an instrumental soloist. Most fantasias try to convey the impression of improvisation. The first were Italian works for lute (c. 1530). Keyboard fantasias became common in the late 16th cen¬ tury; both organ and harpsichord fantasias flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain, Germany, and France. Fugal, imitative texture, some¬ times highly learned in character, was common from the beginning, often alternating with running passagework and highly chromatic chordal pas¬ sages in free rhythms. Ensemble fantasias were widely composed as well.
fantasy Mental images or imaginary narratives that distort or entirely depart from reality. Primary fantasies arise spontaneously from the uncon¬ scious, while secondary fantasies are consciously summoned and pursued. Sigmund Freud saw fantasy as a vehicle for the expression of repressed desires (see repression). Fantasy is important in the lives of children and is a vital element in play. In adult life it is crucial to creative thinking and the making of art. Fantasy can become destructive if it serves as a con¬ stant refuge from the world of reality and a source of delusions.
Fa rite or Fanti \'fan-te\ Second largest segment of the Akan peoples of the southern coast of Ghana. The Fante speak a language of the Kwa group of Niger-Congo languages. As intermediaries in colonial-era trade between the Asante to the north and the Europeans to the south, the Fante established several independent kingdoms that formed a confederacy in the late 17th century. The confederacy aided the British in wars against the Asante in the 19th century but was disbanded in 1873 under British pressure. The Akan peoples all together make up about half of the popu¬ lation of Ghana. An important Fante organization called the asafo began as a military group, but in contemporary society it serves mostly politi¬ cal, social, and religious functions.
Fante \fan-'te\, John (b. April 8, 1909, Denver, Colo., U.S. —d. May 8, 1983, Woodland Hills, Calif.) U.S. writer. Born to Italian immigrant parents, Fante moved to Los Angeles in the early 1930s. His first novel. Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1938), was followed by his best-known book, Ask the Dust (1939), the first of his novels set in Depression-era Califor¬ nia. Other books included the story collection Dago Red (1940) and the novels Full of Life (1952) and Brotherhood of the Grape (1977). He also wrote numerous screenplays, including Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Full of Life (1956), and A Walk on the Wild Side (1962). Long eclipsed, he began to be rediscovered in the 1990s.
Fantin-Latour \fa n -ta n -la-'tur\,
(Ignace-) Henri (-Jean- Theodore) (b. Jan. 14, 1836,
Grenoble, Fr.—d. Aug. 25, 1904,
Bure) French painter and printmaker.
He was trained by his father, a por¬ trait painter, and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Though he associated with progressive artists (Gustave Courbet, Eugene Delacroix, Edouard Manet), he was a traditionalist best known for his portraits and still lifes with flowers. His portrait groups, reminiscent of 17th-century Dutch guild portraits, depict literary and
artistic persons of the time; his flower paintings were especially popular in England, thanks to James McNeill Whistler and John Everett Millais, who found patrons to support him. His later years were devoted to lithography.
Farabi \fa-'ra-be\, al- in full Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan ibn Uzalagh al-Farabl Latin Alpharabius or Aven- nasar (b. c. 878, Turkistan—d. c. 950, Damascus?) A logician and one of the great philosophers of medieval Islam. He was probably the son of one of the caliph’s Turkish bodyguards, and he grew up in Baghdad. From 942 he resided at the court of Prince Sayf al-Dawlah. Greatly influenced by Baghdad’s Greek heritage in philosophy, especially the writings of Aris¬ totle, he was known as the Second Teacher or the Second Aristotle. He used Artistotle’s ideas in his proof of the existence of God and was influenced also by Neoplatonic ideas and Sufi mysticism. Like Plato, he believed it was the philosopher’s task to provide guidance to the state. He wrote more than 100 works, notably The Ideas of the Citizens of the Virtuous City.
Faraday, Michael (b. Sept. 22, 1791, Newington, Surrey, Eng.—d. Aug. 25, 1867, Hampton Court) English physicist and chemist. Son of a blacksmith, he received only a basic education in a church Sunday school, but he went to work as an assistant to Humphry Davy, from whom he learned chemistry. He discovered a number of new organic compounds, including benzene, and was the first to liquefy a “permanent” gas. His major contributions were in the fields of electricity and magnetism. He was the first to report induction of an electric current from a magnetic field. He invented the first electric motor and dynamo, demonstrated the relation between electricity and chemical bonding, discovered the effect of magnetism on light, and discovered and named diamagnetism. He also provided the experimental, and much of the theoretical, foundation on which James Clerk Maxwell built his electromagnetic field theory. In 1833 he was appointed professor at the Royal Institution. After 1855 he retired to a house provided by Queen Victoria, but he declined a knighthood.
Farah, Nuruddin (b. 1945, Baidoa, Italian Somaliland) Somali writer, Somalia’s first novelist and first English-language author. His first pub¬ lished novel, From a Crooked Rib (1970), describes a woman’s determi¬ nation to maintain her dignity in a sexist society. His other works include a trilogy— Sweet and Sour Milk (1979), Sardines (1981), and Close Sesame (1983)—about life under an African dictatorship. Maps (1986) examines identity and boundaries. The political nature of his fiction forced him into exile, and he taught in Europe, North America, and elsewhere in Africa.
farce Light, dramatic composition that uses highly improbable situa¬ tions, stereotyped characters, violent horseplay, and broad humour. Farce is generally regarded as intellectually and aesthetically inferior to comedy in its crude characterizations and implausible plots, but it has remained popular throughout the West from ancient times to the present.
Fargo City (pop., 2000: 90,599), eastern North Dakota, U.S. The state’s largest city, it is located on the Red River of the North. It was founded in 1871 by the Northern Pacific Railway and named for William G. Fargo of Wells, Fargo & Co. The development of wheat growing in the area con¬ solidated the city’s role as a transportation, marketing, and distribution centre. North Dakota State University (1890) is a noted centre of agri¬ cultural research. Local industries include the manufacture of farm imple¬ ments and fertilizer. The meat-packing plants and stockyards in suburban West Fargo rank among the nation’s largest.
Farinelli orig. Carlo Broschi (b. Jan. 24, 1705, Andria, Kingdom of Naples—d. July 15, 1782, Bologna) Italian castrato singer. After being castrated, he became a student of the composer Nicola Porpora (1686— 1768), making his debut in 1720. Renowned for his vocal power and remarkable agility, he was persuaded by Porpora to go to London in 1734, where he became the greatest opera star of his time. In 1747 he aban¬ doned the public stage for the court of Philip V in Madrid, where his sing¬ ing revived the ailing monarch. Farinelli took over the court’s musical establishment and engaged in highly extravagant projects. In 1759 he retired to Bologna, where he received illustrious guests, including Joseph II and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in great style at his villa.
Farley, James A(loysius) (b. May 30, 1888, Grassy Point, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 9, 1976, New York, N.Y.) U.S. politician. He entered New York Democratic Party politics in 1912. As secretary of the state Demo¬ cratic committee in 1928, he organized the successful gubernatorial cam¬ paigns of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1928 and 1930. As national Democratic Party chairman (1932-40), he directed Roosevelt’s 1932 and 1936 presi-
"Still Life," oil on canvas by Henri Fantin-Latour, 1866; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, D.C., CHESTER DALE COLLECTION
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658 i farm machinery ► Farrakhan
dential campaigns. He served as postmaster general (1933-40) but resigned that post and the party chairmanship in opposition to Roosevelt’s bid for a third term as president.
farm machinery Mechanical devices, including tractors and imple¬ ments, used in farming to save labour. The great variety of farming devices covers a wide range of complexity, from simple hand-held implements used since prehistoric times to the complex harvesters of modern mecha¬ nized agriculture. From the early 19th century to the present, the chief source of power in farming has changed from animals to steam power, then to gasoline, and finally to diesel. In developed countries, the num¬ ber of farmworkers has steadily declined in the 20th century, while farm production has increased because of the use of machinery.
Farmer, Fannie (Merritt) (b. March 23, 1857, Boston, Mass., U.S.—d. Jan. 15, 1915, Boston) U.S. cookery expert. She became direc¬ tor of the Boston Cooking School in 1894 and in 1896 published The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Standardizing the methods and mea¬ surements of recipes, it became one of the best-selling cookbooks of all time; its modem versions were titled The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. In 1902 she established Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery, with courses designed to train housewives rather than teachers of cookery.
Farmer-Labor Party (1918—44) Minor political party in Minnesota, U.S. An outgrowth of the Nonpartisan League, it was composed mainly of small farmers and urban labourers. It supported Robert La Follette in the 1924 presidential election, and its candidate, Floyd B. Olson, was elected governor in 1930. It supported Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936 before merging with the Democratic Party in 1944 to form the Democrat-Farmer- Labor Party.
Farmer's Almanac U.S. annual journal, now called Old Farmer’s Almanac , containing long-term weather predictions, planting schedules, astronomical tables, astrological lore, recipes, anecdotes, and sundry pleasantries of rural interest. First published by Robert B. Thomas in 1792 (for the year 1793), it went on to outlast dozens of competitors. It issued long-range weather forecasts, based on obscure interpretations of natural phenomena, long before any weather service existed, and generations of farmers planted and harvested according to its advice. Now published in Dublin, N.H., it sells some 4 million copies annually.
Farmington River River, western Liberia. The country’s only river of commercial importance, it rises in the Bong Range and flows southwest for 75 mi (120 km) to the Atlantic coast. It is navigable for 10 mi (16 km) below Harbel, the port from which rubber is shipped to Monrovia for export.
Farnese, Alessandro, duke di Parma and Piacenza (b. Aug. 27, 1545, Rome—d. Dec. 3, 1592, Arras, France) Regent of the Nether¬ lands (1578-92) for Philip II of Spain. He was educated at the court of Madrid, where he had been sent to prove his father’s loyalty to the Hab- sburgs. In 1578 Philip II appointed him governor-general of the Nether¬ lands, where his mother, Margaret of Parma, had been regent earlier. His great achievement was the restoration of Spanish rule in the southern provinces and perpetuation of Roman Catholicism there. He succeeded by astute statesmanship and military operations against the alliance of rebellious Protestant provinces led by William the Silent. In 1586 he suc¬ ceeded his father as duke of Parma and Piacenza, but he never returned to Italy to rule.
Farnese \far-‘na-sa\ family Italian family that ruled the duchy of Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1731. The family became noted for its states¬ men and soldiers, especially in the 14th—15th century, as well as by con¬ tracting politically useful marriages. In 1545 Pope Paul III, a Farnese, detached Parma and Piacenza from the papal dominions and made them into duchies. The first duke was his illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese (1503—47), whose son Ottavio (1542-86), the 2nd duke, made Parma the capital and consolidated the family’s power. The 3rd duke, Alessandro Far¬ nese, was Spain’s regent of the Netherlands and duke in name only. His son, Ranuccio I (1569-1622), and grandson, Odoardo I (1612-46), left heavy financial and diplomatic debts by inconclusive military campaigns in the Thirty Years' War. In 1649 Pope Innocent X accused the Farnese of the mur¬ der of an ecclesiastic and seized the fief. Ranuccio II (1630-94) declared war and was defeated, and the duchy survived precariously. Francesco Far¬ nese (1678-1727) tried to save the state, but his only important success was the marriage of his niece Isabella Farnese to Philip V of Spain (1714). In 1731 the duchy passed from the last Farnese of the male line, Antonio (1679- 1731), to Elizabeth’s son, the future Charles III.
Farnsworth, Philo T(aylor) (b. Aug. 19, 1906, Beaver, Utah, U.S.—d. March 11, 1971, Salt Lake City, Utah) U.S. engineer and pio¬ neer inventor in the development of television. In 1927 he successfully transmitted the first image using electronic means. By 1930 he was per¬ fecting an electronic camera tube, the Image Dissector, which he demon¬ strated to rival inventor Vladimir Zworykin of Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Through the 1930s Farnsworth engaged in lawsuits against RCA, both sides claiming the invention of electronic television. In 1939 RCA agreed to pay him royalties as part of a patent-licensing agreement; that same year RCA introduced the first successful television system. Farnsworth went on to patent many other inventions, but he never achieved financial success or primary credit for inventing television.
faro One of the oldest gambling games played with cards. Its name probably derives from the picture of a pharaoh on an early set. It was popular in Europe in the 18th— 19th century and in the U.S. in the 19th century. The game involves betting on the rank, or number, of a card drawn from a dealing box. It is still played in a few casinos.
Faroe Vfar-o\ Islands or Faeroe Islands Group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean that form a self-governing region of Denmark. Area: 540 sq mi (1,399 sq km). Population: (2002 est.) 47,400. Lying north of the British Isles, the islands are politically situated within the kingdom of Denmark. There are 17 inhabited islands and many islets and reefs. The largest, Strpmp, holds the capital of Torshavn. The islands are high and rugged, with coasts that are deeply indented with fjords. The economy is based on fishing and sheep raising. First settled by Irish monks (c. 700), the islands were colonized by the Vikings (c. 800) and were ruled by Nor¬ way from the 11th century until 1380, when they passed to Denmark. They unsuccessfully sought independence in 1946 but received self- government in 1948. In the early 21st century they continued discussions with Denmark on full independence.
Farouk \f3-'riik\ I Arabic FarGq al-Awwal (b. Feb. 11, 1920, Cairo, Egypt—d. March 18, 1965, Rome, Italy) King of Egypt (1936-52). Son of King Fu’ad I (1868-1936), he was educated in Egypt and England and ascended the throne in 1936. Farouk’s administration was hampered by internal rivalries. His alienation of the military, especially after its loss to Israel (1948), led to his own downfall. In 1952 a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser forced him to abdicate. He was succeeded by his infant son, Fu’ad II, but in 1953 Egypt became a republic.
Farquhar Vfar-kor, 'far-kworV George (b. 1678, Londonderry, County Derry, Ire.—d. April 29, 1707, London, Eng.) Irish playwright. His early experience as an actor in Dublin was the source of the origi¬ nality of dialogue and stage sense that gave his work its great comic power. His plays, written for the London stage and enthusiastically received, included Love and a Bottle (1699), The Constant Couple (1699), and Sir Harry Wildair{ 1701). His real contribution to English drama came with The Recruiting Officer (1706) and particularly The Beaux’ Strata¬ gem (1707), in which he introduced a verbal vigour and love of charac¬ ter reminiscent of Elizabethan dramatists.
Farragut Vfar-o-g9t\, David G(lasgow) (b. July 5, 1801, near Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.—d. Aug. 14,
1870, Portsmouth, N.H.) U.S. naval officer. He served in the War of 1812 and received his first com¬ mand in 1824. During the American Civil War he commanded the Union blockade of the western Gulf of Mexico; in the Battle of New Orleans he captured the port through which the Confederacy received much of its war supplies. In 1863 he helped secure victory at the Battle of Vicks¬ burg, bringing the Mississippi River under Union control. In 1864 he led a successful attack in the Battle of Mobile Bay, sending his ships across a blockade of mines (“torpedoes”) with the order, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” He became a full admiral in 1866.
Farrakhan Vfar-3-.kan, 'far-3-,kan\, Louis orig. Louis Eugene
Walcott (b. May 11, 1933, Bronx, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. religious leader. He
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Farrar ► fat I 659
joined the Nation of Islam in 1955, and for a time he assisted Malcolm X in Boston. After Malcolm converted to Sunni Islam, Farrakhan denounced him and replaced him as minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem. Farrakhan later expressed regret at having contributed to the climate of antagonism that preceded Malcolm’s assassination in 1965. When Warith Deen Mohammed, Elijah Muhammad’s successor as leader of the Nation of Islam, gradually began integrating the organization into the orthodox Muslim community, Farrakhan broke away and formed his own organization, also called the Nation of Islam (1978). A compelling orator whose rhetoric often descended into overt anti-Semitism, Farrakhan was nonetheless effec¬ tive in encouraging African American self-reliance and unity. He was the main organizer of the Million Man March on Washington, D.C., in 1995. In 2000 Farrakhan and Mohammed recognized each other as fellow Mus¬ lims, and Farrakhan subsequently moved his group closer to orthodox Islam and moderated his racial remarks.
Farrar \f3-'rar\, Geraldine (b. Feb. 28, 1882, Melrose, Mass., U.S.—d. March 11, 1967, Ridgefield, Conn.) U.S. soprano. She received vocal training in New York and Paris and made her debut in Charles Gou¬ nod’s Faust in 1901. Coached by Lilli Lehmann (1848-1929), she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1906, performed in the American pre¬ miere of Madama Butterfly opposite Enrico Caruso (1907), and was later a celebrated Carmen. She retired in 1922. She also acted in silent films.
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Vfar-3r- , straus...zhir- , u\ Publishing com¬ pany in New York City noted for its literary excellence. It was founded in 1945 by John Farrar and Roger Straus as Farrar, Straus & Co. After various changes in personnel and name, it took its present name in 1964, with the addition of Robert Giroux as editor in chief. The company became estab¬ lished as a leading independent trade publisher of writers of the first rank, including many Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners. In 1994 a controlling interest was sold to the German publisher Georg von Holtzbrinck.
Farrell Vfar-oL, James T(homas) (b. Feb. 27, 1904, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—d. Aug. 22, 1979, New York, N.Y.) U.S. novelist and short-story writer. A native of Chicago and a graduate of the University of Chicago, he is known for his realistic portraits of the city’s lower-middle-class Irish population, drawn from his own experiences. His well-known Studs Loni- gan trilogy— Young Lonigan (1932), The Young Manhood of Studs Loni- gan (1934), and Judgment Day (1935)—traces the self-destruction of a spiritually crippled young man. He later planned a cycle of 25 novels, of which he completed 10. Of the 25 novels he published, The Face of Time (1953) is among the best. He also produced 17 short-story collections.
Farrell, Suzanne orig. Roberta Sue Ficker (b. Aug. 16, 1945, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) U.S. ballet dancer. She trained at the School of American Ballet and joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) at age 16, becoming a soloist at age 18. George Balanchine created roles for her in ballets such as Meditation, Don Quixote, and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. After several years as principal dancer with Maurice Bejart’s Ballet of the 20th Century (1970-75), she returned to the NYCB in 1975 as principal dancer. There she continued to create leading roles until she retired in 1989 and joined the faculty of the School of American Ballet, on which she served until 1993. She later formed her own company, which carried on the Balanchine tradition.
Farsi language See Persian language
fascism Vfa-.shi-zomV Philosophy of government that stresses the pri¬ macy and glory of the state, unquestioning obedience to its leader, sub¬ ordination of the individual will to the state’s authority, and harsh suppression of dissent. Martial virtues are celebrated, while liberal and democratic values are disparaged. Fascism arose during the 1920s and ’30s partly out of fear of the rising power of the working classes; it dif¬ fered from contemporary communism (as practiced under Joseph Staun) by its protection of business and landowning elites and its preservation of class systems. The leaders of the fascist governments of Italy (1922- 43), Germany (1933^-5), and Spain (1939-75)— Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Francisco Franco —were portrayed to their publics as embodi¬ ments of the strength and resolve necessary to rescue their nations from political and economic chaos. Japanese fascists (1936-45) fostered belief in the uniqueness of the Japanese spirit and taught subordination to the state and personal sacrifice. See also totalitarianism; neofascism.
fashion Any mode of dressing or adornment that is popular during a particular time or in a particular place (i.e., the current style). It can change from one period to the next, from generation to generation. It serves as a
reflection of social and economic status, a function that explains the popu¬ larity of many styles throughout costume history; in the West, courts have been a major source of fashion. In the 19th and 20th centuries, fashion increasingly became an profitable, international industry as a result of the rise of world-renowned fashion houses and fashion magazines. See also DRESS.
Fashoda Vfo-'sho-doX Incident (Sept. 18, 1898) Climax, at Fashoda, Egyptian Sudan, of a series of territorial disputes between Britain and France. Britain had sought to extend its empire from Cairo to the Cape of Good Hope, while France had sought to extend its own from Dakar to the Sudan. A French force under Jean-Baptiste Marchand was the first to arrive at a strategically located fort at Fashoda, soon followed by a Brit¬ ish force under Lord Kitchener. After a tense standoff the French with¬ drew, but they continued to press claims to other posts in the region. In March 1899 the French and British agreed that the watershed of the Nile and the Congo rivers should mark the frontier between their spheres of influence.
Fassbinder Vfas-.bin-dorV, Rainer Werner (b. May 31, 1946, Bad Worishofen, W.Ger.—d. June 10, 1982, Munich) German film director. He was involved in the avant-garde theatre movement in Munich and helped form the Antitheatre (1967). His first full-length film (1969) was followed by 40 others, produced in a short period, including The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Effi Briest (1974), The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), the 15-hour Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), Lola (1981), and Veronika Voss (1982). Regarded as a leader of the German New Wave, he helped revitalize German cinema in the 1970s and ’80s. His socially and politically conscious films often explore themes of oppression and despair.
fasteners In construction, connectors between structural members. Bolted connections are used when it is necessary to fasten two elements tightly together, especially to resist shear and bending, as in column and beam connections. Threaded metal bolts are always used in conjunction with nuts. Another threaded fastener is the screw, which has countless applications, especially for wood construction. The wood screw carves a mating thread in the wood, ensuring a tight fit. Pins are used to keep two or more elements in alignment; since the pin is not threaded, it allows for rotational movement, as in machinery parts. Riveted connections, which resist shearing forces, were in wide use for steel construction before being replaced by welding. The rivet, visibly prominent on older steel bridges, is a metal pin fastener with one end flattened into a head by hammering it through a metal gusset plate. The common nail, less resistant to shear or pull-out forces, is useful for cabinet and finishing work, where stresses are minimal.
fasting Abstaining from food, usually for religious or ethical reasons. In ancient religions it was used to prepare worshipers or priests to approach deities, to pursue a vision, to demonstrate penance for sins, or to assuage an angered deity. All the major world religions include fasting among their practices. Judaism has several fast days, notably Yom Kippur. For Christians Lent is set aside as a 40-day period of penitence before Easter, including the traditional fast days of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In Islam the month of Ramadan is observed as a period of total abstention from food from dawn to dusk. Fasting to make a political pro¬ test is often referred to as a hunger strike; hunger strikes have been employed by, among others, 19th-century female suffragists, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and late-20th-century Irish nationalists. Moderate fasting is also sometimes practiced for its claimed health benefits.
Fastnachtsspiel Vfast-.nakt-.shpeL Carnival or Shrovetide play that emerged in the 15th century as the first truly secular drama of pre- Reformation Germany. Usually performed on open-air platform stages by amateur actors, students, and artisans, the plays mixed popular comic and religious elements, reflecting the tastes of their predominantly bourgeois audiences. They often contained satirical attacks on greedy clergymen and other traditional dislikes of German burghers and are believed to have been influenced by pre-Christian folk traditions.
fat Any organic compound of plant or animal origin that is not volatile, does not dissolve in water, and is oily or greasy. Chemically, fats are identical to animal and vegetable oils, consisting mainly of triglycerides (esters of glycerol with fatty acids). Fats that are liquid at room tempera¬ ture are called oils. Differences in melting temperature and physical state depend on the saturation of the fatty acids and the length of their carbon chains. The glycerides may have only a few different component fatty
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660 i Fatah ► fauna
acids or as many as 100 (in butterfat). Almost all natural fats and oils incorporate only fatty acids that are constructed from two-carbon units and thus contain only even numbers of carbon atoms. Natural fats such as corn oil have small amounts of compounds besides triglycerides, including phospholipids, plant steroids, tocopherols (vitamin E), vitamin A, WAXes, carotenoids, and many others, including decomposition products of these constituents. Sources of fats in foods include ripe seeds and some fruits (e.g., corn, peanuts, olives, avocados) and animal products (e.g., meat, eggs, milk). Fats contain more than twice as much energy (calo¬ ries) per unit of weight as proteins and carbohydrates. Digestion of fats in foods, often partial, is earned out by enzymes called lipases. The break¬ down products are absorbed from the intestine into the blood, which car¬ ries microscopic fat droplets reconstituted from digested fats (or synthesized in cells) to sites of storage or use. Fats are readily broken down—primarily into glycerol and fatty acids—by hydrolysis, a first step for many of their numerous industrial uses. See also lipid.
Fatah Vfat-Ti,\ English Vfa-ta\ inverted acronym of Harakat al-Tahrlr al-Watani al-Filastlnl ("Palestine National Lib¬ eration Movement") Palestinian guerrilla organization and political party, whose name means “conquest” in Arabic. Founded by Yasir 'Arafat and Khalil al-WazIr in the late 1950s, the movement relied on guerrilla warfare and occasional acts of terrorism in an attempt to wrest Palestine from Israeli control. It eventually became the largest faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization and attacked Israeli interests worldwide. Originally based in Damascus, it was forced to relocate several times before a political agreement was reached with Israel in 1993. A number of factions within Fatah rejected the goal of peace with Israel and split from the main organization. In 1994 the Palestinian Authority was estab¬ lished, and Fatah dominated the governing body for more than a decade. In the 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, the group was unexpectedly defeated by the rival organization Hamas.
Fates In Greek and Roman mythology, the three goddesses who deter¬ mined human destiny. The Fates were usually depicted as old women: Clotho, the Spinner; Lachesis, the Allotter; and Atropos, the Inflexible. Clotho spun the thread of human life, Lachesis dispensed it, and Atropos cut the thread. They determined the length of each person’s life as well as its share of suffering. Their Roman names were Nona, Decuma, and Morta.
Father's Day See Mother's Day and Father's Day
fatigue In engineering, manifestation of progressive fracture in a solid under cyclic loading, as in the case of a metal strip that ruptures after repeated bending back and forth (see metal fatigue). Fatigue fracture begins with one or several cracks that spread in the course of repeated applica¬ tion of forces until complete rupture suddenly occurs when the small unaffected portion is too weak to sustain the load. See also ductility, test¬ ing MACHINE.
Fatima Vfa-to-msX Village in central Portugal, site of a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. From May to October 1917, three peasant children reported a vision of a woman who identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary. On October 13, a crowd of about 70,000 witnessed an amazing solar phenomenon just after the children had seen their vision. The first national pilgrimage to the site occurred in 1927. Construction of a basilica started in 1928; now flanked by retreat houses and hospitals, it faces a square where many miraculous cures have been reported.
Fatimah or Fatima Yfa-ts-moN (b. c. 605, Mecca, Arabia—d. 633, Medina) Daughter of Muhammad and the object of veneration in ShTite Islam. In 622 she emigrated with her father from Mecca to Medina, where she married her cousin 'Au. Their sons, Hasan and al-HusAYN ibn 'AlI, are considered by Shl'ites to be the rightful inheritors of the tradition of Muhammad. Fatimah’s marriage was unhappy, but she and her husband were reconciled by the Prophet, and she cared for her father in his last illness (632). She clashed with his successor, AbO Bakr, over property and died a year later. Later tradition added to the majesty of her life, and the Fatimid dynasty derived its name from hers.
Fatimid \'fa-to-m3d\ dynasty (909-1171) Isma'Ili ShTite dynasty of North Africa and the Middle East. Its members traced their descent from Fatimah, a daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. As Shfite Muslims, they opposed the Sunnite caliphate of the ‘Abbasid dynasty, which they were determined to supplant. From Yemen they expanded into North Africa and Sicily, and in 909 their imam emerged to proclaim the new dynasty. The
first four Fatimid caliphs ruled from Tunisia, but the conquest of Egypt in 969 occasioned the building of a new capital, Cairo. At its height, the dynasty controlled Mecca and Medina, Syria, Palestine, and Africa’s Red Sea coast. Seeking to overthrow the 'Abbasids, the Fatimids maintained a network of missionaries and agents in 'Abbasid territories (see Assas¬ sin). In 1057-59 the Fatimid caliph was briefly proclaimed in Baghdad, the 'Abbasid capital, but Fatimid fortunes declined thereafter. Attacks by Crusaders, Turks, and Byzantines and factionalism in the armed forces weakened the caliphate; disputes over succession to the title of caliph led to the dynasty’s final end, however, as many of the Asian missionaries broke away, and the central government came to rely on non-lsma'lll troops. The last caliph died in 1171, and the dynasty was succeeded by the Sunnite Ayyubid dynasty.
fatty acid Organic compound that is an important component of lipids in plants, animals, and microorganisms. Fatty acids are carboxylic acids with a long hydrocarbon chain, usually straight, as the fourth substituent group on the carboxyl (—COOH) group (see functional group) that makes the molecule an acid. If the carbon-to-carbon bonds (see bonding) in that chain are all single, the fatty acid is saturated; artificial saturation is called hydrogenation. A fatty acid with one double bond is monounsaturated; one with more is polyunsaturated. These are more reactive chemically. Most unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, so food manufacturers hydrogenate them to make them solid (see margarine). A high level of saturated fatty acids in the diet raises blood cholesterol levels. A few fatty acids have branched chains. Others (e.g., prostaglandins) contain ring structures. Fatty acids in nature are always combined, usually with glyc¬ erol as triglycerides in fats. Oleic acid (unsaturated, with 18 carbon atoms) is almost half of human fat and is abundant in such oils as olive, palm, and peanut. Most animals, including mammals, cannot synthesize some unsaturated “essential” fatty acids; humans need linoleic, linolenic, and arachidonic acids in their diet.
Faulhaber \'faul-,ha-b9r\, Michael von (b. March 5, 1869, Heiden- feld, Bavaria—d. June 12, 1952, Munich, W.Ger.) German religious leader and prominent opponent of the Nazis. Ordained in 1892, he was bishop of Speyer before becoming cardinal and Munich’s archbishop. In 1923 he contributed to the failure of Adolf Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch. Dur¬ ing the Nazi regime he delivered the famous sermons later published as Judaism, Christianity, and Germany (1934), which emphasized the Jew¬ ish background of Christianity and asserted that Christian values were fundamental to German culture. Despite attempts on his life, he vigor¬ ously criticized Nazism in his sermons until the collapse of the Third Reich. After the war he received West Germany’s highest award, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
Faulkner Vfok-norV William (Cuthbert) orig. William Cuth- bert Falkner (b. Sept. 25, 1897, New Albany, Miss., U.S.—d. July 6, 1962, Byhalia, Miss.) U.S. writer. Faulkner dropped out of high school and only briefly attended college. He spent most of his life in Oxford, Miss. He is best known for his cycle of works set in fictional Yoknap- atawpha County, which becomes an emblem of the American South and its tragic history. His first major novel. The Sound and the Fury (1929), was marked by radical technical experimentation, including stream of consciousness. His American reputation, which lagged behind his Euro¬ pean reputation, was boosted by As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom! (1936), and Go Down, Moses (1942), which contains the story “The Bear.” The Portable Faulkner (1946) finally brought his work into wide circulation, and he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. His Collected Stories (1950) won the National Book Award. Both in the U.S. and abroad, especially in Latin America, he was among the most influential writers of the 20th century.
fault In geology, a fracture in the rocks of the Earth’s crust, where com- pressional or tensional forces cause the rocks on the opposite sides of the fracture to be displaced relative to each other. Faults range in length from a few inches to hundreds of miles, and displacement may also range from less than an inch to hundreds of miles along the fracture surface (the fault plane). Most, if not all, earthquakes are caused by rapid movement along faults. Faults are common throughout the world. A well-known example is the San Andreas Fault near the western coast of the U.S. The total movement along this fault during the last few million years appears to have been several miles.
fauna All the species of animals found in a particular region, period, or special environment. Five faunal realms, based on terrestrial animal spe-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
faunal succession ► fayd I 661
cies, are generally recognized: Holarctic, including Nearactic (North America) and Paleartic (Eurasia and northern Africa); Paleotropical (tropi¬ cal Africa and Southeast Asia); Neotropical (Central and South America); Australian; and Antarctic.
faunal succession, law of Observation that taxonomic groups of animals follow each other in time in a predictable manner. Sequences of successive strata and their corresponding fauna have been matched to form a composite picture detailing the history of the Earth, especially from the beginning of the Cambrian Period. Faunal succession is the fundamen¬ tal tool of stratigraphy and is the basis for the geologic time scale. Floral (plant) succession is also an important tool. Climate and conditions throughout the Earth’s history can be studied using the successive groups because living organisms reflect their environment.
Faun us Vfo-n3s\ Ancient Italian rural deity, the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Pan. The grandson of Saturn, he was depicted as half-man, half-goat, like a satyr. He was first worshiped as a god who bestowed fertility on fields and flocks, but he ended as a woodland deity. His com¬ panions were known as fauns.
Faure Vfor\, (Francois-) Felix (b. Jan. 30, 1841, Paris, France—d. Feb. 16, 1899, Paris) President of the French Third Republic (1895-99). A successful industrialist in Le Havre, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies (1881). After serving in several cabinet posts, he was elected president of France in an unexpected victory that was a rebuff - to the political left. He opposed reopening the case of Alfred Dreyfus, the domi¬ nating issue of his presidency, and his position encouraged agitation from both left and right political factions. He died suddenly, and his funeral was the scene of a confrontation between pro- and anti-Dreyfus groups.
Faure \fo-'ra\, Gabriel (-Urbain) (b. May 12,1845, Pamiers, Ariege, Fr.—d. Nov. 4, 1924, Paris) French composer. Born into the minor aris¬ tocracy, he enrolled at age nine in a Paris music school, where he studied with Camille Saint-Saens and remained 11 years. He held the pres¬ tigious organist positions at the churches of Saint-Sulpice (1871-74) and the Madeleine (1896-1905). In 1896 he also became professor of composition at the Paris Conserva¬ tory, where he taught students such as Maurice Ravel and Nadia Bou¬ langer. He served as its director 1905-20. In 1909 he accepted the presidency of the Societe Musicale Independante, a group of dissident young composers. His works include the operas Promethee (1900), Pene¬ lope (1913), and Masques et berga- masques (1919), the orchestral suite Pelleas et Melisande (1898), two piano quartets (1879, 1886), numerous piano nocturnes and barcaroles, a famous Requiem (1900), and many beautiful songs.
Gabriel Faure, portrait by John Singer Sargent; in a private collection.
GIRAUDON/ART RESOURCE, NEW VORK
Fauset Vfo-s3t\, Jessie Redmon (b. April 27, 1882, Snow Hill, N.J., U.S.—d. April 30, 1961, Philadelphia, Pa.) U.S. novelist, critic, poet, and
editor. Fauset studied at Cornell and literary editor of The Crisis (1919— 26), she discovered and encouraged writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer. In her own works, including her best-known novel. Comedy: American Style (1933), she portrayed mostly middle-class black characters forced to deal with self-hate as well as racial prejudice.
Faust Vfaust\ Legendary German necromancer or astrologer who sold his soul to the devil for knowledge and power. There was a historical Faust (perhaps two; both died c. 1540), who traveled widely perform-
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ing magic, referred to the devil as his crony, and had a wide reputation for evil. The Faustbuch (1587), a collection of tales purportedly by Faust, told of such reputed wizards as Merlin and Albertus Magnus. It was widely translated; an English version inspired Christopher Marlowe’s Tragicall History of D. Faustus (1604), which emphasized Faust’s eternal damna¬ tion. Magic manuals bearing Faust’s name did a brisk business; the clas¬ sic Magia naturalis et innaturalis was known to Johann W. von Goethe, who, like Gotthold Lessing, saw Faust’s pursuit of knowledge as noble; in Goethe’s great Faust the hero is redeemed. Inspired by Goethe, many artists took up the story, including Hector Berlioz (in the dramatic cantata The Damnation of Faust) and Charles Gounod (in the opera Faust).
Fauvism Vfo-.vi-zomX Style of painting that flourished in France c. 1898-1908, characterized by the use of intensely vivid colour and turbu¬ lent emotionalism. The dominant figure of the group was Henri Matisse; others were Andre Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, Georges Braque, and Georges Rouault. The name derives from the judgment of a critic who visited their first exhibit in Paris (1905) and referred to the artists disparagingly as “les fauves” (“wild beasts”). They were influenced by the masters of Post-Impressionism, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Fauvism was a transitional phase for most of the artists, who by 1908, having renewed their interest in Paul Cezanne’s vision of order and struc¬ ture, abandoned Fauvism for Cubism. Matisse alone continued on the course he had pioneered.
favela \f3-'ve-b\ In Brazil, a slum or shantytown. A favela comes into being when squatters occupy vacant land at the edge of a city and con¬ struct shanties of salvaged or stolen materials. Communities form over time, often developing an array of social and religious organizations and forming associations to obtain such services as running water and elec¬ tricity. Sometimes the residents (favelados) manage to gain title to the land and then are able to improve their homes. Because of crowding, unsanitary conditions, poor nutrition, and pollution, disease is rampant in the poorer favelas, and infant mortality rates are high.
Fawkes, Guy (b. 1570, York, Eng.—d. Jan. 31, 1606, London) Brit¬ ish conspirator. A convert to Roman Catholicism and a religious zealot, Fawkes joined the Spanish army in the Netherlands in 1593 and became noted for his military skill. In 1604 he returned to England and joined a group of Catholic zealots intent on blowing up the Parliament building. When details of this Gunpowder Plot were discovered—Fawkes had planted and camouflaged at least 20 barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the Parliament building—Fawkes was arrested on Nov. 4, 1605. After being tortured to reveal the names of his accomplices, he was tried and executed opposite the Parliament building. England celebrates Guy Fawkes Day on November 5 with fireworks, masked children begging “a penny for the guy,” and the burning of Fawkes in effigy.
fax in full facsimile Device for the transmission and reproduction of documents by digitized signals sent over telephone lines. Fax machines scan printed text and graphics and convert the image into a digital code: 1 for dark areas, 0 for white areas. The code is transmitted through the telephone network to similar devices, where the documents are repro¬ duced in close to their original form. Though the concepts for fax tech¬ nology were developed in the 19th century, widespread use did not occur until the 1970s, when inexpensive means of adapting digitized informa¬ tion to telephone circuits became common.
Faxa Bay \'fak-sa\ Inlet of the northern Atlantic Ocean, southwestern coast of Iceland. At 30 mi (50 km) deep and 50 mi (80 km) long, it is the largest in Iceland. The main ports along the bay are Akranes and Reyk¬ javik, Iceland’s capital. A U.S. air base is at Keflavfk on the southern shore.
Faxian or Fa-hsien \'fa-'shyen\ orig. Sehi (fl. 399-414) Chinese Bud¬ dhist monk who initiated relations with India. Eager to learn of his religion at its source, he traveled to India in 402 and spent a decade visiting the major Buddhist shrines and seats of learning, especially sites in eastern India, including Kapilavastu, Bodh Gaya, and Pataliputra. He deepened his knowledge by conversing with monks and gathered sacred texts that had not yet been translated into Chinese. He returned to China by sea in 412, after spending two years in Sri Lanka. His Record of Buddhist Kingdoms contains valuable information about Indian Buddhism in this era.
fayd \'fid\ In Islamic philosophy, the emanation of created things from God. The term is not used in the Qur’an, but Muslim philosophers such as al-FARABi and Avicenna borrowed the notion from Neoplatonism. They conceived of creation as a gradual process arising from God’s superabun-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
662 i Faysal ► Federal Deposit
dance. Creation begins at the most perfect level, God, and descends through the world of the spirit to the least perfect level, the world of mat¬ ter. The fayd theory was refuted by al-GHAZALi in the 11th century.
Faysal Vfi-solX I (b. May 20, 1885, Mecca, Hejaz, Arabian Peninsula—d. Sept. 8, 1933, Bern, Switz.) Arab statesman and king of Iraq (1921-33). Son of Sharif Husayn ibn 'AlI, he helped his father plot Arab nationalist rebellion against the Ottoman Empire during World War I (1914-18). When the Arab revolt was declared in 1916, he played an important part in anti- Ottoman military campaigns. In 1918 an Arab military force occupied Damascus, and Faysal was declared king of Syria. Two years later France invaded Syria, and he went into exile in London. The British sponsored him as king of Iraq, in anticipation of a treaty providing for Iraqi inde¬ pendence; he was crowned in 1921, and Iraq became independent in 1932.
Fazzan See Fezzan FBI See Federal Bureau of Investigation FDA See Food and Drug Administration FDIC See Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
feather Component structure of the outer covering and flight surfaces of all modern birds. Unique to birds, feathers apparently evolved from the scales of birds’ reptilian ancestors. Like hair, feathers are made of kera¬ tin, a fibrous protein. They are variously specialized for insulation, flight, formation of body contours, display, and sensory reception. Contour feath¬ ers form most of the surface of the bird, streamlining it for flight and often waterproofing it. The basal portion may be downy and thus act as insu¬ lation. The major contour feathers of the wing (remiges) and tail (rec- trices) function in flight. Contour feathers grow in tracts (pterylae) separated by bare areas (apteria) and develop from follicles in the skin. Down feathers have loose-webbed barbs, all rising from the tip of a very short shaft. Their function is insulation, and they may be found in both pterylae and apteria in adult birds. They also constitute the first feather coat of most young birds. Filoplumes are hairlike feathers with a few soft barbs near the tip. They are associated with contour feathers and may be sensory or decorative in function. Bristlelike, vaneless feathers occur around the mouth, eyes, and nostrils of birds. Some bristles function as eyelashes on ground-dwelling birds; bristles over the nostrils may serve as filters. See illustration opposite.
feather star Any of the 550 living species of crinoid echinoderms (class Crinoidea) that lack the stalk that their relatives the sea lilies use to attach themselves to the ocean bot¬ tom. Most species have five feathery-fringed arms. Feather stars usually attach themselves to a sur¬ face or a floating object and feed on drifting microorganisms, trapping them in their sticky arm grooves.
They live mainly on rocky bottoms in shallow water. Most abundant from the Indian Ocean to Japan, they are also found in the Atlantic.
featherbedding Labour union practices that require the employer to pay for the performance of unneces¬ sary work or to employ workers who are not needed. Featherbedding provisions in labour contracts may result from the continuation of work rules that were once efficient but that have become obsolete. A union may insist on the continuation of such work rules to protect the job security of its members. See also collective bar¬ gaining.
February Revolution (1848) Rioting in France that led to the over¬ throw of the July Monarchy and precipitated the Revolutions of 1848. In 1840^-9 there was a flowering of socialist thought begun by Charles Fou¬ rier, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and others that fueled urban workers’ discon¬ tent. A major recession in 1846-47 added to popular unrest, as did the increasing arbitrariness of King Louis-Philippe. An opposition campaign brought police action, and crowds of students and workers gathered in the streets and clashed with police. The king tried to appease the demonstra¬ tors, but, when an army unit killed 40 of them, he abdicated rather than face civil war.
Structures of a typical contour feather. The feather's central shaft (rachis) has a series of paired branches (barbs) forming a flattened, usually curved surface (vane). The barbs possess further branches (barbules) that are attached to one another by hooks (barbicels), a structure that stiffens the vane. Some contour feath¬ ers have a complex branch (aftershaft) that arises at the base of the vane and has the appearance of a second, smaller feather. The unbranched basal section of the rachis (calamus, or quill) is embedded in the skin at the inferior umbilicus, which channels blood to the growing feather.
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feces Vfe-,sez\ or excrement or stools Solid bodily waste discharged from the colon through the anus during defecation. Normal feces are 75% water. The rest is about 30% dead bacteria, 30% indigestible food matter, 10-20% cholesterol and other fats, 10-20% inorganic substances, and 2-3% protein. The colour and odour are produced by bacterial action on chemical constituents. Many disorders produce abnormalities in the feces, usually constipation or diarrhea. Bleeding in the stomach or intestines may show up as dark red to black stools. Tests are needed to detect small amounts (occult blood). High fat content usually indicates disease of the pancreas or small intestine. Many diseases are spread by contamination of food with feces of infected persons.
Fechner Vfek-nor,\ English \'fek-nor\, Gustav Theodor (b. April 19, 1801, Gross Sarchen, near Muskau, Lusatia—d. Nov. 18, 1887, Leipzig, Ger.) German physicist and philosopher who founded the science of psy¬ chophysics. He taught at the University of Leipzig (1834-40) but left because of ill health. He developed experimental procedures, still useful in experimental psychology, for measuring sensations in relation to the physical magnitude of stimuli, establishing that, as physical stimulation increases logarithmically, sensation increases arithmetically. Most impor¬ tant, he devised an equation to express Weber's law. His principal scien¬ tific work was Elements of Psychophysics (1860).
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Largest investigative agency of the U.S. government. It was founded in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation within the U.S. Justice Department. J. Edgar Hoover served as its director from 1924 until his death in 1972. Since 1968 the director, who reports to the attorney general, has been appointed by the president for a 10-year term, subject to Senate approval. The FBI employs more than 10,000 special agents. Its responsibilities include investigating vio¬ lations of federal criminal law (including in the areas of civil rights and organized crime), collecting evidence in civil cases to which the U.S. is a party, and providing internal security.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Independent U.S. gov¬ ernment corporation created to insure bank deposits against loss in the
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Federal Reserve ► feldspar I 663
event of a bank failure and to regulate certain banking practices. Estab¬ lished after the bank holiday in early 1933, the FDIC was intended to restore public confidence in the system. It insures bank deposits in eli¬ gible banks up to $100,000 for each deposit. All members of the Federal Reserve System are required to insure their deposits with the FDIC, and almost all commercial banks in the U.S. choose to do so.
Federal Reserve System U.S. central bank system consisting of 12 Federal Reserve districts with a Reserve bank in the principal commer¬ cial city of each district. The system is supervised by a board of gover¬ nors in Washington, D.C., as well as by various advisory councils and committees. As a result of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, all national banks are required to join the system; state banks may join if they meet membership qualifications. The Federal Reserve is responsible for mon¬ etary policy. The original act set fixed reserve requirements for the U.S. fractional reserve banking system. It allowed each district bank to deter¬ mine its discount rate, the rate it charged on loans to member banks. The modern Federal Reserve resulted from the Federal Reserve Act of 1935, which allowed the board to determine reserve requirements within defined limits. It became responsible for approving the discount rates of the dis¬ trict banks. Most importantly, the act created the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, which is responsible for conducting operations in financial markets that increase or decrease the amount of reserves in the system. If the Federal Reserve wants to ease monetary policy, it will use open market operations and increase the amount of reserves through the purchase of financial assets. Conversely, it can tighten monetary policy through the sale of financial assets.
Federal style Neoclassical style of American architecture and interior design that flourished 1785-1820 (later in governmental buildings) and was influenced by the Georgian style and the work of James and Robert Adam. Inspired by the Roman republic, which the new nation believed it resembled, it was especially associated with Thomas Jefferson and Ben¬ jamin H. Latrobe. Characteristics include shallow arches, slender propor¬ tions, delicate decoration, and symmetry; entrances are often framed by columns and pediments, with a fanlight over the door. The University of Virginia (1817-26) was Jefferson’s greatest Federal-style project.
federalism Political system that binds a group of states into a larger, noncentralized, superior state while allowing them to maintain their own political identities. Certain characteristics and principles are common to all successful federal systems: a written constitution or basic law stipu¬ lating the distribution of powers; diffusion of power among the constitu¬ ent elements, which are substantially self-sustaining; and territorial divisions to ensure neutrality and equality in the representation of vari¬ ous groups and interests. Changes require the consent of those affected. Successful federal systems also have a sense of common nationality and direct lines of communication between the citizens and all the govern¬ ments that serve them. Examples of modern federal systems include the U.S., Brazil, Germany, and Nigeria. See also Federalist papers; Federalist Party.
Federalist paper s formally The Federalist Eighty-five essays on the proposed Constitution of the United States and the nature of republi¬ can government, published in 1787-88 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madi¬ son, and John Jay in an effort to persuade voters of New York state to support ratification. Most of the essays first appeared serially in New York newspapers; they were reprinted in other states and then published as a book in 1788. A few of the essays were issued separately later. All were signed “Publius.” They presented a masterly exposition of the federal system and the means of attaining the ideals of justice, general welfare, and the rights of individuals.
Federalist Party Early U.S. political party that advocated a strong central government. Federalist was first used in 1787 to describe support¬ ers of the Constitution of the United States, with its emphasis on a federal union; the Federalist papers was a series of 85 papers (1787-88) published by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to persuade New York voters to ratify the Constitution. By the 1790s other policies defined the party, including Hamilton’s fiscal program, creation of a central bank, a tariff system, favourable treatment for U.S. shipping, friendship with Brit¬ ain, and neutrality in foreign affairs. The party elected John Adams as president in 1796 but was unable to organize effectively after 1801. It lost favour for its opposition to the Embargo Act and the War of 1812; an internal split by the New England faction (see Hartford Convention) fur¬ ther weakened the party. By the 1820s most of its original principles had
been adopted by the opposition Democratic Party, and the Federalist Party disappeared. Notable Federalists included John Marshall, Rufus King, Timothy Pickering, and Charles Pinckney.
fee In law, an inheritable freehold estate in real property (see real and personal property). The word derives from fief, as used in feudal law. Mod¬ ern property law includes several varieties of fee, including fee simple (alienable and of indefinite duration), fee tail (granted to an individual and his or her descendants but subject to reversion if a tenant dies with no descendants), and life fee or life estate (held only during the lifetime of the grantee).
feed Foodstuff grown or developed for livestock and poultry to maintain the health of the animals and to increase the quality of such end products as meat, milk, or eggs. Modern feeds are derived from crops grown spe¬ cifically for research or from by-products of surplus crops or foods pro¬ duced for human consumption. Feeds are categorized as either concentrates (high in digestibility of nutrients but low in fibre content) or roughages (high in fibre and comparatively low in digestive nutrients). Most diets consist of a combination of feeds.
feedback inhibition Suppression of the activity of an enzyme by a product of the sequence of reactions in which the enzyme is participat¬ ing. When the product accumulates in a cell beyond an optimal amount, it decreases its own production by inhibiting an enzyme involved in its synthesis. After the product has been used or broken down, inhibition is relaxed and formation of the product resumes. Enzymes whose ability to catalyze a reaction depends on molecules other than the substances on which they act directly are said to be under allosteric control.
feeding behaviour Any action of an animal directed toward obtain¬ ing nutrients. Each species evolves methods of searching for, obtaining, and ingesting food for which it can successfully compete. Some species eat only one type of food, others a variety. Among invertebrates food choices are instinctual, while among vertebrates they are learned.
Feiffer, Jules (b. Jan. 26, 1929, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. cartoonist and dramatist. Feiffer learned his trade while assisting comic-strip artists. He became famous for Feiffer, a satirical strip whose verbal elements are usually monologues in which the speaker (sometimes pathetic, sometimes pompous) exposes his or her own insecurities. His drawings, syndicated from 1959, are collected in books beginning with Sick, Sick, Sick (1958). In 1986 he received a Pulitzer Prize. His plays, including Little Murders (1967; film, 1971), also blend farce and social criticism. His other works include novels, screenplays (including Carnal Knowledge, 1971), and, in the 1990s, children’s books.
Feininger Vfi-niq-orN, Andreas (Bernhard Lyonel) (b. Dec. 27, 1906, Paris, Fr.—d. Feb. 18, 1999, New York, N.Y., U.S.) French-bom U.S. photographer and writer. Son of painter Lyonel Feininger, he gradu¬ ated from the Bauhaus in 1925. After studying architecture, he moved to Sweden in 1933 and established a firm specializing in architectural and industrial photography. Among his best-known works are his richly detailed black-and-white views of New York City, which he achieved through experimental techniques and devices that he pioneered through¬ out his career. He also took many photographs of natural objects, such as shells, trees, and bones. In 1939 he settled in New York, and from 1943 to 1962 he worked for Life magazine. He also wrote prolifically on pho¬ tographic technique.
Feininger Vfi-niq-oiA, Lyonel (Charles Adrian) (b. July 17, 1871, New York, N.Y., U.S.—-d. Jan. 13, 1956, New York City) U.S.-born Ger¬ man painter. He went to Germany in 1887 to study music but ended up studying painting instead. Around 1910, under the influence of Cubism, he developed a unique style, using prismatic interpenetrating planes of colour to depict architectural and marine subjects. He exhibited with Der Blaue Reiter in Berlin in 1913 and was later an influential teacher at the Bauhaus (1919-33). His work was a synthesis of art, science, and technology; he is noted for introducing compositional discipline and lyrical colour to German Expressionism. After the Nazis came to power, he returned to the U.S. He was the father of photographer Andreas Feininger.
feldspar Any of a group of aluminosilicate (containing aluminum and silicon) minerals that also contains calcium, sodium, or potassium. Feld¬ spars are the most common minerals in the Earth’s crust and are the major component in nearly all igneous rocks found on the Earth, on the Moon, and in some meteorites. They also are common in metamorphic and some sedimentary rocks. Their complex chemical and structural properties
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664 i feldspar ► Feng shui
make them useful for interpreting the origins of rocks. Natural feldspars can be divided into alkali and plagioclase feldspars.
feldspar, alkali See alkali feldspar
feldspathoid \feld-'spath-,6id\ Any of a group of alkali aluminosili¬ cate minerals similar to the feldspars in composition but having a lower silica-alkali ratio or containing chloride, sulfide, sulfate, or carbonate. Their physical and chemical properties lie between those of the feldspars and zeolites. The most abundant feldspathoids are nepheline and leucite. Other significant varieties include kalsilite, sodalite, nosean, and hatiynite. Feldspathoids are found chiefly in igneous and metamorphic rocks; they are used as raw materials in the production of alum, glass, and ceramics.
Feller, Bob orig. Robert William Andrew Feller (b. Nov. 3, 1918, Van Meter, Iowa, U.S) U.S. baseball pitcher. Feller played for the Cleveland Indians from 1936 to 1956, frequently leading the American League in strikeouts and games won, earning the nickname “Rapid Rob¬ ert” for his fastball. He was the first 20th-century pitcher to pitch three no-hit games (1940, 1946, 1951), and his record of 348 season strikeouts (1946) stood for 19 years. He ended his career with the outstanding win- loss record of 266-162.
Fellini, Federico (b. Jan. 20, 1920, Rimini, Italy—d. Oct. 31, 1993, Rome) Italian film director. After col¬ laborating with Roberto Rossellini on the screenplays for Open City (1945) and Paisan (1946), Fellini undertook his first solo venture in 1952. It failed, but his next film, 7 vitelloni (1953), was a critical success. He won international acclaim with La strada (1954, Academy Award), The Nights of Cabiria (1957, Academy Award), and La dolce vita (1960). He continued his distinctive autobio¬ graphical style of filmmaking—one that displayed a sympathetic fascina¬ tion with the bizarre—in 8 V 2 (1963,
Academy Award) but turned to gaudy spectacle in Juliet of the Spirits (1965) and Satyricon (1969). The best of his later films are Amarcord (1973, Academy Award) and the nostalgic Ginger and Fred (1985). His wife, Giulietta Masina (1920-94), starred in several of his films.
felony and misdemeanour In Anglo-American law, two catego¬ ries of criminal offense. A crime is classed as one or the other according to its seriousness. In U.S. law, a felony is typically defined as a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than one year. Misde¬ meanours are often defined as offenses punishable only by fines or by short terms of imprisonment in local jails. Crimes in Britain are classi¬ fied into indictable offenses (which may be tried by a jury) and summary offenses (which may be tried by a judge without juries). Codes in Europe also distinguish offenses of greater dangerousness from lesser crimes.
felsic rock Igneous rock dominated by the light-coloured, silicon- and aluminum-rich minerals feldspar and quartz. The presence of these min¬ erals gives felsic rock its characteristic light gray colour. The presence of small amounts of dark minerals rich in magnesium and iron produces slight colour variations. Typical felsic rocks include granite and rhyolite.
felting Process that mats together fleece (raw wool) by subjecting it to moisture, heat, friction, and pressure. Sheep hair have scales that open somewhat when wet; layering hairs in a parallel fashion and applying some form of agitation cause the hairs to tighten together in a solid mat. The result is a lightweight, windproof, and water-resistant fabric that has been used for millennia to make hats, boots, and tents. Light felting is sometimes done to woven or knitted wool, a process known as fulling, to create a thicker and softer fabric.
female circumcision See cutoridectomy
feminism Social movement that seeks equal rights for women. Wide¬ spread concern for women’s rights dates from the Enlightenment; its first important expression was Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, convened by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mon, and others, called for full legal
equality with men, including full educational opportunity and equal com¬ pensation; thereafter the woman suffrage movement began to gather momentum. From America the movement spread to Europe. American women gained the right to vote by constitutional amendment in 1920, but their participation in the workplace remained limited, and prevailing notions tended to confine women to the home. Milestones in the rise of modern feminism included Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) and Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963) and the founding in 1966 of the National Organization for Women. See also Equal Rights Amendment; women's liberation movement.
feminist philosophy Loosely related set of approaches in various fields of philosophy that emphasizes the role of gender in the formation of traditional philosophical problems and concepts and the ways in which traditional philosophy reflects and perpetuates bias against women. In social and political philosophy, liberal feminists have advocated making women’s political and economic opportunities equal to those of men; socialist or Marxist feminists have argued that women’s oppression is inherently economic in character; and radical feminists have criticized liberal political notions such as equality and autonomy as inherently “mas¬ culine” (see liberalism). Similar feminist critiques have been made of notions such as rationality and objectivity in epistemology and metaphysics. In ethics, feminists have contrasted the traditional masculine approach based on impersonal and abstract rights and principles with an ethic of “care” based on personal and concrete relationships and responsibilities. In the late 20th century feminists influenced by postmodern philosophy and literary theory pointed out the potential racial, cultural, and class biases of academic feminists attempting to speak for all women and argued that no single description of women’s experience or women’s oppression can be valid for all (see postmodernism).
Fen River River, Shanxi province, northern China. After rising in the Guancen Mountains in northwestern Shanxi, it flows southeast to Taiyuan and then southwest through the central valley of Shanxi to join the Huang near Hejin. Its total length is about 340 mi (550 km). With a torrential course and steep gradients, it is a useful waterway only in its lower reaches. Its valley was an early center of civilization and has remained an important route, linking the Beijing area with the strategically vital Shanxi province and the major land routes to Central Asia.
fencing Sport involving attack and defense with a light sword, specifi¬ cally a foil, epee, or sabre. There is evidence of swordplay from ancient times through the Middle Ages. In the 14th century swordplay became important in both war and the European gentleman’s daily life, and by the 15 th century guilds of fencing masters had formed. Strokes that were origi¬ nally jealously guarded secrets of the individual guilds eventually became orthodox fencing moves. By the later 17th century various rules and con¬ ventions had been imposed. In modern competition—except for sabre matches—hits are made with the point only; in matches using foils and sabres, touches to only certain points of the opponents body are counted, whereas in epee no such restrictions apply. Each valid hit scores one or more points. Men’s fencing was included in the first modem Olympic Games in 1896, women’s in the 1924 games. Electrical scoring was intro¬ duced in 1936 to eliminate the frequent inaccuracy of human judgment.
Fenelon \fan-'lo n \, Francois de Salignac de La Mothe- (b. Aug. 6, 1651, Chateau de Fenelon, Perigord, France—d. Jan. 7, 1715, Camb- rai) French archbishop, theologian, and man of letters. Though generally conservative, his The Education of Young Gentlewomen (1687), based on his experience directing a women’s college, supported liberal education and argued against coercing Protestants to convert. As tutor to a grand¬ son of Louis XIV, he composed his best-known work, the novel Les Aven- tures de Telemaque (1699), but the political ideas it seemed to express offended Louis, who banished him from the court. He was similarly con¬ demned by the church for his leanings toward Quietism, which empha¬ sized spiritual passivity. His liberal views on politics and education exerted a lasting influence on French culture.
Feng shui Vfoq-'shwaV Traditional Chinese method of arranging the human and social world in auspicious alignment with the forces of the cosmos, including qi and yin-yang. It was devised during the Han dynasty (206 bc-ad 220). Specialists, called diviners, use compasslike instruments to determine the exact cosmic forces affecting a site, appropriate sites being chosen particularly in relation to bodies of water and mountains. Feng shui, especially as it affects interior design, has recently become popular in Britain and the U.S.
Federico Fellini/ 1965.
PARIS M4TCH/PICTORIAL PARADE
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fenghuang ► Ferdinand I I 665
fenghuang or feng-huang Vfoq-'hwaqX In Chinese mythology, an immortal bird whose auspicious rare appearances portend world harmony, particularly upon the ascent to the throne of a new ruler. Considered to embody both male and female elements, the fenghuang in later descrip¬ tions is often considered the female counterpart of the male dragon and, as such, symbolizes the female portion of the yin-yang principle, notably with respect to marital harmony. Legend tells of its appearance before the death of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) in the 3rd millennium bc.
Fenian \'fe-ne-on\ cycle or Fionn \'fin\ cycle or Ossianic cycle
Irish tales and ballads centring on the deeds of the legendary Finn Mac- Cumhaill (MacCool) and his war band, the Fianna Eireann. An elite vol¬ unteer corps of warriors and huntsmen skilled in poetry, the Fianna flourished in the 3rd century. Fenian lore attained its greatest popularity c. 1200, when its outstanding story, “The Colloquy of the Old Men”, was written down. The cycle remains a vital part of Irish folklore and contains many of the country’s best-loved folktales.
Fenian movement Irish nationalist society active chiefly in Ireland, the U.S., and Britain, especially in the 1860s. The name derived from the Fianna Eireann, a legendary band of Irish warriors led by Finn MacCum- haill. Plans for a rising against British rule in Ireland miscarried, but in the U.S., Fenians staged abortive raids into British Canada and caused friction between the U.S. and British governments. The Irish wing was sometimes called the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and as such contin¬ ued after Fenianism died out in the early 1870s. See also Sinn Fein.
fennec \'fe-nik\ Desert-dwelling fox ( Fennecus zerda) found in northern Africa and the Sinai and Arabian pen¬ insulas. It is small (head-and-body length 14-16 in. [36-41 cm]), weighs about 3.5 lb (1.5 kg), and has large ears (6 in. [15 cm] or more in length).
It has long, thick, whitish to sand- coloured fur and a black-tipped tail 7-12 in. (18-31 cm) long. Mainly nocturnal, it spends most of the day underground in its burrow. It feeds on insects, small animals, and fruit.
fennel Perennial or biennial aro¬ matic herb ( Foeniculum vulgare ) of the parsley family, native to southern Europe and Asia Minor and widely cultivated. The greenish brown to yel¬ lowish brown oblong oval seeds smell and taste similar to anise. The seeds and extracted oil are used for scenting soaps and perfumes and for fla¬ vouring candies, liqueurs, medicines, and foods, particularly pastries, sweet pickles, and fish. The thickened base of Florence fennel ( F. vulgare dulce) is eaten as a vegetable.
Fenrir Yfen-rar\ In Norse mythology, a monstrous wolf. He was the son of the god Loki and a giantess. The gods bound Fenrir to a rock with a magical chain, where he is destined to remain until doomsday, or Ragn- arok, when he will break his chains and fall upon the gods. In one ver¬ sion of the myth, he will devour the sun and swallow the chief god, Odin, only to be slain by Vidar, Odin’s son. Fenrir figures prominently in Nor¬ wegian and Icelandic poetry of the 10th-11th century.
Fenton, Roger (b. 1819, Hey wood, Eng.—d. Aug. 8, 1869, London) British photographer. In 1853 he helped found the Royal Photographic Society of London. In 1854 he was appointed the government’s official photographer and sent to document the Crimean War. He shot some 360 photographs of the war; although they largely represent a glorified over¬ view, showing very little of the real action or agony of war, they repre¬ sent the first extensive photographic documentation of a war. On his return he exhibited successfully in London and Paris.
fenugreek Vfen-y9-,grek\ Slender, annual, herbaceous legume ( Trigo- nella foenum-graecum) or its dried seeds, used as a food, a flavoring, and a medicine. Native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean, the plant is cultivated in central and southeastern Europe, western Asia, India, and northern Africa. The seeds smell and taste strong, sweetish, and somewhat bitter, like burnt sugar. Mealy in texture, they may be mixed with flour for bread or eaten raw or cooked. The herb is a characteristic ingredient in some curries and chutneys and is used to make imitation maple syrup.
fer-de-lance \'fer-d 3 l-'ants\ French "spearhead" Extremely ven¬ omous pit viper (genus Bothrops), found in diverse tropical American habi¬
tats, from cultivated lands to forests. It has a broad, triangular head and is gray or brown, marked by a series of black-edged diamonds often bor¬ dered in a lighter colour. It is usually about 4-7 ft (1.2-2 m) long. Its bite can be fatal to humans. The name is sometimes applied to all members of the Central and South American genus Bothrops and to an Asian genus, Trimeresurus.
Fer Diad \'far-,de-3d\ Foster brother of the legendary Irish hero Cu Chu- lainn. Tain Bo Cuailgne the longest tale in the Ulster cycle, deals with a conflict between Ulster and Connaught over the famous brown bull of Cooley. Joining the forces of Connaught in an expedition to seize the bull, Fer Dfad engages in a three-day battle with Cu Chulainn and is defeated.
Ferber, Edna (b. Aug. 15, 1887, Kalamazoo, Mich., U.S.—d. April 16, 1968, New York, N.Y.) U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Ferber began her career at age 17 as a reporter in Wisconsin. Her early stories were collected in Emma McChesney & Co. (1915) and other volumes. She won critical acclaim for such novels as So Big (1924, Pulitzer Prize) and Show Boat (1926), which, with music by Jerome Kern, became a seminal work of the American musical theatre. Among her later works is the novel Giant (1952; film, 1956). Her works offer a compassionate, lively portrait of middle-class Midwestern America.
Ferdinand (b. April 19, 1793, Vienna, Austria—d. June 29, 1875, Pra¬ gue, Bohemia) Emperor of Austria (1835—48). He was the eldest son of Emperor Francis II, who sought to protect the principle of succession and insisted that Ferdinand be the heir, despite Ferdinand’s feeblemindedness and epilepsy. Ferdinand was crowned king of Hungary in 1830 and became emperor of Austria in 1835. Government affairs were controlled by a body of counselors, led by the chancellor, Klemens, prince von Met- ternich. He was the last Habsburg king of Bohemia (1836), and in 1838 he was crowned king of Lombardy and Venetia. In the revolution of 1848 hostility was directed against his counselors, and Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph.
Ferdinand (Karl Leopold Maria) (b. Feb. 26, 1861, Vienna, Austria—d. Sept. 10, 1948, Coburg, Ger.) King of Bulgaria (1908-18). Elected prince of Bulgaria in 1887, he proclaimed Bulgaria’s indepen¬ dence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908 and assumed the title of king or tsar. He spearheaded the formation of the Balkan League (1912), which led to the first Balkan War. Bulgaria was defeated in the second Balkan War (1913), and Ferdinand’s resentments against his former allies determined Bulgaria’s participation in World War I on the side of the Central Pow¬ ers. Following his country’s military defeat in 1918, he was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Boris III.
Ferdinand I (b. March 10, 1503, Alcala de Henares, Spain—d. July 25, 1564, Vienna, Hapsburg domain)
Holy Roman emperor (1558-64).
The brother of Emperor Charles V, he was Charles’s deputy in the Hab¬ sburg German lands (1522-58). In 1526 he took possession of Bohemia without difficulty, but he faced rival claimants in Hungary and fought periodically against the Ottoman Empire, finally agreeing in 1562 to pay tribute to the Ottoman sultan for Austria’s share of Hungary. Ferdi¬ nand helped Charles defeat the Prot¬ estant Schmalkaldic League, and he later compromised on the Protestant issue and signed the Peace of Augs¬ burg (1555), ending the era of reli¬ gious strife in Germany. Elected emperor after Charles’s abdication, which separated the Habsburg domains into Spanish and Austrian parts, Ferdinand centralized the imperial administration.
Ferdinand I (b. Jan. 2/12, 1751, Naples—d. Jan. 4, 1825, Naples) King of the Two Sicilies (1816-25). He became king of Naples in 1759, as Fer¬ dinand IV, when his father ascended the Spanish throne as Charles III. A weak ruler, he was greatly influenced by his wife, Maria Carolina of Aus¬ tria (1752-1814). He engaged Naples in the Austro-English coalition against the French Revolution in 1793. The French then invaded Naples, and he fled to Sicily (1798-99, 1806-16). He returned to Naples in 1816
Fennec (Fennecus zerda)
ANTHONY MERCIECA—THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
Ferdinand I, engraving by Barthel Beham, 1531
ARCHIV FUR KUNST UND GESCHICHTE, BERUN
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666 i Ferdinand II ► Fermanagh
after the fall of Napoleon, as king of the united Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. His despotic rule led to an uprising in 1820, after which he was forced to grant a constitution. With Austria’s aid, he overthrew the con¬ stitutional government in 1821.
Ferdinand II known as Ferdinand the Catholic Spanish Fernando el Catolico (b. March 10, 1452, Sos, Aragon—d. Jan. 23, 1516) King of Aragon from 1479, king of Castile (as Ferdinand V) from 1474 (joint sovereign with Queen Isabella I until 1504), king of Sicily (as Ferdinand II, 1468-1516), and king of Naples (as Ferdinand III, 1503— 16). The son of John II of Aragon (1398-1479), Ferdinand married Isa¬ bella of Castile in 1469 and fought to impose his authority over the nobles in the two kingdoms. As part of an effort to modernize Castile, they banned all religions other than Roman Catholicism, leading to the Span¬ ish Inquisition (1478) and the expulsion of the Jews (1492). Conquest of Granada in 1492 made it possible to support Christopher Columbus’s voy¬ ages to the New World. Ferdinand furthered his expansionary policies in the Mediterranean and in Africa. After the conquest of Naples in 1503, during the Italian Wars, Spain rivaled France as the most powerful state in Europe. By uniting the Spanish kingdoms into the nation of Spain, Fer¬ dinand began Spain’s entry into the modem period of imperial expansion.
Ferdinand II (Aragon) See Ferdinand V
Ferdinand II (b. July 9, 1578, Graz, Styria—d. Feb. 15, 1637, Vienna) Holy Roman emperor (1619-37), archduke of Austria, king of Bohemia (1617—19, 1620-27) and king of Hungary (1618-25). A year after he was recognized by the Bohemian Diet as king, they deposed him and elected Frederick V, an event that effectively marked the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. After annihilating the rebel army in 1620, he greatly reduced the Diet’s power. A rigidly Catholic ruler, he forcibly Catholicized Bohe¬ mia and suppressed Protestantism throughout his lands. He maintained much of his power through the victories of Albrecht W.E. von Wallen¬ stein but later concluded a compromise peace with the Protestant princes. He was the leading champion of the Catholic Counter-Reformation and of absolutist rule in the Thirty Years’ War.
Ferdinand II (b. Jan. 12, 1810, Palermo, Sicily—d. May 22, 1859, Caserta) King of the Two Sicilies (1830-59). He followed his father, Fran¬ cis I, as king and initially instituted reforms, but his rule gradually became authoritarian, and he severely repressed a number of liberal and national revolts. His heavy bombardment of Sicilian cities in 1848 earned him the name “King Bomba.” His government’s increasingly absolute character denied the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies a role in the Risorgimento and caused its collapse and incorporation into Italy in 1860.
Ferdinand III (b. July 13, 1608, Graz, Inner Austria—d. April 2, 1657, Vienna) Holy Roman emperor (1637-57), archduke of Austria (1621-57), king of Hungary (1625-57) and king of Bohemia (1627-57). Denied command of the Habsburg armies in the Thirty Years' War, Ferdinand con¬ spired to overthrow Gen. Albrecht W.E. von Wallenstein, whom he replaced as commander (1634-35). His leadership of the so-called peace party at the imperial court led to the Peace of Prague in 1635. As emperor from 1637, he refused to allow religious freedom in his own domains, but he compromised with Europe’s Protestant powers and agreed to the Peace of Westphalia, ending 30 years of religious strife in central Europe.
Ferdinand VI Spanish Fernando (b. Sept. 23, 1713, Madrid, Spain—d. Aug. 10, 1759, Villaviciosa de Odon) King of Spain (1746- 59). He was the second son of Philip V and his first wife, Marie-Louise. The influence of his father’s second wife, Isabella Farnese, kept Ferdinand out of politics during his father’s reign. During his own reign he tried to avoid conflicts while relying on his father’s minister to bring about reforms. Ferdinand, the second Bourbon Spanish king, and his wife, Maria Barbara, were patrons of the arts and learning. On his death, the crown passed to his half brother, Charles III.
Ferdinand VII Spanish Fernando (b. Oct. 14, 1784, El Escorial, Spain—d. Sept. 29, 1833, Madrid) King of Spain (1808, 1813-33). He became king briefly in 1808 after the French invasion of Spain forced the abdication of his father, Charles IV. Napoleon soon replaced him as king with Joseph Bonaparte and held Ferdinand in France (1808-13). The Span¬ ish populace rose against the French invaders in the name of Ferdinand, who became known as “the Desired.” In 1812 independent Spaniards adopted a liberal constitution, which Ferdinand overthrew on his return as king in 1813 to rule in an absolutist style. His reign saw the loss of most of Spain’s possessions in the Americas. He abolished the Salic Law
of Succession to allow his daughter (the future Isabella II) instead of his brother (Don Carlos [1788-1855]) to succeed him, which triggered the opposition movement, Carusm.
Ferdinand the Catholic See Ferdinand V
FerdowsI \for-'dau-se\ or Firdusi or FirdousI rfor-'dii-seV orig. Abu al-Qasim Mansur (b. c. 935, near Tus, Iran—d. c. 1020, Tus) Persian poet. Though many legends surround his name, few facts are known about his life. He gave the final and enduring form to the Persian national epic, the Shah-nameh (completed c. 1010; “Book of Kings”), a poem based mainly on an earlier prose history. His language is still readily intelligible to modern Iranians, who regard the poem’s nearly 60,000 couplets as a sonorous, majestic evocation of a glorious past. He reportedly worked on the poem for 35 years to earn a dowry for his only daughter.
Ferenczi \'fer-ont-se\ Sandor (b. 1873, Miskolc, Hung., Austria- Hungary—d. 1933, Budapest, Hung.) Hungarian psychoanalyst. After receiving his M.D. from the University of Vienna and serving as an army doctor, he met Sigmund Freud in 1908 and became a member of Freud’s inner circle, the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. He founded the Hungar¬ ian Psychoanalytic Society in 1913 and began teaching psychoanalysis at the University of Budapest in 1919. He experimented with techniques of therapy and diverged from classic psychoanalytic practice in some respects (e.g., arguing that recovery of traumatic memories was not essen¬ tial for modifying neurotic behaviour and emphasizing the need for thera¬ pists to create a loving, permissive atmosphere). His works include The Development of Psychoanalysis (with Otto Rank; 1924).
Fergana Valley or Fergana Basin \,fir-g9-'na\ Large valley, west¬ ern Central Asia. It is mainly in eastern Uzbekistan and partly in Tajiki¬ stan and Kyrgyzstan and is situated between the Tien Shan system and the smaller Gissar and Alay ranges. It has an area of 8,500 sq mi (22,000 sq km). One of the most densely populated areas of Central Asia, it is a major producer of cotton, fruit, and raw silk. Among the mineral depos¬ its exploited are coal, petroleum, and mercury. It was conquered by the Arabs (8th century ad), Genghis Khan (13th century), and Timur (14th cen¬ tury). The khans of Kokand (see Qo'qon) ruled it from the late 18th cen¬ tury until it was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1876.
Fergus Warrior king in the Ulster cycle of Gaelic literature. In The Cattle Raid of Cooley , Fergus, an exile from Ulster, recalls the deeds of the young Cu Chulainn. Another story tells of the revelation of the Tain in the 7th cen¬ tury by the ghost of Fergus. Fergus is also the subject of poems by William Butler Yeats. He is said to have been shipwrecked off the coast of Northern Ireland c. ad 320, at the place known as Carrickfergus (“rock of Fergus”).
Ferguson, Maynard (b. May 4, 1928, Montreal, Que., Can.) Cana¬ dian trumpeter and bandleader. Ferguson led a big band with his brother in his native Montreal while still a teenager. Moving to the U.S. in 1948, he performed with Jimmy Dorsey (1904-57), Charles Barnet, and Stan Kenton before forming his own big band in 1956. He became known for his mastery of the trumpet’s highest register. His recording of “Gonna Fly Now” from the film Rocky brought him commercial success in 1978. A versatile, energetic performer (he also plays many of the woodwind and lower brass instruments), he has inspired brass players for decades with his strong tone and sure technique.
Ferlinghetti \,fer-liq-'ge-te\, Lawrence (Monsanto) orig. Lawrence Ferling (b. March 24, 1919, Yonkers, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. poet. Ferlinghetti attended Columbia University and the Sorbonne. A founder of the Beat movement in San Francisco in the mid 1950s, he established the City Lights bookstore, an early gathering place of the Beats. The pub¬ lishing arm of City Lights was the first to print the Beats’ poetry. His own poetry—lucid, witty, and composed to be read aloud—became popular in coffeehouses and on college campuses. His collections include Pictures of the Gone World (1955), the widely popular A Coney Island of the Mind (1958), and Endless Love (1981).
Fermanagh Vfor-'ma-noX District (pop., 2001: 57,527), extreme south¬ western Northern Ireland. Located chiefly in the River Erne basin, it was established as a district within the boundaries of the traditional county in 1973; the district seat is Enniskillen. Settled from prehistory, Fermanagh has a scattering of megaliths, cairns, and early Celtic Christian antiquities. Devenish Island, in Lower Lough Erne, is the site of an ancient monastery. During the reign of James I (1603-25), many English Anglicans were settled there. It is one of the most important tourist areas in Northern Ireland.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Fermat ► fern I 667
Fermat \fer-'ma\, Pierre de (b. Aug. 17, 1601, Beaumont-de- Lomagne, France—d. Jan. 12, 1665,
Castres) French mathematician. Of Basque origin, Fermat studied law at Toulouse and developed interests in foreign languages, Classical litera¬ ture, ancient science, and mathemat¬ ics. A jurist by profession, he produced major mathematical break¬ throughs independently and collabo- ratively. A contemporary of Rene Descartes, he discovered indepen¬ dently the basic principles of analytic geometry, but, because Fermat’s work was published posthumously, the field became known as Cartesian geometry. He found equations for tangent lines to curves through pro¬ cesses equivalent to differentiation and was coauthor (with Blaise Pascal) of PROBABILITY THEORY. His work in NUM¬ BER theory, especially divisibility, led to some of its most important theorems. He seldom demonstrated his results, which led to a centuries-long quest to prove a famous conjecture that Fermat claimed was easily shown (see Fermat's last theorem).
Fermat's last theorem Statement that there are no natural numbers x, y, and z such that jc" + y n = z", in which n is a natural number greater than 2. About this, Pierre de Fermat wrote in 1637 in his copy of Diophan- tus’s Arithmetical “I have discovered a truly remarkable proof but this margin is too small to contain it.” Although the theorem was subsequently shown to be true for many specific values of n, leading to important mathematical advances in the process, the difficulty of the problem soon convinced mathematicians that Fermat never had a valid proof. In 1995 the British mathematician Andrew Wiles (b. 1953) and his former student Richard Taylor (b. 1962) published a complete proof, finally solving one of the most famous of all mathematical problems.
fermentation Process that allows respiration to occur in the absence of oxygen. Biologically, it allows cells to obtain energy from molecules (e.g., glucose) anaerobically. Glycolysis, the breakdown of glucose, is a form of fermentation. Alcoholic fermentation occurs when yeast cells convert carbohydrate sources to ethanol and carbon dioxide. Fermenta¬ tion reactions are common in muscle cells, yeasts, some bacteria, and plants. See also beer; wine.
Fermi, Enrico (b. Sept. 29, 1901, Rome, Italy—d. Nov. 28, 1954, Chi¬ cago, Ill., U.S.) Italian-born U.S. physicist. As a professor at the Univer¬ sity of Rome, he began the work, later fully developed by P.A.M. Dirac, that led to Fermi-Dirac statistics. He developed a theory of beta decay that applies to other reactions through the weak force, which was not improved until 1957, when the weak force was found not to conserve parity. He dis¬ covered neutron-induced radioactivity, for which he was awarded a 1938 Nobel Prize. After receiving the award in Sweden, he never returned to fascist Italy but instead moved directly to the U.S., where he joined the faculty of Columbia University and soon became one of the chief archi¬ tects of practical nuclear physics. A member of the Manhattan Project, he was an important figure in the development of the atomic bomb; in 1942 he directed the first controlled nuclear chain reaction. He received the Congressional Medal of Merit in 1946. In 1954 he became the first recipi¬ ent of the U.S. government’s Enrico Fermi Award. Element number 100, fermium, was named in his honour.
Fermi-Dirac statistics In quantum mechanics, one of two possible ways (the other being Bose-Einstein statistics) in which a system of indis¬ tinguishable particles can be distributed among a set of energy states. Each available discrete state can be occupied by only one particle. This exclu¬ siveness accounts for the structure of atoms, in which electrons remain in separate states rather than collapsing into a common state. It also accounts for some aspects of electrical conductivity. This theory of statistical behaviour was developed first by Enrico Fermi and then by P.A.M. Dirac (1926-27). The statistics apply only to particles such as electrons that have half-integer values of spin; the particles are called fermions.
fermion Any of a group of subatomic particles having odd half-integral spin (Vi, %). Fermions are named for the Fermi-Dirac statistics that describe
their behaviour. They include particles in the class of leptons, baryons, and nuclei of odd mass number (e.g., tritium, helium-3, uranium-233). They obey the Pauli exclusion principle. Fermions are produced and undergo annihilation in particle-antiparticle pairs. See also boson.
fern Any of about 10,000-12,000 species (division Filicophyta) of non¬ flowering vascular plants that have true roots, stems, and complex leaves and reproduce by spores. Though ferns were once classified with the primi-
The life cycle of the fern. (1) Clusters (sori) of sporangia (spore cases) grow on the undersurface of mature fern leaves. (2) Released from its spore case, the haploid spore is carried to the ground, where it germinates into a tiny, usually heart- shaped, gametophyte (gamete-producing structure), anchored to the ground by rhizoids (rootlike projections). (3) Under moist conditions, mature sperm are released from the antheridia and swim to the egg-producing archegonia that have formed on the gametophyte's lower surface. (4) When fertilization occurs, a zygote forms and develops into an embryo within the archegonium. (5) The embryo even¬ tually grows larger than the gametophyte and becomes a sporophyte.
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tive horsetails and club mosses, botanists have since made a clear distinc¬ tion between the scalelike, one-veined leaves of those plants and the more complexly veined fronds of the ferns, which are more closely related to the leaves of seed plants. Ferns come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
668 i Fernando Poo ► Fessenden
Many are small, fragile plants; others are treelike (see tree fern). The life cycle is characterized by an alternation of generations between the mature, fronded form (the sporophyte) familial’ in greenhouses and gardens and the form that strongly resembles a moss or liverwort (the gametophyte). Ferns are popular houseplants.
Fernando Poo See Bioko
Ferrara \fer-'ra-ra\ City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 130,461), northern Italy. Situated near the Po River, it is probably the site of the ancient Forum Alieni. Ferrara first appears in historical records in ad 753, when it was captured from Ravenna by the Lombards. It became a cultural centre and the seat of a principality, but it declined after its incorporation into the Papal States in 1598. The site of an Austrian garrison from 1832, Ferrara became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. It was severely damaged in World War II. Sites of interest include a 12th-century cathedral, a 14th- century moated castle, and the University of Ferrara (founded 1391).
Ferrara-Florence, Council of (1438-45) Ecumenical council held in an attempt to reunify the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. It was called by Pope Eugenius IV; the Eastern church was rep¬ resented by Emperor John VIII Palaeologus and others. Fear of facing the Turks without Western support led the Eastern participants to sign the Decree of Union (1439), but on their return to Constantinople most renounced it. Union was officially declared in Hagia Sophia in 1452, but the following year the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople, and the few partisans of the union fled. In 1448 a council of Eastern bishops con¬ demned it officially. General support for the council and its goals strength¬ ened the authority of the papacy and contributed to the failure of the CONCILIAR MOVEMENT.
Ferraro, Geraldine (Anne) (b. Aug. 26, 1935, Newburgh, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. politician. She received her law degree from Fordham Univer¬ sity Law School in 1960 and was admitted to the New York bar in 1961. She practiced law in New York until 1974, when she became assistant U.S. district attorney. In 1978 she was elected to the U.S. House of Represen¬ tatives as a Democrat. In 1984 the Democratic Party nominated her for vice president on a ticket with Walter Mondale; she thereby became the first woman to be nominated for vice president by a major U.S. political party. In 1992 and 1998 she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.
ferret Either of two species in the carnivore family Mustelidae. The common ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is a domesticated form of the European polecat. It has a long, lithe body and is brown, black, or white (albino). Its average length is 20 in. (51 cm), including the 5-in. (13-cm) tail, and it weighs about 2 lbs (1 kg). It was originally domesticated for hunting mice, rats, and rabbits; today ferrets are commonly kept as pets. The black-footed ferret (M. nigripes), of the North American plains, has a black mask across the eyes and brownish black markings on the feet and tail tip. It is an endangered species, owing to the loss of its main source of food, the prairie dog.
ferrimagnetism Type of permanent magnetism that occurs in solids, in which the magnetic fields associated with individual atoms spontaneously align themselves, some parallel (as in ferromagnetism), and others anti¬ parallel, or paired off in opposite directions (as in antiferromagnetism). The materials are less magnetic than ferromagnets, as the antiparallel atoms dilute the magnetic effect of the parallel arrangement. Ferrimag¬ netism occurs mainly in magnetic oxides known as ferrites. Above a tem¬ perature called the Curie point, the spontaneous alignment is disrupted and ferrimagnetism is destroyed, but it is restored upon cooling below the Curie point.
ferroalloy Alloy of iron (less than 50%) and one or more other metals, important as a source of various metallic elements in the production of alloy steels. The principal ferroalloys are ferromanganese, ferrochromium, ferromolybdenum, ferrotitanium, ferrovanadium, ferrosilicon, ferroboron, and ferrophosphorus. They usually have lower melting ranges than do the pure elements and can be incorporated more readily in the molten steel. Ferroalloys are prepared from charges of the nonferrous metal ore, iron or iron ore, coke or coal, and flux by treatment at high temperature in submerged-arc electric furnaces.
ferromagnetism Physical phenomenon in which certain electrically uncharged materials strongly attract others. It is associated with iron, cobalt, nickel, and some alloys or compounds containing these elements. It is caused by the alignment patterns of the material’s atoms, each of which acts as a simple electromagnet, due to the motion and spin of the
electrons. The tiny magnets spontaneously align themselves in the same direction, so their magnetic fields reinforce each other. Ferromagnetic mate¬ rials are magnetized easily. Above a temperature called the Curie point, they cease to be magnetic, but they become ferromagnetic again upon cooling below the Curie point. See also ferrimagnetism.
Ferry \fe-'re\, Jules (-Francois-Camille) (b. April 5, 1832, Saint- Die, France—d. March 17, 1893, Paris) French politician. He held a num¬ ber of offices in the early Third Republic, including mayor of Paris (1870) and premier of France (1880-81, 1883-85). His government established free, compulsory, secular education (1882), enacting such anticlerical measures as dissolving the Jesuits and forbidding their members to teach. Ferry played a major part in extending France’s colonial territories in Asia and Africa, but public anger for colonial expenditures forced his resigna¬ tion, though he was later elected to the Senate. He was assassinated by a madman.
Fertile Crescent Region, Middle East. The term describes a crescent¬ shaped area of arable land, probably more agriculturally productive in antiquity than it is today. Historically the area stretched from the south¬ eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea around the Syrian Desert north of the Arabian Peninsula to the Persian Gulf; in general, it often includes the Nile River valley as well. Sedentary agricultural settlements in the Fertile Crescent can be dated to c. 8000 bc. It was the scene of the struggles and migrations of some of the earliest known peoples, including Sumerians, Assyrians, Akkadians, various Semitic groups, Babylonians, and Phoeni¬ cians.
fertility Ability of an individual or couple to reproduce through normal sexual activity. About 80% of healthy, fertile women are able to conceive within one year if they have intercourse regularly without contraception. Normal fertility requires the production of enough healthy sperm by the male and viable eggs by the female, successful passage of the sperm through open ducts from the male testes to the female fallopian tubes, penetration of a healthy egg, and implantation of the fertilized egg in the lining of the uterus (see reproductive system). A problem with any of these steps can cause infertility.
fertilization Reproductive process in which a male sex cell (sperm) unites with a female sex cell (egg). During the process, the chromosomes of the egg and sperm will merge to form a zygote, which will divide to form an embryo. In humans, sperm travel from the vagina through the uterus to a fallopian tube, where they surround an egg released from an ovary usually two or three days earlier. Once one sperm has fused with the egg cell membrane, the outer layer becomes impenetrable to other sperm. See also cross-fertilization, self-fertilization. See illustration oppo¬ site on following page.
fertilizer Natural or artificial substance containing the chemical ele¬ ments that improve growth and productiveness of plants. Fertilizers enhance the natural fertility of the soil or replace the chemical elements taken from the soil by previous crops. The use of manure and composts as fertilizers is probably almost as old as agriculture. Modern chemical fer¬ tilizers include one or more of the three elements most important in plant nutrition: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Of secondary importance are the elements sulfur, magnesium, and calcium.
Fes \'fes\ or Fez Vfez \ Arabic Fas \'fas\ City (pop., 1994: 541,162), northern Morocco. The oldest of Morocco’s four imperial cities, it was founded on opposite banks of the Wadi Fes by Idris I c. 789 and Idris II c. 809. The two parts were united by the Almoravid dynasty in the 11th cen¬ tury to become a major Islamic city. Fes reached its zenith under the Marinid dynasty as a centre of learning and commerce in the mid-14th century and has kept its religious primacy through the ages. The site of the oldest mosque in northern Africa, it is also the seat of an Islamic uni¬ versity founded in 859. A centre for trade and traditional crafts, it was until the late 19th century the only place where the fez hat was made.
fescue Any of about 100 species of grasses that make up the genus Fes- tuca (family Poaceae, or Gramineae), native to temperate and cold regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Several species are important pasture and fodder grasses, and a few are used in lawn mixtures. One variety, blue fescue (F. ovina ‘glauca’), has smooth, silvery leaves and is planted in ornamental borders.
Fessenden, William Pitt (b. Oct. 16, 1806, Boscawen, N.H., U.S.—d. Sept. 8, 1869, Portland, Maine) U.S. politician. He practiced law in Maine before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1841—43)
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
fetal alcohol syndrome ► Feuillants I 669
Fertilization of a human egg. (1) The sperm release enzymes that help disperse the corona radiata and bind to the zona pellucida. (2) The outer sperm head layer is sloughed off, exposing enzymes that digest a path through the zona pellucida. (3) The sperm fuses with the egg cell membrane, causing the zona pellucida to become impenetrable to other sperm. (4) The tail separates from the sperm head, and the male pronucleus enlarges and travels to the female pronucleus in the center of the cell. Chromosomes merge to form a fertilized egg.
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and Senate (1854-64, 1865-69). Originally a Whig, he opposed the exten¬ sion of slavery to the territories, and he was one of the leaders of the movement that resulted in the formation of the Republican Party (1854). Despite his personal dislike for Pres. Andrew Johnson, he voted for acquit¬ tal in Johnson’s Senate impeachment trial.
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) Various congenital disorders in a newborn caused by the mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. The main symptoms are retarded growth, abnormalities of the central nervous system, and certain face and head abnormalities. The child may be men¬ tally retarded. Behavioral problems (e.g., poor concentration, impulsive¬ ness) are sometimes the only obvious symptoms. The syndrome is common in babies born to chronic alcoholics, but health care organiza¬ tions now commonly recommend that women cease drinking alcohol entirely while pregnant. Other disorders have been linked to alcohol in breast milk.
fetial Vfe-shol\ Any of a group of 20 Roman priestly officials who dealt with foreign relations. Selected from noble families and appointed for life, they acted as emissaries to foreign lands in times of conflict. When Rome was offended by another city-state, the fetials would visit the city-state and demand satisfaction. They also delivered treaties and made formal
declarations of war, based on the decisions of the Senate. This priesthood had faded by the late republic, but was later revived by Augustus.
fetish Object believed to have magical power to protect or aid its owner, and by extension, an object regarded with superstitious or extravagant trust or reverence. In the 18th century it was applied to West African amulets; it has also been used for various items in American Indian reli¬ gion. In psychology, a fetish is an object that substitutes for a person as the focus of sexual desire. See also fetishism.
fetishism In psychology, erotic attachment to an inanimate object or a nongenital body part whose real or fantasized presence is necessary for sexual gratification. The object is most commonly some other body part or an article of clothing. From the time of its identification by Sigmund Freud in 1927, fetishism was thought to occur almost exclusively among men, but in the late 20th century that notion was challenged by several new studies. See also fetish.
fetus \'fet-os\ Unborn young of any vertebrate, particularly mammals, after it has acquired its basic form. In humans, this stage begins about eight weeks after conception (see embryo). The fetal stage, marked by increased growth and full development of the organ systems, climaxes in birth (see pregnancy, parturition). By the end of the third month, the arms and legs of the human fetus begin to move and reflexive movements (such as sucking) begin. Four months after conception, the fetus is about 5.3 in. (135 mm) long and weighs about 6 oz (170 g). During the fifth month, downy hairs (lanugo) cover the body and the skin becomes less transpar¬ ent. At seven months, a protective greasy substance (vemix caseosa) cov¬ ers the reddish, wrinkled skin. Fat is deposited under the skin during the eighth month, when the fetus typically weighs about 5 lbs (2.2 kg). A full-term fetus is about 266 days old.
feudal land tenure System by which land was held by tenants from lords. In England and France, the king was lord paramount and master of the realm. He granted land to his lords, who granted land to their vassals and so on down to the occupying tenant. Tenures were divided into free and unfree. Free tenure included tenure in chivalry, as in the case of knight service, and socage (tenure by agricultural service fixed in amount and kind). The main type of unfree tenancy was villenage, a limited form of servitude. See also feudalism, fief, landlord and tenant, manorialism.
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