Britannica Concise 2005

COURTESY OF THE TRAWULAN MUSEUM, INDONESIA

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

galactic nucleus ► galena I 727

galactic nucleus See active galactic nucleus

galactose \g3-'lak-,tos\ Organic compound, a monosaccharide, chemi¬ cal formula C 6 H 12 0 6 . It is usually found in nature combined with other sugars, for example, in lactose, in polysaccharides, and in glycolipids, CARBOHYDRATE-containing lipids that occur in the brain and other nervous tis¬ sues of most animals. It has uses in organic synthesis and in medicine.

galago \go-Ta-g6, go-Ta-go\ Any of six species of small, tree-dwelling primates (genus Galago ) found in for¬ ests of sub-Saharan Africa. Galagos are gray, brown, or reddish or yel¬ lowish brown animals with large eyes and ears, long hind legs, soft woolly fur, and a long tail. They are active at night, feeding on fruits, insects, and small birds. Smaller forms, such as the bush baby, are par¬ ticularly active and agile in the trees.

On the ground, galagos sit upright and move by jumping with their hind legs. They range in length from 4.5-6 in. (11-16 cm), excluding the 7-8-in. (18-20-cm) tail, to 12-15 in.

(30-37 cm), excluding the 16.5-18.5-in. (42-47-cm) tail.

Galahad \'gal-3-,had\ In Arthurian legend, the pure knight who achieved a vision of God through the Holy Grail. The illegitimate son of Lancelot and the princess Elaine, he alone was worthy to sit in the Siege Perilous at the Round Table, reserved for the one destined to succeed in the quest for the Grail. Unlike his father, who was given to earthly and adulterous love, Galahad was chaste and filled with spiritual fervour. By finding the Grail, he healed the Fisher King and brought fertility back to the land. He appears in many Arthurian romances, notably in Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur. See also Perceval.

Galapagos finch See Darwin's finch

Galapagos \g9-Ta-p9-gos\ Islands Spanish Archipielago de Colon \,ar-che-'pya-la-go-tha-ko-T6n\ Island group, eastern Pacific Ocean. A province (pop., 2001: 18,640) of Ecuador, the Galapagos are a group of 19 islands lying on the Equator 600 mi (1,000 km) west of the mainland. Their total land area of 3,093 sq mi (8,010 sq km) is scattered over 23,000 sq mi (59,500 sq km) of ocean. Visited by the Spanish in 1535, they were unclaimed when Ecuador took official possession of them in 1832. They became internationally famous after being visited in 1835 by British naturalist Charles Darwin; their unusual fauna, including the giant tortoise (Spanish galapago), contributed to his ideas on natural selection. Ecuador made the Galapagos a wildlife sanctuary in 1935 and a national park in 1959; in 1978 they were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Galafi \ga-Tats, ga-'lat-se\ German Galatz \'ga-,lats\ City (pop., 2002: 298,584), southeastern Romania. Located at the confluence of the Danube and Siret rivers, it was occupied by the Turks from the early 16th cen¬ tury until 1829; its growth was encouraged by its status as a free port (1837-83). During World War II, retreating German troops devastated the town and reduced the population, substantially Jewish, to less than half. Extensively rebuilt, it is one of Romania’s chief ports and the site of the country’s largest shipyard.

Galatia \g3-Ta-sho\ Ancient district, central Anatolia. It was occupied early in the 3rd century bc by Celtic tribes who were then overpowered by the Seleucid king Antiochus I (Soter) in 275 bc. At that point the Celts, called Galatae (Galatians) by 3rd-century-BC writers, settled in the terri¬ tory to which they gave their name. Passing successively under the rule of Pergamum and Pontus, Galatia became a Roman protectorate in 85 bc. By the 2nd century ad, the region had become absorbed into the Helle¬ nistic civilization.

galaxy Any of the billions of systems of stars and interstellar matter that make up the universe. Galaxies vary considerably in size, composi¬ tion, structure, and activity, but nearly all are arranged in groups, or clus¬ ters, containing from a few galaxies to as many as 10,000. Each is composed of millions to trillions of stars; in many, as in the Milky Way Galaxy, NEBULAe can be detected. A large fraction of the bright galaxies in the sky are spiral galaxies, with a main disk in which spiral arms wind out from the centre. The arms contain the greatest concentration of a spi¬

Bush babies, or galagos (Galago senegalensis).

GEORGE HOLTON/PHOTO RESEARCHERS

ral galaxy’s interstellar gas and dust, where stars can form. Surrounding the centre (nucleus) is a large, usually nearly spherical nuclear bulge. Outside this and the disk is a sparse, more or less spherical galactic halo. In elliptical galaxies, which vary greatly in size, stars are distributed sym¬ metrically in a spherical or spheroidal shape. Dwarf ellipticals (with only a few million stars) are by far the most common kind of galaxy, though none is conspicuous in the sky. Irregular galaxies, such as the Magellanic Clouds, are relatively rare. Radio galaxies are very strong sources of radio waves. Seyfert galaxies, with extremely bright nuclei, often emit radio waves and may be related to quasars.

Galba Vgal-bo, 'gol-bo\ in full Servius Galba Caesar Augustus orig. Servius Sulpicius Galba

(b. Dec. 24, 3 bc —d. Jan. 15, ad 69,

Rome) Roman emperor (68-69). A member of the Senate, he became consul in 33, received command of the Upper German Army in 39, and was made governor of Nearer Spain in 60. Fearing his own assassination, he led a rebellion in 68 against Nero, who committed suicide. After being accepted as emperor by the Senate,

Galba executed many important Romans, including some responsible for his accession. His seven-month administration was priggish and cruel, his advisers allegedly corrupt.

He reneged on promises to the army; when he chose a successor unaccept¬ able to the Praetorian Guard, they killed him and his chosen heir.

Galbraith \'gal-,brath\, John Kenneth (b. Oct. 15, 1908, Iona Station, Ont., Can.) Canadian-U.S. economist and public servant. After studying at the Universities of Toronto and California (Ph.D., 1934) he held important government posts during the New Deal and World War II. As a professor at Harvard University (1949-75) he was active in public affairs, serving as an adviser to Pres. John F. Kennedy and as ambassador to India (1961-63). His influential liberal writings, often praised for their literary merit, examine the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. capitalism and con¬ sumerism. The Affluent Society (1958) called for less emphasis on production and more attention to public services, and The New Industrial State (1967) traced similarities between “managerial” capitalism and socialism.

Galba, marble bust; in the Uffizi, Flo¬ rence

AUNARI—ART RESOURCE/EB INC.

Galdan See Dga'l-dan

Galdos, Benito Perez See Benito Perez Galdos

Galen Vga-lonV Latin Galenus (b. ad 129, Pergamum, Mysia, Anatolia—d. c. 216) Greek physician, writer, and philosopher. He became chief physician to the gladiators in ad 157. Later, in Rome, he became a friend of Marcus Aurelius and physician to Commodus. Galen saw anatomy as fundamental and, based on animal experiments, described cranial nerves and heart valves and showed that arteries carry blood, not air. How¬ ever, in extending his findings to human anatomy he was often in error. Following Hippocratic concepts (see Hippocrates), he believed in three connected body systems—brain and nerves for sensation and thought, heart and arteries for life energy, and liver and veins for nutrition and growth—and four humours (body fluids)—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm—that needed to be in balance. Few had the skills to challenge his seductive physiological theory. He wrote about 300 works, of which about 150 survive. As they were translated, his influence spread to the Byzantine Empire, Arabia, and then western Europe. A revival of interest in the 16th century led to new anatomical investigations, which caused the overthrow of his ideas when Andreas Vesalius found anatomical errors and William Harvey correctly explained blood circulation.

galena \g3-Te-no\ or lead glance Gray lead sulfide (PbS), the chief ore mineral of lead. One of the most widely distributed sulfide minerals, it occurs in many types of deposits and in many localities. In the U.S., galena is mined principally in the Mississippi River Valley. Galena often contains silver and so is often mined for that metal as well as for lead. Other commercially important minerals that frequently occur in close association with galena are antimony, copper, and zinc.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

728 i Galerius ► Gallaudet

Galerius \g3-'lir-e-3s\ in full Gaius Galerius Valerius Maxim- ianus (b. near Serdica, Thrace—d. 311) Roman emperor (305-311) notorious for his persecution of Christians. As caesar and a victorious commander, he apparently induced Diocletian to begin the persecutions. In 305 Galerius became augustus (senior emperor) of the East and briefly made himself supreme ruler. He imposed a harsh poll tax on the urban population and kept up the ruthless persecution of Christians. He fell ill in 311; fearing the Christian God was taking vengeance, he issued an edict of tolerance.

Galicia Vgo-'li-shoV Polish Galicja Vhal-ich\ Russian Galytsiya \g3-Tet-se-yo\ Historical region, eastern Europe. It included the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains and the valleys of the upper Vistula, Dniester, Bug, and Seret rivers. In 1199 eastern Galicia, situated near the principalities of Kiev and Volhynia, was taken by Prince Roman of Vol- hynia, who united Volhynia and Galicia. In 1349 the Polish king Casimir III annexed Galicia. When Poland was partitioned, beginning in 1772, the territory passed to Austria. Restored to Poland after World War I, eastern Galicia was taken by the Soviet Union in World War II and united to the Ukrainian S.S.R. After the war, eastern Galicia remained a part of the U.S.S.R. (after 1991, part of Ukraine), and western Galicia was attached to Poland.

Galicia \g3-Te-sho\ ancient Gallaecia Autonomous community (pop., 2001: 2,695,880) and ancient kingdom, northwestern Spain. Covering 11,419 sq mi (29,575 sq km), Galicia is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal, and its capital is Santiago de Compostela. Its name is derived from the Celtic Gallaeci, who lived there when the region was conquered by the Romans c. 137 bc. Taken by the Visigoths in ad 585, it next passed to the Moors and became part of the kingdom of Asturias in the 8th and 9th centuries. It lost much of its political autonomy after the unification of Castile and Aragon in 1479. The region was made an autonomous commu¬ nity in 1981. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing are economically important.

Galilean satellite \,ga-b-'le-3n, ,ga-b-Ta-9n\ Any of the four large satellites of Jupiter discovered by Galileo in 1610. In order of distance from Jupiter: Io (the most volcanically active body in the solar system), Europa (suspected to contain a liquid ocean under its frozen surface), Ganymede (the largest satellite in the solar system), and Callisto. Both Ganymede and Callisto are larger than Pluto and Mercury.

Galilee Hebrew Ha-galil Northernmost region of biblical and modern Israel. It contains two of the four holy cities of Judaism, Tiberias and Zefat. It was the boyhood home of Jesus Christ and the setting for much of his ministry. It became the centre of Jewish scholarship after the destruction of Jerusalem (ad 70). In the modern era, the first wave of Jewish immi¬ grants settled there (1882). The first kibbutz, Deganya, was established in 1909 on the shore of Lake Tiberias, through which flows the Jordan River.

Galilee, Sea of See Lake Tiberias

Galileo \,ga-b-Te-o, ,ga-b-'la-6\ (Galilei) (b. Feb. 15, 1564, Pisa—d. Jan. 8, 1642, Arcetri, near Florence) Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. Son of a musician, he studied medicine before turning his attention to mathematics. His invention of the hydrostatic balance (c. 1586) made him famous. In 1589 he published a treatise on the centre of gravity in solids, which won him the post of mathematics lecturer at the University of Pisa. There he disproved the Aristotelian contention that bodies of different weights fall at different speeds; he also proposed the law of uniform acceleration for falling bodies and showed that the path of a thrown object is a parabola. The first to use a telescope to study the skies, he discovered (1609-10) that the surface of the Moon is irregular, that the Milky Way is composed of stars, and that Jupiter has moons (see Galilean satellite). His findings led to his appointment as philosopher and mathematician to the grand duke of Tuscany. During a visit to Rome (1611), he spoke persuasively for the Copernican system, which put him at odds with Aristotelian professors and led to Copernicanism’s being declared false and erroneous (1616) by the church. Obtaining permission to write about the Copernican system so long as he discussed it noncom¬ mittally, he wrote his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632). Though considered a masterpiece, it enraged the Jesuits, and Gali¬ leo was tried before the Inquisition, found guilty of heresy, and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest, continuing to write and conduct research even after going blind in 1637.

Galileo NASA mission to study Jupiter and its Galilean satellites with an orbiting spacecraft and an atmospheric probe, launched in 1989. Though

the failure of its high-gain antenna resulted in its data being transmitted back to Earth very slowly, the mission returned a wealth of valuable information. En route to Jupiter, the craft took the first detailed images of two asteroids. On its arrival in 1995, its atmospheric probe descended by parachute into Jupiter’s upper cloud layers, detecting large thunder¬ storms. In a series of flybys of the Galilean moons, the orbiter observed volcanoes on Io hotter than any on Earth and found evidence of a liquid ocean below Europa’s icy surface, a magnetic field around Ganymede, and a possible subsurface ocean on Callisto.

Galissonniere, Marquis de La See Marquis de La Galissonniere

gall Abnormal, localized outgrowth or swelling of plant tissue caused by infection from bacteria, fungi, viruses, or nematodes, or by irritation by insects and mites. The common plant disease crown gall, characterized by the proliferation of galls on the roots and lower stems, is caused by the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

gall See bile

Gall, Franz Joseph (b. March 9, 1758, Tiefenbronn, Baden—d. Aug. 22, 1828, Paris, Fr.) German anatomist and physiologist, founder of phre¬ nology. Convinced that mental functions reside in specific brain areas and determine behaviour, he assumed that the skull surface reflected devel¬ opment of these areas. The first concept was proved correct when Paul Broca located the brain’s speech centre in 1861. The second was invali¬ dated when it was found that the skull’s thickness varies, so its shape does not reflect the brain’s. Gall was the first to identify gray matter with active tissue (nerves) and white matter with conducting tissue.

Galla See Oromo

Galland \ga-Tant\, Adolf (Joseph Ferdinand) (b. March 19,1912, Westerholt, near Recklinghausen, Ger.—d. Feb. 9,1996, Oberwinter) Ger¬ man fighter ace. A skillful glider pilot by age 20, he flew hundreds of missions in the Spanish Civil War. In World War II he led a fighter squad¬ ron in the Battle of Britain, destroying 100 British planes, and became commander of the Luftwaffe’s fighter arm. Blamed by Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goring for the collapse of Germany’s air defense against Anglo- American bombing raids, he was relieved of his command in 1945. Briefly imprisoned at the war’s end, he later became an adviser to the Argentine air force and an aviation consultant in West Germany.

Gallant \ga-'lant\, Mavis orig. Mavis de Trafford Young (b.

Aug. 11, 1922, Montreal, Que., Can.) Canadian-born French writer. She moved to Europe in 1950 and settled in Paris. Her essays, novels, plays, and especially short stories delineate in unsentimental prose and with trenchant wit the isolation, detachment, and fear that afflict rootless North American and European expatriates. The New Yorker has published more than 100 of her stories (more than of any other writer) and much of her nonfiction.

Gallatin Vga-b-UnV (Abraham Alfonse) Albert (b. Jan. 29,1761, Geneva, Switz.—d. Aug. 12, 1849,

Astoria, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. secretary of the treasury (1801-14). At 19 he immigrated to Pennsylvania, where he became successful in business and finance. Elected to the U.S.

House of Representatives in 1795, he inaugurated the House Committee on Finance, a forerunner of the pow¬ erful Ways and Means Committee.

As secretary of the treasury he reduced the national debt by $23 mil¬ lion. He opposed the War of 1812 and was instrumental in negotiating the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. After serving as minister to France (1816—

23) and to Britain (1826-27), he was president of the National (later Gall¬ atin) Bank in New York City (1831—

39).

Gallaudet \,gal-9-'det\, Thomas Hopkins (b. Dec. 10, 1787, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d. Sept. 10, 1851, Hartford, Conn.) U.S. philanthropist and founder of the first American school for the deaf. He graduated from Yale College and later studied in

Albert Gallatin, portrait by Rembrandt Peale, 1805; in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia.

COURTESY OF THE INDEPENDENCE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK COLLECTION, PHILADELPHIA

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Gallaudet ► Gallipoli I 729

England and France, where he learned the sign method of communica¬ tion. In 1816 he established the school for the deaf in Hartford, Conn.; for more than 50 years it would remain the main American training cen¬ tre for instructors of the deaf. Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., is named in his honour.

Gallaudet \,gal-3-'det\ University Private university for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Washington, D.C., U.S. It has its roots in a school for deaf and blind children founded in 1856 by Amos Kendall and headed (1857-1910) by Edward M. Gallaudet, son of Thomas Gallaudet, founder of the first school for the deaf in the U.S. It consists of a college of arts and sciences, a graduate school, and schools of communications, management, education and human services, and continuing education.

gallbladder Muscular membranous sac under the liver that stores and concentrates bile. Pear-shaped and expandable, it holds about 1.7 fluid oz (50 ml). Its inner surface absorbs water and inorganic salts from bile, which becomes 5-18 times more concentrated than when it leaves the liver. The gallbladder contracts to discharge bile through the bile duct into the duodenum. Disorders include gallstones and inflammation (cholecys¬ titis). Surgical removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy) has no seri¬ ous side effects.

Galle \ga-'la\, Emile (b. May 8, 1846, Nancy, Fr.—d. Sept. 23, 1904, Nancy) French glass and furniture designer. From 1867 he worked in his father’s faience and furniture fac¬ tory in Nancy. His deeply coloured opaque pieces, layered and carved or etched with plant motifs, were a great success at the Paris Exhibitions of 1878 and 1889 and were widely imitated. He used wheel cutting, acid etching, casing, and such special effects as metallic foil and air bubbles to produce what he called “marquetry of glass.” His furniture designs featured floral inlay and carving; some incorporated inlaid quotations from well-known authors.

A proponent of the Art Nouveau style, he collaborated with many col¬ leagues, notably Louis Majorelle.

gallery In architecture, a long, covered space open on one side, such as a portico or a colonnade. It may be recessed into a wall or elevated on columns or corbels, and it often serves as a passageway. Within an interior, a gallery may be a platform or upper floor projecting from a wall (e.g., in a legislative house) with seating for spectators. In a church nave, the long, narrow platforms sup¬ ported by colonnades are called tribune galleries. In a theatre, the gallery is the highest balcony and generally has the cheapest seats. Galleries appeared in Renaissance houses as long, narrow rooms used both as prom¬ enades and to exhibit art. The modem art gallery is their descendant.

galley Farge seagoing vessel propelled primarily by oars. The Egyp¬ tians, Cretans, and other ancient peoples used sail-equipped galleys for war and commerce. The Phoenicians apparently introduced the bireme (c. 700 bc), which had two banks of oars staggered on either side. The Greeks first built the trireme c. 500 bc. War galleys would cruise in columns and would engage the enemy as a line abreast. A galley would close with the enemy at the bow, which was equipped with a ram, grappling irons, and missile-hurling devices. Invention of the lateen (fore-and-aft) sail and the stem rudder rendered the galley obsolete for commerce, but its greater maneuverability maintained its military importance into the 16th century. See also longship.

Galli Bibiena \'gal-le-beb-'yen-a\ family Eighteenth-century Italian architects and theatrical designers. The family took its final name from the birthplace of its progenitor, the artist Giovanni Maria Galli (1625- 65). His descendants are noted for dazzling theatrical designs of spacious proportions achieved by the use of intricate perspective. Giovanni’s son Ferdinando Galli Bibiena (1657-1743) studied painting and architecture

and worked for the duke of Parma. He designed scenery for court fes¬ tivities and operas in Barcelona and Vienna and was architect of the royal theatre at Mantua. His brother Francesco (1659-1739) was the ducal architect at Mantua and built theatres in Vienna, Nancy (France), Verona, and Rome. Ferdinando’s son Giuseppe (1696-1757), the most distin¬ guished of the family, remained in Vienna to become chief organizer of splendid court functions. Engravings of his stage sets were published in three series (1716, 1723, 1740-44). He designed the interior of the the¬ atre at Bayreuth in 1748. His brothers Alessandro and Antonio were also architects and designers of note. His son Carlo (1728-87), the last of the illustrious family, worked in theatres throughout Europe.

Gallia Narbonensis See Narbonensis

Gallic Wars (58 -50 bc) Campaigns in which Julius Caesar conquered Gaul. Clad in his blood-red cloak as a “distinguishing mark of battle,” he led his troops to victories throughout the province, relying on superior strategy, tactics, discipline, and military engineering. In 58 he drove back the Helvetii from Rome’s northwestern frontier, then subdued the Belgic group of Gallic peoples in the north (57), reconquered the Veneti (56), crossed the Rhine River to raid Germany (55), and crossed the English Channel to raid Britain (55, 54). His major triumph was the defeat of Vercingetorix in 52. He described the campaigns in De bello Gallico.

Gallicanism Vga-la-ko-.ni-zomX French eccelesiastical and government policies designed to restrict the papacy’s power. It affirmed the indepen¬ dence of the French king in the temporal realm, the superiority of an ecu¬ menical council over the pope, and the union of king and clergy to limit the intervention of the pope within France. Gallicanism was opposed to Ultramontanism, which championed papal authority. The doctrine was important in the medieval struggle between church and state. In 1438, after several conflicts between kings and popes, Charles VII issued the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, affirming that a pope was subject to a gen¬ eral council and that his jurisdiction was conditioned by the royal will.

Gallieni \gal-ya-'ne\, Joseph Simon (b. April 24, 1849, Saint-Beat, France—d. May 27, 1916, Versailles) French army officer. As governor of the French Sudan (1886-88), he successfully combated rebel Sudanese forces. After service in Indochina (1892-96), he returned to Africa as governor-general of Madagascar (1896-1905) and won a reputation as a judicious and flexible colonial master. He successfully integrated both African territories into the French colonial empire. Named military com¬ mander of Paris just before World War I, he fought in the First Battle of the Marne and became minister of war in 1915. He was posthumously created marshal of France (1921).

Gallienus V.gal-e-'e-nssV Publius Licinius Egnatius (b. c. 218—d.

268) Roman emperor who ruled jointly with his father, Valerian (253- 260), then alone (260-268). With the empire disintegrating under foreign invasions, the Senate made Gallienus co-emperor. He took charge of the western frontiers, winning a series of battles against the Goths and oth¬ ers. When the Persians devastated the East and his father died in captiv¬ ity, Gallienus was left with only Italy and the Balkans. Later the Goths attacked anew; he was killed while trying to put down an insurgency. His reforms as emperor included the transfer of army command to profes¬ sional equestrian officers, expansion of the cavalry, and an intellectual renaissance at Rome, discernible in its art and literature.

gallinule Vga-lo-.ntilX Any of several species of marsh birds (family Rallidae) found in temperate, tropi¬ cal, and subtropical regions world¬ wide. Gallinules are about 12-18 in.

(30—45 cm) long, with a compressed body like those of the related rails and coots. They have a fleshy plate on the forehead and long, thin toes that enable them to run on floating vegetation. Many species have brightly coloured areas of plumage or skin. They are noisy, inquisitive, and less secretive than most rails.

Many are migratory. They build a bulky nest of rushes on or near the water. See also moorhen.

Gallipoli \go-'li-p3-le\ Turkish Gelibolu \,ge-le-bo-Tu\ ancient Cal- lipolis Seaport and town (pop., 2000 est.: 23,100), European Turkey. It lies on a narrow peninsula at the entrance to the Sea of Marmara, south-

Vase with relief decoration by Emile Galle, c. 1895; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

730 i Gallipoli Campaign ► Galveston

west of Istanbul. First colonized by the Greeks, it was the site of an impor¬ tant Byzantine fortress. It became the first Ottoman conquest in Europe (c. 1356) and was used as a naval base because of its strategic importance for the defense of Constantinople (Istanbul). Much of the town was destroyed in World War I (1914-18) during the Dardanelles Campaign. Historic sites include a 14th-century Ottoman castle and the tombs of Thracian kings.

Gallipoli Campaign See Dardanelles Campaign

gallium Metallic chemical element, chemical symbol Ga, atomic num¬ ber 31. Silvery white and soft enough to be cut with a knife, gallium has an unusually low melting point (about 30 °C [86 °F]), which allows it to liquefy in the palm of the hand. The liquid metal clings to or wets glass and similar surfaces. Gallium expands on solidification and supercools readily, remaining liquid at temperatures as low as 0 °C (32 °F). In vari¬ ous combinations with aluminum, indium, phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony, it forms compounds (e.g., gallium arsenide and indium gallium arsenide phosphide) with valuable semiconductor and optoelectronic properties; some of these compounds form the basis for such electronic devices as light-emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers.

Galloway, Joseph (b. c. 1731, West River, Md.—d. Aug. 29, 1803, Watford, Hertfordshire, Eng.) American colonial lawyer and legislator. Entering law practice in Philadelphia in 1747, Galloway won a reputation by pleading cases before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania before he was 20. He was elected to the colonial legislature in 1756 and served as speaker from 1766 to 1775. A loyalist, he opposed the independence of the colonies; his plan for a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Brit¬ ain was narrowly rejected by the Continental Congress. During the Ameri¬ can Revolution Galloway joined the British army under William Howe, becoming a civil administrator of Philadelphia during the British occu¬ pation of the city. When the Continental Army reentered Philadelphia in 1778, he fled to England.

gallstone Mass of crystallized substances that forms in the gallbladder. The most common type occurs when the liver secretes bile with too much cholesterol to stay in solution. Liver damage, chronic gallbladder disease, or biliary-tract cancer may predispose one to stone formation. In the gall¬ bladder, stones may cause inflammation or produce no symptoms. A stone obstructing the bile duct causes severe pain (biliary colic). Gallstones usually must be removed with the gallbladder or broken up with ultra¬ sound. In some cases a stone can be treated by giving the patient bile salts, which help redissolve cholesterol. If the gallbladder must be removed, laparoscopy is the method of choice.

Gallup, George (Horace) (b. Nov. 18, 1901, Jefferson, Iowa, U.S.—d. July 26, 1984, Tschingel, Switz.) U.S. public-opinion statisti¬ cian. He taught journalism at Drake University and Northwestern Uni¬ versity until 1932, when a New York advertising firm hired him to conduct public-opinion surveys for its clients. He became a pioneer in the scien¬ tific sampling of public opinion, and his Gallup Poll, as well as other public-opinion polls, gained credibility after correctly forecasting the 1936 presidential victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Gallup founded the American Institute of Public Opinion (1935), the British Institute of Pub¬ lic Opinion (1936), and the Audience Research Institute (1939).

Galsworthy Vgolz-.wor-theV John (b. Aug. 14, 1867, Kingston Hill, Surrey, Eng.—d. Jan. 31, 1933, Grove Lodge, Hampstead) English nov¬ elist and playwright. Galsworthy gave up a law career to become a writer, and many of his works have legal themes. He published several works before The Man of Property (1906), the first novel of The Forsyte Saga (completed 1922). The family chronicle by which he is chiefly remem¬ bered, it consists of three novels linked by two interludes. He continued the story of the Forsytes in three further novels collected in A Modern Comedy (1929). His plays, written in a naturalistic style, usually exam¬ ine a controversial ethical or social problem; they include The Silver Box (1906), Strife (1909), Justice (1910), and Loyalties (1922). He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.

Galt, Sir Alexander Tilloch (b. Sept. 6, 1817, London, Eng.—d. Sept. 19, 1893, Montreal, Que., Can.) British-Canadian statesman. He immigrated to Lower Canada (later Quebec) in 1835 and worked for the British-American Land Co., serving as high commissioner from 1844 to 1855. He entered politics in 1849 as an independent member for Sher¬ brooke county in the legislature of the united province of Canada. He resigned from the legislature in 1850 but was reelected for Sherbrooke

town in 1853. He maintained that seat and remained leader of the English- speaking minority until 1872. As finance minister (1858-62, 1864-67), he advocated federation; following the creation of the Dominion of Canada, he became the first finance minister of the Dominion government (1867-68). After retiring from Parliament in 1872, he advocated Cana¬ dian independence. From 1880 to 1883 he served as the first Canadian high commissioner in London.

Gallon, Sir Francis (b. Feb. 16, 1822, near Sparkbrook, Birmingham,

Warwickshire, Eng.—d. Jan. 17, 1911, Grayshott House, Haslemere, Surrey) British explorer, anthropolo¬ gist, and eugenicist. Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, studied medicine at Cambridge University but never took a degree. As a young man he traveled widely in Europe and Africa, making useful contributions in zoology and geography. He was among the first to recognize the implications of Darwin’s theory of evolution, eventually coining the word eugenics to denote the science of planned human betterment through selective mating. His aim was the creation not of an aristocratic elite but of a population consisting entirely of superior men and women. He also wrote important works on human intelligence, fingerprinting, applied statistics, twins, blood trans¬ fusions, criminality, meteorology, and measurement.

Sir Francis Galton, detail of an oil painting by G. Graef, 1882; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON

Galut See Diaspora

Galvani \gal-'va-ne\, Luigi (b. Sept. 9, 1737, Bologna, Papal States—d. Dec. 4, 1798, Bologna, Cisalpine Republic) Italian physician and physicist. His early research focused on comparative anatomy, includ¬ ing the structure of kidney tubules and the middle ear. His developing interest in electricity was inspired by the fact that dead frogs underwent convulsions when attached to an iron fence to dry. He experimented with muscular stimulation by electrical means, using an electrostatic machine and a Leyden jar, and from the early 1780s animal electricity remained his major field of investigation. His discoveries led to the invention of the voltaic pile, a kind of battery that makes possible a constant source of current electricity.

galvanizing Protection of iron or steel against exposure to the atmo¬ sphere and consequent rusting by application of a zinc coating. Properly applied, galvanizing may protect from atmospheric corrosion for 15-30 years or more. If the coating is damaged, the iron or steel continues to be protected by sacrificial corrosion, a phenomenon in which atmospheric oxidation spares the iron and affects the zinc (as long as it lasts). See also TERNEPLATE.

galvanometer V.gal-vo-'na-mo-toA Instrument for measuring small electric currents by deflection of a moving coil. A common galvanometer consists of a light coil of wire suspended from a metallic ribbon between the poles of a permanent magnet. As current passes through the coil, the magnetic field it produces reacts with the magnetic field of the permanent magnet, producing a torque. The torque causes the coil to rotate, moving an attached needle or mirror. The angle of rotation, which provides a measure of the current flowing in the coil, is measured by the movement of the needle or by the deflection of a beam of light reflected from the mirror.

Galveston City (pop., 2000: 57,247) and port of entry, southeastern Texas, U.S. Located at the northeastern end of Galveston Island in the Gulf of Mexico, it was the pirate Jean Laffite’s headquarters (1817-21). Settlement of the island then began, and the town of Galveston was laid out in 1834; during the Texas revolt against Mexico (1835-36), it briefly served as the capital. During the American Civil War it was an important Confederate supply port. Although the city suffered from several hurri¬ canes in the 20th century, it remains a major deepwater port, with ship¬ ping and oil-refining facilities.

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Galvez ► Gambier I 731

Galvez \'gal-,ves\, Jose, marquess de la Sonora (b. 1720, Velez-Malaga, Spain—d. 1787, Aranjuez) Spanish colonial administra¬ tor. He was noted for his work as inspector general in New Spain (Mexico), in 1765-71, where he reorganized the tax system, formed a government tobacco monopoly, and occupied Upper California. As min¬ ister of the Indies (America) from 1775, he worked to expand commerce. He devised the intendancy system that was introduced in 1786. Galvez is considered Spain’s greatest colonial administrator.

Galway \'g6l-,wa\ County (pop., 2002 prelim.: 208,826), Connacht province, western Ireland. It is bounded to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Its seat, the town of Galway (pop., 2002 prelim.: 65,774), is at the head of Galway Bay. The descendants of the followers of the Norman Richard de Burgh, who assumed rule in the area in the 1230s, became known as the tribes of Galway. After 1652 the land settlement of Oliver Cromwell established a new class of landed proprietors. Galway is still largely an agricultural region, though it also has light industry, such as cotton spin¬ ning and sugar refining. It has the largest Irish-speaking population of any Irish county.

Galway, Sir James (b. Dec. 8, 1939, Belfast, N.Ire.) Irish flutist. He went to London as a teenager to study flute, completing his studies with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Marcel Moyse (1889-1984) in Paris. He was prin¬ cipal flutist of the Royal Philharmonic (1966-69) and later of the Berlin Philharmonic (1969-75). He subsequently enjoyed great success as a soloist in light classical and popular music.

Gama, Vasco da, 1st count da Vidigueira (b. c. 1460, Sines, Port.—d. Dec. 24, 1524, Cochin, India) Portuguese navigator. On his first voyage to India (1497-99), he traveled around the Cape of Good Hope with four ships, visiting trading cities in Mozambique and Kenya en route. Portugal’s King Manuel I acted quickly to open trade routes with India, but a massacre of Portuguese in India caused him to dispatch a fleet of 20 ships in 1502, led by da Gama, to establish Portuguese supremacy in the region. Da Gama, then an admiral, forced allegiance along the way from local rulers and attacked Arab shipping. After various battles, he secured obedience to Portuguese rule and returned home. In 1524 he was appointed Portuguese viceroy in India but died shortly after arriving in Goa. His voyages to India opened the sea route from western Europe to the East.

Gamaliel \g9-'ma-le-3l\ I or Rabban \ra-'ban\ Gamaliel (fl. 1st century) Early rabbinic figure and patriarch of the Jewish community of Israel. Grandson of the renowned Hillel, he became a respected scholar of the Torah and a member of the Sanhedrin. Known for his mastery of Jew¬ ish oral law, he was the first to be granted the title of rabban. He is men¬ tioned in the New Testament as a teacher of St. Paul and a friend of the early Christians.

Gamaliel II or Gamaliel of Jabneh \'jab-no\ (fl. 2nd century) Rabbi and president of the Sanhedrin. The grandson of Gamaliel I, he ral¬ lied the Jews who had taken refuge in the city of Jabneh after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in ad 70. He became patriarch of the Jewish community of Israel c. ad 80. One of the greatest legal scholars of his era, Gamaliel is frequently cited in the Mishna. He helped unify the Jews by regulating prayer ritual and the Jewish calendar.

Gambetta \,ga n -b3-'ta,\ English \gam-'be-t3\, Leon (b. April 2,

1838, Cahors, France—d. Dec. 31,

1882, Ville-d’Avray, near Paris)

French republican statesman who helped found the Third Republic. He became famous as a lawyer defend¬ ing republican critics of the Second Empire and was elected to the legisla¬ tive assembly in 1869. He helped direct the defense of France during the Franco-Prussian War and played a principal role in the provisional government formed after Napoleon Ill’s capture in 1870. He used his per¬ suasive skill to push for ratification of the Constitutional Laws of 1875, which became the basis of the new parliamentary republic. As president

PE?

Gambetta, photograph by Etienne Car- jat; in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

COURTESY OF THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS

of the Chamber of Deputies (1879-81) and premier (1881-82), he con¬ tinued his advocacy of democratic ideals and national unity.

Gambia, The officially Republic of The Gambia Country, west¬ ern Africa. Constituting an enclave in Senegal, it lies along the Gambia River, stretching inland 295 mi (475 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. Area:

fifth), Wolof (about one-eighth), and other groups. Language: English (official). Religions: Islam; also Christianity. Currency: dalasi. The Gam¬ bia has a wet-and-dry tropical climate and is generally hilly, with savanna in the uplands and swamps in low-lying areas. It has a developing market economy based largely on the production and export of peanuts, though only about one-fourth of the land is arable. The river serves as a major transportation artery. Tourism is an important source of revenue. The Gambia is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state and gov¬ ernment is the president. Beginning about the 13th century ad, the Wolof, Malinke, and Fulani peoples settled in different parts of what is now The Gambia and established villages and then kingdoms in the region. Euro¬ pean exploration began when the Portuguese sighted the Gambia River in 1455. In the 17th century, when Britain and France both settled in the area, the British Fort James, on an island about 20 mi (32 km) from the river’s mouth, was an important collection point for the slave trade. In 1783 the Treaty of Versailles reserved the Gambia River for Britain. After the Brit¬ ish abolished slavery in 1807, they built a fort at the mouth of the river to block the continuing slave trade. In 1889 The Gambia’s boundaries were agreed upon by Britain and France; the British declared a protectorate over the area in 1894. Independence was proclaimed in 1965, and The Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1970. It formed a limited confederation with Senegal in 1982, which was dissolved in 1989. During the 1990s the country faced political problems, but its biggest concern has come to be its poor economy.

Gambia River River, western Africa. Rising in Guinea and flowing northwest through Senegal and west through The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean, it is 700 mi (1,120 km) long. It is the only western African river that is easily accessible to oceangoing shipping. From its source in the highlands of the Fouta Djallon, it follows a winding course to its mouth, which is a ria, or drowned estuary. The flats of the middle and upper river support rice and peanuts and are more heavily settled than the area around the river’s lower course.

Gambier \'gam-,bir\ Islands Island group (pop., 1996: 1,087), French Polynesia. It is the southeasternmost extension of the Tuamotu Archipelago.

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732 I gambling ► Gance

The largest island, Mangareva, is 5 mi (8 km) long and encircled by a barrier reef 40 mi (64 km) in circumference. Mangareva rises to about 1,444 ft (440 m) in the peaks Duff and Mokoto; the chief village, Rikitea, is on Mangareva’s eastern side. The Gambier Islands were annexed by the French in 1881. Their economy is based on subsistence agriculture; pearl harvesting is also of economic importance.

gambling Betting or staking of something of value on the outcome of a game or event. Commonly associated with gambling are horse racing, boxing, numerous playing-card and dice games, cockfighting, jai alai, rec¬ reational billiards and darts, bingo, and lottery. In most gambling games it is customary to express the idea of probability in terms of “odds against winning.” In the U.S. casino gambling, once highly restricted, is now legal in many states, and lotteries are employed by many states to raise rev¬ enues. The Internet has also become a venue for placing bets. See also bookmaking; casino.

game show or quiz show Radio or television show designed to test the knowledge, luck, or skill of contestants or experts. Among the shows popular on U.S. radio were Dr. I.Q. (1939-49), Information, Please (1938-48), and The Quiz Kids (1940-53). The genre was adopted by tele¬ vision and cash awards were increased, so that radio’s $64 Question became television’s $64,000 Question. In the mid-1950s, to increase their shows’ popularity, some producers began feeding answers to contestants who had been chosen to win. An accusation of unfair practices on Twenty- one (1958) led to a government investigation and the quick demise of the big-money shows. The game show later regained popularity when it was revived in formats with lower stakes and easier questions, as on Jeop¬ ardy! and Wheel of Fortune. At the turn of the 21st century, game shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire boasted large cash prizes and gained popularity in prime time, and reality shows like Survivor adopted aspects of the game show genre.

game theory Branch of applied mathematics devised to analyze cer¬ tain situations in which there is an interplay between parties that may have similar, opposed, or mixed interests. Game theory was originally devel¬ oped by John von Neumann and Oscar Morgenstem in their book The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944). In a typical game, or competition with fixed rules, “players” try to outsmart one another by anticipating the others’ decisions, or moves. A solution to a game pre¬ scribes the optimal strategy or strategies for each player and predicts the average, or expected, outcome. Until a highly contrived counterexample was devised in 1967, it was thought that every contest had at least one solution. See also decision theory; prisoner's dilemma.

gamelan Vga-ms-.lanV Indigenous orchestra of Java and Bali and, more generally, of Indonesia and Malaysia. A gamelan usually consists largely of gongs, xylophones, and metallophones (rows of tuned metal bars struck with a mallet). Gamelan polyphony is complex and many-voiced. The melody is taken by the voice, flute, or rebab (a bowed stringed instru¬ ment); under it, most of the other instruments provide rhythmic para¬ phrases of the melody, producing a shimmering, variegated texture. The gamelan has influenced many Western composers, including Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, John Cage, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass.

Gamelin \,gam-Ta n ,\ English \,ga-m9-Tan\, Maurice (-Gustave) (b. Sept. 20, 1872, Paris, France—d. April 18, 1958, Paris) French army commander. He entered the army in 1893 and rose to division command in World War I and army chief of staff in 1931. He supported the defen¬ sive strategy based on the Maginot Line and, as commander of Allied forces when World War II broke out, took no offensive action during the Phony War. Surprised by the German assault in the Ardennes (May 1940), he was dismissed and replaced by Maxime Weygand, but France collapsed the next month. He was tried by the Vichy government and interned in Germany in 1943-45.

gametophyte Vgo-'me-ta-.fhA In certain plants, the sexual phase (or an individual representing the phase) in the alternation of generations. The alternate, nonsexual phase is the sporophyte. In the gametophyte phase, male and female organs (gametangia) develop and produce eggs and sperm (gametes), which unite in fertilization (syngamy). The fertilized egg (zygote) develops into the sporophyte, which produces numerous single-celled spores, which in turn develop directly into new gametes.

gamma decay Type of radioactivity in the most common form of which an unstable atomic nucleus dissipates energy by gamma emission, producing gamma rays. Gamma decay also includes two other processes,

internal conversion and internal pair production. In internal conversion, excess energy in a nucleus is transferred to one of its own orbiting elec¬ trons and the electron is ejected from the atom. In internal pair produc¬ tion, excess energy is converted into an electron and a positron, which are emitted together. Typical half-lives (see half-life) for gamma emission range from about 10 -9 to 10 -14 second.

gamma globulin Vglab-yo-bnX Subgroup of the globulins. In humans and many other mammals, most antibodies are in the gamma globulin fraction of blood. A human gamma globulin preparation may be admin¬ istered (by injection) to persons lacking immunity, either generally or to a particular disease, after exposure or before expected exposure.

gamma ray Penetrating very short-wavelength electromagnetic radia¬ tion, similar to an X-ray but of higher energy, that is emitted spontaneously by some radioactive substances (see gamma decay; radioactivity). Gamma radiation also originates in the decay of certain subatomic particles and in particle-antiparticle annihilation (see also antimatter). Gamma rays can ini¬ tiate nuclear fission, can be absorbed by ejection of an electron (see pho¬ toelectric effect), and can be scattered by free electrons (see Compton effect).

gamma-ray astronomy Study of astronomical objects and phe¬ nomena that emit gamma rays. Gamma-ray telescopes are designed to observe high-energy astrophysical systems, including stellar coronas, WHITE DWARF STARS, NEUTRON STARS, BLACK HOLES, SUPERNOVA remnants, CLUSTERS OF galaxies, and diffuse gamma-ray background radiation found along the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy. Because Earth’s atmosphere blocks most gamma rays, observations are generally conducted by high-altitude bal¬ loons or spacecraft. In the 1960s defense satellites designed to detect X rays and gamma rays from clandestine nuclear testing serendipitously discovered enigmatic gamma-ray bursts coming from deep space. In the 1970s Earth-orbiting observatories found a number of gamma-ray point sources, including an exceptionally strong one, dubbed Geminga, that was later identified as a pulsar, the nearest yet detected. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, launched in 1991, mapped thousands of celestial gamma-ray sources; it also showed that the mysterious bursts are distrib¬ uted across the sky, implying that their sources are at the distant reaches of the universe rather than in the Milky Way.

Gamow Vga-.moft, George orig. Georgy Antonovich Gamov

(b. March 4, 1904, Odessa, Russian Empire—d. Aug. 19, 1968, Boulder, Colo., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. nuclear physicist and cosmologist. After studying at Leningrad University with Aleksandr Friedmann (1888— 1925), he subsequently developed his quantum theory of radioactivity, the first successful explanation of the behaviour of radioactive elements. His “liquid drop” model of atomic nuclei served as the basis for modern theo¬ ries of nuclear fission and fusion. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1934, he collaborated with Edward Teller in researching beta decay (1936) and developing a theory of the internal structures of red giant stars (1942). In the 1950s he became interested in biochemistry, proposing theories of genetic code structure that were later found to be true. Throughout his career he also wrote popular works on such difficult subjects as relativity and cosmology.

Gan \'gan\ River or Kan River River, southeastern China. Located in Jiangxi province, it flows north through Lake Poyang to enter the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) after a course of 506 mi (815 km). A major southern tributary of the Yangtze, the Gan valley provided an important route in historical times from Guangzhou to the Yangtze valley and the north.

Ganca \gan-'ja\ formerly (1804-1918) Yelizavetpol’ \yi-li-z3-'vyet- ,pol\ or (1935-89) Kirovabad \ l ke-ro-v9- , bat\ City (pop., 1997 est.: 291,900), western Azerbaijan. It lies along the Ganca River. A town was founded nearby in the 5th century ad, was destroyed by earthquake in 1139, and was rebuilt on the present site. Taken by the Mongols in 1231, it was captured in 1606 by the Persian Safavid dynasty, who made it the centre of the Ganca khanate. The Russians annexed it in 1804 and renamed it Yelizavetpol’. In 1935 it was renamed Kirovabad and devel¬ oped industrially to become one of the largest cities of Azerbaijan. It manufactures aluminum, machinery, and instruments and is an agricul¬ tural processing centre. Notable buildings include Dzhuma-Mechet Mosque (1620) and the mausoleum of the 12th-century Persian poet NezamI, a lifelong resident of the city.

Gance \'ga n s\, Abel orig. Eugene Alexandre Perethon (b. Oct. 25, 1889, Paris, France—d. Nov. 10, 1981, Paris) French film director

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Ganda ► Gang of Four I 733

and screenwriter. He worked in the cinema from 1909, finally winning acclaim with Mater dolorosa (1917) and Tenth Symphony (1918). His J’accuse (1918) and The Wheel (1923) were hailed as masterpieces. He devoted four years to his greatest film, Napoleon (1927), in which he used experimental techniques to emphasize cinematic movement. Battle sequences were shot with three synchronized cameras, and the images were projected on a triple screen to produce a three-dimensional effect; the film also pioneered the use of stereophonic sound. A triumph in Europe, it fared badly in a harshly edited version in the U.S. but was finally released in its original glory in 1981. Gance’s later films, largely controlled by the studios, gave inadequate scope for his creative genius.

Ganda or Baganda People of southern Uganda. They speak Luganda, a Bantu language of the Benue-Congo group. Numbering 3.7 million, the Ganda are Uganda’s largest ethnic group. Traditionally hoe cultivators, they also grow cotton and coffee for export and keep livestock. In the 19th century the Ganda developed the centralized state known as Buganda.

Gandhara art Style of Buddhist art that developed in what is now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan from the 1st to the 7th century ad. It was contemporaneous with Mathura art. The Gandhara region had earlier been a site of much Buddhist missionary activity, and the Kushan rulers maintained contact with Rome; the Gandhara school incorporated motifs and techniques from Classical Roman art (e.g., vine scrolls, cherubs with garlands, tri¬ tons, centaurs), but the iconography was based on the interpretation of Buddhist legends. Sculptural materi¬ als included green phyllite, gray-blue mica, and stucco; sculptures were originally painted and gilded. See also Central Asian arts; Kushan art.

Gandhi Vgan-deV Indira (Pri- yadarshini) orig. Indira Pri- yadarshini Nehru (b. Nov. 19,

1917, Allahabad, India—d. Oct. 31,

1984, New Delhi) Prime minister of India (1966-77, 1980-84). The only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, she stud¬ ied in India and at the University of Oxford. In 1942 she married Feroze Gandhi (d. 1960), a fellow member of the Indian National Congress. In 1959 she was given the largely hon¬ orary position of party president, and in 1966 she achieved actual power when she was made leader of the Congress Party and, consequently, prime minister. She instituted major reforms, including a strict population-control program. In 1971 she mobilized Indian forces against Pakistan in the cause of East Ben¬ gal’s secession. She oversaw the incorporation of Sikkim in 1974.

Convicted in 1975 of violating elec¬ tion laws, she declared a state of emergency, jailing opponents and passing many laws limiting personal freedoms. She was defeated in the following election but returned to power in 1980. In 1984 she ordered the army to move into the Golden Temple complex of the Sikhs at Amritsar, with the intent of crushing the Sikh militants hiding inside the temple; some 450 Sikhs died in the fight¬ ing. She was later shot and killed by her own Sikh bodyguards in revenge.

Gandhi, Mohandas K(aramchand) known as Mahatma Gandhi (b. Oct. 2, 1869, Porbandar, India—d. Jan. 30, 1948, Delhi) Preeminent leader of Indian nationalism and prophet of nonviolence in the 20th century. Gandhi grew up in a home steeped in religion, and he took for granted religious tolerance and the doctrine of ahimsa (noninjury to all living beings). He studied law in England but seemed too diffident

to become a successful lawyer. He took a job with an Indian firm in South Africa. There he became an effective advocate for Indian rights. In 1906 he first put into action satyagraha, his technique of nonviolent resistance. His success in South Africa gave him an international reputation, and in 1915 he returned to India and within a few years became the leader of a nationwide struggle for Indian home rule. By 1920 Gandhi commanded influence hitherto unattained by any political leader in India. He refash¬ ioned the Indian National Congress into an effective political instrument of Indian nationalism and undertook major campaigns of nonviolent resis¬ tance in 1920-22, 1930-34 (including his momentous march to the sea to collect salt to protest a government monopoly), and 1940-42. In the 1930s he also campaigned to end discrimination against India’s untouch¬ able class—whom he renamed Harijans (literally “children of God”)— and concentrated on educating rural India and promoting cottage industry. India achieved dominion status in 1947, but the partition of the subcon¬ tinent into India and Pakistan was a great disappointment to Gandhi, who had long worked for Hindu-Muslim unity. In September 1947 he ended rioting in Calcutta (Kolkata) by fasting. Known as the Mahatma (“Great- Souled”), Gandhi had won the affection and loyalty of millions. In Janu¬ ary 1948 he was shot and killed by a young Hindu fanatic.

Gandhi, Rajiv (Ratna) (b. Aug. 20, 1944, Bombay [Mumbai], India—d. May 21, 1991, Sriperumbudur, near Madras [Chennai]) Indian politician, prime minister of India (1984-89). Son of Indira Gandhi, he studied engineering at the University of Cambridge and became a com¬ mercial airline pilot in 1968. He entered politics after the death of his brother, Sanjay, in 1980. Sworn in as prime minister the day his mother was assassinated (Oct. 31, 1984), he led the Congress (I) Party to a land¬ slide victory in elections that year. His administration took vigorous mea¬ sures to reform the government bureaucracy and liberalize the country’s economy, but his attempts to discourage separatist movements failed, and his government became embroiled in financial scandals. He resigned in 1989 but remained leader of the Congress (I) Party. He was assassinated in 1991 while running for reelection.

Gandhinagar ^gon-do-'no-gorV City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 195,891), capital of Gujarat state, west-central India. It lies on the banks of the Sabarmati River, north of the former capital of Ahmedabad. Built to sup¬ plant the former capital, after the state of Bombay was divided, the city was begun in 1966 and named for Mohandas K. Gandhi. The first state government offices were transferred there in 1970, and the city subse¬ quently continued to grow.

Gando See Gwandu

Ganesha \g9-'na-sho\ or Ganesa Elephant-headed Hindu god, the son of Shiva and Parvati. He is also revered in Jainism, and he is impor¬ tant in the art and mythology of Bud¬ dhist Asia. As the remover of obstacles, Ganesha is invoked when beginning worship or starting any new venture. He was popular with Indian nationalists, who saw British colonialism as one obstacle to be removed. The patron of letters and learning, he is the legendary scribe who wrote down the Mahabharata.

His popularity continued to grow through the 20th century. His festi¬ val is especially popular in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Gang of Four Most powerful members of a radical political elite convicted for implementing the harsh policies of Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution. The four were Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chun- qiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Mao’s third wife, Jiang Qing. Manipulating the youthful Red Guards, the Gang of Four controlled four areas: intellectual education, basic theories in science and technology, teacher-student relations and school discipline, and party poli¬ cies regarding intellectuals. The turmoil of the Cultural Revolution sub¬ sided after 1969, but the Gang of Four maintained their power until Mao’s death in 1976, when they were imprisoned; they stood trial in 1980-81.

The Buddha preaching, relief from Gandhara, schist, c. 2nd century ad; in the Prince of Wales Museum of West¬ ern India, Bombay.

P. CHANDRA

Indi ra Gandhi

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

Ganesa dancing, relief from Farrukha- bad, Uttar Pradesh, India, 10th century ad; in the State Museum, Lucknow, India.

PRAMOD CHANDRA

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

734 i Ganga ► Gao Xingjian

Ganga Vgaq-goV dynasty Either of two distinct but remotely related Indian dynasties. The Western Gangas ruled in Mysore state from c. ad 250 to 1004. They encouraged scholarly work, built some remarkable temples, and encouraged cross-peninsular trade. The Eastern Gangas ruled Kalinga from 1028 to 1434-35. They were great patrons of religion and the arts; the temples of the Ganga period rank among the masterpieces of Hindu architecture. Both dynasties interacted with the Calukya and Cola dynasties.

Ganges delta or Ganges-Brahmaputra delta Region in West Bengal state, India, and Bangladesh. An area of about 220 mi (355 km) wide along the Bay of Bengal, it is covered by the network of streams forming the mouths of the Ganges (Ganga) and Brahmaputra rivers. In Bangladesh the Brahmaputra is joined by the Tista River and, from there to its junction with the Ganges, is known as the Jamuna River. The main streams, the Ganges and the Jamuna, unite to form the Padma River. The river farthest west that enters the Bay of Bengal is the Hugli River. Many smaller streams of the delta form a swamp region for about 160 miles (260 km) along the coast, known as the Sundarbans. The delta was struck in 1970 by one of history’s most devastating cyclones.

Ganges Vgan-jez\ River Hindi Ganga Vgoq-goV River, northern India and Bangladesh. Held sacred by followers of Hinduism, it is formed from five headstreams rising in Uttaranchal state. On its 1,560-mi (2,510- km) course, it flows southeast through the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. In central Bangladesh it is joined by the Brah¬ maputra and Meghna rivers. Their combined waters (called the Padma River) empty into the Bay of Bengal and form a delta 220 mi (354 km) wide, which is shared by India and Bangladesh. Its plain is one of the most fertile and densely populated regions in the world. Millions of Hin¬ dus bathe in the river annually at special holy places ( tirthas ). Many cast the ashes of their dead into its waters, and cremation temples are found along its banks in numerous places.

Gangetic \gan-'je-tik\ Plain or Indo-Gangetic Plain Fertile low¬ land region of north-central India. It stretches westward, centred on the Ganges River, from the Brahmaputra River valley and the Ganges delta to the Indus River valley. It contains the subcontinent’s richest and most densely populated areas. The greater part of the plain is made up of allu¬ vial soil, deposited by the extensive network of rivers in the region. The eastern part of the plain has summer rainfall so heavy that vast areas become swamps or shallow lakes. It becomes progressively drier toward the west, where it incorporates the Thar Desert.

ganglion \'gaq-gle-on\ Aggregate of nerve-cell bodies outside the cen¬ tral nervous system (CNS). The spinal ganglion contains the nerve-cell bodies of the nerve fibres that carry impulses toward the CNS (afferent neurons in dorsal root ganglia) or away from it (efferent neurons in ven¬ tral root ganglia).

gangrene Localized soft-tissue death (necrosis) from prolonged blood- supply blockage. It can occur in atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, or decu¬ bitus ulcer, and after severe burns or frostbite. In dry gangrene, gradual blood-supply decrease turns the part discoloured and cold, then dark and dry. Treatment requires improving blood flow. Moist gangrene comes from a sudden blood-supply cutoff. Bacterial infection causes swelling, discoloration, and then a foul smell. Along with antibiotics, tissue removal may be needed to prevent spread, which can be fatal. A more virulent form, gas gangrene, is named for gas bubbles under the skin produced by a highly lethal toxin from Clostridium bacteria. The wound oozes brown¬ ish, smelly pus. Infection spreads rapidly, causing death. All dead and diseased tissue must be removed and antibiotics given; an antitoxin can also be used.

Gangtok Vgoq-.tokV Town (pop., 2001 prelim.: 29,162), capital of Sik¬ kim state, northeastern India. At an elevation of 5,600 ft (1,700 m), it over¬ looks the Ranipool River. It was the governmental seat of the kingdom of Sikkim until the monarchy was abolished (1975) and India annexed Sikkim (1976). It was an important point on the India-Tibet trade route until the border with Tibet was closed in 1962. The former royal palace and chapel are located there; the noted Buddhist monastery of Rumtek is nearby.

Ganioda'yo \,gan-yo-'dI-yo\ or Handsome Lake (b. c. 1735, Ganawaugus, N.Y.—d. Aug. 10, 1815, Onondaga, N.Y., U.S.) Seneca Indian chief. He led a somewhat dissolute life before becoming seriously ill in 1799; on recovering, he reported a vision revealing the will of the

Great Spirit. He developed a religion he called Gai’wiio (Good Message) that combined elements of Christianity and Indian beliefs; as an itinerant preacher, he urged his people to refrain from adultery, drunkenness, lazi¬ ness, and witchcraft. The religion revitalized the demoralized Iroquois, and it was adhered to by many into the 20th century.

gannet Any of three oceanic bird species (family Sulidae) closely related to the booby. Gannets are found in the North Atlantic, where they are the largest seabirds, and in temperate waters around Africa,

Australia, and New Zealand. Adults are mainly white with black-tipped wing feathers and a large, yellowish or buff-coloured head marked with black around the eyes. They have a tapered beak and pointed tail. They dive with half-closed wings to catch fish and squid. They waddle on land but are expert fliers, spending most of their lives over water. They nest in dense colonies on cliffs. The larg¬ est species is the 40-in. (100-cm) northern gannet.

Gannett Co., Inc. One of the largest newspaper groups in the U.S. It was founded by Frank Ernest Gannett (1876-1957), who in 1906 began buying small newspapers in upstate New York. It was incorporated in 1923, and its stock was first publicly traded in 1967. In 1982 it began publishing USA Today, the first national general-interest newspaper in the U.S. By 2005 Gannett owned about 100 daily papers, with a combined circulation of more than 7 million. Most of its newspapers are located in small and medium-sized cities; Gannett’s larger papers include the Des Moines Register and the Detroit Free Press. The company’s other hold¬ ings include online newspapers, television stations, and regional and daily newspapers in Europe.

Northern gannets (Morus bassanus).

WILLIAM AND LAURA RILEY

Gansu Vgan-'su\ or Kan-su conventional Kansu Province (pop., 2000 est.: 25,620,000), north-central China. It is bordered by Mongolia, the autonomous regions of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia, and the provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Qinghai. It has an area of 141,500 sq mi (366,500 sq km). Its capital is Lanzhou. For centuries a passage between the upper Huang He (Yellow River) region and western China, it became part of Chinese territory in the 3rd century bc. It was renowned as the entranceway into China used by Marco Polo. Eastern Gansu is the main site of earthquakes in China; in 1920 an earthquake there destroyed many towns and caused 200,000 deaths. Wheat is the province’s chief crop, and wheat flour rather than rice is the basis of the local diet.

Ganymede In Greek legend, the son of King Tros (or Laomedon) of Troy. Because of his unusual beauty, he was carried off by Zeus disguised as an eagle, and he became cup¬ bearer to the gods. Other versions of the legend trace his abduction to other gods or to King Minos of Crete. The story has long been held to have homosexual implications, and the word catamite is derived from his Latin name, Catamitus.

Gao Xingjian (b. Jan. 4, 1940, Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, China) Chinese emigre novelist and play¬ wright. His novel Soul Mountain (1989) resulted from a pilgrimage in the form of a 10-month walking tour along the Yangtze River. Gao’s works were banned in China after the pub¬ lication of his play Fugitives (1989), which reflected the 1989 events in Tiananmen Square. In 1987 he settled

Ganymede and Zeus in the form of an eagle, antique marble statue; in the Vatican Museum

ANDERSON—AUNARI FROM ART RESOURCE/EB INC.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Gaozu ► garden city I 735

in France and later became a French citizen. Fie was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000.

Gaozu Vgau-'dzu\ or Kao-tsu orig. Liu Bang Me-'ii-'baqN or Liu Pang (b. 256 bc, Peixian, in modern Jiangsu province, China—d. 195 bc, China) Man of peasant background who rose to become the founder of China’s Han dynasty (206 bc-ad 220). When Shihuangdi, emperor of the Qin dynasty, died in 210 bc, Liu joined the rebels led by Xiang Yu in an effort to overthrow the Qin. Xiang Yu triumphed and rewarded Liu with the kingdom of Han in western China, but the two allies subsequently turned against each other. Liu’s pragmatic shrewdness triumphed over Xiang Yu’s aristocratic naivete, and, taking the name Gaozu, he became the Han dynasty’s first ruler.

gar Any of several large North or Central American fishes of the genus Lepisosteus. They are related to the bowfin and date back to the Eocene Epoch. Gars are confined chiefly to fresh water, though some species enter brackish or salt water. They frequently bask at the surface in sluggish waters and commonly breathe atmospheric air. Their jaws and face form a sharp-toothed beak, and their body is encased in an armour of diamond¬ shaped, thick scales. Their eggs are toxic to predators. They are highly voracious predators, with long rows of needlelike teeth. The alligator gar of the southern U.S. reaches a length of about 10 ft (3 m) and is one of the largest freshwater fishes.

Garand \go-'rand, 'gar-ond\, John C(antius) (b. Jan. 1, 1888, St. Remi, Que., Can.—d. Feb. 16, 1974, Springfield, Mass., U.S.) Canadian- born U.S. firearms engineer. He moved with his family to Connecticut in 1898. From 1919 he worked as a civilian employee at the Springfield Armory. There he devised a gas-operated weapon that was 43 in. (109 cm) long yet weighed only 9.5 lbs (4.3 kg). Adopted in 1936 as the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30 Ml, the Garand rifle became the world’s first standard- issue autoloading infantry rifle. It gave U.S. troops in World War II such an advantage in firepower that George Patton called it “the greatest battle implement ever devised.” More than five million Mis were manufactured before it was phased out in 1957. Garand signed over all patents of his invention to the U.S. government.

garbanzo See chickpea

Garbo, Greta orig. Greta Louisa Gustafsson (b. Sept. 18, 1905, Stockholm, Swed.—d. April 15,

1990, New York, N.Y., U.S.)

Swedish-U.S. film star. She was working as a salesclerk when she was chosen to appear in publicity films for the store where she worked.

Her modest success encouraged her to study at the Royal Dramatic The¬ atre’s training school, where the film director Mauritz Stiller discovered her. He cast her in The Story ofGosta Berling (1924) and became her men¬ tor and coach. Stiller and Garbo were hired by MGM in 1925, and Garbo’s beauty and enigmatic personality made her a star in her first U.S. film.

The Torrent (1926). Aloof, mysteri¬ ous, yet passionate, she mesmerized audiences in films such as Love (1927), Anna Christie (1930), Grand Hotel (1932 ),Anna Karenina (1935),

Camille (1936), and Ninotchka (1939). Her reclusive life after her sud¬ den retirement at age 36 added to her mystique.

Garcia Lorca Vgar-'the-a-'lor-kaN, Federico (b. June 5, 1898, Fuente Vaqueros, Granada province, Spain—d. Aug. 18 or 19, 1936, between Vfznar and Alfacar, Granada province) Spanish poet and dramatist. Garcia Lorca studied literature, painting, and music and later was a founder, director, and musician for La Barraca, a theatrical company that brought classical drama to rural audiences. He was an established experimental poet when he became famous for The Gypsy Ballads (1928), a verse col¬ lection lyrically combining his musical, poetical, and spiritual impulses; as in many of his later works, its themes and images were drawn from folk traditions. Of his many poems of death, “Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter” (1935), written for a friend, is his most famous poem and the finest elegy in modern Spanish literature. His dramatic trilogy consisting

of Blood Wedding (produced 1933), Yerma (produced 1934), and The House of Bernarda Alba (produced 1936) is the best known of his mas¬ terpieces. As if fulfilling the premonition of violent death that haunts his works, he was shot without trial by fascists during the Spanish Civil War.

Garcia Marquez \gar-'se-a-'mar-kas\, Gabriel (Jose) (b. March 6, 1928, Aracataca, Colom.) Latin American writer. He worked many years as a journalist in Latin Ameri¬ can and European cities and later also as a screenwriter and publicist, before settling in Mexico. His best- known work, the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), recounts the history of the fictional village of Macondo, the setting of much of his work; enormously admired and influential, it became the principal vehicle for the style known as magic realism. Later novels include The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975),

Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), and The General in His Labyrinth (1989). His collections of short sto¬ ries and novellas include No One Writes to the Colonel (1968) and Leaf Storm (1955). In 2002 he pub¬ lished Vivirpara contrarla, an autobiographical account of his early years. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.

Garcilaso de la Vega \'va-go\ known as El Inca (b. April 12, 1539, Cuzco, Peru—d. April 24, 1616, Cordoba, Spain) One of the great Span¬ ish chroniclers of the 16th century. Garcilaso was the illegitimate son of a conquistador and an Inca noblewoman. Raised in his father’s household on a vast estate in Peru, he absorbed the traditions of both cultures. After going to Spain in 1560, he served as captain in the Spanish army against the Moors, and then he entered the priesthood. He is best known for La Florida del Ynca (an account of Hernando de Soto’s expeditions north of Mexico) and his history of Peru. He was related to his namesake, the Spanish Golden Age poet Garcilaso de la Vega (b. 1503, Toledo, Spain—d. Oct. 14, 1536, Nice, duchy of Savoy).

Gard, Roger Martin du See Roger Martin du Gard

Garda, Lake ancient Lacus Benacus Lake, northern Italy. Largest of the Italian lakes, it is 34 mi (54 km) long and 2 to 11 mi (3 to 18 km) wide, with a shoreline of 77.5 mi (125 km). It borders Lombardy, Veneto, and Trentino-Alto Adige. Separated from the Adige River valley by the nar¬ row ridge of Mount Baldo, it is fed by the Sarca River at its northern end, while the Mincio flows out toward the Po River to the south. The lake is encircled by the Gardesana scenic route, opened in 1931. Well sheltered by the Alps to the north, Lake Garda has a temperate Mediterranean cli¬ mate. It is a popular resort area.

garden Plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, vegetables, or trees are cultivated. The earliest surviving detailed garden plan is Egyptian and dates from about 1400 bc; it shows tree-lined avenues and rectangular ponds. Mesopotamian gardens were places where shade and cool water could be enjoyed; Hellenistic gardens were conspicuously luxurious in their display of precious materials, a tradition carried over by Byzantine gardens. Islamic gardens made use of water, often in pools and fed by narrow canals resembling irrigation channels. In Renaissance Europe, gar¬ dens reflected confidence in human ability to impose order on the exter¬ nal world; Italian gardens emphasized the unity of house and garden. French 17th-century gardens were rigidly symmetrical, and French cul¬ tural dominance in Europe popularized this style into the next century. In 18th-century England, increasing awareness of the natural world led to the development of “natural” gardens that made use of irregular, nonsym- metrical layouts. Chinese gardens have generally harmonized with the natural landscape, and have employed rocks gathered from great distances as a universal decorative feature. Early Japanese gardens imitated Chi¬ nese principles; later developments were the abstract garden, which might feature only sand and rocks, and miniature gardens made in trays (see bonsai).

garden city Ideal planned community as envisioned by the British town planner Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928). It was to be a small city that

Greta Garbo in Camille (1936).

CULVER PICTURES

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

736 I Garden Grove ► Garibaldi

combined the amenities of urban and rural life; it would be compact, with contained growth. At the center would be a garden ringed with a civic and cultural complex, a park, housing, and industry, the whole surrounded by an agricultural green belt. Traffic would move along radial avenues and ring roads. The first garden city was built at Letchworth, England, in 1903. Though Howard’s ideas have been widely influential, imitators have often ignored his stipulation that the town be a self-contained, true mixed-use community.

Garden Grove City (pop., 2000: 165,196), southwestern California, U.S. Located south of Anaheim, it is a growing suburban residential area. It is the site of the Crystal Cathedral, a church sheathed in 10,000 panes of glass, designed by Philip Johnson.

gardenia Any of the approximately 200 species of ornamental shrubs and trees in the genus Gardenia, in the madder family, native to tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia. Gardenias have white or yellow tubular flowers, evergreen leaves, and large, berrylike fruits containing a sticky, orange pulp. Cape jasmine (G. jasminoides ), native to China, is the fra¬ grant species sold by florists.

gardening Laying out and tending of a garden. Though palatial gar¬ dens existed in ancient times, small home gardens became prevalent only in the 19th century. Gardening as a pastime grew with the increase in home ownership and leisure time. A well-designed flower garden displays blends and contrasts of colours and forms, and it takes into account the effect of seasonal changes. Essential tasks include soil maintenance, water regulation, control of weeds, and protection of plants from pests and dis¬ eases. Though chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides are widely used, less-toxic organic supplements and pest controls, predatory insects, and hand-weeding have become increasingly popular.

Gardiner, Samuel Rawson (b. March 4, 1829, Ropley, near Alres- ford, Hampshire, Eng.—d. Feb. 23, 1902, Sevenoaks, Kent) English his¬ torian whose career was dedicated to the study of the English Civil Wars. He taught at King’s College, London, and was a fellow at Oxford. His researches among manuscript collections gave unrivaled authority to his monumental undertaking. Its principal volumes were History of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War, 1603- 1642 (1883-84); History of the Great Civil War, 1642-1649 (1886, 1893); and History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660 (1903).

Gardner, Alexander (b. Oct. 17, 1821, Paisley, Scot.—d. 1882, Washington, D.C., U.S.) Scottish-born U.S. photographer. In 1856, the year he emigrated from Scotland, he was hired by Mathew B. Brady as a portrait photographer, and within two years he opened a studio for Brady in Washington, D.C. In 1861 he began to assist Brady in making a pho¬ tographic record of the American Civil War. Brady refused to give him public credit, so in 1863 he opened his own portrait studio and continued photographing the war on his own. He published a collection of 100 original prints in 1866. From 1867, as photographer for the Union Pacific Railroad in Kansas, he chronicled the building of the railroad and the new settlements built around it.

Gardner, Ava (Lavinia) (b. Dec. 24, 1922, Grabtown, N.C., U.S.—d. Jan. 25, 1990, London, Eng.) U.S. film actress. Bom to a tenant farmer, she appeared in minor film parts until her role in The Killers (1946) made her a star. She played temptresses and seductive heroines in films such as One Touch of Venus (1948), Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kiliman¬ jaro (1952), and The Barefoot Contessa (1954). A sensuous, dark-haired beauty, she was praised for her powerful and touching performances in films such as Mogambo (1953), On the Beach (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1964).

Gardner, Erie Stanley (b. July 17, 1889, Malden, Mass., U.S.—d. March 11, 1970, Temecula, Calif.) U.S. detective novelist. He dropped out of college and was admitted to the California bar after three years as a law-firm typist. While practicing trial law, he wrote pulp fiction, basing the courtroom scenes and brilliant legal maneuvers on his own tactics. He gave up law following the success in 1933 of The Case of the Velvet Claws and The Case of the Sulky Girl, his first novels featuring the lawyer- detective Perry Mason. Eighty Perry Mason novels followed. He also wrote two other series of detective stories, one under the pseudonym A. A. Fair.

Garfield, Janies A(bram) (b. Nov. 19, 1831, near Orange, Ohio, U.S.—d. Sept. 19, 1881, Elberon, N.J.) 20th president of the U.S. (1881). He was the last president born in a log cabin. He attended Western Reserve

Eclectic Institute (later Hiram Col¬ lege) at Hiram, Ohio, and graduated (1856) from Williams College. He returned to the Eclectic Institute as a professor of ancient languages and in 1857, at age 25, became the school’s president. In the American Civil War he led the 42nd Ohio Volunteers and fought at Shiloh and Chickamauga.

He resigned as a major general to serve in the U.S. House of Represen¬ tatives (1863-80). As a Radical Repub¬ lican, he sought a firm policy of Reconstruction in the South. In 1876 he served on the Electoral Commis¬ sion that decided the presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden. He was House Republican leader from 1876 to 1880, when he was elected to the Senate by the Ohio legislature. At the 1880 Republican nominating con¬ vention, the delegates supporting Ulysses S. Grant and James Blaine became deadlocked. On the 36th ballot, Garfield was nominated as a compromise presidential candidate, with Chester Arthur as vice president; they won the election by a narrow margin. His brief term, lasting less than 150 days, was marked by a dispute with Sen. Roscoe Conkling over patronage. On July 2 he was shot at Washington’s railroad station by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker. He died on Sept. 19 after 11 weeks of pub¬ lic debate over the ambiguous constitutional conditions for presidential succession (later clarified by the 20th and 25th Amendments).

Garfunkel, Art See Paul Simon

Gargano \gar-'ga-no\ Promontory ancient Garganum Moun¬ tainous promontory jutting into the Adriatic Sea from eastern coast of Italy. Called “the spur of the Italian boot,” it is 40 mi (65 km) long and 25 mi (40 km) at its widest, rising to 3,494 ft (1,065 m) at Mount Calvo. The northern coast has citrus and olive groves and vineyards along the shore; the southern slopes, facing the Foggia plain, are known for pro¬ ducing red wines.

Gargas Cave in southern France, discovered in 1887, containing murals from the Aurignacian Period. On its clay walls and ceiling are finger trac¬ ings and engraved pictures of wild horses, bison, and mammoths cut into the rock with a sharp tool. They may have functioned as magical images related to hunting and animal fertility. The most distinctive feature is the numerous human hand silhouettes painted in red and black, both as “nega¬ tive” prints (made by paint blown around and between the fingers while the hand is pressed against the wall) and as “positive” prints (made by hands dipped in paint). The oldest form of painting known (dating to c. 30,000 bc), hand silhouettes are widespread in the art of hunter-and- gatherer societies worldwide.

gargoyle Carved spout that drains water from a rooftop gutter. The Gothic gargoyle was usually a grotesque bird or animal sitting on the back of a cornice and projecting forward for several feet in order to throw the water far from the building. The term is often loosely applied to any gro¬ tesque or fantastic beast, such as the chimeres (chimeras) that decorate the parapets of Notre-Dame de Paris.

Garibaldi V.gar-s-'bol-deV, Giuseppe (b. July 4, 1807, Nice, French Empire—d. June 2, 1882, Caprera, Italy) Italian patriot and soldier of the Risorgimento. He came under the influence of Giuseppe Mazzini in 1834, took part in a failed mutiny intended to provoke a republican revolution in Piedmont, and escaped to France. He lived in exile in South America (1836-48) and learned guerrilla warfare tactics during liberation attempts in Brazil and Uruguay. He returned to Italy in 1848 with his small band of “Red Shirts” and fought in Milan in the war of independence against Austria. After Pope Pius IX fled Rome (1848), Garibaldi for a while defended the city from the French when they attempted to reinstate papal rule. His bold retreat through central Italy made him a well-known fig¬ ure. He lived in exile again until 1854, and in 1859 he led an army in another war against Austria. In 1860, with no government backing, he raised an army of about 1,000 men and attacked Sicily; by the end of his campaign, he commanded 30,000 men, with whom he seized Naples. He

James A. Garfield, 1880.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Garland ► Garrett I 737

handed all of southern Italy over to Victor Emmanuel II and hailed him as the first king of a united Italy. With secret support from Victor Emman¬ uel, he led unsuccessful campaigns into the Papal States in 1862 and

Garland City (pop., 2000:

215,768), northern Texas, U.S. Bor¬ dering Dallas, it was founded when two rival railroad communities,

Duck Creek and Embree, were con¬ solidated in 1887. Its economy is industrialized and supplemented by the farm crops grown on the nearby Blacklands Belt. Manufactures include electronic equipment, chemicals, and scientific instru¬ ments.

Garland, Judy orig. Frances Gumm (b. June 10, 1922, Grand Rapids, Minn., U.S.—d. June 22,

1969, London, Eng.) U.S. singer and film actress. Born into a family of vaudeville performers, she made her stage debut at age three. She toured with her sisters until making her debut in a short film, Every Sunday (1936). She was a hit in Broadway Melody of 1938 and starred as a wholesome girlfriend in nine films with Mickey Rooney, including Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). She became an international star as Dor¬ othy in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Among her other musical hits were Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), and Summer Stock (1950). Her sweet but powerful voice and emotional range made her a legendary concert performer. After record-breaking engagements at the London Palladium and New York’s Palace Theatre, she returned to the screen in triumph in A Star Is Born (1954), and she was acclaimed for her role in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). Her life was troubled by bro¬ ken marriages and a reliance on drugs, which led to her early death. Her daughters, Liza Minnelli (by Vincente Minnelli) and Loma Luft, followed her to the musical stage.

Garland Sutra See Avatamsaka-sutra

garlic Bulbous perennial plant (Allium sativum ) of the lily family, native to central Asia and growing wild in Italy and southern France. The bulbs are used as a flavouring. A classic ingredient in many national cuisines, garlic has a powerful onionlike aroma and pungent taste; its wide use in the U.S. originated among European immigrant groups. Since ancient and medieval times it has been prized for its medicinal properties; it was for¬ merly carried as a charm against vampires and other evils. Garlic bulbs are used sliced or crushed to flavour sauces, stews, and salad dressings. The membranous skin of the garlic bulb encloses up to 20 edible bulb- lets called cloves. See also allium.

Garner, Erroll (Louis) (b. June 15,1921, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—d. Jan. 2, 1977, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. pianist and composer, one of the most virtuosic and popular pianists in jazz. Garner was influenced by Fats Waller and was entirely self-taught. He spelled Art Tatum in the latter’s trio in 1945 and subsequently formed his own three-piece group, achiev¬ ing commercial success with Concert by the Sea (1958), one of the best¬ selling albums in jazz. Like Waller and Tatum, Garner was adept at performing both with a rhythm section and unaccompanied, often estab¬ lishing great momentum with his sure sense of swing. His best-known composition is “Misty.”

Garner, John Nance (b. Nov. 22, 1868, Red River county, Texas, U.S.—d. Nov. 7, 1967, Uvalde, Texas) U.S. politician. He practiced law before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1903-33), where he rose to become speaker in 1931. Adept at backstage maneuvering, he sup¬

ported the graduated income tax and the Federal Reserve System. Elected vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, he was a conservative in the New Deal administration; he broke with Roosevelt in his second term over Roosevelt’s attempt to pack (enlarge) the U.S. Supreme Court. He retired to his Texas ranch in 1941.

garnet Any of a group of common silicate minerals with identical crys¬ tal structure but highly variable chemical composition. Garnets are most often found in metamorphic rocks but also occur in certain types of igne¬ ous rocks, and, usually in minor amounts, in some sedimentary rocks. They may be colourless, black, or many shades of red and green. Garnets are hard, and they fracture with sharp edges. They are used as abrasives for fine sanding and polishing of wood, leather, glass, metals, and plas¬ tics, as sandblasting agents, and in nonskid surface coatings. Garnet is the birthstone for January. Garnets have been mined in New York, Maine, and Idaho in the U.S., the world’s leading producer; notable quantities have also been found in Australia, China, India, and elsewhere.

Garnet, Henry Highland (b. 1815, New Market, Md., U.S.—d. Feb. 13, 1882, Liberia) U.S. clergyman and abolitionist. Bom a slave, he escaped in 1824 to New York, where he became a Presbyterian minister. He joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and agitated for emancipa¬ tion; in a 1843 speech at a national convention of freedmen he called on slaves to revolt and murder their masters. The convention refused to endorse his radicalism, and he gradually turned more toward religion, serving as pastor in a number of Presbyterian pulpits during the next two decades. Late in life he favoured emigration of U.S. blacks to Africa. He was appointed U.S. minister to Liberia in 1881 but died within two months of his arrival in the African nation.

Gamier \gam-'ya\, Francis French Marie-Joseph-Francois Gamier (b. July 25, 1839, Saint-Etienne, France—d. Dec. 21, 1873, near Hanoi, Viet.) French naval officer, colonial administrator, and explorer. Son of an army officer, he joined the navy and participated in the French advance into southern Vietnam in 1861. An enthusiastic believer in France’s imperial destiny, he promoted the exploration of the Mekong River and took part in the first European expedition to enter the Chinese province of Yunnan from the south (1866-68). His account, Voy¬ age d’exploration en Indo-Chine, 1866-68 (1873), is a valuable record of the political and economic situation of the countries through which he passed. Summoned to Saigon in 1873 to rein in unauthorized trading with China, he instead tried to seize territory for France in northern Vietnam and was killed in the attempt.

Gamier \garn-'ya\, Tony (b. Aug. 13, 1869, Lyon, Fr.—d. Jan. 19, 1948, Roquefort-la Bedoule) French architect. The son of Charles Gam¬ ier (see Paris Opera), he held the position of architect of Lyon from 1905 to 1919. He is known chiefly for his Cite Industrielle, a farsighted plan for an industrial city. Most striking is his depiction of simplified reinforced-concrete forms inspired by the pioneering work of Auguste Perret. The most important work in Lyon to emerge from his Cite Indus¬ trielle plan was the large stockyard complex of 1908-24.

garnishment In law, attachment of a debtor’s wages to satisfy a judg¬ ment. Under a garnishment order, the court requires the employer to deduct and pay to the creditor a percentage of the debtor’s salary until the debt is satisfied. As legal redress, the practice can be traced to Roman law. See also debtor and creditor.

Garonne \ga-'ron\ River ancient Garumna River, southwestern France. The most important river of southwestern France, it is 357 mi (575 km) long. Formed by two glacial headstreams in the central Span¬ ish Pyrenees, it flows north through mountain passes and descends to flow east across France. It continues to Toulouse and then to Bordeaux, where it is 1,800 ft (550 m) across. Flowing by the wine-growing Entre-deux- Mers peninsula, it unites with the Dordogne River 16 mi (26 km) north of Bordeaux to form the vast Gironde estuary.

Garrett, Pat(rick Floyd) (b. June 5, 1850, Chambers county, Ala., U.S.—d. Feb. 29, 1908, near Las Cruces, N.M.) U.S. lawman. He worked as a cowboy and buffalo hunter until 1879, when he settled in Lincoln county, N.M., and became sheriff. In 1881 he tracked down and shot the escaped outlaw Billy the Kid. He was later a rancher near Roswell, N.M., deputy sheriff and then sheriff of Dona Ana county, N.M., and customs collector in El Paso, Texas. He was fatally shot in an apparent dispute over the lease of his ranch, though suspicions lingered that he was executed by an enemy from his days as sheriff.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

738 i Garrick ► gas chromatography

Garrick, David (b. Feb. 19, 1717, Hereford, Herefordshire, Eng.—d. Jan. 20, 1779, London) British actor, producer, and playwright. Tutored in his boyhood by Samuel Johnson, he settled in London as a wine mer¬ chant before winning fame with his acting debut as Richard III in 1741. In diverse roles in plays such as King Lear, Hamlet, and Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist, he was acclaimed for his naturalistic style and came to be regarded as one of England’s greatest actors. As part owner and manager of the Drury Lane Theatre (1747-76) he made it London’s most prosper¬ ous theatre, reformed theatrical stage practices, and replaced many Res¬ toration adaptations of Shakespeare with his own versions. He wrote over 20 plays.

Garrison, William Lloyd (b. Dec. 10/12, 1805, Newburyport, Mass., U.S.—d. May 24, 1879, New York,

N.Y.) U.S. journalist and abolitionist.

He was editor of the National Phi¬ lanthropist (Boston) newspaper in 1828 and the Journal of the Times (Bennington, Vt.) in 1828-29, both dedicated to moral reform. In 1829 he and Benjamin Lundy edited the Genius of Universal Emancipation.

In 1831 he founded The Liberator, which became the most radical of the antislavery journals. In 1833 he helped found the American Anti- Slavery Society. In 1837 he renounced church and state and embraced the doctrines of Christian “perfectionism,” which combined abolition, women’s rights, and non- resistance with the biblical injunc¬ tion to “come out” from a corrupt society by refusing to obey its laws and support its institutions. His radi¬ cal blend of pacifism and anarchism precipitated a crisis in the Anti- Slavery Society, a majority of whose members chose to secede when he and his followers voted a series of resolutions admitting women (1840). In the two decades between the schism of 1840 and the American Civil War, Garrison’s influence waned as his radicalism increased. Through The Liberator he denounced the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas- Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision and hailed John Brown’s raid. During the Civil War he forswore pacifism to support Pres. Abraham Lin¬ coln and welcomed the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1865 he retired but continued to press for women’s suffrage, temperance, and free trade.

Garson, Greer (b. Sept. 29, 1904, Manor Park, London, Eng.—d. April 6, 1996, Dallas, Texas, U.S.) British-born U.S. film actress. A stage actress in England from 1932, she was acclaimed in her first U.S. film, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), and later in Mrs. Miniver (1942, Academy Award). Known for her portrayals of women of moral courage and vir¬ tue, she starred in films such as Pride and Prejudice (1940), Madame Curie (1943), and Mrs. Parkington (1944). She retired around 1955 but returned to the screen as Eleanor Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello

(1960).

garter snake Any of more than a dozen species of snakes (genus Thamnophis, family Colubridae) with a striped pattern that resembles a garter: usually one or three longi¬ tudinal yellow or red stripes, with checkered blotches between. Forms in which the stripes are obscure or lacking are called grass snakes.

Found in gardens and vacant lots, garters are among the most common snakes from Canada to Central America. They are small (usually less than 24 in., or 60 cm, long) and harmless, though some will strike if provoked. They eat insects, earth¬ worms, and amphibians.

Garter, (The Most Noble) Order of the English order of knight¬ hood founded by Edward III in 1348 and considered the highest British honor. Legend holds that it was created after an incident in which Edward

was dancing with the Countess of Salisbury, when one of her garters dropped to the floor. As bystanders snickered, Edward gallantly picked up the garter and put it on his own leg, admonishing the courtiers in French with what is now the order’s motto, “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (“Shame to him who thinks evil of it”). Membership consists of the British sov¬ ereign and the prince of Wales, each with 25 “knight companions.”

Garuda Vg9-ru-d9\ In Hindu mythology, the bird (similar to a kite or eagle) on whom the god Vishnu rides. Garuda was a younger brother of Aruna, charioteer of the sun god Surya. His mother was enslaved by nagas (hence the emnity between kites and serpents) and was released only after Garuda brought the serpents an elixir of immortality. He is associated with royalty in several S.East Asian countries.

Garvey, Marcus (Moziah) (b. Aug. 17, 1887, St. Ann’s Bay, Jam.—d. June 10, 1940, London,

Eng.) Jamaican-born U.S. black- nationalist leader. In 1914 he founded the Universal Negro Improve¬ ment Association; after moving to the U.S. in 1916, he established branches in New York’s Harlem and other black neighbourhoods in the North. By 1919 the rising “Black Moses” claimed a following of about two million, to whom he spoke of a “new Negro,” proud of being black.

His newspaper, Negro World (1919—

33), advocated an independent black economy within the framework of white capitalism, and he established black-run businesses, including the Black Star shipping line. In 1920 he convened an international conven¬ tion to unify blacks and encourage trade between Africa and the U.S.

His influence declined rapidly when he was indicted in 1922 for mail fraud. After he had served two years in prison, his sentence was com¬ muted and he was deported (1927). His movement, the first important black-nationalist movement in the U.S., soon died out.

Gary City (pop., 2000: 102,746), northwestern Indiana, U.S. Located at the southern end of Lake Michigan, it was laid out by the U.S. Steel Corp. in 1906. Gary prospered until a decline in the steel industry in the 1980s led to plant closings. City revitalization efforts were introduced in the 1990s. It was the scene, in the early 20th century, of a development in public education when William A. Wirt (b. 1874—d. 1938) established the work-study-play school, popularly known as the platoon school.

Gary, Elbert H(enry) (b. Oct. 8, 1846, near Wheaton, Ill., U.S.—d. Aug. 15, 1927, New York, N.Y.) U.S. businessman, chief organizer of the U.S. Steel Corp. He began practicing law in 1871, becoming an authority on corporate law, and he served as judge of DuPage County, Ill. (1882— 90). In 1898 he became president of Federal Steel Co.; when Federal merged with other companies to become U.S. Steel Corp. in 1901, Gary was elected chairman of the board of directors. As chief executive officer for 26 years, he presided over its growth and development. He promoted profit sharing, higher wages, and better working conditions, but he was a firm opponent of unions. Gary, Ind., named in his honour, was laid out in 1906 by U.S. Steel.

gas One of the three fundamental states of matter, in which matter has no definite shape, is very fluid, and has a density about 0.1% that of liq¬ uids. Gas is very compressible but tends to expand indefinitely, and it fills any container. A small change in temperature or pressure produces a sub¬ stantial change in its volume; these relationships are expressed as equa¬ tions in the gas laws. The kinetic theory of gases, developed in the 19th century, describes gases as assemblages of tiny particles (atoms or mol¬ ecules) in constant motion and contributed much to an understanding of their behaviour. The term gas can also mean gasoline, natural gas, or the anesthetic nitrous oxide. See also solid.

gas, intestinal See intestinal gas

gas chromatography (GC) Type of chromatography with a gas mix¬ ture as the mobile phase. In a packed column, the packing or solid sup¬ port (held in a tube) serves as the stationary phase (vapour-phase

William Lloyd Garrison.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Marcus Garvey, 1922.

UPI

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

gas laws ► gastrectomy I 739

chromatography, or VPC) or is coated with a liquid stationary phase (gas- liquid chromatography, or GLC). In capillary columns, the stationary phase coats the walls of small-diameter tubes. The sample of gas or vola¬ tile liquid to be analyzed is injected into the inlet; its components move through with a carrier gas (usually hydrogen, helium, or argon) at rates influenced by their degree of interaction with the stationary phase. The temperature, nature of the stationary phase, and column length can be varied to improve separation. The gas stream issuing from the column’s end may pass through a thermal conductivity detector or a flame ioniza¬ tion detector, where its properties are compared with those of known ref¬ erence substances. GC is used to measure air pollutants, essential oils, gases or alcohol in blood, and composition of industrial process streams.

gas laws Laws that relate the pressure, volume, and temperature of a gas. Boyle’s law—named for Robert Boyle —states that, at constant tempera¬ ture, the pressure P of a gas varies inversely with its volume V, or PV = k, where k is a constant. Charles’s law—named for J.-A.-C. Charles (1746-1823)—states that, at constant pressure, the volume V of a gas is directly proportional to its absolute (Kelvin) temperature T, or V/T = k. These two laws can be combined to form a single generalization of the behaviour of gases known as an equation of state, PV = nRT, where n is the number of gram-moles of a gas and R is called the universal gas con¬ stant. Though this law describes the behaviour of an ideal gas, it closely approximates the behaviour of real gases. See also Joseph Gay-Lussac.

gas reservoir In geology, a naturally occurring storage area, charac¬ teristically a folded rock formation, that traps and holds natural gas. The reservoir rock must be permeable and porous to contain the gas, and it has to be capped by impervious rock in order to form an effective seal and prevent the gas from escaping. Typical reservoir rocks are sedimen¬ tary and include sands, sandstones, arkoses, and fissured limestones and dolomites. In the U.S. and certain other countries, artificial gas reservoirs are being created from depleted oil and gas fields, particularly near salt domes and in sedimentary basins, to store gas during periods of low con¬ sumption for later use.

Gascony \'gas-ks-ne\ French Gascogne \ga-'skon y \ ancient Vasco- nia Historical and cultural region, southwestern France. It encompasses portions of the southwestern French regions of Aquitaine and Midi- Pyrenees. Historically, it consisted of the northern foothills of the Pyrenees and extended east from the Basque Country along the France-Spain bor¬ der to Toulouse on the upper Garonne River. Under Roman rule it was the province of Novempopulana. Taken by the Visigoths in the 5th century and by the Franks in 507, it was overrun from 561 by the Basques, or Vascones; in 602 the Frankish kings recognized Vasconia, or Gascony, as a duchy. In 1052 it was conquered by Aquitaine, and in the 12th century it passed to the Plantagenet kings of England. In the Hundred Years' War, Gascony retained English allegiance until the French reconquest in the mid-15 th century.

Gascony, Gulf of See Bay of Bis¬ cay

Gascoyne River \'gas-,k6in\

River, western Western Australia. It rises west of the Gibson Desert and flows west for 475 mi (760 km) through gold-mining and sheep¬ raising country and empties into the Indian Ocean at Carnarvon on Shark Bay.

Gaskell Vgas-kolV, Elizabeth (Cleghorn) orig. Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson known as Mrs. Gaskell (b. Sept. 29, 1810,

Chelsea, London, Eng.—d. Nov. 12,

1865, near Alton, Hampshire) British writer. The daughter of a Unitarian minister, Gaskell also married a Uni¬ tarian minister and began writing in middle age. Cranford (1853), her most popular novel, and the unfin¬ ished Wives and Daughters (1864- 66), perhaps her best, are about the lives of country villagers. Mary Bar¬ ton (1848), Ruth (1853), and North

and South (1855) examine social problems of the urban working class. In 1857 she wrote the first biography of her friend Charlotte Bronte (see Bronte sisters).

gasoline British petrol Mixture of volatile, flammable hydrocarbons derived from petroleum, used as fuel for internal-combustion engines and as a solvent for oils and fats. Gasoline became the preferred automobile fuel because it releases a great deal of energy when burned, it mixed readily with air in a carburetor, and it initially was cheap due to a large supply. Costs have now increased greatly except where subsidized. Gasoline was first produced by distillation. Later processes increased the yield from crude oil by splitting large molecules into smaller ones. Still other meth¬ ods, such as conversion of straight-chain hydrocarbons into their branched-chain isomers, followed. The resulting gasoline is a complex mixture of hundreds of hydrocarbons. A gasoline’s octane number indi¬ cates its ability to resist knocking (premature combustion) and can be altered by changing the proportions of certain components. The compound tetraethyl lead, once used to reduce knocking, has been banned as toxic. Other additives include detergents, antifreezes, and antioxidants. Since the mid-20th century gasoline fumes have been recognized as a major com¬ ponent of urban air pollution. Efforts to reduce dependence on gasoline, which is a nonrenewable resource, include use of gasohol, a 9:1 mix of gasoline and ethanol, and the development of electric automobiles.

gasoline engine Most widely used form of internal-combustion engine, found in most automobiles and many other vehicles. Gasoline engines vary significantly in size, weight per unit of power generated, and arrangement of components. The principal type is the reciprocating-piston engine. In four-stroke engines, each cycle requires four strokes of the piston—intake, compression, power (expansion), and exhaust—and two revolutions of the crankshaft. In a two-stroke cycle, the compression and power strokes of the four-stroke cycle are carried out without the inlet and exhaust strokes, in one upstroke and one downstroke of the piston and one revolution of the crankshaft. The size, weight, and cost of the engine per horsepower are therefore less, and two-stroke-cycle engines are used in motorcycles and smaller machines (e.g., lawnmowers and power rakes). See also com¬ pression RATIO, PISTON AND CYLINDER, ROTARY ENGINE.

Gasparini, Angelo See Gasparo Angiolini

Gaspe \ga-'spa\ Peninsula Peninsula, southeastern Quebec, Canada. It extends east-northeast for 150 mi (240 km) from the Matapedia River into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, lying south of the St. Lawrence River and north of Chaleur Bay and New Brunswick. Much of the region is within conservation areas, including Gaspesian Provincial Park and Forillon National Park. Famous for its scenery, it is also noted for hunting and fishing. The chief settlements are along the coast.

Gasperi, Alcide De See Alcide De Gasperi

Gasprinski \g3s-'prin-ske\, Ismail (b. c. 1851, near Bakhchisaray, Crimea, Russian Empire—d. Sept. 11, 1914, Bakhchisaray) Russian-born Turkish journalist. Educated in Moscow, his travels brought him to Paris, where he met refugees from the Ottoman Empire who inspired him to take up the Turkish cause at home. He wrote about the cultural problems of Turkic Muslims for a Russian newspaper and later for his own bilingual paper, Terciimdn (founded 1883), which became Russia’s most influen¬ tial Turkish-language newspaper, advocating Pan-Islamism and Pan- Turkism. He was a committed advocate of educational reform.

Gastein \ga-'shtln\, Convention of (Aug. 20, 1865) Agreement between Austria and Prussia following their seizure of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark in 1864. The pact provided that Prussia was to administer Schleswig, Austria was to administer Holstein, and the emperor of Austria and the king of Prussia were to be sovereign over the duchies. Both duchies were admitted to the Zollverein. Joint administration led to disputes that ended with Austria’s defeat and exclu¬ sion from Germany in 1866. See also Schleswig-Holstein Question.

gastrectomy \ga-'strek-t9-me\ Surgical removal of all or part of the stomach to treat peptic ulcers. It eliminates the cells that secrete acid and halts the production of gastrin, the hormone that stimulates them. Once a common operation, it is now a last resort. The usual procedure, antrec¬ tomy, removes the lower half of the stomach (antrum), the chief site of gastrin secretion. The remaining stomach is joined to the duodenum. Sub¬ total gastrectomy removes up to three-quarters of the stomach. The great¬ est drawback is malnutrition caused by decreased appetite and inability to digest food.

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Elizabeth Gaskell, chalk drawing by George Richmond, 1851; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

740 I gastritis ► gaucho literature

gastritis \ga-'stri-t3s\ Inflammation in the stomach. Acute gastritis, usu¬ ally caused by ingesting something irritating or by infection, starts sud¬ denly, with severe pain, vomiting, thirst, and diarrhea, and subsides rapidly. Treatment involves a short fast and then a bland diet, sedatives, and antispasmodics. Chemical gastritis, from ingestion of corrosive chemicals, requires emptying and washing out the stomach. Chronic gas¬ tritis has vague symptoms, including abdominal discomfort or pain, poor appetite, gas, and irregular bowel movements. Causes include prolonged use of aspirin or other irritating drugs, infection with Helicobacter pylori, and pernicious anemia. Treatment for chronic gastritis depends on the cause.

gastroenteritis \ I ga-stro-,en-t3- , ri-t9s\ Acute infectious syndrome of the stomach lining and intestines. Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps. Severity varies from transient diarrhea to life- threatening dehydration, children and the very old being more at risk for the latter. Many microorganisms produce it, either by secreting toxins or by invading the gut walls. Forms of gastroenteritis include food poison¬ ing, cholera, and traveler’s diarrhea. Depending on cause and severity, treatment includes antibiotics or simply supportive care.

gastroenterology V.ga-stro-.en-to-'ra-lo-jeX Medical specialty dealing with digestion and the digestive system. In the 17th century Jan Baptista van Helmont conducted the first scientific studies in the field; William Beaumont published his own observations in 1833. Lavage (washing out the stomach) and endoscopy were developed in the 19th century, and endoscopy and X rays with a contrast medium were first used to visualize the stomach and digestive organs in the 1890s. Gastroenterologists diag¬ nose and treat disorders of the stomach, intestines, liver, and pancreas, including ulcers, tumours, inflammatory diseases (including ulcerative coli¬ tis and ileitis), and rectal disorders.

gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) Disorder character¬ ized by frequent passage of gastric contents from the stomach back into the esophagus. Symptoms of GERD may include heartburn, coughing, frequent clearing of the throat, and difficulty in swallowing. It can be caused by relaxation of the muscle that connects the esophagus and the stomach, delayed emptying of the esophagus or stomach, hiatal hernia, obesity, or pregnancy. Treatment is with antacids or acid-inhibiting medi¬ cations and lifestyle changes such as not eating before bedtime, avoiding acidic or fatty foods or beverages, cessation of smoking, and weight loss. Surgery may be necessary in severe cases.

gastronomy Art of selecting, preparing, serving, and enjoying fine food. Two early centres of gastronomy were China (from the 5th century bc) and Rome, the latter noted for the excess and ostentation of its ban¬ quets. The foundations of modem Western gastronomy were laid during the Renaissance, particularly in Italy and France. The influential grande cuisine of France reached its apex in the works of Marie-Antoine Careme and Auguste Escoffier. Regardless of regional differences in cuisine, a pri¬ mary consideration in food preparation is freshness. Others include com¬ plementarity or opposition of taste, contrast of textures, and overall appearance, including colour harmony and accent. See also nouvelle cui¬ sine.

gastropod Any member of the class Gastropoda, the largest group of mollusks, including about 65,000 species. Gastropods, which include the snails, conchs, whelks, limpets, periwinkles, abalones, slugs, and sea slugs (see nudibranch), are found worldwide, in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Gastropods typically have a large foot with a flat sole for crawling, a single coiled shell that covers the soft body, and a head that bears a pair of eyes and tentacles. However, they are so diverse that some forms lack shells, while animals in one genus have shells with two halves, like bivalves. Most feed by using a radula, a ribbon of small horny teeth that tear food into pieces. They may be herbivores, carnivores, predators, parasites, or filter feeders of plankton and detritus.

Gates of the Arctic National Park National preserve, northern Alaska, U.S. Its area of 11,756 sq mi (30,448 sq km) is entirely north of the Arctic Circle. Proclaimed a national monument in 1978, the area under¬ went boundary changes and was renamed in 1980. It includes a portion of the Central Brooks Range. The southern slopes are forested, contrast¬ ing with the barren northern reaches at the edge of Alaska’s North Slope.

Gates, Bill in full William Henry Gates III (b. Oct. 28, 1955, Seattle, Wash., U.S.) U.S. computer programmer and businessman. As a teenager, he helped computerize his high school’s payroll system and

founded a company that sold traffic-counting systems to local govern¬ ments. At 19 he dropped out of Harvard University and cofounded Microsoft Corp. with Paul G. Allen (b. 1954). Microsoft began its domi¬ nation of the fledgling microcomputer industry when Gates licensed the operating system MS-DOS to IBM in 1980 for use in IBM’s first personal computer. As Microsoft’s largest shareholder, Gates became a billionaire in 1986, and within a decade he was the world’s richest private individual. Beginning in 1995, he refocused Microsoft on the development of soft¬ ware solutions for the Internet, and he also moved the company into the computer hardware and gaming markets with the Xbox video machine. In 1999 he and his wife created the largest charitable foundation in the U.S.

Gates, Henry Louis (Jr.) (b. Sept. 16, 1950, Keyser, W.Va., U.S.) U.S. critic and scholar. Gates attended Yale University and the University of Cambridge. He has chaired Harvard University’s department of Afro- American Studies for many years. In such works as Figures in Black (1987) and The Signifying Monkey (1988) he has used the term signifyin’ to represent a practice that can link African and African American liter¬ ary histories; his other books include Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man (1998). He has edited many anthologies, including Reading Black, Reading Feminist (1990) and the Norton Anthology of African American Writers (1997), and has restored and edited many lost works by black writers. He writes frequently to a general public, notably in The New Yorker, and he wrote the television series Wonders of the African World

(1999).

Gates, Horatio (b. c. 1728, Maldon, Essex, Eng.—d. April 10, 1806, New York, N.Y., U.S.) English-born American general. He served in the British army during the French and Indian War. In 1772 he immigrated to Virginia, where he sided with colonial interests. He was made adjutant general of the Continental Army (1775) and succeeded Gen. Philip Schuyler in New York (1777). Assisted by Benedict Arnold, he forced the surren¬ der of British forces under John Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga (1777). Congress then chose Gates as president of the Board of War. Supporters, including Thomas Conway, sought to have Gates replace George Wash¬ ington, but the plan failed, and Gates returned to his New York command. In 1780 he was transferred to the South, where he attempted to oust the British forces under Charles Cornwallis but was defeated at the Battle of Camden, S.C. An official inquiry was ordered, but charges never were pressed. He retired to Virginia, then freed his slaves in 1790 and moved to New York.

Gatling gun Hand-cranked multi barrel rotary gun. It was invented by Richard J. Gatling (1818-1903) during the American Civil War. Making use of the newly invented brass cartridge, he assembled a cluster of 10 barrels, each of which was fired and reloaded during rotation by a crank. The barrels were loaded by gravity and the action of the cartridge con¬ tainer, and the spent cartridge cases were ejected. Without equal in the era of single-shot guns, it could fire as many as 3,000 rounds per minute. It became obsolete in the 1880s when the invention of smokeless powder led to development of a truly automatic machine gun.

GATT See General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

Gatun \ga-'tiin\ Lake Spanish Lago Gatun \Ta-go-ga-'tun\ Lake, Panama. Constituting part of the Panama Canal system, its area is 166 sq mi (430 sq km). It was formed by damming the Chagres River in 1912. Its dam and spillway serve to hold sufficient water in the Gaillard Cut for ships’ passage and for use in the canal’s locks during dry spells. Guacha Island, a wildlife sanctuary, lies in the centre of the lake.

Gauches, Cartel des See Cartel des Gauches

gaucho Any of the nomadic and colourful horsemen of the Argentine and Uruguayan Pampas, who remain folk heroes famed for hardiness and lawlessness. Gauchos flourished from the mid 18th to the mid 19th cen¬ tury. At first they rounded up the herds of horses and cattle that roamed freely on the vast grasslands east of the Andes. In the early 19th century they fought in the armies that defeated the Spanish colonial regime and then for the caudillos who jockeyed for power after independence. Argen¬ tine writers have celebrated the gauchos, and gaucho literature is an important part of the Latin American cultural tradition.

gaucho literature Latin American poetic genre that imitates the pay- adas (“ballads”) traditionally sung to guitar accompaniment by wander¬ ing gaucho minstrels of Argentina and Uruguay. By extension, the term includes the body of Latin American prose literature about the gaucho

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Gaudi ► gay rights movement I 741

way of life and philosophy. Long a part of folk literature, gaucho lore became a subject of 19th-century Romantic verse, as well as prose that often explores themes of conflict between the old and the new.

Gaudi \'gau-the\ (i Cornet), Antoni Spanish Antonio Gaudi y Cornet (b. June 25, 1852, Reus, Spain—d. June 10, 1926, Barcelona) Spanish (Catalan) architect. Though his early works were Mudejar (Span¬ ish Muslim-Christian) in effect, his work after 1902 eluded all conven¬ tion. He began to produce “equilibrated” structures able to stand on their own without bracing; his system employed piers and columns that tilt to transmit diagonal forces and thin-shell, laminated-tile vaults. Works such as the Park Giiell (1900-14), Casa Mila (1905-10), and Casa Batllo (1904-06) feature undulating surfaces and polychrome decoration (e.g., pieces of broken ceramic). Much of his later career was occupied with the extraordinary church of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia), still unfin¬ ished at his death, in which he transformed the Gothic style into a com¬ plex forest of flowing forms and exuberant detail, with spiral-shaped piers, vaults, towers, and a hyperbolic paraboloid roof.

Gaugamela V.go-go-'me-bV Battle of (331 bc) Clash between the forces of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia that brought the fall of the Persian empire. Attempting to stop Alexander’s incursions, Darius prepared a battleground on the Plain of Gaugamela in present-day Iraq and, with his much larger army, waited for Alexander. His plans were undone by Alexander’s brilliant tactics; when Darius saw defeat was imminent, he fled and his army was cut down. Alexander’s victory gave him control of South Asia.

gauge \'gaj\ In manufacturing and engineering, a device used to deter¬ mine whether a dimension is larger or smaller than a reference standard. A snap gauge, for example, is formed like the letter C, with outer “go” and inner “not go” jaws, and is used to check diameters, lengths, and thicknesses. Screw-thread pitch gauges have triangular serrations spaced to correspond with various pitches, or numbers of threads per inch or per centimeter. Deviation-type or dial gauges indicate the amount by which an object deviates from the standard.

Gauguin \g6-'ga n \, (Eugene-Henri-) Paul (b. June 7, 1848, Paris, France—d. May 8, 1903, Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia) French painter, sculptor, and printmaker. He spent his child¬ hood in Lima (his mother was a Peruvian Creole). From c. 1872 to 1883 he was a successful stockbroker in Paris. He met Camille Pissarro about 1875, and he exhibited several times with the Impressionists. Disillusioned with bourgeois materialism, in 1886 he moved to Pont-Aven, Brittany, where he became the central figure of a group of artists known as the Pont-Aven school. Gauguin coined the term “Synthetism” to describe his style during this period, referring to the synthesis of his paintings’ formal elements with the idea or emotion they conveyed. Late in October 1888 Gauguin traveled to Arles, in the south of France, to stay with Vincent van Gogh. The style of the two men’s work from this period has been classified as Post-Impressionist because it shows an individual, personal development of Impressionism’s use of colour, brushstroke, and nontra- ditional subject matter. Increasingly focused on rejecting the materialism of contemporary culture in favour of a more spiritual, unfettered lifestyle, in 1891 he moved to Tahiti. His works became open protests against materialism. He was an influential innovator; Fauvism owed much to his use of colour, and he inspired Pablo Picasso and the development of Cub¬ ism.

Gauhati See Guwahati

Gaul Latin Gallia Ancient country, Europe, located generally south and west of the Rhine, west of the Alps, and north of the Pyrenees. The Gauls north of the Po River harried Rome from c. 400 bc; by 181 bc Rome had subjugated and colonized that area of northern Italy they called Cisalpine Gaul. Rome conquered the region known as Transalpine Gaul over the next century. It included most of modern France and Belgium and parts of Switzerland, Germany, and The Netherlands. Julius Caesar completed the conquest of Gaul (see Gallic Wars) in 58-50 bc; Lugdunum (Lyon) became the capital. The entire area was reorganized in the 1st century ad into several provinces, including Narbonensis, Aquitania, Lugdunensis, and Belgica. By ad 260 it had become a centre of unrest; by the 6th century Rome had given up all its Gallic territories.

Gaulle, Charles de See Charles de Gaulle Gaullists See Rally for the Republic

Gauss \'gaus\, Carl Friedrich orig. Johann Friedrich Carl Gauss (b. April 30, 1111, Brunswick, Duchy of Brunswick—d. Feb. 23, 1855, Gottingen, Hanover) German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. Born to poor parents, he was a prodigy of astounding depth. By his early teens he had already performed astonishing proofs. He published over 150 works and made such important contributions as the fundamen¬ tal theorem of algebra (in his doctoral dissertation), the least squares method, Gauss-Jordan elimination (for solving matrix equations), and the bell curve, or Gaussian error curve (see normal distribution). Gauss made important contributions to physics and astronomy and pioneered the appli¬ cation of mathematics to gravitation, electricity, and magnetism. He also developed the fields of potential theory and real analysis. With Archimedes and Newton, he is one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.

Gaussian distribution See normal distribution

Gautier \go-'tya\, Theophile (b. Aug. 31, 1811, Tarbes, France—d. Oct. 23, 1872, Neuilly-sur-Seine) French poet, novelist, critic, and jour¬ nalist. He lived most of his life in Paris, where he initially studied paint¬ ing. He insisted on the sovereignty of the beautiful in such works as the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835). He developed a poetic technique for recording his exact impressions of works of art, as in the formally perfect poems of Emaux et camees (1852). Travel inspired some of his best poetry, in Espaha (1845), and finest prose, in Voyage en Espagne (1845). He also wrote copious art and drama criticism. His works inspired such poets as Charles Baudelaire, whose Fleurs du Mai was dedicated to him, and his prodigious and varied output influenced literary sensibilities for decades.

gavotte \go-'vat\ Folk dance of French peasant origin, supposedly danced by the people of Gap (Gavots). The dance became popular as a court dance in the 17th—18th century, developing more complicated steps under the direction of ballet masters. Its slow, walking steps were danced to music in % time. Musically it included three parts and was an optional movement of the suite.

Gawain \g3-'wan, 'ga-,wan\ Knight of King Arthur’s Round Table. A nephew of Arthur, he appears in early Arthurian legend as a model of per¬ fection. In later romances, his character is marred by arrogance and by an inability to perceive the significance of the grail. In the 14th-century Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, he accepted a challenge from a mysterious Green Knight, who offered to let Gawain chop off his head if he could return the blow one year later. When the blow was struck, the Knight picked up his head and left the court, and Gawain set out in search of him. After passing through a series of temp¬ tations, Gawain met the Green Knight’s blows and suffered only a small wound, his neck protected by a magical green sash.

gay rights movement or homosexual rights movement

Civil-rights movement that advocates equal rights for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. Supporters of gay rights seek to eliminate sodomy laws barring homosexual acts between consenting adults and call for an end to discrimination against gay men and lesbians in employment, credit, lending, housing, marriage, adoption, public accommodations, and other areas of life. The first group to campaign publicly was founded in Berlin in 1897 by Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) and had 25 local chap¬ ters in Europe by 1922; suppressed by the Nazis, it did not survive World War II. The first U.S. support group, the Mattachine Society, was founded in Los Angeles c. 1950; the Daughters of Bilitis, for lesbians, was founded in San Francisco in 1955. The Dutch Association for the Integration of Homosexuality COC, founded as the COC (Cultuur en Ontspannings Cen¬ trum [“Culture and Recreation Center”]) in 1946 and headquartered in Amsterdam, is a prominent European group and the oldest existing gay rights organization. Many date the expansion of the modern gay rights movement to the Stonewall rebellion in New York City in 1969, when a raid by police on a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn provoked a riot by bar patrons. “Stonewall” came to be commemorated annually by the observance of Gay and Lesbian Pride Week in cities around the world. The International Lesbian and Gay Association (founded 1978), head¬ quartered in Brussels, lobbies for human rights and opposes discrimina¬ tion against homosexuals. Although the movement is strongest in western Europe and North America, gay rights organizations exist in many coun¬ tries throughout the world. Among the major issues pressed by gay rights advocates in the 1990s and into the 21st century were the passage of hate crime laws and the establishment of legal rights for homosexuals to marry, adopt children, and serve openly in the military.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

742 I Gay > GDP

Gay, John (b. June 30, 1685, Barnstaple, Devon, Eng.—d. Dec. 4, 1732, London) British poet and dramatist.

From an ancient but impoverished Devonshire family, Gay was appren¬ ticed to a silk mercer in London but was released early. He soon cofounded the journal The British Apollo. His poetry collections included Rural Sports (1713) and Trivia (1716). He is best known for the BALLAD OPERA The Beggar’s Opera (1728), which ran for 62 perfor¬ mances (the longest run to that date).

The play, with music by John C. Pep- uscl^ 1667-1752), was a cynical tale of thieves and highwaymen intended to mirror the moral degradation of society; its success made it a land¬ mark in music-theatre history. It was adapted by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill as The Threepenny Opera (1928). Gay was buried in Westmin¬ ster Abbey.

Gay-Lussac \gel-ue-'sak\/ Jo¬ seph (-Louis) (b. Dec. 6, 1778,

Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat, France— d. May 9, 1850, Paris) French chemist and physicist. He showed that all gases expand by the same fraction of their volume for a given tempera¬ ture increase; this led to the devising of a new temperature scale whose profound thermodynamic significance was later established by Lord Kelvin. Taking measurements from a balloon flying more than 20,000 ft (6,000 m) high, he concluded that Earth’s magnetic intensity and atmo¬ spheric composition were constant to that altitude. With Alexander von Humboldt, he determined the proportions of hydrogen and oxygen in water. He is remembered as a pioneer investigator of the behaviour of gases and techniques of chemical analysis and a founder of meteorology.

Gaye, Marvin (Pentz) orig. Marvin Pentz Gay (b. April 2,1939, Washington, D.C., U.S.—d. April 1, 1984, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. singer and songwriter. Son of a Pentecostal minister, he learned to sing in church. He signed a contract with Harvey Fuqua (b. 1924) in 1959 and followed him to Motown, where he played drums on early Smokey Rob¬ inson hits. His own hits (from 1962) climaxed in “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1967). He paired with female singers, including Tammi Ter¬ rell (1946-70), in songs by Nick Ashford (b. 1943) and Valerie Simpson (b. 1948). With What’s Goin’ On? (1971) his songs became more socially conscious. Troubled in his personal relationships and finances, he reemerged in 1982 with “Sexual Healing.” He was shot to death by his father in a quarrel.

Gayomart \ l ga-yo-'mart\ In later Zoroastrianism, the first man and the progenitor of humankind. Created by Ahura Mazda, he was made incar¬ nate after 3,000 years of life as a spirit. His existence at first immobilized Ahriman, the evil spirit who wanted to invade creation, but after 30 years of attacks Ahriman destroyed Gayomart. His body became the earth’s minerals; gold was his seed, and from it sprang the human race.

Gaza Strip Arabic Qita* Ghazzah \ke-'ta-'ga-z3\ Hebrew Rezu'at Azza \re-zu-'at-'az-9\ Territory, southeastern Mediterranean Sea coast. Occupying 140 sq mi (363 sq km) northeast of the Sinai Peninsula, it is also the location of the city of Gaza, which has been a prosperous trad¬ ing centre for much of its history and was first mentioned in the 15th cen¬ tury bc. Often besieged by invaders, including Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians, it declined in importance after the Crusades. It was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century. After World War I (1914-18) the city and the strip became part of the British man¬ date of Palestine. Following the first Arab-Israeli war (1948-49), the ter¬ ritory was occupied by Egypt, and the city became that country’s headquarters in Palestine. The occupied area was later reduced to an area 25 mi (40 km) long, which became known as the Gaza Strip, still under Egyptian control. In the Six-Day War (1967) it was captured by Israel. The area’s chief economic problem was the extreme poverty of the large number of Palestinian Arab refugees living there. In 1987, rioting among Gaza’s Palestinians marked the beginning of the first intifadah. Continued unrest led in 1993 to an agreement between Israel and the Palestine Lib¬

eration Organization granting limited self-rule to the Palestinian popula¬ tion of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. A breakdown in further negotiations in 2000 led to another outbreak of violence. In an attempt to stem the fighting, Israel withdrew all its soldiers and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and control of the territory was transferred to the Palestinians.

gazebo \g3-'ze-bo\ Lookout in the form of a turret, cupola (small, lan- temlike dome), or garden house set on a height to give an extensive view. Few late-18th- and 19th-century rustic gazebos survive, but 17th-century turrets built up in an angle of the garden wall are not uncommon. The term now often refers specifically to a freestanding roofed structure, typi¬ cally octagonal, with open or latticework sides.

gazel See ghazel

gazelle Any of numerous species of graceful antelope (genus Gazella) found on open plains and arid lands from Mongolia to the Atlantic coast of North Africa and throughout east¬ ern and central tropical Africa.

Gazelles are 2-3 ft (60-90 cm) high at the shoulder. They range in herds that usually contain 5 to 10 individu¬ als but may include several hundred.

They are generally brown with white underparts and rump, and many have a horizontal dark band along each side. A light stripe runs down each side of the face. The horns have numerous raised rings and are vari¬ ously shaped, but all are slightly upturned at the ends. Some species are considered endangered.

Gazelle Peninsula Peninsula, extending northeast from the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Located in the South Pacific Ocean, the Gazelle Peninsula is about 50 mi (80 km) wide but tapers to 20 mi (32 km) where it joins the mainland. From coastal plains its surface rises to 7,999 ft (2,438 m) at Mount Sinewit in the central Baining Mountains. The peninsula is volcanically active and highly fertile, with cocoa and copra plantations along the coast. The area is the most populous portion of New Britain and was the base of German settlement late in the 19th century.

Gaziantep \,ga-ze-Sin-tep\formerly Aintab \In-'tab\ City (pop., 1997: 712,800), south-central Turkey. Located north of Aleppo, it was strategi¬ cally situated near ancient trade routes and has been inhabited since the early 4th millennium bc. Known as Hamtap, it was an important strong¬ hold guarding the Syrian-Byzantine border. Captured by Turks in 1183, it later changed hands among various invaders until its absorption into the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century. Called Aintab under the Otto¬ mans, it was occupied by the British and French after World War I (1914- 18). By then it was a centre of Turkish nationalist resistance to European occupation, and upon its return to Turkey in 1922 it was renamed in honour of its heroic stand (Turkish gazi, “champion”).

Gdansk \go-'dansk\ German Danzig \'dant-sik\ City (pop., 2000 est.: 456,574), capital of Pomorskie province, northern Poland. Located at the mouth of the Vistula River on the Baltic Sea, it was first mentioned in the late 10th century as a Polish town. The capital of the dukes of Pomerania in the 13th century, it was taken by the knights of the Teutonic Order in 1308. In 1466 Casimir IV regained the territory for Poland, and Gdansk expanded greatly. From 1793 it was controlled mainly by Prussia; fol¬ lowing World War I, it was a free city governed by Poland. In 1938 Adolf Hitler demanded that Gdansk be given back to Germany; Poland’s refusal was the excuse for his attack on Poland in 1939, which precipitated World War II. The city, greatly damaged during the war, was returned to Poland in 1945. It is now fully restored, with renewed port facilities. The inde¬ pendent labour union Solidarity was founded there in 1980.

Gdansk, Gulf of Inlet of the Baltic Sea. Bordered by Poland on the west and south and Russia on the east, it extends 40 mi (64 km) from north to south and 60 mi (97 km) east to west, reaching a maximum depth of more than 371 ft (113 m). Coastal activities include shipbuilding, fish¬ ing, and the resort trade.

GDP See gross domestic product

John Gay, oil painting by William Aik- man; in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.

COURTESY OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, EDINBURGH

Thomson's gazelle (Gazella thomsoni).

E.R. DEGGINGER

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

GE ► Geisel I 743

GE See General Electric Co.

Ge Hong Vgo-'huqX or Ko Hung (b. 283, Danyang, China—d. 343, Danyang) Chinese alchemist and Daoist philosopher. He received a Con- fucian education but later became interested in the Daoist cult of physi¬ cal immortality. His writings blended the occult doctrines of Daoism with the ethics of Confucius. His major work, Baopuzi (“He Who Holds to Simplicity”), discusses alchemy, diet, sexual hygiene, and meditation as well as the importance of ethical principles.

gear Machine component consisting of a toothed wheel attached to a rotating shaft. Gears operate in pairs, the teeth of one engaging the teeth of a second, to transmit and modify rotary motion and torque. To trans¬ mit motion smoothly, the contacting surfaces of gear teeth must be care¬ fully shaped to a specific profile. The smaller of a gear pair is often known as the pinion. If the pinion is on the driving shaft, the pair acts to reduce speed and to amplify torque; if the pinion is on the driven shaft, the pair acts to increase speed and reduce torque.

Geb \'geb\ or Keb In ancient Egyptian religion, the god of the earth and the physical support of the world. Geb and his sister Nut belonged to the second generation of deities at Heliopolis. In Egyptian art he was often depicted as lying at the feet of the air god, Shu, with Nut, the sky god¬ dess, arched above them. He was the third divine ruler among the gods, and the pharaohs claimed descent from him.

gecko Any of about 750 species of harmless but noisy lizards in the family Gekkonidae: small, usually nocturnal reptiles that have soft skin, a short, stout body, a large head, and weak limbs often equipped with suction-padded digits. The pads contain tiny hairlike projections that cling to surfaces, allowing geckos to climb absolutely smooth and vertical sur¬ faces and even to run across ceilings. Most are 1-6 in. (3-15 cm) long, including the tail, and they are usually drably coloured, with gray, brown, or white predominating. They live in habitats ranging from deserts to rainforests in warm areas worldwide. Where kept as pets in houses or apartments, they are allowed to run free and eat undesirable insects.

Gedrosia Xyo-'dro-zhoN Historic region, South Asia. It was located west of the Indus River, in what is now the Balochistan region of Pakistan. In 325 bc Alexander the Great’s forces suffered disastrous losses there as they returned from India. They captured the area, but after Alexander’s death his general Seleucus I Nicator was forced to make peace by trading Gedro¬ sia and all his territories east of the Hindu Kush for 500 elephants. His departure ended Greek intervention on the subcontinent of India.

Geertgen tot Sint Jans Vgart-gon-tot-sint-'yansV (fl. c. 1475-1495, Netherlands, Hapsburg empire) Dutch painter. Little is known of his career. His name means “Little Gerard of the Brethren of St. John,” after the religious order in Haarlem of which he was a lay brother. His only documented work, the large triptych The Crucifixion, was painted for the Brethren’s monastery. Paintings attributed to him include a luminous noc¬ turnal Nativity and St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness.

Geertz VgortsV, Clifford (James) (b. Aug. 23, 1926, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.) U.S. cultural anthropologist, a leading proponent of a form of anthropology that stresses the importance of symbols and interpretation in human social life. Culture, according to Geertz, is “a system of inher¬ ited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms”—forms that serve to impose meaning on the world and make it understandable. Geertz’s writ¬ ings have been influential both within and outside of anthropology; they include The Religion of Java (1960), The Interpretation of Cultures (1973), Local Knowledge (1983), and Works and Lives (1988). He referred to his ethnographic methodology as “thick description.” Geertz taught at the University of Chicago (1960-70), among other institutions, and in 1970 joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., becom¬ ing an emeritus professor in 2000. See also cultural anthropology.

Gegenbaur Vga-gon-.baurN, Karl (b. Aug. 21, 1826, Wurzburg, Bavaria—d. June 14, 1903, Heidelberg, Ger.) German anatomist. A strong supporter of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, he showed that com¬ parative anatomy supplies evidence of it. His Elements of Comparative Anatomy (1859) stressed that structural similarities in different animals, especially parts with a common origin (e.g., human arm, horse’s foreleg, and bird’s wing), give clues to their evolutionary history.

gegenschein Vga-gon-.shlfo or counterglow Oval patch of faint light exactly opposite the Sun in the night sky, so faint it can be seen only in the absence of moonlight, away from city lights, with the eyes adapted

to darkness. It is lost in the light of the Milky Way except in February, March, April, August, September, and October. The gegenschein and the zodiacal light form the most notable parts of a band of very faint light along the ecliptic. Both phenomena are thought to be the result of the reflection of sunlight from interplanetary dust grains.

Gehrig Vger-igV (Henry) Lou(is) (b. June 19, 1903, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 2, 1941, New York)

U.S. baseball player, one of the game’s great hitters. Gehrig attended Columbia University before joining the New York Yankees. From 1925 to 1939 the left-handed first baseman played in a record 2,130 consecutive games. He earned the nickname “the Iron Horse” long before this streak was over; Gehrig’s record was not broken until 1995 (see Cal Ripken). In 1932 Gehrig became the first player to hit four home runs in a single game, and he batted in 150 or more runs in a season seven times. In 1939 his physical abilities had begun to deteriorate and he took himself out of the lineup; he was diagnosed with AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS, which came to be known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He left baseball with a career batting average of .340 and 493 home runs. His 1,990 runs bat¬ ted in place him third in history, behind Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.

On July 4, 1939, more than 60,000 Yankee fans turned out to recognize Gehrig’s achievements and heard him deliver a speech in which he claimed to be the “luckiest man on the face of the earth.” Gehrig was the first player to have his number (4) retired by his team.

Gehry \'ger-e\, Frank O(wen) (b. Feb. 28, 1929, Toronto, Ont., Can.) Canadian-born U.S architect. He studied at the University of Southern California and Harvard University. In his early buildings, his use of inex¬ pensive materials (chain-link fencing, plywood, corrugated steel) gave many of his projects an unfinished, whimsical air. His structures are often characterized by unconventional or distorted shapes that have a sculptural, fragmented, or collagelike quality. In designing public buildings, he tends to cluster small units within a larger space rather than creating monolithic structures, thus emphasizing human scale. Of particular note is his Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1991-97) in Spain, a shimmering pile of sharply twisting, curving shapes surfaced in titanium. Gehry won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989.

Geiger Vgl-gorX, Abraham (b. May 24, 1810, Frankfurt am Main, Ger.—d. Oct. 23, 1874, Berlin) German Jewish theologian. He served as rabbi in Wiesbaden from 1832 and in Breslau 1838-63. He helped found a theological journal in 1835 and served as its editor. Geiger urged the need for simplified ritual, liturgy in one’s native language, and emphasis on the prophetic writings as the core of Judaism, and he stressed the pro¬ cess of change and growth in Jewish religious consciousness, a basic idea in Reform Judaism.

Geiger Vgl-g3r\, Theodor Julius (b. Nov. 9, 1891, Munich, Ger.—d. June 16, 1952, at sea) German sociologist. An early critic of the Nazis, Geiger fled to Copenhagen, where in 1938 at the University of Arhus he became Denmark’s first professor of sociology. He studied social strati¬ fication and mobility, examining Danish intellectuals and the people of Arhus. His posthumous Democracy Without Dogma (1964) expressed his vision of a society depersonalized by ideology but redeemed by human relationships.

Geisel Vgl-zoL, Theodor Seuss known as Dr. Seuss (b. March 2, 1904, Springfield, Mass., U.S.—d. Sept. 24, 1991, La Jolla, Calif.) U.S. writer and illustrator.He studied at Dartmouth College and did doctoral work at the University of Oxford. He began working in 1927 as a freelance cartoonist, illustrator, and writer. Under his pseudonym, Geisel began creating immensely popular children’s books peopled with outlandish invented creatures and brimming with nonsense words. And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937), his first Dr. Seuss book, was followed

Lou Gehrig, 1939.

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

744 i Geiger counter ► gender

by such huge successes as Horton Hatches the Egg (1940), The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), Yertle the Turtle (1958), and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). Such perennial best-sellers, and his posthumous Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1993), made him the best¬ selling children’s author in the world.

Geiger counter or Geiger-Muller counter Device used for detecting and counting individual particles of radiation. Invented by the German physicist Hans Geiger (1882-1945) and later refined with help from Walther Muller, the device is a gas-filled metal tube with a wire through its axis and a high voltage applied to the wire. As particles enter the tube, they create a large avalanche of ionization in the gas, which then discharges, creating a brief electric pulse. The tube produces the same large output pulse for virtually every charged particle that passes through the gas and so is useful for detecting individual particles. It can therefore indicate lower levels of radiation than is possible with other types of detectors.

geisha Yga-shsN Member of a professional class of women in Japan whose traditional occupation is to entertain men. A geisha must be adept at singing, dancing, and playing traditional musical instruments (e.g., the samisen) in addition to being skilled at making conversation. The geisha system is thought to have emerged in the 17th century to provide a class of well-trained entertainers set apart from courtesans and prostitutes: though geisha sometimes had sexual relationships with their clients, they were supposed to entertain primarily through their accomplishments. The numbers of geisha have declined from some 80,000 in the 1920s to a few thousand at present, almost all in the Tokyo and Kyoto areas, where they are patronized by only the wealthiest businessmen and most influential politicians. Ordinary businessmen seek out bar hostesses, who, though not trained in traditional singing or dance, like geisha excel at supportive conversation.

Gelasius \j9-'la-she-3s\ \, Saint (b. probably Africa—d. Nov. 19, 496, feast day November 21) Pope (492—496). He combated the Acacian Schism in the East, which advocated the Monophysite heresy. He main¬ tained papal authority and established Roman primacy in ecclesiastical affairs. He is known for his theory of the two powers of world gover¬ nance in which he asserted that both sacred and civil power are of divine origin and independent. In 494 he changed the pagan Lupercalia festival into the feast of the Purification.

gelatin Vje-l9-t 9 n\ Animal protein substance having gel-forming prop¬ erties, used primarily in food products. Derived from collagen, it is extracted by boiling animal skin and bones. It is commonly produced as granules or as a mix with added sugars, flavours, and colours. Immersed in a liquid, gelatin takes up moisture and swells, causing the mixture to solidify. It is used to make such foods as molded desserts, jellied meats, soups, candies, and aspics and to stabilize such emulsion and foam food products as ice cream and marshmallows. It is nutritionally an incomplete protein. It is also used in various pharmaceutical products.

Gelibolu See Gallipoli

Gell-Mann Vgel-.manV Murray (b. Sept. 15, 1929, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. physicist. He entered Yale University at 15 and earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1951. From 1955 he taught at the California Institute of Technology, becoming Millikan professor of theoretical physics in 1967. In 1953 he introduced the con¬ cept of “strangeness,” a quantum property that accounted for decay pat¬ terns of certain mesons. In 1961 he and Yuval Ne’eman (b. 1925) proposed a scheme (the “Eightfold Way”) that grouped mesons and baryons into multiplets of 1, 8, 10, or 27 members on the basis of various properties. He speculated that it was possible to explain certain properties of known particles in terms of even more fundamental particles, or building blocks, which he later called quarks. He was awarded a 1969 Nobel Prize.

Geltzer Vgyelt-syir\, Yekaterina (Vasilyevna) (b. Nov. 14, 1876, Moscow, Russia—d. Dec. 12, 1962, Moscow) Russian prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet. She graduated from the Bolshoi Theatre’s ballet school in 1894 and joined the company, becoming prima ballerina in 1901. She was known for dramatic roles, including that of the heroine of The Red Poppy (1927), in a career that lasted more than 40 years. After the 1917 Revolution, she and her husband, Vasily Tikhomirov, helped preserve the classical technique and repertoire of the Imperial Russian ballet.

Gelukpa See Dge-lugs-pa

Gemara \g9-'mar-3, g9-ma-'ra\ Commentary on the collection of Jew¬ ish law known as the Mishna. Written by Jewish scholars in Palestine and Babylonia c. ad 200-500, it is printed around the relevant passage of the Mishna. See also Talmud.

Gemini \'jem-3- 1 nI\ (Latin: “Twins”) In astronomy, the constellation lying between Cancer and Taurus; in ASTROLOGY, the third sign of the zodiac, governing approximately the period May 21-June 21. It is repre¬ sented by a set of twins. The twins are most often identified as the mythological Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri), but have also been equated with other famous pairs such as Romulus and Remus.

Gemini Vje-mo-.nl, 'je-m3-,ne\

Series of 12 two-person spacecraft launched into Earth orbit by the U.S. between 1964 and 1967, following the one-person Mercury program and before the three-person Apollo pro¬ gram. Designed to test astronauts’ ability to maneuver spacecraft manu¬ ally, the Gemini series helped develop techniques for orbital ren¬ dezvous and docking, procedures that were required later in the Apollo Moon-landing missions. It also gave NASA engineers a chance to improve spacecraft environmental control and electrical power systems.

Gemistus Plethon Vjo-'mis-tos-'ple-.thanV George (b. c. 1355, Constantinople—d. 1450/52, Mistra, Morea) Byzantine philosopher and humanist scholar. He served as lay theologian with the Byzantine delega¬ tion to the 1438-45 general council of Ferrara-Florence. His treatise On the Difference Between Aristotle and Plato revived interest in Plato and led to founding of the Platonic Academy of Florence by Cosimo I. His clarification of the distinction between Platonic and Aristotelian thought proved seminal in determining the philosophic orientation of the Italian Renaissance.

Gemma Augustea Xjem-o-.o-gos-'te-oV Latin "Gem of Augus¬ tus" Sardonyx cameo depicting the glorification of Caesar Augustus. He is sitting next to the goddess Roma, and both are trampling the armour of defeated enemies. Now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, it was probably carved during the reign of Caligula (ad 37-41). It is one of the most impressive carved cameos of a series of Roman gems represent¬ ing imperial personages.

Gempei War \'gem-,pa\ (1180-85) Final struggle between two Japa¬ nese warrior clans, the Minamoto (Genji) and the Taira (Heike), for supremacy in Japan, resulting in the Minamoto’s victory and the estab¬ lishment of the Kamakura shogunate (see Kamakura period). Stories of the rise and fall of the two families, with their Buddhist overtones of eva¬ nescence and their sense of heroic tragedy, have a popularity in Japan akin to that of Arthurian legends in English-speaking countries.

gemstone Any of various minerals prized for beauty, durability, and rarity. A few noncrystalline materials of organic origin (e.g., pearl, red coral, and amber) also are classified as gemstones. Of the more than 3,500 identified natural minerals, fewer than 100 are used as gemstones and only 16 have achieved importance: beryl, chrysoberyl, corundum, diamond, feldspar, garnet, jade, lazurite, olivine, opal, quartz, spinel, topaz, tour¬ maline, turquoise, and zircon. Some of these (e.g., beryl and corundum) provide more than one type of gem. In virtually all cases, the minerals have to be cut and polished for use in jewelry. See illustration on oppo¬ site page.

gender In language, a grammatical category contrasting distinctions of sex or animateness. Gender marking may be natural, with linguistic mark¬ ers of gender corresponding to real-world gender, or purely grammatical, with markers of gender in part semantically based and in part semanti¬ cally arbitrary. In languages with grammatical gender, nouns are parti¬ tioned into sets. Membership of a noun in a set may be expressed by its form and/or by the forms of other parts of speech controlled by the noun. Closely related to gender systems in language are class systems, as in Bantu languages, in which the number of sets into which nouns are par-

Gemini, illumination from a Book of Hours, Italian, c. 1475; in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.

COURTESY OF THE PIERPONT MORGAN LIBRARY, NEW YORK, THE GLAZIER COLLECTION

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

gender gap ► General Mills I 745

titioned is much larger, with distinct categories for things such as plants, animals, and tools, though, as with nouns in Romance and Germanic lan¬ guages, assignment of most nouns to classes is semantically arbitrary.

gender gap Difference in opinions or attitudes between men and women concerning a variety of public and private issues, including politi¬ cal candidates, parties, or programs. Until the 1980s men and women in the U.S. exhibited similar voting habits. Since then, however, women have been more likely than men to support the Democratic Party and liberal policies, particularly on issues such as equal employment opportunity, child care, and gun control. In contrast, in western Europe women his¬ torically have been more likely than men to support conservative politi¬ cal parties.

gene Unit of heredity that occupies a fixed position on a chromosome. Genes achieve their effects by directing protein synthesis. They are com¬ posed of DNA, except in some viruses that contain RNA instead. The sequence of nitrogenous bases along a strand of DNA determines the genetic code. When the product of a particular gene is needed, the portion of the DNA molecule that contains that gene splits, and a complementary strand of RNA, called messenger RNA (mRNA), forms and then passes to ribosomes, where proteins are synthesized. A second type of RNA, transfer RNA (tRNA), matches up the mRNA with specific amino acids, which combine in series to form polypeptide chains, the building blocks of proteins. Experiments have shown that many of the genes within a cell are inactive much or even all of the time, but they can be switched on and off. Mutations occur when the number or order of bases in a gene is dis¬ rupted. See also genetic engineering, genetics, Hardy-Weinberg law, Human Genome Project, linkage group.

gene flow Introduction of genetic material (by interbreeding) from one population of a species to another, thereby changing the composition of the gene pool of the receiving population. The introduction of new char¬ acteristics through gene flow increases variability within the population and makes possible new combinations of traits. In humans, gene flow usually comes about through human migration.

gene therapy or gene transfer therapy Introduction of a nor¬ mal gene into an individual in whom that gene is not functioning, either into those tissue cells that normally express the gene (curing that indi¬ vidual only) or into an early embryonic cell (curing the individual and all future offspring). Prerequisites for each procedure include finding the best delivery system (often a virus) for the gene, demonstrating that the trans¬ ferred gene can express itself in the host cell, and establishing that the procedure is safe. Diseases for which gene-therapy research is advanced include cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, and familial hypercholester¬ olemia; research continues on its application for Alzheimer’s disease,

emerald cut marquise cut

Several traditional gemstone cuts

© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.

rose cut

cabochon cut

breast and other cancers, and diabetes. Some aspects of gene therapy, including genetic manipulation and selection, research on embryonic tis¬ sue, and experimentation on human subjects, have aroused ethical con¬ troversy.

genealogy Study of family origins and history. It is found in most parts of the world and is international in scope. Originally concerned with trac¬ ing royal, aristocratic, or clerical lines, genealogy has broadened its scope over the centuries, and many ordinary people now pursue it as a hobby. In preliterate cultures genealogical information was transmitted orally, usually as a list of names; later generations recorded this information. Divine origins were often ascribed to kings and heroes. Modem genealo¬ gists use artifacts, including ancient records, coins, deeds, tapestries, paintings, and monuments, to help them in their work.

Genee, Dame Adeline orig. Anina Margarete Kirstina Petra Jensen (b. Jan. 6, 1878, Hinnerup, Den.—d. April 23, 1970, Esher, Sur¬ rey, Eng.) Danish-bom British dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She made her debut in Norway at age 10. In 1897 she was engaged at the Empire Theatre in London, where she became one of the leading figures of the Edwardian theatre. After 1909 she occasionally performed in bal¬ lets she herself produced, including La Danse (1912), which addressed the history of ballet. In 1920 she established an organization that in 1936 became the Royal Academy of Dancing. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1950.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Set of mul¬ tilateral trade agreements aimed at the abolition of quotas and the reduc¬ tion of tariff duties among the signing nations. Originally signed by 23 countries at Geneva in 1947, GATT became the most effective instrument in the massive expansion of world trade in the later 20th century. By 1995, when GATT was replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO), 125 nations had signed its agreements, which governed 90% of world trade. GATT’s most important principle was trade without discrimination, in which member nations opened their markets equally to one another. Once a country and its largest trading partners agreed to reduce a tariff, that tariff cut was automatically extended to all GATT members. GATT also established uniform customs regulations and sought to eliminate import quotas. It sponsored many treaties that reduced tariffs, the last of which, signed in Uruguay in 1994, established the WTO.

General Dynamics Corp. Major U.S. defense contractor. Its fore¬ runner, the Electric Boat Co., was founded in 1899 and built the Holland, the first submarine purchased by the U.S. Navy. After World War II it diversified into military aircraft, armoured vehicles (including the M-l battle tank), and natural gas tankers. The company was incorporated under its present name in 1952, and in 1954 it launched the Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine; it later produced the Trident submarines. Its Gulfstream Aerospace subsidiary manufactures business jet aircraft.

General Electric Co. (GE) Major U.S. corporation and one of the largest companies in the world. Its products include electrical and elec¬ tronic equipment, plastics, aircraft engines, medical imaging equipment, and financial services. The company was incorporated in 1892, acquiring all the assets of the Edison General Electric Co. (founded as Edison Elec¬ tric Light Co. by Thomas Alva Edison in 1878) and two other electrical companies. The company established a research laboratory in 1900, and many of its later products, including various home appliances, were devel¬ oped by in-house scientists. In 1986 GE purchased the RCA Corp., includ¬ ing its television network, NBC. GE’s headquarters are in Fairfield, Conn.

General Foods Corp. Former U.S. manufacturer of packaged gro¬ cery and meat products. It was incorporated in 1922, having developed from the earlier Postum Cereal Co. founded by C.W. Post. It soon began acquiring other companies and products: Jell-0 Co. (1925), Swans Down flour and Minute Tapioca Co. (1926), Log Cabin (1927), Maxwell House and Calumet (1928), Birdseye (1929), Sanka coffee (1932), Gaines dog food (1943), Kool-Aid (1953), Burpee seeds (1970), Oscar Mayer & Co. (1981), and Entenmann’s bakery products (1982). In 1985 it was bought by Philip Morris Companies Inc.

General Mills, Inc. Leading U.S. producer of packaged foods, flour, breakfast cereals, snacks, and prepared mixes. General Mills was incor¬ porated in 1928 to acquire Washburn Crosby Co. and four other milling companies. Specializing in cereals and flour products, the company intro¬ duced Wheaties and Cheerios breakfast cereals. Gold Medal flour, and Bisquick baking mix, as well as the Betty Crocker line of products. It

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746 i General Motors Corp. ► genetic drift

diversified into industries such as toys and fashion in the 1960s but by the 1990s was again dealing exclusively with consumer foods. General Mills acquired one of its chief rivals, Pillsbury Co., in 2001. Its head¬ quarters are in Minneapolis.

General Motors Corp. (GM) U.S. corporation, the world’s largest automotive manufacturer for most of the 20th century and into the 21st. It was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant to consolidate several motor¬ car companies, and it soon included the makers of Buick, Oldsmobile (discontinued in 2004), Cadillac, and Oakland (later Pontiac) autos. GM acquired the Chevrolet auto company in 1918 and formed General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) in 1919. By 1929 GM had passed Ford Motor Co. to become the leading U.S. auto manufacturer and had added such overseas operations as Vauxhall of England. GM bought Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) in 1984, and in 1986 it bought Hughes Air¬ craft Co. (renamed Hughes Electronic Corp.). GM founded a new auto¬ motive division, Saturn, in 1984 to compete with Japanese automobiles. In renewing its focus on the automotive business, GM spun off EDS in 1996, sold portions of Hughes in 1997, and became the sole owner of Saab Automobile AB in 2000.

general practice See family practice

general staff Group of military officers that assists the commander of a division or larger unit by helping to formulate and disseminate policy and by transmitting orders and overseeing their execution. It is distin¬ guished from staffs that consist of technical specialists (e.g., medical, police, communications, and supply officers). It appeared in its modern form in the Prussian army in the early 19th century and in other Euro¬ pean countries after 1870. The U.S. Army created a general staff in 1903.

general strike Stoppage of work by a substantial proportion of work¬ ers in each of a number of industries in an organized effort to achieve economic or political objectives. The idea of a general strike spanning a variety of industries apparently began in Britain in the early 19th century; it was envisioned as a tactic of collective bargaining or, by more radical thinkers, as an instrument of social revolution. Notable general strikes occurred in Russia during the Revolution of 1905, in Britain in 1926 (car¬ ried on by various labour unions in support of striking coal miners), and in France in 1967 (touched off by student demands for educational reform).

General Telephone and Electronics Corp. See GTE Corp.

generative grammar Vje-no-ro-tovN Finite set of formal rules that will produce all the grammatical sentences of a language. The idea of a generative grammar was first definitively articulated by Noam Chomsky in Syntactic Structures (1957). The generative grammarian’s task is ideally not just to define the interrelation of elements in a particular language, but also to characterize universal grammar—that is, the set of rules and principles intrinsic to all natural languages, which are thought to be an innate endowment of the human intellect. See also grammar, syntax.

in it, dating from 950 bc to the 5th century bc, though incorporating mate¬ rial from much earlier. It is one of the five books that make up the Pen¬ tateuch (see Torah).

Genet, Citizen Edmond See Citizen Genet Affair

Genet \zhs-'na\, Jean (b. Dec. 19, 1910, Paris, France—d. April 15, 1986, Paris) French novelist and dramatist. An illegitimate child aban¬ doned by his mother, Genet began to write while imprisoned for burglary. His first novel, Our Lady of the Flowers (1944), portrays an underworld of thugs, pimps, and hustlers. Miracle of the Rose (1945-46) is based on his adolescence at a notorious reform school, and The Thief’s Journal (1949) recounts his life as a tramp, pickpocket, and prostitute. He became a leading figure in avant-garde theatre with such plays as The Maids (1947), The Balcony (1956), and The Blacks (1958), stylized Expression¬ ist dramas designed to shock and implicate an audience by revealing its hypocrisy and complicity in an exploitative social order. Admired by the existentialists, he was the subject of Jean-Paul Sartre’s huge and adula¬ tory biography Saint Genet (1952).

genetic code Sequence of nucleotides in DNA and RNA that determines the amino acid sequence of proteins. A messenger RNA molecule synthe¬ sized from the DNA directs the synthesis of the protein. Three adjacent nucleotides constitute a unit known as a codon; each codon codes for a single amino acid. There are 64 possible codons, 61 of which specify the 20 amino acids that make up proteins. Because most of the 20 amino acids are coded for by more than one codon, the code is called degenerate. Once thought to be identical in all forms of life, the genetic code has been found to vary slightly in certain organisms and in the mitochondria of some eukaryotes.

genetic drift Change in the pool of genes of a small population that takes place strictly by chance. Genetic drift can result in genetic traits being lost

magnet alternating current

generator Machine that converts mechanical energy to electricity for transmission and distribution over power lines to domestic, commercial, and industrial customers. Generators also produce the electric power required for automobiles, aircraft, ships, and trains. The mechanical power for an electric generator is usually obtained from a rotating shaft and is equal to the shaft torque multiplied by the rotational, or angular, velocity (speed). The mechanical power may come from various sources: turbines powered by water, wind, steam, or gas; gasoline engines; or diesel engines. See illustration opposite.

Genesee \je-n3-'se, 'je-no-.seV River River, Pennsylvania and New York, U.S. It flows north from its headwaters in Pennsylvania, bisecting Rochester, N.Y., to enter Lake Ontario after a course of 158 mi (254 km). Midway along its course, it flows into a 25-mi (40-km) gorge with sides rising at times 800 ft (245 m) above its banks. Called the “Grand Can¬ yon of the East,” it is the focal point of Letchworth State Park.

Genesis Vje-no-sosV First book of the Bible. Its name, taken from its first verse, means “beginning.” Genesis provides the creation story for Juda¬ ism and Christianity and begins the history of the Israelite people. In addition to God’s creation of the universe, it includes the story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and God’s covenant with the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, conclud¬ ing with the story of Jacob’s son Joseph. It is traditionally ascribed to Moses, but modern scholarship has identified at least three literary strains

m a9 n et direct current

magnetic field

Alternating-current (AC) and direct-current (DC) generators (top and bottom, respectively). The basic generator design consists of a loop or coil of wire (arma¬ ture) rotating in a magnetic field. The magnetic field causes a current to flow in the moving wire, via induction. Whether alternating or direct current is generated depends on whether the ends of the looped wire are attached to a set of slip rings (AC) or to a commutator (DC).

© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

genetic engineering ► Genoa I 747

from a population or becoming widespread in a population without respect to the survival or reproductive value of the gene pairs (alleles) involved. A random statistical effect, genetic drift can occur only in small, isolated populations in which the gene pool is small enough that chance events can change its makeup substantially. In larger populations, any specific allele is carried by so many individuals that it is almost certain to be transmitted by some of them unless it is biologically unfavourable.

genetic engineering Artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic-acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population of organisms. The term initially meant any of a wide range of techniques for modifying or manipulating organisms through heredity and reproduction. Now the term denotes the narrower field of recombinant-DNA technology, or gene cloning, in which DNA molecules from two or more sources are combined, either within cells or in test tubes, and then inserted into host organisms in which they are able to reproduce. This technique is used to produce new genetic combinations that are of value to science, medicine, agriculture, or industry. Through recombinant- DNA techniques, bacteria have been created that are capable of synthesiz¬ ing human insulin, human interferon, human growth hormone, a hepatitis-B vaccine, and other medically useful substances. Recombinant- DNA techniques, combined with the development of a technique for pro¬ ducing antibodies in great quantity, have made an impact on medical diagnosis and cancer research. Plants have been genetically adjusted to per¬ form nitrogen fixation and to produce their own pesticides. Bacteria capable of biodegrading oil have been produced for use in oil-spill clean¬ ups. Genetic engineering also introduces the fear of adverse genetic manipulations and their consequences (e.g., antibiotic-resistant bacteria or new strains of disease). See also biotechnology, molecular biology.

genetics Study of heredity in general and of genes in particular. Modern genetics began with the work of Gregor Mendel, who formulated the basic concepts of heredity. Walter S. Sutton proposed that chromosomes were the site of Mendel’s hereditary factors. The Hardy-Weinberg law estab¬ lished the mathematical basis for studying heredity in populations. Tho¬ mas Hunt Morgan provided evidence that genes occur on chromosomes and that adjacent genes on the same chromosome form linkage groups. Oswald Avery showed that DNA is the chromosome component that car¬ ries genetic information. DNA’s molecular structure was deduced by James D. Watson and Francis Crick. These and other developments led to the deciphering of the genetic code of the DNA molecule, which in turn made possible the recombination techniques of genetic engineering. An understanding of genetics is necessary for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of hereditary diseases, the breeding of plants and animals, and the development of industrial processes that use microorganisms. See also BEHAVIOUR GENETICS.

Geneva Vjo-'ne-vsX French Geneve \zha-'nev\ German Genf Vgenf\ Italian Ginevra \je-'na-vra\ City (pop., 2001 est.: urban agglom., 464,000), capital of Geneva canton, southwestern Switzerland. At the tip of Lake Geneva on the Rhone River, it was by the 6th century bc a centre of the Celtic Allobroges and was later conquered by the Romans. In the 16th century John Calvin transformed Geneva into a theocratic state and the intellectual centre of Protestant Europe. In the 18th century, as the birthplace of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the sanctuary of Voltaire, it attracted the elite of the Enlightenment. It joined the Swiss Confederation in 1814. It was the site of the Geneva Convention in 1864, and the League of Nations was founded there in 1919. An international hub of commerce and finance, it is the headquarters of the International Red Cross (1864) and the European branch of the United Nations.

Geneva, Lake French Lac Leman \Tak-la-'man\ German Genfer- see Vgen-for-.zaV Lake, on the border of southwestern Switzerland and southeastern France. About 134 sq mi (347 sq km) of the lake’s area is Swiss and 90 sq mi (234 sq km) French. Lying at an elevation of 1,220 ft (372 m), it is 45 mi (72 km) long with an average width of 5 mi (8 km). It is formed by the Rhone River, which enters at the eastern end and leaves at the western end through the city of Geneva. The water level is subject to fluctuations known as seiches, in which the lake’s water mass rhyth¬ mically swings from shore to shore.

Geneva, University of Institution of higher learning in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded by John Calvin and Theodor de Beze (1519— 1605) in 1559 as Schola Genevensis (later called the Academy), a theo¬ logical seminary. The natural sciences, law, and philosophy were later added to the curriculum, and in the 19th century a medical faculty was

established. In the 1930s the Institut Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a private school of education founded in 1912, became part of the university. Many foreign students are attracted by its strong reputation in international stud¬ ies, botany, and education.

Geneva Conventions Series of four international agreements (1864, 1906, 1929, 1949) signed in Geneva, Switz., that established the humani¬ tarian principles by which the signatory countries are to treat an enemy’s military and civilian nationals in wartime. The first convention was ini¬ tiated by Jean-Henri Dunant; it established that medical facilities were not to be war targets, that hospitals should treat all wounded impartially, that civilians aiding the wounded should be protected, and that the Red Cross symbol should serve to identify those covered by the agreement. The sec¬ ond convention amended and extended the first. The third stated that pris¬ oners of war should be treated humanely and that prison camps should be open to inspection by neutral countries. The 1949 conventions made further provisions for civilians falling into a belligerent’s hands. Guerrilla combatants were extended protection in two 1977 amendments, which the U.S. did not sign. Violations of the Geneva Conventions were among the crimes included in the jurisdictions of the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (1993) and Rwanda (1994) and the International Criminal Court (2002). See also Hague Conventions; war crime.

Geneva Protocol officially Protocol for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes (1924) League of Nations draft treaty to ensure collective security in Europe. Submitted by Edvard Benes, the pro¬ tocol proposed sanctions against an aggressor nation and provided a mechanism for the peaceful settlement of disputes. States would agree to submit all disputes to the Permanent Court of International Justice, and any state refusing arbitration was to be deemed the aggressor. The French enthusiastically supported the protocol, but it failed after it was rejected by the British.

Geneva Summit (1955) Meeting in Geneva of the leaders of the U.S., France, Britain, and the Soviet Union that sought to end the Cold War. Such issues as disarmament, unification of Germany, and increased eco¬ nomic ties were discussed. Though no agreements were reached, the con¬ ference was considered an important first step toward easing Cold War tension.

Genghis Khan Vgeg-gos-'kan, 'jeq-gos-'kanX or Chinggis Khan \'chiq-g3z-'kan\ orig. Temujin (b. 1162, near Lake Baikal, Mongolia—d. Aug. 18, 1227) Mongolian warrior-ruler who consolidated nomadic tribes into a unified Mongolia and whose troops fought from China’s Pacific coast to Europe’s Adriatic Sea, creating the basis for one of the greatest continental empires of all time. The leader of a destitute clan, Temujin fought various rival clans and formed a Mongol confederacy, which in 1206 acknowledged him as Genghis Khan (“Universal Ruler”). By that year the united Mongols were ready to move out beyond the steppe. He adapted his method of warfare, moving from depending solely on cavalry to using sieges, catapults, ladders, and other equipment and techniques suitable for the capture and destruction of cities. In less than 10 years he took over most of Juchen-controlled China; he then destroyed the Mus¬ lim Khwarezm-Shah dynasty while his generals raided Iran and Russia. He is infamous for slaughtering the entire populations of cities and destroy¬ ing fields and irrigation systems but admired for his military brilliance and ability to learn. He died on a military campaign, and the empire was divided among his sons and grandsons.

genie See jinni

genius Person of extraordinary intellectual power. The genius displays originality, creativity, and the ability to think and work in areas not pre¬ viously explored. Though geniuses have usually left their unique mark in a particular field, studies have shown that the general intelligence of geniuses is also exceptionally high. Genius appears to be a function of both hereditary and environmental factors. See also gifted child.

genius In ancient Roman religion, the attendant spirit of a person or place. It originally represented the housefather, who gave continuity to a family or clan over generations; its female counterpart was the house¬ mother, called the juno. In later times, the genius was seen as an indi¬ vidual’s guardian spirit or higher self, and it was worshiped by that individual, especially on his birthday. There were also genii of places and of groups such as legions, states, and guilds.

Genoa Vje-no-o\ Italian Genova Vje-no-v3\ ancient Genua City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 603,560) and seaport, northwestern Italy. Capital of

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748 I Genoa ► Gentz

Liguria region, it is the centre of the Italian Riviera. Flourishing under the Romans, it went on to become a chief Mediterranean commercial city (12th—13th centuries), rivaled only by Venice. Its fortunes declined in the 14th and 15th centuries, after it lost a century-long struggle with Venice for control of the Levant. Taken by Napoleon in the early 19th century, it later regained its independence and prospered, especially after Italian uni¬ fication. Although the city was badly damaged in World War II, a num¬ ber of historic buildings survive. The birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Genoa is still noted for its maritime tradition, with shipbuilding its major industry; its university (founded 1471) is known for its economic and maritime studies.

Genoa, Conference of (1922) Post-World War I meeting at Genoa, Italy, to discuss the economic reconstruction of Central and Eastern Europe and to improve relations between Soviet Russia and Western Europe. Representatives of 30 European countries sought ways to enlist foreign capital for the “restoration of Russia.” Negotiations broke down when France and Belgium, Russia’s main creditors, insisted on repayment of prewar loans and restitution of confiscated foreign-owned property in Russia. Announcement of the German-Soviet Treaty of Rapallo further strained relations.

genocide Yje-no-.sIdV Deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, religious, political, or ethnic group. The term was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born jurist who served as an adviser to the U.S. Depart¬ ment of War during World War II, to describe the premeditated effort to destroy a population (see Holocaust). In 1946 the UN General Assembly declared genocide a punishable crime. By this declaration, genocide by definition may be committed by an individual, group, or government, against one’s own people or another, in peacetime or in wartime. This last point distinguishes genocide from “crimes against humanity,” whose legal definition specifies wartime. Suspects may be tried by a court in the coun¬ try where the act was committed or by an international court (see Inter¬ national Criminal Court). An example of genocide more recent than the Holocaust is the slaughter of Tutsi people by the Hutu in Rwanda in the 1990s.

genotype Vje-no-.tlpV Genetic makeup of an organism. The genotype determines the hereditary potentials and limitations of an individual. Among organisms that reproduce sexually, an individual’s genotype com¬ prises the entire complex of genes inherited from both parents. Sexual reproduction guarantees that each individual has a unique genotype, except for identical twins, who come from the same fertilized egg. See also PHENOTYPE, VARIATION.

Genovese \je-n9-'ve-ze\, Eugene D(ominick) (b. May 19, 1930, Brooklyn, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. historian. He earned a doctorate at Columbia University and taught at Rutgers, Columbia, Cambridge, and elsewhere. He is known for his writings on the American Civil War and slavery, especially Roll, Jordan, Roll (1974) and The Slaveholders’ Dilemma (1992). He advanced his argument in A Consuming Fire: The Fall of the Confederacy in the Mind of the White Christian South (1998).

genre painting Yzhan-ra\ Painting of scenes from everyday life, of ordinary people at work or play, depicted in a realistic manner. In the 18th century, the term was used derogatorily to describe painters specializing in one type of picture, such as flowers, animals, or middle-class life. By the mid-19th century it was being used more approvingly, and it is still popularly used to describe works by 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painters such as Jan Steen, Gerard Terborch, Adriaen van Ostade, and Johannes Vermeer, and later masters such as J.-B.-S. Chardin in France, Pietro Longhi in Italy, and George Caleb Bingham in the U.S.

genro \'gen-'ro\ Japanese "principal elders" Extraconstitutional oligarchy that dominated the Japanese government from the promulga¬ tion of the Meiji Constitution (1889) to the early 1930s. The genro were men who had played a leading role in the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Their caretaking role outside the official government structure continued the Japanese tradition of having actual authority wielded by forces other than the titular authority. See also Fujiwara family; Hojo family; Ito Hirobumi; Yamagata Aritomo.

Genroku \,gen- , ro- l kii\ period (1688-1704) Period in Japanese his¬ tory characterized by a flourishing of the culture of the non-samurai city dweller. The term is often used to cover a longer cultural period (c. 1675— 1725). Ostentatious displays of wealth were prohibited, but the affluent townspeople of Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo (Tokyo) found means to display

their wealth. Much time and money was spent in the pleasure quarters, districts where theatres, brothels, and teahouses were located, and this “floating (i.e., fleeting) world,” or ukiyo, was commemorated in brightly colored woodblock prints (see ukiyo-e). The Genroku period set the stan¬ dards for an urban culture that continued throughout the Edo period. See also Edo culture.

gens Vjenz\ Ancient Roman clan whose members were all descended from a common male ancestor. The descendants revered the original male ancestor and identified their relationship by using his name as their sec¬ ond name (e.g., Gaius Valerius Catullus). Marriage between members of a gens was commonly discouraged.

gentian family Vjen-sh3n\ Family Gentianaceae (order Gentianales), composed of some 1,100 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants and, rarely, shrubs, native mostly to northern temperate regions. The four or five united petals that make up the flower may be deeply divided; they overlap and are twisted in the bud. Some species are used in herbal remedies and in the making of dyes. Several species of gentians (genus Gentiana) bear attractive flowers and are cultivated as garden ornamentals. Gentians occur widely in moist meadows and woods.

Gentile \jen-'te-la\, Giovanni (b. May 30, 1875, Castelvetrano, Italy—d. April 15, 1944, Florence) Italian philosopher, sometimes called the “philosopher of fascism.” A university professor, he and Benedetto Croce edited the journal La Critica (1903-22). He served in education posts in Benito Mussolini’s government. His philosophy of “actual ideal¬ ism,” strongly influenced by G.W.F. Hegel, denied the existence of indi¬ vidual minds and of any distinction between theory and practice, subject and object, past and present. He planned and edited the Enciclopedia Ital- iana (1936) and wrote prolifically on education and philosophy. Among his works are The Reform of Education (1920), The Philosophy of Art (1931), and My Religion (1943). He was killed by antifascist communists.

Gentile da Fabriano Vjen-'te-la-da-.fab-re-'a-noV orig. Gentile di Niccolo di Massio (b. c. 1370, Fabriano, Papal States—d. 1427, Rome) Italian painter. He was probably trained in the Lombardy region. In 1409 he was commissioned to decorate the Doges’ Palace in Venice with historical frescoes, now lost. His most important fresco cycle, also destroyed, was in the church of St. John Lateran in Rome. His major sur¬ viving painting is the celebrated Strozzi Altarpiece (1423), featuring The Adoration of the Magi. Its combination of naturalism and rich ornamen¬ tation influenced Italian artists throughout the century, notably Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli, and established Gentile as one of Italy’s greatest proponents of the International Gothic style. He was the most important Italian painter of the first quarter of the 15th century.

Gentileschi \Jan-te-'les-ke\, Artemisia (b. 1593, Rome, Papal States—d. 1652/53, Naples, Kingdom of Naples) Italian painter. The daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, she studied with him and with the land¬ scape painter Agostino Tassi. Her earliest known work is Susanna and the Elders (1610), formerly attributed to Orazio. She was raped by Tassi, and, when he did not fulfill his promise to marry her, Orazio Gentileschi brought him to trial in 1612. During that event she herself was forced to give evidence under torture. In 1616 she joined the Academy of Design in Florence and began to develop a powerful style of her own. She was one of the greatest of Caravaggio’s followers in the Baroque style. Although her compositions were graceful, her subject matter was often violent; she illustrated such subjects as the story from the Apocrypha of Judith, the Jewish heroine, beheading Holofemes, an invading general. She worked in Rome and Naples and spent three years with her father in London (1638—41). The first woman artist to attain an international repu¬ tation, she is admired today as the earliest to show a feminist conscious¬ ness in her work.

Gentileschi, Orazio orig. Orazio Lomi (b. 1562, Pisa—d. c. 1639, London, Eng.) Italian painter. He went to Rome c. 1576-78 and painted frescoes in various churches (c. 1590-1600). His paintings of the early 17th century reveal the influence of Caravaggio’s strong chiaroscuro and contemporary figure types; though more refined than Caravaggio’s works, they lack the master’s power and uncompromising realism. Invited to England by Charles I in 1626, he remained there as court painter the rest of his life. Artemisia Gentileschi was his daughter. See photograph on oppo¬ site page.

Gentz Vgents\, Friedrich (b. May 2, 1764, Breslau, Silesia, Prussia—d. June 9, 1832, Vienna, Austria) German political journalist. Strongly influ-

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genus ► Geometric style I 749

enced by Edmund Burke, he published journals and pamphlets analyzing events from the viewpoint of a conservative liberal and compared the French Revolution unfavorably to the American Revolution. After serving in the Prussian civil service (1785-1803), he moved to Vienna, where he became from 1812 the propagandist and confidential adviser for Klemens, prince von Metternich. He served as secretary-general to the various con¬ gresses that convened after Napoleon’s defeat.

genus Biological classification. It ranks below family and above spe¬ cies, consisting of structurally or phylogenetically (see phylogenetic tree) related species or a single species exhibiting unusual differences. For example, the species of roses collectively form the genus Rosa and those of horses, donkeys, and zebras form the genus Equus. The genus name, capitalized and usually italicized, is the first word of a scientific name in the system of binomial nomenclature.

geochemical cycle Developmental path followed by individual ele¬ ments or groups of elements in the crustal and subcrustal zones of the Earth and on its surface. The concept encompasses geochemical differ¬ entiation (natural separation and concentration of elements) and heat- assisted recombination processes. Changes may not be apparent over a short term, but over a long term changes of great magnitude occur, includ¬ ing the evolution of continents and oceans.

geochemistry Scientific discipline dealing with the relative abun¬ dance, distribution, and migration of the Earth’s chemical elements and their isotopes. Historically, geochemistry was concerned primarily with defining elemental abundances in minerals and rocks. Modem geochem¬ ical research also includes study of the continual recycling of the Earth’s constituent materials through geologic processes, the cyclic flow of indi¬ vidual elements (and their compounds) between living and nonliving sys¬ tems, and certain areas of cosmology.

geochronology Dating and interpretation of geologic events in the history of the Earth. The classical technique of geochronology was stratig¬ raphy, including faunal succession. Since the mid 20th century, radiomet¬ ric dating has provided absolute age data to supplement the relative dates obtained from the fossil record. Radiometric dating is based on the prin¬ ciple that radioactive isotopes in geologic material decay at constant, known rates to daughter isotopes. See also carbon- 14 dating.

geode Hollow mineral body found in limestones and some shales, com¬ monly a slightly flattened globe 1-12 in. (2.5-30 cm) in diameter and containing a chalcedony layer surrounding an inner lining of crystals. The hollow interior often is nearly filled with inward-projecting crystals, new layers growing on top of old. The crystals are often of quartz but some¬ times of other minerals.