Перевод: со всех языков на все языки

со всех языков на все языки

He won many distinctions

  • 1 distinction

    dɪsˈtɪŋkʃən сущ.
    1) различение, распознавание;
    выделение, разграничение without distinction as to race, sex, or religionбез разграничения рас, пола или религиозных убеждений Syn: differentiation, discrimination, distinguishing, discerning
    2) отличие, различие all without distinction ≈ все без различия, без исключения clear-cut distinction ≈ явное различие dubious distinction ≈ сомнительное различие fine distinction, subtle distinction ≈ тонкое различие the distinction between 'imply' and 'infer' ≈ различие между 'imply' и 'infer' The jugglery of words was never more successful than in this distinction without a difference. ≈ Жонглирование словами никогда не приносило большего успеха, чем при этом кажущемся различии. draw a distinction make a distinction blur a distinction Syn: difference
    1.
    3) отличительная признак, отличительная особенность regional distinctions ≈ региональные особенности enjoy a distinction have a distinction hold a distinction
    4) уважение, признание, почтительное отношение;
    знак отличия, награда Some were beheaded with the sword, - a distinction reserved for persons of condition. ≈ Некоторые были обезглавлены с помощью меча - почесть, предназначенная для людей высокого положения. He won many distinctions. ≈ Он получил много наград.
    5) а) известность, популярность a politician of some distinction ≈ политик, обладающий определенной популярностью б) высокие качества, исключительность The book has more quality and distinction than four-fifths of the novels which come under our notice. ≈ Эта книга обладала высоким качеством и исключительностью, которых были лишены четыре пятых всех привлекших наше внимание романов. различение, распознавание;
    разграничение - nice /fine/ * умение тонко различать разница, отличие, различие - nice * тонкое различие - * in meaning различие в значении - * of degree количественное различие - without * без различия;
    без исключения;
    без разбора - in * from smth. в отличие от чего-л. - a * without a difference несущественное разграничение;
    кажущееся /искусственное/ различие - to make /to draw/ a * between smth. провести различие между чем-л. - to make no * between traitors and spies не делать никакого различия между предателями и шпионами - to see no * between two things не видеть разницы между двумя вещами отличительный признак;
    особенность, характерная черта - the chief * of Egyptian sculpture основная особенность египетской скульптуры почтительное отношение, почет;
    почесть - academic *s академические почести - to load smb. with *s окружить кого-л. почетом - to give /to grant/ smb. *s оказывать кому-л. почести награда - to confer a * on smb. наградить кого-л. знатность - person of * знатная особа известность - man of * известный человек - writer of * популярный /выдающийся/ писатель - to gain * приобрести известность оригинальность;
    индивидуальность, исключительность - * of style своеобразие стиля - the book has * в книге ощущается яркая индивидуальность, исключительность исключительность, безупречность - to serve with * безупречно служить - the book has * это замечательная книга all without ~ все без различия, без исключения distinction безупречность ~ высокие качества;
    известность;
    знатность;
    poet of distinction выдающийся, знаменитый поэт ~ известность ~ индивидуальность ~ исключительность ~ награда ~ оригинальность ~ особенность ~ отличие;
    знак отличия;
    mark of distinction знак отличия ~ отличие ~ отличительная особенность, оригинальность, индивидуальность;
    his style lacks distinction в его стиле нет индивидуальности ~ отличительный признак ~ почесть ~ почет ~ разграничение ~ различение;
    распознавание;
    разграничение ~ различение ~ различие, отличие;
    разница;
    nice distinction тонкое различие;
    a distinction without a difference искусственное, (только) кажущееся различие ~ различие ~ разница ~ распознавание ~ характерная черта ~ различие, отличие;
    разница;
    nice distinction тонкое различие;
    a distinction without a difference искусственное, (только) кажущееся различие ~ отличительная особенность, оригинальность, индивидуальность;
    his style lacks distinction в его стиле нет индивидуальности ~ отличие;
    знак отличия;
    mark of distinction знак отличия ~ различие, отличие;
    разница;
    nice distinction тонкое различие;
    a distinction without a difference искусственное, (только) кажущееся различие ~ высокие качества;
    известность;
    знатность;
    poet of distinction выдающийся, знаменитый поэт

    Большой англо-русский и русско-английский словарь > distinction

  • 2 distinction

    [dɪ'stɪŋkʃ(ə)n]
    сущ.
    1) различение, распознавание; разграничение

    without distinction as to race, sex, or religion — без разграничения рас, пола или религиозных убеждений

    Syn:
    2) отличие, различие

    all without distinction — все без различия, без исключения

    fine / subtle distinction — тонкое различие

    blurred distinction — неясное, смутное различие

    to draw / make a distinction — различать

    Syn:
    3) отличительный признак, отличительная особенность

    to enjoy / have / hold a distinction — иметь отличительный признак, отличаться чем-л.

    4) уважение, признание, почтительное отношение

    Some were beheaded with the sword, - a distinction reserved for persons of condition. — Некоторые были обезглавлены – такой почёт был оказан людям высокого положения.

    5) знак отличия, награда

    He won many distinctions. — Он получил много наград.

    7) известность, популярность
    8) высокие качества, исключительность

    The book has more quality and distinction than four-fifths of the novels which come under our notice. — Эта книга лучше, чем четыре пятых всех привлекающих наше внимание романов.

    Англо-русский современный словарь > distinction

  • 3 Moulton, Alexander

    [br]
    b. 9 April 1920 Stratford-on-Avon
    [br]
    English inventor of vehicle suspension systems and the Moulton bicycle.
    [br]
    He spent his childhood at The Hall in Bradfordon-Avon. He was educated at Marlborough College, and in 1937 was apprenticed to the Sentinel Steam Wagon Company of Shrewsbury. About that same time he went to King's College, Cambridge, where he took the Mechanical Sciences Tripos. It was then wartime, and he did research on aero-engines at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, where he became Personal Assistant to Sir Roy Fedden. He left Bristol's in 1945 to join his family firm, Spencer \& Moulton, of which he eventually became Technical Director and built up the Research Department. In 1948 he invented his first suspension unit, the "Flexitor", in which an inner shaft and an outer shell were separated by an annular rubber body which was bonded to both.
    In 1848 his great-grandfather had founded the family firm in an old woollen mill, to manufacture vulcanized rubber products under Charles Goodyear's patent. The firm remained a family business with Spencer's, consultants in railway engineering, until 1956 when it was sold to the Avon Rubber Company. He then formed Moulton Developments to continue his work on vehicle suspensions in the stables attached to The Hall. Sponsored by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Dunlop Rubber Company, he invented a rubber cone spring in 1951 which was later used in the BMC Mini (see Issigonis, Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine): by 1994 over 4 million Minis had been fitted with these springs, made by Dunlop. In 1954 he patented the Hydrolastic suspension system, in which all four wheels were independently sprung with combined rubber springs and damper assembly, the weight being supported by fluid under pressure, and the wheels on each side being interconnected, front to rear. In 1962 he formed Moulton Bicycles Ltd, having designed an improved bicycle system for adult use. The conventional bicycle frame was replaced by a flat-sided oval steel tube F-frame on a novel rubber front and rear suspension, with the wheel size reduced to 41 cm (16 in.) with high-pressure tyres. Raleigh Industries Ltd having refused his offer to produce the Moulton Bicycle under licence, he set up his own factory on his estate, producing 25,000 bicycles between 1963 and 1966. In 1967 he sold out to Raleigh and set up as Bicycle Consultants Ltd while continuing the suspension development of Moulton Developments Ltd. In the 1970s the combined firms employed some forty staff, nearly 50 per cent of whom were graduates.
    He won the Queen's Award for Industry in 1967 for technical innovation in Hydrolastic car suspension and the Moulton Bicycle. Since that time he has continued his innovative work on suspensions and the bicycle. In 1983 he introduced the AM bicycle series of very sophisticated space-frame design with suspension and 43 cm (17 in.) wheels; this machine holds the world speed record fully formed at 82 km/h (51 mph). The current Rover 100 and MGF use his Hydragas interconnected suspension. By 1994 over 7 million cars had been fitted with Moulton suspensions. He has won many design awards and prizes, and has been awarded three honorary doctorates of engineering. He is active in engineering and design education.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Queen's Award for Industry 1967; CBE; RDI. Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
    Further Reading
    P.R.Whitfield, 1975, Creativity in Industry, London: Penguin Books.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Moulton, Alexander

  • 4 Historical Portugal

       Before Romans described western Iberia or Hispania as "Lusitania," ancient Iberians inhabited the land. Phoenician and Greek trading settlements grew up in the Tagus estuary area and nearby coasts. Beginning around 202 BCE, Romans invaded what is today southern Portugal. With Rome's defeat of Carthage, Romans proceeded to conquer and rule the western region north of the Tagus, which they named Roman "Lusitania." In the fourth century CE, as Rome's rule weakened, the area experienced yet another invasion—Germanic tribes, principally the Suevi, who eventually were Christianized. During the sixth century CE, the Suevi kingdom was superseded by yet another Germanic tribe—the Christian Visigoths.
       A major turning point in Portugal's history came in 711, as Muslim armies from North Africa, consisting of both Arab and Berber elements, invaded the Iberian Peninsula from across the Straits of Gibraltar. They entered what is now Portugal in 714, and proceeded to conquer most of the country except for the far north. For the next half a millennium, Islam and Muslim presence in Portugal left a significant mark upon the politics, government, language, and culture of the country.
       Islam, Reconquest, and Portugal Created, 714-1140
       The long frontier struggle between Muslim invaders and Christian communities in the north of the Iberian peninsula was called the Reconquista (Reconquest). It was during this struggle that the first dynasty of Portuguese kings (Burgundian) emerged and the independent monarchy of Portugal was established. Christian forces moved south from what is now the extreme north of Portugal and gradually defeated Muslim forces, besieging and capturing towns under Muslim sway. In the ninth century, as Christian forces slowly made their way southward, Christian elements were dominant only in the area between Minho province and the Douro River; this region became known as "territorium Portu-calense."
       In the 11th century, the advance of the Reconquest quickened as local Christian armies were reinforced by crusading knights from what is now France and England. Christian forces took Montemor (1034), at the Mondego River; Lamego (1058); Viseu (1058); and Coimbra (1064). In 1095, the king of Castile and Léon granted the country of "Portu-cale," what became northern Portugal, to a Burgundian count who had emigrated from France. This was the foundation of Portugal. In 1139, a descendant of this count, Afonso Henriques, proclaimed himself "King of Portugal." He was Portugal's first monarch, the "Founder," and the first of the Burgundian dynasty, which ruled until 1385.
       The emergence of Portugal in the 12th century as a separate monarchy in Iberia occurred before the Christian Reconquest of the peninsula. In the 1140s, the pope in Rome recognized Afonso Henriques as king of Portugal. In 1147, after a long, bloody siege, Muslim-occupied Lisbon fell to Afonso Henriques's army. Lisbon was the greatest prize of the 500-year war. Assisting this effort were English crusaders on their way to the Holy Land; the first bishop of Lisbon was an Englishman. When the Portuguese captured Faro and Silves in the Algarve province in 1248-50, the Reconquest of the extreme western portion of the Iberian peninsula was complete—significantly, more than two centuries before the Spanish crown completed the Reconquest of the eastern portion by capturing Granada in 1492.
       Consolidation and Independence of Burgundian Portugal, 1140-1385
       Two main themes of Portugal's early existence as a monarchy are the consolidation of control over the realm and the defeat of a Castil-ian threat from the east to its independence. At the end of this period came the birth of a new royal dynasty (Aviz), which prepared to carry the Christian Reconquest beyond continental Portugal across the straits of Gibraltar to North Africa. There was a variety of motives behind these developments. Portugal's independent existence was imperiled by threats from neighboring Iberian kingdoms to the north and east. Politics were dominated not only by efforts against the Muslims in
       Portugal (until 1250) and in nearby southern Spain (until 1492), but also by internecine warfare among the kingdoms of Castile, Léon, Aragon, and Portugal. A final comeback of Muslim forces was defeated at the battle of Salado (1340) by allied Castilian and Portuguese forces. In the emerging Kingdom of Portugal, the monarch gradually gained power over and neutralized the nobility and the Church.
       The historic and commonplace Portuguese saying "From Spain, neither a good wind nor a good marriage" was literally played out in diplomacy and war in the late 14th-century struggles for mastery in the peninsula. Larger, more populous Castile was pitted against smaller Portugal. Castile's Juan I intended to force a union between Castile and Portugal during this era of confusion and conflict. In late 1383, Portugal's King Fernando, the last king of the Burgundian dynasty, suddenly died prematurely at age 38, and the Master of Aviz, Portugal's most powerful nobleman, took up the cause of independence and resistance against Castile's invasion. The Master of Aviz, who became King João I of Portugal, was able to obtain foreign assistance. With the aid of English archers, Joao's armies defeated the Castilians in the crucial battle of Aljubarrota, on 14 August 1385, a victory that assured the independence of the Portuguese monarchy from its Castilian nemesis for several centuries.
       Aviz Dynasty and Portugal's First Overseas Empire, 1385-1580
       The results of the victory at Aljubarrota, much celebrated in Portugal's art and monuments, and the rise of the Aviz dynasty also helped to establish a new merchant class in Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal's second city. This group supported King João I's program of carrying the Reconquest to North Africa, since it was interested in expanding Portugal's foreign commerce and tapping into Muslim trade routes and resources in Africa. With the Reconquest against the Muslims completed in Portugal and the threat from Castile thwarted for the moment, the Aviz dynasty launched an era of overseas conquest, exploration, and trade. These efforts dominated Portugal's 15th and 16th centuries.
       The overseas empire and age of Discoveries began with Portugal's bold conquest in 1415 of the Moroccan city of Ceuta. One royal member of the 1415 expedition was young, 21-year-old Prince Henry, later known in history as "Prince Henry the Navigator." His part in the capture of Ceuta won Henry his knighthood and began Portugal's "Marvelous Century," during which the small kingdom was counted as a European and world power of consequence. Henry was the son of King João I and his English queen, Philippa of Lancaster, but he did not inherit the throne. Instead, he spent most of his life and his fortune, and that of the wealthy military Order of Christ, on various imperial ventures and on voyages of exploration down the African coast and into the Atlantic. While mythology has surrounded Henry's controversial role in the Discoveries, and this role has been exaggerated, there is no doubt that he played a vital part in the initiation of Portugal's first overseas empire and in encouraging exploration. He was naturally curious, had a sense of mission for Portugal, and was a strong leader. He also had wealth to expend; at least a third of the African voyages of the time were under his sponsorship. If Prince Henry himself knew little science, significant scientific advances in navigation were made in his day.
       What were Portugal's motives for this new imperial effort? The well-worn historical cliche of "God, Glory, and Gold" can only partly explain the motivation of a small kingdom with few natural resources and barely 1 million people, which was greatly outnumbered by the other powers it confronted. Among Portuguese objectives were the desire to exploit known North African trade routes and resources (gold, wheat, leather, weaponry, and other goods that were scarce in Iberia); the need to outflank the Muslim world in the Mediterranean by sailing around Africa, attacking Muslims en route; and the wish to ally with Christian kingdoms beyond Africa. This enterprise also involved a strategy of breaking the Venetian spice monopoly by trading directly with the East by means of discovering and exploiting a sea route around Africa to Asia. Besides the commercial motives, Portugal nurtured a strong crusading sense of Christian mission, and various classes in the kingdom saw an opportunity for fame and gain.
       By the time of Prince Henry's death in 1460, Portugal had gained control of the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeiras, begun to colonize the Cape Verde Islands, failed to conquer the Canary Islands from Castile, captured various cities on Morocco's coast, and explored as far as Senegal, West Africa, down the African coast. By 1488, Bar-tolomeu Dias had rounded the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and thereby discovered the way to the Indian Ocean.
       Portugal's largely coastal African empire and later its fragile Asian empire brought unexpected wealth but were purchased at a high price. Costs included wars of conquest and defense against rival powers, manning the far-flung navel and trade fleets and scattered castle-fortresses, and staffing its small but fierce armies, all of which entailed a loss of skills and population to maintain a scattered empire. Always short of capital, the monarchy became indebted to bankers. There were many defeats beginning in the 16th century at the hands of the larger imperial European monarchies (Spain, France, England, and Holland) and many attacks on Portugal and its strung-out empire. Typically, there was also the conflict that arose when a tenuously held world empire that rarely if ever paid its way demanded finance and manpower Portugal itself lacked.
       The first 80 years of the glorious imperial era, the golden age of Portugal's imperial power and world influence, was an African phase. During 1415-88, Portuguese navigators and explorers in small ships, some of them caravelas (caravels), explored the treacherous, disease-ridden coasts of Africa from Morocco to South Africa beyond the Cape of Good Hope. By the 1470s, the Portuguese had reached the Gulf of Guinea and, in the early 1480s, what is now Angola. Bartolomeu Dias's extraordinary voyage of 1487-88 to South Africa's coast and the edge of the Indian Ocean convinced Portugal that the best route to Asia's spices and Christians lay south, around the tip of southern Africa. Between 1488 and 1495, there was a hiatus caused in part by domestic conflict in Portugal, discussion of resources available for further conquests beyond Africa in Asia, and serious questions as to Portugal's capacity to reach beyond Africa. In 1495, King Manuel and his council decided to strike for Asia, whatever the consequences. In 1497-99, Vasco da Gama, under royal orders, made the epic two-year voyage that discovered the sea route to western India (Asia), outflanked Islam and Venice, and began Portugal's Asian empire. Within 50 years, Portugal had discovered and begun the exploitation of its largest colony, Brazil, and set up forts and trading posts from the Middle East (Aden and Ormuz), India (Calicut, Goa, etc.), Malacca, and Indonesia to Macau in China.
       By the 1550s, parts of its largely coastal, maritime trading post empire from Morocco to the Moluccas were under siege from various hostile forces, including Muslims, Christians, and Hindi. Although Moroccan forces expelled the Portuguese from the major coastal cities by 1550, the rival European monarchies of Castile (Spain), England, France, and later Holland began to seize portions of her undermanned, outgunned maritime empire.
       In 1580, Phillip II of Spain, whose mother was a Portuguese princess and who had a strong claim to the Portuguese throne, invaded Portugal, claimed the throne, and assumed control over the realm and, by extension, its African, Asian, and American empires. Phillip II filled the power vacuum that appeared in Portugal following the loss of most of Portugal's army and its young, headstrong King Sebastião in a disastrous war in Morocco. Sebastiao's death in battle (1578) and the lack of a natural heir to succeed him, as well as the weak leadership of the cardinal who briefly assumed control in Lisbon, led to a crisis that Spain's strong monarch exploited. As a result, Portugal lost its independence to Spain for a period of 60 years.
       Portugal under Spanish Rule, 1580-1640
       Despite the disastrous nature of Portugal's experience under Spanish rule, "The Babylonian Captivity" gave birth to modern Portuguese nationalism, its second overseas empire, and its modern alliance system with England. Although Spain allowed Portugal's weakened empire some autonomy, Spanish rule in Portugal became increasingly burdensome and unacceptable. Spain's ambitious imperial efforts in Europe and overseas had an impact on the Portuguese as Spain made greater and greater demands on its smaller neighbor for manpower and money. Portugal's culture underwent a controversial Castilianization, while its empire became hostage to Spain's fortunes. New rival powers England, France, and Holland attacked and took parts of Spain's empire and at the same time attacked Portugal's empire, as well as the mother country.
       Portugal's empire bore the consequences of being attacked by Spain's bitter enemies in what was a form of world war. Portuguese losses were heavy. By 1640, Portugal had lost most of its Moroccan cities as well as Ceylon, the Moluccas, and sections of India. With this, Portugal's Asian empire was gravely weakened. Only Goa, Damão, Diu, Bombay, Timor, and Macau remained and, in Brazil, Dutch forces occupied the northeast.
       On 1 December 1640, long commemorated as a national holiday, Portuguese rebels led by the duke of Braganza overthrew Spanish domination and took advantage of Spanish weakness following a more serious rebellion in Catalonia. Portugal regained independence from Spain, but at a price: dependence on foreign assistance to maintain its independence in the form of the renewal of the alliance with England.
       Restoration and Second Empire, 1640-1822
       Foreign affairs and empire dominated the restoration era and aftermath, and Portugal again briefly enjoyed greater European power and prestige. The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was renewed and strengthened in treaties of 1642, 1654, and 1661, and Portugal's independence from Spain was underwritten by English pledges and armed assistance. In a Luso-Spanish treaty of 1668, Spain recognized Portugal's independence. Portugal's alliance with England was a marriage of convenience and necessity between two monarchies with important religious, cultural, and social differences. In return for legal, diplomatic, and trade privileges, as well as the use during war and peace of Portugal's great Lisbon harbor and colonial ports for England's navy, England pledged to protect Portugal and its scattered empire from any attack. The previously cited 17th-century alliance treaties were renewed later in the Treaty of Windsor, signed in London in 1899. On at least 10 different occasions after 1640, and during the next two centuries, England was central in helping prevent or repel foreign invasions of its ally, Portugal.
       Portugal's second empire (1640-1822) was largely Brazil-oriented. Portuguese colonization, exploitation of wealth, and emigration focused on Portuguese America, and imperial revenues came chiefly from Brazil. Between 1670 and 1740, Portugal's royalty and nobility grew wealthier on funds derived from Brazilian gold, diamonds, sugar, tobacco, and other crops, an enterprise supported by the Atlantic slave trade and the supply of African slave labor from West Africa and Angola. Visitors today can see where much of that wealth was invested: Portugal's rich legacy of monumental architecture. Meanwhile, the African slave trade took a toll in Angola and West Africa.
       In continental Portugal, absolutist monarchy dominated politics and government, and there was a struggle for position and power between the monarchy and other institutions, such as the Church and nobility. King José I's chief minister, usually known in history as the marquis of Pombal (ruled 1750-77), sharply suppressed the nobility and the
       Church (including the Inquisition, now a weak institution) and expelled the Jesuits. Pombal also made an effort to reduce economic dependence on England, Portugal's oldest ally. But his successes did not last much beyond his disputed time in office.
       Beginning in the late 18th century, the European-wide impact of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon placed Portugal in a vulnerable position. With the monarchy ineffectively led by an insane queen (Maria I) and her indecisive regent son (João VI), Portugal again became the focus of foreign ambition and aggression. With England unable to provide decisive assistance in time, France—with Spain's consent—invaded Portugal in 1807. As Napoleon's army under General Junot entered Lisbon meeting no resistance, Portugal's royal family fled on a British fleet to Brazil, where it remained in exile until 1821. In the meantime, Portugal's overseas empire was again under threat. There was a power vacuum as the monarch was absent, foreign armies were present, and new political notions of liberalism and constitutional monarchy were exciting various groups of citizens.
       Again England came to the rescue, this time in the form of the armies of the duke of Wellington. Three successive French invasions of Portugal were defeated and expelled, and Wellington succeeded in carrying the war against Napoleon across the Portuguese frontier into Spain. The presence of the English army, the new French-born liberal ideas, and the political vacuum combined to create revolutionary conditions. The French invasions and the peninsular wars, where Portuguese armed forces played a key role, marked the beginning of a new era in politics.
       Liberalism and Constitutional Monarchy, 1822-1910
       During 1807-22, foreign invasions, war, and civil strife over conflicting political ideas gravely damaged Portugal's commerce, economy, and novice industry. The next terrible blow was the loss of Brazil in 1822, the jewel in the imperial crown. Portugal's very independence seemed to be at risk. In vain, Portugal sought to resist Brazilian independence by force, but in 1825 it formally acknowledged Brazilian independence by treaty.
       Portugal's slow recovery from the destructive French invasions and the "war of independence" was complicated by civil strife over the form of constitutional monarchy that best suited Portugal. After struggles over these issues between 1820 and 1834, Portugal settled somewhat uncertainly into a moderate constitutional monarchy whose constitution (Charter of 1826) lent it strong political powers to exert a moderating influence between the executive and legislative branches of the government. It also featured a new upper middle class based on land ownership and commerce; a Catholic Church that, although still important, lived with reduced privileges and property; a largely African (third) empire to which Lisbon and Oporto devoted increasing spiritual and material resources, starting with the liberal imperial plans of 1836 and 1851, and continuing with the work of institutions like the Lisbon Society of Geography (established 1875); and a mass of rural peasants whose bonds to the land weakened after 1850 and who began to immigrate in increasing numbers to Brazil and North America.
       Chronic military intervention in national politics began in 19th-century Portugal. Such intervention, usually commencing with coups or pronunciamentos (military revolts), was a shortcut to the spoils of political office and could reflect popular discontent as well as the power of personalities. An early example of this was the 1817 golpe (coup) attempt of General Gomes Freire against British military rule in Portugal before the return of King João VI from Brazil. Except for a more stable period from 1851 to 1880, military intervention in politics, or the threat thereof, became a feature of the constitutional monarchy's political life, and it continued into the First Republic and the subsequent Estado Novo.
       Beginning with the Regeneration period (1851-80), Portugal experienced greater political stability and economic progress. Military intervention in politics virtually ceased; industrialization and construction of railroads, roads, and bridges proceeded; two political parties (Regenerators and Historicals) worked out a system of rotation in power; and leading intellectuals sparked a cultural revival in several fields. In 19th-century literature, there was a new golden age led by such figures as Alexandre Herculano (historian), Eça de Queirós (novelist), Almeida Garrett (playwright and essayist), Antero de Quental (poet), and Joaquim Oliveira Martins (historian and social scientist). In its third overseas empire, Portugal attempted to replace the slave trade and slavery with legitimate economic activities; to reform the administration; and to expand Portuguese holdings beyond coastal footholds deep into the African hinterlands in West, West Central, and East Africa. After 1841, to some extent, and especially after 1870, colonial affairs, combined with intense nationalism, pressures for economic profit in Africa, sentiment for national revival, and the drift of European affairs would make or break Lisbon governments.
       Beginning with the political crisis that arose out of the "English Ultimatum" affair of January 1890, the monarchy became discredtted and identified with the poorly functioning government, political parties splintered, and republicanism found more supporters. Portugal participated in the "Scramble for Africa," expanding its African holdings, but failed to annex territory connecting Angola and Mozambique. A growing foreign debt and state bankruptcy as of the early 1890s damaged the constitutional monarchy's reputation, despite the efforts of King Carlos in diplomacy, the renewal of the alliance in the Windsor Treaty of 1899, and the successful if bloody colonial wars in the empire (1880-97). Republicanism proclaimed that Portugal's weak economy and poor society were due to two historic institutions: the monarchy and the Catholic Church. A republic, its stalwarts claimed, would bring greater individual liberty; efficient, if more decentralized government; and a stronger colonial program while stripping the Church of its role in both society and education.
       As the monarchy lost support and republicans became more aggressive, violence increased in politics. King Carlos I and his heir Luís were murdered in Lisbon by anarchist-republicans on 1 February 1908. Following a military and civil insurrection and fighting between monarchist and republican forces, on 5 October 1910, King Manuel II fled Portugal and a republic was proclaimed.
       First Parliamentary Republic, 1910-26
       Portugal's first attempt at republican government was the most unstable, turbulent parliamentary republic in the history of 20th-century Western Europe. During a little under 16 years of the republic, there were 45 governments, a number of legislatures that did not complete normal terms, military coups, and only one president who completed his four-year term in office. Portuguese society was poorly prepared for this political experiment. Among the deadly legacies of the monarchy were a huge public debt; a largely rural, apolitical, and illiterate peasant population; conflict over the causes of the country's misfortunes; and lack of experience with a pluralist, democratic system.
       The republic had some talented leadership but lacked popular, institutional, and economic support. The 1911 republican constitution established only a limited democracy, as only a small portion of the adult male citizenry was eligible to vote. In a country where the majority was Catholic, the republic passed harshly anticlerical laws, and its institutions and supporters persecuted both the Church and its adherents. During its brief disjointed life, the First Republic drafted important reform plans in economic, social, and educational affairs; actively promoted development in the empire; and pursued a liberal, generous foreign policy. Following British requests for Portugal's assistance in World War I, Portugal entered the war on the Allied side in March 1916 and sent armies to Flanders and Portuguese Africa. Portugal's intervention in that conflict, however, was too costly in many respects, and the ultimate failure of the republic in part may be ascribed to Portugal's World War I activities.
       Unfortunately for the republic, its time coincided with new threats to Portugal's African possessions: World War I, social and political demands from various classes that could not be reconciled, excessive military intervention in politics, and, in particular, the worst economic and financial crisis Portugal had experienced since the 16th and 17th centuries. After the original Portuguese Republican Party (PRP, also known as the "Democrats") splintered into three warring groups in 1912, no true multiparty system emerged. The Democrats, except for only one or two elections, held an iron monopoly of electoral power, and political corruption became a major issue. As extreme right-wing dictatorships elsewhere in Europe began to take power in Italy (1922), neighboring Spain (1923), and Greece (1925), what scant popular support remained for the republic collapsed. Backed by a right-wing coalition of landowners from Alentejo, clergy, Coimbra University faculty and students, Catholic organizations, and big business, career military officers led by General Gomes da Costa executed a coup on 28 May 1926, turned out the last republican government, and established a military government.
       The Estado Novo (New State), 1926-74
       During the military phase (1926-32) of the Estado Novo, professional military officers, largely from the army, governed and administered Portugal and held key cabinet posts, but soon discovered that the military possessed no magic formula that could readily solve the problems inherited from the First Republic. Especially during the years 1926-31, the military dictatorship, even with its political repression of republican activities and institutions (military censorship of the press, political police action, and closure of the republic's rowdy parliament), was characterized by similar weaknesses: personalism and factionalism; military coups and political instability, including civil strife and loss of life; state debt and bankruptcy; and a weak economy. "Barracks parliamentarism" was not an acceptable alternative even to the "Nightmare Republic."
       Led by General Óscar Carmona, who had replaced and sent into exile General Gomes da Costa, the military dictatorship turned to a civilian expert in finance and economics to break the budget impasse and bring coherence to the disorganized system. Appointed minister of finance on 27 April 1928, the Coimbra University Law School professor of economics Antônio de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970) first reformed finance, helped balance the budget, and then turned to other concerns as he garnered extraordinary governing powers. In 1930, he was appointed interim head of another key ministry (Colonies) and within a few years had become, in effect, a civilian dictator who, with the military hierarchy's support, provided the government with coherence, a program, and a set of policies.
       For nearly 40 years after he was appointed the first civilian prime minister in 1932, Salazar's personality dominated the government. Unlike extreme right-wing dictators elsewhere in Europe, Salazar was directly appointed by the army but was never endorsed by a popular political party, street militia, or voter base. The scholarly, reclusive former Coimbra University professor built up what became known after 1932 as the Estado Novo ("New State"), which at the time of its overthrow by another military coup in 1974, was the longest surviving authoritarian regime in Western Europe. The system of Salazar and the largely academic and technocratic ruling group he gathered in his cabinets was based on the central bureaucracy of the state, which was supported by the president of the republic—always a senior career military officer, General Óscar Carmona (1928-51), General Craveiro Lopes (1951-58), and Admiral Américo Tómaz (1958-74)—and the complicity of various institutions. These included a rubber-stamp legislature called the National Assembly (1935-74) and a political police known under various names: PVDE (1932-45), PIDE (1945-69),
       and DGS (1969-74). Other defenders of the Estado Novo security were paramilitary organizations such as the National Republican Guard (GNR); the Portuguese Legion (PL); and the Portuguese Youth [Movement]. In addition to censorship of the media, theater, and books, there was political repression and a deliberate policy of depoliticization. All political parties except for the approved movement of regime loyalists, the União Nacional or (National Union), were banned.
       The most vigorous and more popular period of the New State was 1932-44, when the basic structures were established. Never monolithic or entirely the work of one person (Salazar), the New State was constructed with the assistance of several dozen top associates who were mainly academics from law schools, some technocrats with specialized skills, and a handful of trusted career military officers. The 1933 Constitution declared Portugal to be a "unitary, corporative Republic," and pressures to restore the monarchy were resisted. Although some of the regime's followers were fascists and pseudofascists, many more were conservative Catholics, integralists, nationalists, and monarchists of different varieties, and even some reactionary republicans. If the New State was authoritarian, it was not totalitarian and, unlike fascism in Benito Mussolini's Italy or Adolf Hitler's Germany, it usually employed the minimum of violence necessary to defeat what remained a largely fractious, incoherent opposition.
       With the tumultuous Second Republic and the subsequent civil war in nearby Spain, the regime felt threatened and reinforced its defenses. During what Salazar rightly perceived as a time of foreign policy crisis for Portugal (1936-45), he assumed control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From there, he pursued four basic foreign policy objectives: supporting the Nationalist rebels of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and concluding defense treaties with a triumphant Franco; ensuring that General Franco in an exhausted Spain did not enter World War II on the Axis side; maintaining Portuguese neutrality in World War II with a post-1942 tilt toward the Allies, including granting Britain and the United States use of bases in the Azores Islands; and preserving and protecting Portugal's Atlantic Islands and its extensive, if poor, overseas empire in Africa and Asia.
       During the middle years of the New State (1944-58), many key Salazar associates in government either died or resigned, and there was greater social unrest in the form of unprecedented strikes and clandestine Communist activities, intensified opposition, and new threatening international pressures on Portugal's overseas empire. During the earlier phase of the Cold War (1947-60), Portugal became a steadfast, if weak, member of the US-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance and, in 1955, with American support, Portugal joined the United Nations (UN). Colonial affairs remained a central concern of the regime. As of 1939, Portugal was the third largest colonial power in the world and possessed territories in tropical Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe Islands) and the remnants of its 16th-century empire in Asia (Goa, Damão, Diu, East Timor, and Macau). Beginning in the early 1950s, following the independence of India in 1947, Portugal resisted Indian pressures to decolonize Portuguese India and used police forces to discourage internal opposition in its Asian and African colonies.
       The later years of the New State (1958-68) witnessed the aging of the increasingly isolated but feared Salazar and new threats both at home and overseas. Although the regime easily overcame the brief oppositionist threat from rival presidential candidate General Humberto Delgado in the spring of 1958, new developments in the African and Asian empires imperiled the authoritarian system. In February 1961, oppositionists hijacked the Portuguese ocean liner Santa Maria and, in following weeks, African insurgents in northern Angola, although they failed to expel the Portuguese, gained worldwide media attention, discredited the New State, and began the 13-year colonial war. After thwarting a dissident military coup against his continued leadership, Salazar and his ruling group mobilized military repression in Angola and attempted to develop the African colonies at a faster pace in order to ensure Portuguese control. Meanwhile, the other European colonial powers (Britain, France, Belgium, and Spain) rapidly granted political independence to their African territories.
       At the time of Salazar's removal from power in September 1968, following a stroke, Portugal's efforts to maintain control over its colonies appeared to be successful. President Americo Tomás appointed Dr. Marcello Caetano as Salazar's successor as prime minister. While maintaining the New State's basic structures, and continuing the regime's essential colonial policy, Caetano attempted wider reforms in colonial administration and some devolution of power from Lisbon, as well as more freedom of expression in Lisbon. Still, a great deal of the budget was devoted to supporting the wars against the insurgencies in Africa. Meanwhile in Asia, Portuguese India had fallen when the Indian army invaded in December 1961. The loss of Goa was a psychological blow to the leadership of the New State, and of the Asian empire only East Timor and Macau remained.
       The Caetano years (1968-74) were but a hiatus between the waning Salazar era and a new regime. There was greater political freedom and rapid economic growth (5-6 percent annually to late 1973), but Caetano's government was unable to reform the old system thoroughly and refused to consider new methods either at home or in the empire. In the end, regime change came from junior officers of the professional military who organized the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) against the Caetano government. It was this group of several hundred officers, mainly in the army and navy, which engineered a largely bloodless coup in Lisbon on 25 April 1974. Their unexpected action brought down the 48-year-old New State and made possible the eventual establishment and consolidation of democratic governance in Portugal, as well as a reorientation of the country away from the Atlantic toward Europe.
       Revolution of Carnations, 1974-76
       Following successful military operations of the Armed Forces Movement against the Caetano government, Portugal experienced what became known as the "Revolution of Carnations." It so happened that during the rainy week of the military golpe, Lisbon flower shops were featuring carnations, and the revolutionaries and their supporters adopted the red carnation as the common symbol of the event, as well as of the new freedom from dictatorship. The MFA, whose leaders at first were mostly little-known majors and captains, proclaimed a three-fold program of change for the new Portugal: democracy; decolonization of the overseas empire, after ending the colonial wars; and developing a backward economy in the spirit of opportunity and equality. During the first 24 months after the coup, there was civil strife, some anarchy, and a power struggle. With the passing of the Estado Novo, public euphoria burst forth as the new provisional military government proclaimed the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly, and abolished censorship, the political police, the Portuguese Legion, Portuguese Youth, and other New State organizations, including the National Union. Scores of political parties were born and joined the senior political party, the Portuguese Community Party (PCP), and the Socialist Party (PS), founded shortly before the coup.
       Portugal's Revolution of Carnations went through several phases. There was an attempt to take control by radical leftists, including the PCP and its allies. This was thwarted by moderate officers in the army, as well as by the efforts of two political parties: the PS and the Social Democrats (PPD, later PSD). The first phase was from April to September 1974. Provisional president General Antonio Spínola, whose 1974 book Portugal and the Future had helped prepare public opinion for the coup, met irresistible leftist pressures. After Spinola's efforts to avoid rapid decolonization of the African empire failed, he resigned in September 1974. During the second phase, from September 1974 to March 1975, radical military officers gained control, but a coup attempt by General Spínola and his supporters in Lisbon in March 1975 failed and Spínola fled to Spain.
       In the third phase of the Revolution, March-November 1975, a strong leftist reaction followed. Farm workers occupied and "nationalized" 1.1 million hectares of farmland in the Alentejo province, and radical military officers in the provisional government ordered the nationalization of Portuguese banks (foreign banks were exempted), utilities, and major industries, or about 60 percent of the economic system. There were power struggles among various political parties — a total of 50 emerged—and in the streets there was civil strife among labor, military, and law enforcement groups. A constituent assembly, elected on 25 April 1975, in Portugal's first free elections since 1926, drafted a democratic constitution. The Council of the Revolution (CR), briefly a revolutionary military watchdog committee, was entrenched as part of the government under the constitution, until a later revision. During the chaotic year of 1975, about 30 persons were killed in political frays while unstable provisional governments came and went. On 25 November 1975, moderate military forces led by Colonel Ramalho Eanes, who later was twice elected president of the republic (1976 and 1981), defeated radical, leftist military groups' revolutionary conspiracies.
       In the meantime, Portugal's scattered overseas empire experienced a precipitous and unprepared decolonization. One by one, the former colonies were granted and accepted independence—Guinea-Bissau (September 1974), Cape Verde Islands (July 1975), and Mozambique (July 1975). Portugal offered to turn over Macau to the People's Republic of China, but the offer was refused then and later negotiations led to the establishment of a formal decolonization or hand-over date of 1999. But in two former colonies, the process of decolonization had tragic results.
       In Angola, decolonization negotiations were greatly complicated by the fact that there were three rival nationalist movements in a struggle for power. The January 1975 Alvor Agreement signed by Portugal and these three parties was not effectively implemented. A bloody civil war broke out in Angola in the spring of 1975 and, when Portuguese armed forces withdrew and declared that Angola was independent on 11 November 1975, the bloodshed only increased. Meanwhile, most of the white Portuguese settlers from Angola and Mozambique fled during the course of 1975. Together with African refugees, more than 600,000 of these retornados ("returned ones") went by ship and air to Portugal and thousands more to Namibia, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
       The second major decolonization disaster was in Portugal's colony of East Timor in the Indonesian archipelago. Portugal's capacity to supervise and control a peaceful transition to independence in this isolated, neglected colony was limited by the strength of giant Indonesia, distance from Lisbon, and Portugal's revolutionary disorder and inability to defend Timor. In early December 1975, before Portugal granted formal independence and as one party, FRETILIN, unilaterally declared East Timor's independence, Indonesia's armed forces invaded, conquered, and annexed East Timor. Indonesian occupation encountered East Timorese resistance, and a heavy loss of life followed. The East Timor question remained a contentious international issue in the UN, as well as in Lisbon and Jakarta, for more than 20 years following Indonesia's invasion and annexation of the former colony of Portugal. Major changes occurred, beginning in 1998, after Indonesia underwent a political revolution and allowed a referendum in East Timor to decide that territory's political future in August 1999. Most East Timorese chose independence, but Indonesian forces resisted that verdict until
       UN intervention in September 1999. Following UN rule for several years, East Timor attained full independence on 20 May 2002.
       Consolidation of Democracy, 1976-2000
       After several free elections and record voter turnouts between 25 April 1975 and June 1976, civil war was averted and Portugal's second democratic republic began to stabilize. The MFA was dissolved, the military were returned to the barracks, and increasingly elected civilians took over the government of the country. The 1976 Constitution was revised several times beginning in 1982 and 1989, in order to reempha-size the principle of free enterprise in the economy while much of the large, nationalized sector was privatized. In June 1976, General Ram-alho Eanes was elected the first constitutional president of the republic (five-year term), and he appointed socialist leader Dr. Mário Soares as prime minister of the first constitutional government.
       From 1976 to 1985, Portugal's new system featured a weak economy and finances, labor unrest, and administrative and political instability. The difficult consolidation of democratic governance was eased in part by the strong currency and gold reserves inherited from the Estado Novo, but Lisbon seemed unable to cope with high unemployment, new debt, the complex impact of the refugees from Africa, world recession, and the agitation of political parties. Four major parties emerged from the maelstrom of 1974-75, except for the Communist Party, all newly founded. They were, from left to right, the Communists (PCP); the Socialists (PS), who managed to dominate governments and the legislature but not win a majority in the Assembly of the Republic; the Social Democrats (PSD); and the Christian Democrats (CDS). During this period, the annual growth rate was low (l-2 percent), and the nationalized sector of the economy stagnated.
       Enhanced economic growth, greater political stability, and more effective central government as of 1985, and especially 1987, were due to several developments. In 1977, Portugal applied for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU) since 1993. In January 1986, with Spain, Portugal was granted membership, and economic and financial progress in the intervening years has been significantly influenced by the comparatively large investment, loans, technology, advice, and other assistance from the EEC. Low unemployment, high annual growth rates (5 percent), and moderate inflation have also been induced by the new political and administrative stability in Lisbon. Led by Prime Minister Cavaco Silva, an economist who was trained abroad, the PSD's strong organization, management, and electoral support since 1985 have assisted in encouraging economic recovery and development. In 1985, the PSD turned the PS out of office and won the general election, although they did not have an absolute majority of assembly seats. In 1986, Mário Soares was elected president of the republic, the first civilian to hold that office since the First Republic. In the elections of 1987 and 1991, however, the PSD was returned to power with clear majorities of over 50 percent of the vote.
       Although the PSD received 50.4 percent of the vote in the 1991 parliamentary elections and held a 42-seat majority in the Assembly of the Republic, the party began to lose public support following media revelations regarding corruption and complaints about Prime Minister Cavaco Silva's perceived arrogant leadership style. President Mário Soares voiced criticism of the PSD's seemingly untouchable majority and described a "tyranny of the majority." Economic growth slowed down. In the parliamentary elections of 1995 and the presidential election of 1996, the PSD's dominance ended for the time being. Prime Minister Antônio Guterres came to office when the PS won the October 1995 elections, and in the subsequent presidential contest, in January 1996, socialist Jorge Sampaio, the former mayor of Lisbon, was elected president of the republic, thus defeating Cavaco Silva's bid. Young and popular, Guterres moved the PS toward the center of the political spectrum. Under Guterres, the PS won the October 1999 parliamentary elections. The PS defeated the PSD but did not manage to win a clear, working majority of seats, and this made the PS dependent upon alliances with smaller parties, including the PCP.
       In the local elections in December 2001, the PSD's criticism of PS's heavy public spending allowed the PSD to take control of the key cities of Lisbon, Oporto, and Coimbra. Guterres resigned, and parliamentary elections were brought forward from 2004 to March 2002. The PSD won a narrow victory with 40 percent of the votes, and Jose Durão Barroso became prime minister. Having failed to win a majority of the seats in parliament forced the PSD to govern in coalition with the right-wing Popular Party (PP) led by Paulo Portas. Durão Barroso set about reducing government spending by cutting the budgets of local authorities, freezing civil service hiring, and reviving the economy by accelerating privatization of state-owned enterprises. These measures provoked a 24-hour strike by public-sector workers. Durão Barroso reacted with vows to press ahead with budget-cutting measures and imposed a wage freeze on all employees earning more than €1,000, which affected more than one-half of Portugal's work force.
       In June 2004, Durão Barroso was invited by Romano Prodi to succeed him as president of the European Commission. Durão Barroso accepted and resigned the prime ministership in July. Pedro Santana Lopes, the leader of the PSD, became prime minister. Already unpopular at the time of Durão Barroso's resignation, the PSD-led government became increasingly unpopular under Santana Lopes. A month-long delay in the start of the school year and confusion over his plan to cut taxes and raise public-sector salaries, eroded confidence even more. By November, Santana Lopes's government was so unpopular that President Jorge Sampaio was obliged to dissolve parliament and hold new elections, two years ahead of schedule.
       Parliamentary elections were held on 20 February 2005. The PS, which had promised the electorate disciplined and transparent governance, educational reform, the alleviation of poverty, and a boost in employment, won 45 percent of the vote and the majority of the seats in parliament. The leader of the PS, José Sôcrates became prime minister on 12 March 2005. In the regularly scheduled presidential elections held on 6 January 2006, the former leader of the PSD and prime minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, won a narrow victory and became president on 9 March 2006. With a mass protest, public teachers' strike, and street demonstrations in March 2008, Portugal's media, educational, and social systems experienced more severe pressures. With the spreading global recession beginning in September 2008, Portugal's economic and financial systems became more troubled.
       Owing to its geographic location on the southwestern most edge of continental Europe, Portugal has been historically in but not of Europe. Almost from the beginning of its existence in the 12th century as an independent monarchy, Portugal turned its back on Europe and oriented itself toward the Atlantic Ocean. After carving out a Christian kingdom on the western portion of the Iberian peninsula, Portuguese kings gradually built and maintained a vast seaborne global empire that became central to the way Portugal understood its individuality as a nation-state. While the creation of this empire allows Portugal to claim an unusual number of "firsts" or distinctions in world and Western history, it also retarded Portugal's economic, social, and political development. It can be reasonably argued that the Revolution of 25 April 1974 was the most decisive event in Portugal's long history because it finally ended Portugal's oceanic mission and view of itself as an imperial power. After the 1974 Revolution, Portugal turned away from its global mission and vigorously reoriented itself toward Europe. Contemporary Portugal is now both in and of Europe.
       The turn toward Europe began immediately after 25 April 1974. Portugal granted independence to its African colonies in 1975. It was admitted to the European Council and took the first steps toward accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1976. On 28 March 1977, the Portuguese government officially applied for EEC membership. Because of Portugal's economic and social backwardness, which would require vast sums of EEC money to overcome, negotiations for membership were long and difficult. Finally, a treaty of accession was signed on 12 June 1985. Portugal officially joined the EEC (the European Union [EU] since 1993) on 1 January 1986. Since becoming a full-fledged member of the EU, Portugal has been steadily overcoming the economic and social underdevelopment caused by its imperial past and is becoming more like the rest of Europe.
       Membership in the EU has speeded up the structural transformation of Portugal's economy, which actually began during the Estado Novo. Investments made by the Estado Novo in Portugal's economy began to shift employment out of the agricultural sector, which, in 1950, accounted for 50 percent of Portugal's economically active population. Today, only 10 percent of the economically active population is employed in the agricultural sector (the highest among EU member states); 30 percent in the industrial sector (also the highest among EU member states); and 60 percent in the service sector (the lowest among EU member states). The economically active population numbers about 5,000,000 employed, 56 percent of whom are women. Women workers are the majority of the workforce in the agricultural and service sectors (the highest among the EU member states). The expansion of the service sector has been primarily in health care and education. Portugal has had the lowest unemployment rates among EU member states, with the overall rate never being more than 10 percent of the active population. Since joining the EU, the number of employers increased from 2.6 percent to 5.8 percent of the active population; self-employed from 16 to 19 percent; and employees from 65 to 70 percent. Twenty-six percent of the employers are women. Unemployment tends to hit younger workers in industry and transportation, women employed in domestic service, workers on short-term contracts, and poorly educated workers. Salaried workers earn only 63 percent of the EU average, and hourly workers only one-third to one-half of that earned by their EU counterparts. Despite having had the second highest growth of gross national product (GNP) per inhabitant (after Ireland) among EU member states, the above data suggest that while much has been accomplished in terms of modernizing the Portuguese economy, much remains to be done to bring Portugal's economy up to the level of the "average" EU member state.
       Membership in the EU has also speeded up changes in Portuguese society. Over the last 30 years, coastalization and urbanization have intensified. Fully 50 percent of Portuguese live in the coastal urban conurbations of Lisbon, Oporto, Braga, Aveiro, Coimbra, Viseu, Évora, and Faro. The Portuguese population is one of the oldest among EU member states (17.3 percent are 65 years of age or older) thanks to a considerable increase in life expectancy at birth (77.87 years for the total population, 74.6 years for men, 81.36 years for women) and one of the lowest birthrates (10.59 births/1,000) in Europe. Family size averages 2.8 persons per household, with the strict nuclear family (one or two generations) in which both parents work being typical. Common law marriages, cohabitating couples, and single-parent households are more and more common. The divorce rate has also increased. "Youth Culture" has developed. The young have their own meeting places, leisure-time activities, and nightlife (bars, clubs, and discos).
       All Portuguese citizens, whether they have contributed or not, have a right to an old-age pension, invalidity benefits, widowed persons' pension, as well as payments for disabilities, children, unemployment, and large families. There is a national minimum wage (€385 per month), which is low by EU standards. The rapid aging of Portugal's population has changed the ratio of contributors to pensioners to 1.7, the lowest in the EU. This has created deficits in Portugal's social security fund.
       The adult literacy rate is about 92 percent. Illiteracy is still found among the elderly. Although universal compulsory education up to grade 9 was achieved in 1980, only 21.2 percent of the population aged 25-64 had undergone secondary education, compared to an EU average of 65.7 percent. Portugal's higher education system currently consists of 14 state universities and 14 private universities, 15 state polytechnic institutions, one Catholic university, and one military academy. All in all, Portugal spends a greater percentage of its state budget on education than most EU member states. Despite this high level of expenditure, the troubled Portuguese education system does not perform well. Early leaving and repetition rates are among the highest among EU member states.
       After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Portugal created a National Health Service, which today consists of 221 hospitals and 512 medical centers employing 33,751 doctors and 41,799 nurses. Like its education system, Portugal's medical system is inefficient. There are long waiting lists for appointments with specialists and for surgical procedures.
       Structural changes in Portugal's economy and society mean that social life in Portugal is not too different from that in other EU member states. A mass consumption society has been created. Televisions, telephones, refrigerators, cars, music equipment, mobile phones, and personal computers are commonplace. Sixty percent of Portuguese households possess at least one automobile, and 65 percent of Portuguese own their own home. Portuguese citizens are more aware of their legal rights than ever before. This has resulted in a trebling of the number of legal proceeding since 1960 and an eight-fold increase in the number of lawyers. In general, Portuguese society has become more permissive and secular; the Catholic Church and the armed forces are much less influential than in the past. Portugal's population is also much more culturally, religiously, and ethnically diverse, a consequence of the coming to Portugal of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mainly from former African colonies.
       Portuguese are becoming more cosmopolitan and sophisticated through the impact of world media, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. A prime case in point came in the summer and early fall of 1999, with the extraordinary events in East Timor and the massive Portuguese popular responses. An internationally monitored referendum in East Timor, Portugal's former colony in the Indonesian archipelago and under Indonesian occupation from late 1975 to summer 1999, resulted in a vote of 78.5 percent for rejecting integration with Indonesia and for independence. When Indonesian prointegration gangs, aided by the Indonesian military, responded to the referendum with widespread brutality and threatened to reverse the verdict of the referendum, there was a spontaneous popular outpouring of protest in the cities and towns of Portugal. An avalanche of Portuguese e-mail fell on leaders and groups in the UN and in certain countries around the world as Portugal's diplomats, perhaps to compensate for the weak initial response to Indonesian armed aggression in 1975, called for the protection of East Timor as an independent state and for UN intervention to thwart Indonesian action. Using global communications networks, the Portuguese were able to mobilize UN and world public opinion against Indonesian actions and aided the eventual independence of East Timor on 20 May 2002.
       From the Revolution of 25 April 1974 until the 1990s, Portugal had a large number of political parties, one of the largest Communist parties in western Europe, frequent elections, and endemic cabinet instability. Since the 1990s, the number of political parties has been dramatically reduced and cabinet stability increased. Gradually, the Portuguese electorate has concentrated around two larger parties, the right-of-center Social Democrats (PSD) and the left-of-center Socialist (PS). In the 1980s, these two parties together garnered 65 percent of the vote and 70 percent of the seats in parliament. In 2005, these percentages had risen to 74 percent and 85 percent, respectively. In effect, Portugal is currently a two-party dominant system in which the two largest parties — PS and PSD—alternate in and out of power, not unlike the rotation of the two main political parties (the Regenerators and the Historicals) during the last decades (1850s to 1880s) of the liberal constitutional monarchy. As Portugal's democracy has consolidated, turnout rates for the eligible electorate have declined. In the 1970s, turnout was 85 percent. In Portugal's most recent parliamentary election (2005), turnout had fallen to 65 percent of the eligible electorate.
       Portugal has benefited greatly from membership in the EU, and whatever doubts remain about the price paid for membership, no Portuguese government in the near future can afford to sever this connection. The vast majority of Portuguese citizens see membership in the EU as a "good thing" and strongly believe that Portugal has benefited from membership. Only the Communist Party opposed membership because it reduces national sovereignty, serves the interests of capitalists not workers, and suffers from a democratic deficit. Despite the high level of support for the EU, Portuguese voters are increasingly not voting in elections for the European Parliament, however. Turnout for European Parliament elections fell from 40 percent of the eligible electorate in the 1999 elections to 38 percent in the 2004 elections.
       In sum, Portugal's turn toward Europe has done much to overcome its backwardness. However, despite the economic, social, and political progress made since 1986, Portugal has a long way to go before it can claim to be on a par with the level found even in Spain, much less the rest of western Europe. As Portugal struggles to move from underde-velopment, especially in the rural areas away from the coast, it must keep in mind the perils of too rapid modern development, which could damage two of its most precious assets: its scenery and environment. The growth and future prosperity of the economy will depend on the degree to which the government and the private sector will remain stewards of clean air, soil, water, and other finite resources on which the tourism industry depends and on which Portugal's world image as a unique place to visit rests. Currently, Portugal is investing heavily in renewable energy from solar, wind, and wave power in order to account for about 50 percent of its electricity needs by 2010. Portugal opened the world's largest solar power plant and the world's first commercial wave power farm in 2006.
       An American documentary film on Portugal produced in the 1970s described this little country as having "a Past in Search of a Future." In the years after the Revolution of 25 April 1974, it could be said that Portugal is now living in "a Present in Search of a Future." Increasingly, that future lies in Europe as an active and productive member of the EU.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Historical Portugal

  • 5 Eccles, William Henry

    [br]
    b. 23 August 1875 Ulverston, Cumbria, England
    d. 27 April 1966 Oxford, England
    [br]
    English physicist who made important contributions to the development of radio communications.
    [br]
    After early education at home and at private school, Eccles won a scholarship to the Royal College of Science (now Imperial College), London, where he gained a First Class BSc in physics in 1898. He then worked as a demonstrator at the college and studied coherers, for which he obtained a DSc in 1901. Increasingly interested in electrical engineering, he joined the Marconi Company in 1899 to work on oscillators at the Poole experimental radio station, but in 1904 he returned to academic life as Professor of Mathematics and Physics and Department Head at South West Polytechnic, Chelsea. There he discovered ways of using the negative resistance of galena-crystal detectors to generate oscillations and gave a mathematical description of the operation of the triode valve. In 1910 he became Reader in Engineering at University College, London, where he published a paper explaining the reflection of radio waves by the ionosphere and designed a 60 MHz short-wave transmitter. From 1916 to 1926 he was Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at the Finsbury City \& Guilds College and a private consulting engineer. During the First World War he was a military scientific adviser and Secretary to the Joint Board of Scientific Societies. After the war he made many contributions to electronic-circuit development, many of them (including the Eccles-Jordan "flip-flop" patented in 1918 and used in binary counters) in conjunction with F.W.Jordan, about whom little seems to be known. Illness forced Eccles's premature academic retirement in 1926, but he remained active as a consultant for many years.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1921. President, Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1926–7. President, Physical Society 1929. President, Radio Society of Great Britain.
    Bibliography
    1912, "On the diurnal variation of the electric waves occurring in nature and on the propagation of electric waves round the bend of the earth", Proceedings of the Royal Society 87:79. 1919, with F.W.Jordan, "Method of using two triode valves in parallel for generating oscillations", Electrician 299:3.
    1915, Handbook of Wireless Telegraphy.
    1921, Continuous Wave Wireless Telegraphy.
    Further Reading
    1971, "William Henry Eccles, 1875–1966", Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society, London, 17.
    KF

    Biographical history of technology > Eccles, William Henry

  • 6 Marconi, Marchese Guglielmo

    [br]
    b. 25 April 1874 Bologna, Italy
    d. 20 July 1937 Rome, Italy
    [br]
    Italian radio pioneer whose inventiveness and business skills made radio communication a practical proposition.
    [br]
    Marconi was educated in physics at Leghorn and at Bologna University. An avid experimenter, he worked in his parents' attic and, almost certainly aware of the recent work of Hertz and others, soon improved the performance of coherers and spark-gap transmitters. He also discovered for himself the use of earthing and of elevated metal plates as aerials. In 1895 he succeeded in transmitting telegraphy over a distance of 2 km (1¼ miles), but the Italian Telegraph authority rejected his invention, so in 1896 he moved to England, where he filed the first of many patents. There he gained the support of the Chief Engineer of the Post Office, and by the following year he had achieved communication across the Bristol Channel.
    The British Post Office was also slow to take up his work, so in 1897 he formed the Wireless Telegraph \& Signal Company to work independently. In 1898 he sold some equipment to the British Army for use in the Boer War and established the first permanent radio link from the Isle of Wight to the mainland. In 1899 he achieved communication across the English Channel (a distance of more than 31 miles or 50 km), the construction of a wireless station at Spezia, Italy, and the equipping of two US ships to report progress in the America's Cup yacht race, a venture that led to the formation of the American Marconi Company. In 1900 he won a contract from the British Admiralty to sell equipment and to train operators. Realizing that his business would be much more successful if he could offer his customers a complete radio-communication service (known today as a "turnkey" deal), he floated a new company, the Marconi International Marine Communications Company, while the old company became the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company.
    His greatest achievement occurred on 12 December 1901, when Morse telegraph signals from a transmitter at Poldhu in Cornwall were received at St John's, Newfoundland, a distance of some 2,100 miles (3,400 km), with the use of an aerial flown by a kite. As a result of this, Marconi's business prospered and he became internationally famous, receiving many honours for his endeavours, including the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909. In 1904, radio was first used to provide a daily bulletin at sea, and in 1907 a transatlantic wireless telegraphy service was inaugurated. The rescue of 1,650 passengers from the shipwreck of SS Republic in 1909 was the first of many occasions when wireless was instrumental in saving lives at sea, most notable being those from the Titanic on its maiden voyage in April 1912; more lives would have been saved had there been sufficient lifeboats. Marconi was one of those who subsequently pressed for greater safety at sea. In 1910 he demonstrated the reception of long (8 km or 5 miles) waves from Ireland in Buenos Aires, but after the First World War he began to develop the use of short waves, which were more effectively reflected by the ionosphere. By 1918 the first link between England and Australia had been established, and in 1924 he was awarded a Post Office contract for short-wave communication between England and the various parts of the British Empire.
    With his achievements by then recognized by the Italian Government, in 1915 he was appointed Radio-Communications Adviser to the Italian armed forces, and in 1919 he was an Italian delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. From 1921 he lived on his yacht, the Elettra, and although he joined the Fascist Party in 1923, he later had reservations about Mussolini.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Nobel Prize for Physics (jointly with K.F. Braun) 1909. Russian Order of S t Anne. Commander of St Maurice and St Lazarus. Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (i.e. Knight) of Italy 1902. Freedom of Rome 1903. Honorary DSc Oxford. Honorary LLD Glasgow. Chevalier of the Civil Order of Savoy 1905. Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal. Honorary knighthood (GCVO) 1914. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal of Honour 1920. Chairman, Royal Society of Arts 1924. Created Marquis (Marchese) 1929. Nominated to the Italian Senate 1929. President, Italian Academy 1930. Rector, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 1934.
    Bibliography
    1896, "Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and in apparatus thereof", British patent no. 12,039.
    1 June 1898, British patent no. 12,326 (transformer or "jigger" resonant circuit).
    1901, British patent no. 7,777 (selective tuning).
    1904, British patent no. 763,772 ("four circuit" tuning arrangement).
    Further Reading
    D.Marconi, 1962, My Father, Marconi.
    W.J.Baker, 1970, A History of the Marconi Company, London: Methuen.
    KF

    Biographical history of technology > Marconi, Marchese Guglielmo

  • 7 Clerk, Sir Dugald

    [br]
    b. 31 March 1854 Glasgow, Scotland
    d. 12 November 1932 Ewhurst, Surrey, England
    [br]
    Scottish mechanical engineer, inventor of the two-stroke internal combustion engine.
    [br]
    Clerk began his engineering training at about the age of 15 in the drawing office of H.O.Robinson \& Company, Glasgow, and in his father's works. Meanwhile, he studied at the West of Scotland Technical College and then, from 1871 to 1876, at Anderson's College, Glasgow, and at the Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds. Here he worked under and then became assistant to the distinguished chemist T.E.Thorpe, who set him to work on the fractional distillation of petroleum, which was to be useful to him in his later work. At that time he had intended to become a chemical engineer, but seeing a Lenoir gas engine at work, after his return to Glasgow, turned his main interest to gas and other internal combustion engines. He pursued his investigations first at Thomson, Sterne \& Company (1877–85) and then at Tangyes of Birmingham (1886–88. In 1888 he began a lifelong partnership in Marks and Clerk, consulting engineers and patent agents, in London.
    Beginning his work on gas engines in 1876, he achieved two patents in the two following years. In 1878 he made his principal invention, patented in 1881, of an engine working on the two-stroke cycle, in which the piston is powered during each revolution of the crankshaft, instead of alternate revolutions as in the Otto four-stroke cycle. In this engine, Clerk introduced supercharging, or increasing the pressure of the air intake. Many engines of the Clerk type were made but their popularity waned after the patent for the Otto engine expired in 1890. Interest was later revived, particularly for application to large gas engines, but Clerk's engine eventually came into its own where simple, low-power motors are needed, such as in motor cycles or motor mowers.
    Clerk's work on the theory and design of gas engines bore fruit in the book The Gas Engine (1886), republished with an extended text in 1909 as The Gas, Petrol and Oil Engine; these and a number of papers in scientific journals won him international renown. During and after the First World War, Clerk widened the scope of his interests and served, often as chairman, on many bodies in the field of science and industry.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1917; FRS 1908; Royal Society Royal Medal 1924; Royal Society of Arts Alber Medal 1922.
    Further Reading
    Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, no. 2, 1933.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Clerk, Sir Dugald

  • 8 Jeanneret, Charles-Edouard (Le Corbusier)

    [br]
    b. 6 October 1887 La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
    d. 27 August 1965 Cap Martin, France
    [br]
    Swiss/French architect.
    [br]
    The name of Le Corbusier is synonymous with the International style of modern architecture and city planning, one utilizing functionalist designs carried out in twentieth-century materials with modern methods of construction. Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, born in the watch-making town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura mountain region, was the son of a watch engraver and dial painter. In the years before 1918 he travelled widely, studying building in many countries. He learned about the use of reinforced concrete in the studio of Auguste Perret and about industrial construction under Peter Behrens. In 1917 he went to live in Paris and spent the rest of his life in France; in 1920 he adopted the name of Le Corbusier, one derived from that of his ancestors (Le Corbesier), and ten years later became a French citizen.
    Le Corbusier's long working life spanned a career divided into three distinct parts. Between 1905 and 1916 he designed a number of simple and increasingly modern houses; the years 1921 to 1940 were ones of research and debate; and the twenty years from 1945 saw the blossoming of his genius. After 1917 Le Corbusier gained a reputation in Paris as an architect of advanced originality. He was particularly interested in low-cost housing and in improving accommodation for the poor. In 1923 he published Vers une architecture, in which he planned estates of mass-produced houses where all extraneous and unnecessary features were stripped away and the houses had flat roofs and plain walls: his concept of "a machine for living in". These white boxes were lifted up on stilts, his pilotis, and double-height living space was provided internally, enclosed by large areas of factory glazing. In 1922 Le Corbusier exhibited a city plan, La Ville contemporaine, in which tall blocks made from steel and concrete were set amongst large areas of parkland, replacing the older concept of city slums with the light and air of modern living. In 1925 he published Urbanisme, further developing his socialist ideals. These constituted a major reform of the industrial-city pattern, but the ideas were not taken up at that time. The Depression years of the 1930s severely curtailed architectural activity in France. Le Corbusier designed houses for the wealthy there, but most of his work prior to 1945 was overseas: his Centrosoyus Administration Building in Moscow (1929–36) and the Ministry of Education Building in Rio de Janeiro (1943) are examples. Immediately after the end of the Second World War Le Corbusier won international fame for his Unité d'habitation theme, the first example of which was built in the boulevard Michelet in Marseille in 1947–52. His answer to the problem of accommodating large numbers of people in a small space at low cost was to construct an immense all-purpose block of pre-cast concrete slabs carried on a row of massive central supports. The Marseille Unité contains 350 apartments in eight double storeys, with a storey for shops half-way up and communal facilities on the roof. In 1950 he published Le Modular, which described a system of measurement based upon the human male figure. From this was derived a relationship of human and mathematical proportions; this concept, together with the extensive use of various forms of concrete, was fundamental to Le Corbusier's later work. In the world-famous and highly personal Pilgrimage Church of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp (1950–5), Le Corbusier's work was in Expressionist form, a plastic design in massive rough-cast concrete, its interior brilliantly designed and lit. His other equally famous, though less popular, ecclesiastical commission showed a contrasting theme, of "brutalist" concrete construction with uncompromisingly stark, rectangular forms. This is the Dominican Convent of Sainte Marie de la Tourette at Eveux-sur-l'Arbresle near Lyon, begun in 1956. The interior, in particular, is carefully worked out, and the lighting, from both natural and artificial sources, is indirect, angled in many directions to illuminate vistas and planes. All surfaces are carefully sloped, the angles meticulously calculated to give optimum visual effect. The crypt, below the raised choir, is painted in bright colours and lit from ceiling oculi.
    One of Le Corbusier's late works, the Convent is a tour de force.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Honorary Doctorate Zurich University 1933. Honorary Member RIBA 1937. Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur 1937. American Institute of Architects Gold Medal 1961. Honorary Degree University of Geneva 1964.
    Bibliography
    His chief publications, all of which have been numerously reprinted and translated, are: 1923, Vers une architecture.
    1935, La Ville radieuse.
    1946, Propos d'urbanisme.
    1950, Le Modular.
    Further Reading
    P.Blake, 1963, Le Corbusier: Architecture and Form, Penguin. R.Furneaux-Jordan, 1972, Le Corbusier, Dent.
    W.Boesiger, 1970, Le Corbusier, 8 vols, Thames and Hudson.
    ——1987, Le Corbusier: Architect of the Century, Arts Council of Great Britain.
    DY

    Biographical history of technology > Jeanneret, Charles-Edouard (Le Corbusier)

  • 9 Mylne, Robert

    [br]
    b. 1733 Edinburgh, Scotland d. 1811
    [br]
    Scottish engineer, architect and bridge-builder.
    [br]
    Mylne was the eldest son of Thomas Mylne, Surveyor to the City of Edinburgh. Little is known of his early education. In 1754, at the age of 21, he left Edinburgh by sea and journeyed to Rome, where he attended the Academy of St Luke. There he received the first prize for architecture. In 1759 he left Rome to travel back to England, where he arrived in time for the competition then going ahead for the design and building of a new bridge across the Thames at Blackfriars. Against 68 other competitors, Mylne won the competition; the work took some ten years to complete.
    In 1760 he was appointed Engineer and Architect to the City of London, and in 1767 Joint Engineer to the New River Company together with Henry Mill, who died within a few years to leave Mylne to become Chief Engineer in 1770. Thus for the next forty years he was in charge of all the works for the New River Company between Clerkenwell and Ware, the opposite ends of London's main water supply. By 1767 he had also been appointed to a number of other important posts, which included Surveyor to Canterbury Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral. In addition to undertaking his responsibilities for these great public buildings, he designed many private houses and villas all over the country, including several buildings for the Duke of Argyll on the Inverary Castle estate.
    Mylne was also responsible for the design of a great number of bridges, waterworks and other civil engineering works throughout Britain. Called in to advise on the Norwich city waterworks, he fell out with Joseph Bramah in a somewhat spectacular dispute.
    For much of his life Mylne lived at the Water House at the New River Head at Islington, from which he could direct much of the work on that waterway that came under his supervision. He also had residences in New Bridge Street and, as Clerk of Works, at Greenwich Hospital. Towards the end of his life he built himself a small house at Amwell, a country retreat at the outer end of the New River. He kept a diary from 1762 to 1810 which includes only brief memoranda but which shows a remarkable diligence in travelling all over the country by stagecoach and by postchaise. He was a freemason, as were many of his family; he married Mary Home on 10 September 1770, with whom he had ten children, four of whom survived into adulthood.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Fellow of the Royal Society 1767.
    Further Reading
    Dictionary of National Biography, London.
    A.E.Richardson, 1955, Robert Mylne, 1733–1811, Engineer and Architect, London: Batsford.

    Biographical history of technology > Mylne, Robert

  • 10 well

    well [wel]
    1. noun
    (for water, oil) puits m
    also well up [tears, emotion] monter
    (comparative better, superlative best)
       a. ( = satisfactorily, skilfully) [behave, sleep, eat, treat, remember] bien
    well done! bravo !
    well played! bien joué !
       b. (intensifying = very much, thoroughly) bien
    well over 1,000 people bien plus de 1 000 personnes
    well dodgy/annoyed (inf!) (British = very) super (inf) louche/contrarié
       c. ( = with good reason, with equal reason) one might well ask why on pourrait à juste titre demander pourquoi
    you might (just) as well say that... autant dire que...
       d. ► as well ( = also) aussi ; ( = on top of all that) par-dessus le marché
    and it rained as well! et par-dessus le marché il a plu !
       e. ( = positively) to think/speak well of penser/dire du bien de
    he has won the election! -- well, well, well! il a été élu ! -- tiens, tiens !
    well, what do you think of it? alors qu'en dites-vous ?
    well, here we are at last! eh bien ! nous voilà enfin !
    you know Paul? well, he's getting married vous connaissez Paul ? eh bien il se marie
    are you coming? -- well... I've got a lot to do here vous venez ? -- c'est que... j'ai beaucoup à faire ici
    (comparative, superlative best)
       a. bien, bon
    that's all very well but... tout ça c'est bien joli mais... (PROV) all's well that ends well(PROV) tout est bien qui finit bien
       b. ( = healthy) how are you? -- very well, thank you comment allez-vous ? -- très bien, merci
    get well soon! remets-toi vite !
       c. (cautious) it is as well to remember that... il ne faut pas oublier que...
    well-chosen/dressed bien choisi/habillé
    well-adjusted adjective [person] (gen) équilibré ; (to society, school) bien adapté
    well-advised adjective [action, decision] sage
    well-attended adjective [meeting, lecture, show, play] qui attire beaucoup de monde
    well-balanced adjective [person, diet, argument] équilibré
    well-behaved adjective [child] sage ; [animal] obéissant
    well-bred adjective ( = of good family) de bonne famille ; ( = courteous) bien élevé
    well-built adjective [building] bien construit ; [person] bien bâti
    well-cooked adjective [food, meal] bien cuisiné ; ( = not rare) [meat] bien cuit
    well-defined adjective [colours, distinctions, problem] bien défini ; [photo, outline] net
    well-founded adjective [suspicion] fondé
    well-groomed adjective [person] soigné ; [hair] bien coiffé
    well-judged adjective [remark, criticism] bien vu ; [shot, throw] bien ajusté ; [estimate] juste
    well-kept adjective [house, garden, hair] bien entretenu ; [hands, nails] soigné ; [secret] bien gardé
    well-known adjective ( = famous) célèbre
    it's a well-known fact that... tout le monde sait que... well-liked adjective très apprécié
    well-meaning adjective [person] bien intentionné ; [remark, action] fait avec les meilleures intentions
    well-off adjective ( = rich)
    well-preserved adjective [building, person] bien conservé
    well-rounded adjective [style] harmonieux ; [sentence] bien tourné
    well-timed adjective [remark, entrance] tout à fait opportun ; [blow] bien calculé
    well-worn adjective [carpet, clothes] usagé ; [phrase, expression] éculé
    * * *
    I 1. [wel]
    adjective (comparative better, superlative best)

    are you well? — vous allez bien?, tu vas bien?

    ‘how is he?’ - ‘as well as can be expected’ — ‘comment va-t-il?’ - ‘pas trop mal étant donné les circonstances’

    that's all very well, but — tout ça c'est bien beau, mais

    it's all very well for you to laugh, but — tu peux rire, mais

    3) ( prudent)
    4) ( fortunate)

    the flight was delayed, which was just as well — le vol a été retardé, ce qui n'était pas plus mal

    2.
    adverb (comparative better, superlative best)
    1) ( satisfactorily) bien

    to do well at school — être bon/bonne élève

    to do well by somebody — se montrer généreux/-euse avec quelqu'un

    she didn't come out of it very well — ( of situation) elle ne s'en est pas très bien sortie; (of article, programme etc) ce n'était pas très flatteur pour elle

    I can well believe it — je veux bien le croire, je n'ai pas de mal à le croire

    ‘shall I shut the door?’ - ‘you might as well’ — ‘est-ce que je ferme la porte?’ - ‘pourquoi pas’

    she looked shocked, as well she might — elle a eu l'air choquée, ce qui n'avait rien d'étonnant

    3) ( intensifier) bien, largement

    the weather remained fine well into September — le temps est resté au beau fixe pendant une bonne partie du mois de septembre

    5)
    3.
    exclamation ( expressing astonishment) eh bien!; (expressing indignation, disgust) ça alors!; ( expressing disappointment) tant pis!; (after pause in conversation, account) bon; ( qualifying statement) enfin

    well, you may be right — après tout, tu as peut-être raison

    well, that's too bad — c'est vraiment dommage

    well then, what's the problem? — alors, quel est le problème?

    oh well, there's nothing I can do about it — ma foi, je n'y peux rien

    well, well, well, so you're off to America? — alors comme ça, tu pars aux États-Unis!

    4.
    as well adverbial phrase aussi
    5.
    as well as prepositional phrase aussi bien que
    ••

    to be well in with somebody — (colloq) être bien avec quelqu'un (colloq)

    to leave well alone GB ou well enough alone USne pas s'en mêler

    you're well out of it! — (colloq) heureusement que tu n'as plus rien à voir avec ça!

    II 1. [wel]
    noun ( in ground) puits m; ( pool) source f
    2.
    Phrasal Verbs:

    English-French dictionary > well

  • 11 draw

    I 1. I
    1) rubber draws резина тянется; I like shoes that draw я люблю эластичную обувь; the sails drew паруса надулись
    2) a chimney must draw труба должна тянуть /обладать тягой/: this chimney won't draw в этой трубе нет тяги; the pump is drawing насос [хорошо] качает /работает/
    3) let the tea draw пусть чай настоится; in this jug herbs are drawing в этом кувшине настаиваются травы
    4) the two teams drew команды сыграли вничью; if we draw если у нас будет ничья; play to win, not to draw играй, чтобы выиграть, ничья не нужна; the match has drawn матч окончился с ничейным результатом
    2. II
    1) draw in some manner the cart draws easily эту телегу легко тянуть; the sledge drew slowly санки медленно катились; such a tooth draws easily такой зуб легко удалить /вырвать/; draw somewhere draw near (nearer, close, etc.) приближаться, придвигаться или подходить и т.д..; when he drew near когда он приблизился; draw aside /to one side/ отступать, отодвигаться; отойти в сторону /посторониться/; as time draws near (er) по мере тоге,.как приближается /наступает/ назначенный срок || (as) her time draws near (по мере того, как) приближается ее время /срок/ [рожать]
    2) draw in some manner this chimney draws badly эта труба плохо тянет; this cigar does not draw well эта сигара плохо курится
    3) draw at some time this speaker (such a play, etc.) always draws этот оратор и т.д. всегда собирает большую аудиторию; draw in some manner the play draws /is drawlog/ well эта пьеса делает хорошие сборы
    4) draw in some manner tea draws wen when covered если чай накрыть /укутать/, он хорошо настаивается
    3. III
    1) draw smth. draw a train (a wagon, a cart, etc.) тянуть /тащить/ железнодорожный состав и т.д..: draw a chair (a bench, a table, etc.) пододвигать стул и т.д.., draw the blinds (the curtains) задергивать или открывать шторы (занавеси)
    2) draw smth. draw a rope (a string, a thread, etc.) вытягивать /расправлять/ канат и т.д..; draw a wire а) тянуть проволоку; б) вытягивать проволоку; draw a bow натягивать лук; draw reins (a bridle, a bit, etc.) натягивать вожжи и т.д.
    3) draw smth. draw a cork (a nail, a hook, etc.) вытаскивать пробку и т.д..; draw a tooth выдергивать зуб; draw a pistol (a knife, a sword, etc.) выхватывать /вытаскивать/ пистолет и т.д.
    4) draw smth. draw coal извлекать /добывать/ уголь || draw blood пустить или оттянуть кровь; cups (pultices) draw blood банки (компрессы) оттягивают кровь; leeches draw blood пиявки отсасывают кровь
    5) draw smb., smth. draw a chicken (a duck, the bird, etc.) потрошить курицу и т.д..; draw an abscess вытягивать гной
    6) || draw a (smb.'s) bath налить (для кого-л.) ванну
    7) draw smth. draw one's pay (a salary, supplies, rations, a prize, 5 per cent interest, etc.) получать зарплату и т.д. draw profit извлекать /получать/ прибыль
    8) draw smth. draw lots тянуть жребий: draw a card вытаскивать /вытягивать/ карту [из колоды]; draw a winner (a winning number, etc.) вытащить билет и т.д.., на который пал выигрыш; draw a blank а) вытянуть пустой номер; б) ничего не добиться || draw a prison term coll. получить /заработать, "схлопотать"/ срок [тюремного заключения]
    9) draw smth. draw a deep breath сделать глубокий вдох; he stopped to draw breath он остановился, чтобы перевести дыхание; draw one's last breath умереть, испустить дух; draw one's first breath сделать первый вдох, родиться; draw a sigh вздохнуть
    10) draw smb., smth. draw a crowd (a large audience, etc.) собирать толпу и т.д..; draw a full house делать полный сбор; draw the bees (the butterflies, etc.) привлекать /притягивать/ пчел и т.д.., the bright flower drew her eye яркий цветок привлек ее внимание
    11) draw smth. draw applause (a sigh, tears, etc.) вызывать аплодисменты и т.д..; draw great consequences повлечь за собой серьезные последствия; draw trumps заставить [кого-л.] ходить с козыря; draw the enemy's fire вызывать огонь противника
    12) draw smth. draw tea (herbs) настаивать чай (травы)
    13) draw smth. draw a game сыграть [игру] вничью
    14) || draw so much water naut. иметь определенную осадку; the ship draws ten feet of water этот корабль имеет осадку в десять футов
    4. IV
    draw smth. in some manner
    1) draw a cart heavily с трудом тащить повозку; quickly draw the curtains быстро задернуть занавески
    2) he quickly drew his gun он быстро выхватил пистолет
    3) draw one's pay regularly регулярно получать зарплату
    4) this joke regularly draws applause эта шутка всегда вызывает аплодисменты
    5. V
    || draw smb. a bath налить /приготовить/ кому-л. ванну
    6. VI
    draw smth. to some state
    1) draw a string (a net, a belt, etc.) tighter) затянуть /подтянуть/ веревку и т.д. потуже
    2) draw a well dry выкачивать /осушать/ колодец
    7. XI
    1) be drawn by smb. a carriage was drawn by horses карету тянули /везли/ лошади
    2) be (feel) drawn to smb., smth. I felt (was) drawn to her меня тянуло /я испытывал влечение/ к ней
    3) be drawn the match was drawn матч окончился вничью; the battle was drawn бой не дал перевеса ни той, ни другой стороне
    8. XVI
    1) draw to (into, etc.) smth. draw to the wall отступать /отодвигаться, отходить, пятиться/ [назад] к стене; I want, you to draw closer to the fire я хочу, чтобы вы пододвинулись к камину /подвинулись ближе к огню/; the train draws into the station поезд подходит к перрону /прибывает/; snails draw into their shells улитки прячутся в свои ракушки; draw along smth. a curtain draws freely along the wire занавес легко скользит по проволоке: draw round smth., smb. draw round the table (round the car, round the fire, round the stranger, etc.) собраться вокруг стола и т.д..; draw on smb. draw on those in front (on the other runners, etc.) догонять /настигать/ идущих впереди и т.д..; draw to /towards/ smth. draw to an end /to a close, to conclusion/ подходить к концу; it drew towards night (towards evening) близилась ночь, вечерело, день клонился к вечеру
    2) draw (up)on smth. draw upon one's savings (on one's reserves, on one's capital, etc.) черпать [деньги] из своих сбережений и т.д..; draw on the bank брать деньги из банка; I have по resources to draw on у меня нет средств, на которые можно было бы рассчитывать; draw on the strength of smb.'s friendship черпать силы /находить поддержку/ в чьей-л. дружбе; when 1 was writing the book I drew on my memory (on my imagination, etc.) память и т.д. очень помогла мне в работе над книгой; he drew on his faith вера его укрепляла; in her grief she drew largely on her friends' sympathy сочувствие друзей придавало ей силы, чтобы справиться с горем: draw on smb. draw on him for help (on smb. for money, on one's friends for a loan, etc.) обращаться к нему за помощью и т.д..: он whom shall I draw for advance? кто выдаст мне аванс?
    3) draw for smth., smb. draw for places (for seats, for turns, etc.) решать путем жеребьевки, кому какое место и т.д. достанется; draw for partners тянуть жребий, чтобы определить партнера
    9. XVIII
    || draw into oneself уходить в себя, замыкаться
    10. XXI1
    1) draw smth. to (into, toward, over, etc.) smth. draw one's chair to the table (a table nearer to the window, a sofa toward the fire, etc.) пододвинуть стул к столу и т.д..: draw a curtain over a window задернуть занавеску на окне; draw a veil over one's face закрыть лицо вуалью; draw a hat (a cap) over one's face натянуть /надвинуть, нахлобучить/ шапку (фуражку) на лоб; draw a bed into a room втащить кровать в комнату; draw smth., smb. towards smb. draw smth. towards oneself пододвигать что-л. к себе; he drew her towards himself он привлек ее к себе, он обнял ее
    2) draw smth. from /out of/ smth. draw a purse from /out of/ a pocket вытаскивать кошелек из кармана; draw water from the well набирать воды из колодца; draw beer (wine) from a barrel нацеживать пива (вина) из бочки; draw coal from a mine добывать уголь из шахты
    3) || draw a bath for smb. налить /приготовить/ ванну для кого-л.
    4) draw smth. in smth. draw a prize in a lottery вытянуть счастливый билет в лотерее; draw smth. for smth., smb. draw lots for the game устанавливать путем жеребьевки, кто с кем играет или кто на какой половине поля играет; draw cards for a partner cards снять карту, чтобы определить партнера
    5) draw smth. from smth., smb. draw tears from smb.'s eyes исторгнуть слезы у кого-л.; draw a groan from smb. заставить кого-л. застонать; draw a confession from smb. вырвать у кого-л. признание
    6) draw smth. from /within/ smth., smb. draw a salary from a firm (an income from business, information from the newspaper. inspiration from nature, etc.) получать зарплату в какой-л. фирме и т.д.., she drew consolation from his presence она находила утешение в его присутствии; he drew strength from within himself он в самом себе черпал силы; draw a moral from events извлекать урок из событий; draw smth. on smth. draw a commission on a transaction получить комиссионные за сделку; draw smb. from smth., smb. draw the team from members of the club (members from all ranks of society, etc.) набирать команду из членов клуба и т.д.
    7) draw smth. from smth. draw an inference from his actions сделать соответствующий вывод из его поступков; draw different conclusions from the same facts приходить к различным выводам на основании одних и тех же фактов; draw smth. between smth. draw a comparison (a parallel) between smth. проводить сравнение (параллель) между чем-то и чем-то; you must draw distinctions between these two things между этими двумя вещами нужно делать различие, эти две вещи нужно различать
    8) draw smb. to smth. draw many people to the theatre привлекать массы в театр; draw smb. into smth. draw smb. into a conversation (into a conspiracy, into a conflict, into war, etc.) втягивать /вовлекать/ кого-л. в беседу и т.д. || draw smb.'s attention to smth., smb. (to the beautiful picture, to the shop window, to the strange man, to the pretty girl, etc.) привлекать чье-л. внимание к чему-л., кому-л. и т.д.., обращать чье-л. внимание на что-л., кого-л. и т.д..; draw smb.'s attention away from smth., smb. отвлекать чье-л. внимание от чего-л., кого-л.
    11. XXII
    draw smb. into doing smth. draw him into buying a new car уговорить его купить новый автомобиль; вовлечь его в авантюру с покупкой новой машины; draw the neighbours into helping them привлечь соседей к работе по оказанию им помощи; draw them into plotting against the president втянуть /вовлечь/ их в заговор против президента
    II 1. I
    can you draw? вы умеете рисовать?
    2. II
    draw in some manner draw badly (quickly, cleverly, etc.) хорошо и т.д. чертить или рисовать
    3. III
    1) draw smth. draw a plan (a diagram, a map of the area, etc.) начертить план и т.д..; draw a straight line провести прямую линию; draw smth., smb. draw a picture (a bunch of flowers, a portrait, a girl, etc.) нарисовать картину и т.д..; draw a word portrait дать /нарисовать/ словесный портрет; draw a brilliant picture of life in the country нарисовать яркую картону сельской жизни
    2) draw smth. draw a bill of exchange (a cheque) выписать вексель (чек); draw a sentence составить предложение
    4. XVI
    draw in smth. draw in pencil (in ink, in water-colours, etc.) делать рисунок в карандаше и т.д..; he always draws in charcoal он всегда рисует углем
    5. XXI1
    1) draw smth. between smth. draw a line between two points проводить линию между двумя точками: draw smth., smb. from smth., smb. draw a picture from nature (from a model, etc.) рисовать картину с натуры и т.д. ; draw a character in a novel from life (from observations and experience, etc.) нарисовать образ / создать персонаж/ в романе из жизни и т.д.
    2) draw smth. on smth. draw a cheque (a bill, etc.) on a bank (on his firm, etc.) выписать чек на банк и т.д. || draw a cheque to order выписывать чек на предъявителя

    English-Russian dictionary of verb phrases > draw

  • 12 Breuer, Marcel Lajos

    [br]
    b. 22 May 1902 Pécs, Hungary
    d. 1 July 1981 New York (?), USA
    [br]
    Hungarian member of the European Bauhaus generation in the 1920s, who went on to become a leader in the modern school of architectural and furniture design in Europe and the United States.
    [br]
    Breuer began his student days following an art course in Vienna, but joined the Bauhaus at Weimar, where he later graduated, in 1920. When Gropius re-established the school in purpose-built structures at Dessau, Breuer became a member of the teaching staff in charge of the carpentry and furniture workshops. Much of his time there was spent in design and research into new materials being applied to furniture and interior decoration. The essence of his contribution was to relate the design of furniture to industrial production; in this field he developed the tubular-steel structure, especially in chair design, and experimented with aluminium as a furniture material as well as pieces of furniture made up from modular units. His furniture style was characterized by an elegance of line and a careful avoidance of superfluous detail. By 1926 he had furnished the Bauhaus with such furniture in chromium-plated steel, and two years later had developed a cantilevered chair.
    Breuer left the Bauhaus in 1928 and set up an architectural practice in Berlin. In the early 1930s he also spent some time in Switzerland. Notable from these years was his Harnischmacher Haus in Wiesbaden and his apartment buildings in the Dolderthal area of Zurich. His architectural work was at first influenced by constructivism, and then by that of Le Corbusier (see Charles-Edouard Jeanneret). In 1935 he moved to England, where in partnership with F.R.S. Yorke he built some houses and continued to practise furniture design. The Isokon Furniture Co. commissioned him to develop ideas that took advantage of the new bending and moulding processes in laminated wood, one result being his much-copied reclining chair.
    In 1937, like so many of the European architectural refugees from Nazism, he found himself under-occupied due to the reluctance of English clients to embrace the modern architectural movement. He went to the United States at Gropius's invitation to join him as a professor at Harvard. Breuer and Gropius were influential in training a new generation of American architects, and in particular they built a number of houses. This partnership ended in 1941 and Breuer set up practice in New York. His style of work from this time on was still modern, but became more varied. In housing, he adapted his style to American needs and used local materials in a functional manner. In the Whitney Museum (1966) he worked in a sculptural, granite-clad style. Often he utilized a bold reinforced-concrete form, as in his collaboration with Pier Luigi Nervi and Bernard Zehrfuss in the Paris UNESCO Building (1953–8) and the US Embassy in the Hague (1954–8). He displayed his masterly handling of poured concrete used in a strikingly expressionistic, sculptural manner in his St John's Abbey (1953–61) in Collegeville, Minnesota, and in 1973 his Church of St Francis de Sale in Michigan won him the top award of the American Institute of Architects.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    American Institute of Architects Medal of Honour 1964, Gold Medal 1968. Jefferson Foundation Medal 1968.
    Bibliography
    1955, Sun and Shadow, the Philosophy of an Architect, New York: Dodd Read (autobiography).
    Further Reading
    C.Jones (ed.), 1963, Marcel Breuer: Buildings and Projects 1921–1961, New York: Praeger.
    T.Papachristou (ed.), 1970, Marcel Breuer: New Buildings and Projects 1960–1970, New York: Praeger.
    DY

    Biographical history of technology > Breuer, Marcel Lajos

  • 13 Cousteau, Jacques-Yves

    SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping
    [br]
    b. 11 June 1910 Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France
    [br]
    French marine explorer who invented the aqualung.
    [br]
    He was the son of a country lawyer who became legal advisor and travelling companion to certain rich Americans. At an early age Cousteau acquired a love of travel, of the sea and of cinematography: he made his first film at the age of 13. After an interrupted education he nevertheless passed the difficult entrance examination to the Ecole Navale in Brest, but his naval career was cut short in 1936 by injuries received in a serious motor accident. For his long recuperation he was drafted to Toulon. There he met Philippe Tailliez, a fellow naval officer, and Frédéric Dumas, a champion spearfisher, with whom he formed a long association and began to develop his underwater swimming and photography. He apparently took little part in the Second World War, but under cover he applied his photographic skills to espionage, for which he was awarded the Légion d'honneur after the war.
    Cousteau sought greater freedom of movement underwater and, with Emile Gagnan, who worked in the laboratory of Air Liquide, he began experimenting to improve portable underwater breathing apparatus. As a result, in 1943 they invented the aqualung. Its simple design and robust construction provided a reliable and low-cost unit and revolutionized scientific and recreational diving. Gagnan shunned publicity, but Cousteau revelled in the new freedom to explore and photograph underwater and exploited the publicity potential to the full.
    The Undersea Research Group was set up by the French Navy in 1944 and, based in Toulon, it provided Cousteau with the Opportunity to develop underwater exploration and filming techniques and equipment. Its first aims were minesweeping and exploration, but in 1948 Cousteau pioneered an extension to marine archaeology. In 1950 he raised the funds to acquire a surplus US-built minesweeper, which he fitted out to further his quest for exploration and adventure and named Calypso. Cousteau also sought and achieved public acclaim with the publication in 1953 of The Silent World, an account of his submarine observations, illustrated by his own brilliant photography. The book was an immediate success and was translated into twenty-two languages. In 1955 Calypso sailed through the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean, and the outcome was a film bearing the same title as the book: it won an Oscar and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival. This was his favoured medium for the expression of his ideas and observations, and a stream of films on the same theme kept his name before the public.
    Cousteau's fame earned him appointment by Prince Rainier as Director of the Oceanographie Institute in Monaco in 1957, a post he held until 1988. With its museum and research centre, it offered Cousteau a useful base for his worldwide activities.
    In the 1980s Cousteau turned again to technological development. Like others before him, he was concerned to reduce ships' fuel consumption by harnessing wind power. True to form, he raised grants from various sources to fund research and enlisted technical help, namely Lucien Malavard, Professor of Aerodynamics at the Sorbonne. Malavard designed a 44 ft (13.4 m) high non-rotating cylinder, which was fitted onto a catamaran hull, christened Moulin à vent. It was intended that its maiden Atlantic crossing in 1983 should herald a new age in ship propulsion, with large royalties to Cousteau. Unfortunately the vessel was damaged in a storm and limped to the USA under diesel power. A more robust vessel, the Alcyone, was fitted with two "Turbosails" in 1985 and proved successful, with a 40 per cent reduction in fuel consumption. However, oil prices fell, removing the incentive to fit the new device; the lucrative sales did not materialize and Alcyone remained the only vessel with Turbosails, sharing with Calypso Cousteau's voyages of adventure and exploration. In September 1995, Cousteau was among the critics of the decision by the French President Jacques Chirac to resume testing of nuclear explosive devices under the Mururoa atoll in the South Pacific.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Légion d'honneur. Croix de Guerre with Palm. Officier du Mérite Maritime and numerous scientific and artistic awards listed in such directories as Who's Who.
    Bibliography
    Further Reading
    R.Munson, 1991, Cousteau, the Captain and His World, London: Robert Hale (published in the USA 1989).
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Cousteau, Jacques-Yves

  • 14 Fox, Samson

    [br]
    b. 11 July 1838 Bowling, near Bradford, Yorkshire, England
    d. 24 October 1903 Walsall, Staffordshire, England
    [br]
    English engineer who invented the corrugated boiler furnace.
    [br]
    He was the son of a cloth mill worker in Leeds and at the age of 10 he joined his father at the mill. Showing a mechanical inclination, he was apprenticed to a firm of machine-tool makers, Smith, Beacock and Tannett. There he rose to become Foreman and Traveller, and designed and patented tools for cutting bevelled gears. With his brother and one Refitt, he set up the Silver Cross engineering works for making special machine tools. In 1874 he founded the Leeds Forge Company, acting as Managing Director until 1896 and then as Chairman until shortly before his death.
    It was in 1877 that he patented his most important invention, the corrugated furnace for steam-boilers. These furnaces could withstand much higher pressures than the conventional form, and higher working pressures in marine boilers enabled triple-expansion engines to be installed, greatly improving the performance of steamships, and the outcome was the great ocean-going liners of the twentieth century. The first vessel to be equipped with the corrugated furnace was the Pretoria of 1878. At first the furnaces were made by hammering iron plates using swage blocks under a steam hammer. A plant for rolling corrugated plates was set up at Essen in Germany, and Fox installed a similar mill at his works in Leeds in 1882.
    In 1886 Fox installed a Siemens steelmaking plant and he was notable in the movement for replacing wrought iron with steel. He took out several patents for making pressed-steel underframes for railway wagons. The business prospered and Fox opened a works near Chicago in the USA, where in addition to wagon underframes he manufactured the first American pressed-steel carriages. He later added a works at Pittsburgh.
    Fox was the first in England to use water gas for his metallurgical operations and for lighting, with a saving in cost as it was cheaper than coal gas. He was also a pioneer in the acetylene industry, producing in 1894 the first calcium carbide, from which the gas is made.
    Fox took an active part in public life in and around Leeds, being thrice elected Mayor of Harrogate. As a music lover, he was a benefactor of musicians, contributing no less than £45,000 towards the cost of building the Royal College of Music in London, opened in 1894. In 1897 he sued for libel the author Jerome K.Jerome and the publishers of the Today magazine for accusing him of misusing his great generosity to the College to give a misleading impression of his commercial methods and prosperity. He won the case but was not awarded costs.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Royal Society of Arts James Watt Silver Medal and Howard Gold Medal. Légion d'honneur 1889.
    Bibliography
    1877, British Patent nos. 1097 and 2530 (the corrugated furnace or "flue", as it was often called).
    Further Reading
    Obituary, 1903, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: 919–21.
    Obituary, 1903, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers (the fullest of the many obituary notices).
    G.A.Newby, 1993, "Behind the fire doors: Fox's corrugated furnace 1877 and the high pressure steamship", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 64.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Fox, Samson

  • 15 Heaviside, Oliver

    [br]
    b. 18 May 1850 London, England
    d. 2 February 1925 Torquay, Devon, England
    [br]
    English physicist who correctly predicted the existence of the ionosphere and its ability to reflect radio waves.
    [br]
    Brought up in poor, almost Dickensian, circumstances, at the age of 13 years Heaviside, a nephew by marriage of Sir Charles Wheatstone, went to Camden House Grammar School. There he won a medal for science, but he was forced to leave because his parents could not afford the fees. After a year of private study, he began his working life in Newcastle in 1870 as a telegraph operator for an Anglo-Dutch cable company, but he had to give up after only four years because of increasing deafness. He therefore proceeded to spend his time studying theoretical aspects of electrical transmission and communication, and moved to Devon with his parents in 1889. Because the operation of many electrical circuits involves transient phenomena, he found it necessary to develop what he called operational calculus (which was essentially a form of the Laplace transform calculus) in order to determine the response to sudden voltage and current changes. In 1893 he suggested that the distortion that occurred on long-distance telephone lines could be reduced by adding loading coils at regular intervals, thus creating a matched-transmission line. Between 1893 and 1912 he produced a series of writings on electromagnetic theory, in one of which, anticipating a conclusion of Einstein's special theory of relativity, he put forward the idea that the mass of an electric charge increases with its velocity. When it was found that despite the curvature of the earth it was possible to communicate over very great distances using radio signals in the so-called "short" wavebands, Heaviside suggested the presence of a conducting layer in the ionosphere that reflected the waves back to earth. Since a similar suggestion had been made almost at the same time by Arthur Kennelly of Harvard, this layer became known as the Kennelly-Heaviside layer.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1891. Institution of Electrical Engineers Faraday Medal 1924. Honorary PhD Gottingen. Honorary Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
    Bibliography
    1872. "A method for comparing electro-motive forces", English Mechanic (July).
    1873. Philosophical Magazine (February) (a paper on the use of the Wheatstone Bridge). 1889, Electromagnetic Waves.
    Further Reading
    I.Catt (ed.), 1987, Oliver Heaviside, The Man, St Albans: CAM Publishing.
    P.J.Nahin, 1988, Oliver Heaviside, Sage in Solitude: The Life and Works of an Electrical Genius of the Victorian Age, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York.
    J.B.Hunt, The Maxwellians, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
    KF

    Biographical history of technology > Heaviside, Oliver

  • 16 Otto, Nikolaus August

    [br]
    b. 10 June 1832 Holzhausen, Nassau (now in Germany)
    d. 26 January 1891 Cologne, Germany
    [br]
    German engineer, developer of the four-stroke internal combustion engine.
    [br]
    Otto's involvement in internal combustion engines was first prompted by his interest in Lenoir's coal-gas engine of 1860. He built his first engine in 1861; in 1864, Otto's engine came to the attention of Eugen Langen, who arranged for the capital to set up the world's first engine company, N.A.Otto and Company, in Cologne. In 1867 the Otto- Langen free-piston internal combustion engine was exhibited at the Paris Exposition, where it won the gold medal. The company continued to expand, and five years after the Paris triumph its name was changed to the Gasmotoren Fabrik; amongst Otto's colleagues at this time were Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach .
    Otto is most famous for the development of the four-stroke cycle which was to bear his name. He patented his version of this in 1876, although the principle of the four-stroke cycle had been patented by Alphonse Beau de Rochas fourteen years previously; Otto was the first, however, to put the principle into practice with the "Otto Silent Engine". Many thousands of Otto fourstroke engines had already been built by 1886, when a German patent lawyer successfully claimed that Otto had infringed the Beau de Rochas patent, and Otto's patent was declared invalid.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Médaille d'or, Paris Exposition 1867 (for the Otto-Langen engine).
    Further Reading
    1989, History of the Internal Combustion Engine, Detroit: Society of Automotive Engineers.
    I.McNeil (ed.), 1990, An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology, London and New York: Routledge, 306–7.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Otto, Nikolaus August

  • 17 Paul, Robert William

    [br]
    b. 3 October 1869 Highbury, London, England
    d. 28 March 1943 London, England
    [br]
    English scientific instrument maker, inventor of the Unipivot electrical measuring instrument, and pioneer of cinematography.
    [br]
    Paul was educated at the City of London School and Finsbury Technical College. He worked first for a short time in the Bell Telephone Works in Antwerp, Belgium, and then in the electrical instrument shop of Elliott Brothers in the Strand until 1891, when he opened an instrument-making business at 44 Hatton Garden, London. He specialized in the design and manufacture of electrical instruments, including the Ayrton Mather galvanometer. In 1902, with a purpose-built factory, he began large batch production of his instruments. He also opened a factory in New York, where uncalibrated instruments from England were calibrated for American customers. In 1903 Paul introduced the Unipivot galvanometer, in which the coil was supported at the centre of gravity of the moving system on a single pivot. The pivotal friction was less than in a conventional instrument and could be used without accurate levelling, the sensitivity being far beyond that of any pivoted galvanometer then in existence.
    In 1894 Paul was asked by two entrepreneurs to make copies of Edison's kinetoscope, the pioneering peep-show moving-picture viewer, which had just arrived in London. Discovering that Edison had omitted to patent the machine in England, and observing that there was considerable demand for the machine from show-people, he began production, making six before the end of the year. Altogether, he made about sixty-six units, some of which were exported. Although Edison's machine was not patented, his films were certainly copyrighted, so Paul now needed a cinematographic camera to make new subjects for his customers. Early in 1895 he came into contact with Birt Acres, who was also working on the design of a movie camera. Acres's design was somewhat impractical, but Paul constructed a working model with which Acres filmed the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on 30 March, and the Derby at Epsom on 29 May. Paul was unhappy with the inefficient design, and developed a new intermittent mechanism based on the principle of the Maltese cross. Despite having signed a ten-year agreement with Paul, Acres split with him on 12 July 1895, after having unilaterally patented their original camera design on 27 May. By the early weeks of 1896, Paul had developed a projector mechanism that also used the Maltese cross and which he demonstrated at the Finsbury Technical College on 20 February 1896. His Theatrograph was intended for sale, and was shown in a number of venues in London during March, notably at the Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square. There the renamed Animatographe was used to show, among other subjects, the Derby of 1896, which was won by the Prince of Wales's horse "Persimmon" and the film of which was shown the next day to enthusiastic crowds. The production of films turned out to be quite profitable: in the first year of the business, from March 1896, Paul made a net profit of £12,838 on a capital outlay of about £1,000. By the end of the year there were at least five shows running in London that were using Paul's projectors and screening films made by him or his staff.
    Paul played a major part in establishing the film business in England through his readiness to sell apparatus at a time when most of his rivals reserved their equipment for sole exploitation. He went on to become a leading producer of films, specializing in trick effects, many of which he pioneered. He was affectionately known in the trade as "Daddy Paul", truly considered to be the "father" of the British film industry. He continued to appreciate fully the possibilities of cinematography for scientific work, and in collaboration with Professor Silvanus P.Thompson films were made to illustrate various phenomena to students.
    Paul ended his involvement with film making in 1910 to concentrate on his instrument business; on his retirement in 1920, this was amalgamated with the Cambridge Instrument Company. In his will he left shares valued at over £100,000 to form the R.W.Paul Instrument Fund, to be administered by the Institution of Electrical Engineers, of which he had been a member since 1887. The fund was to provide instruments of an unusual nature to assist physical research.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Fellow of the Physical Society 1920. Institution of Electrical Engineers Duddell Medal 1938.
    Bibliography
    17 March 1903, British patent no. 6,113 (the Unipivot instrument).
    1931, "Some electrical instruments at the Faraday Centenary Exhibition 1931", Journal of Scientific Instruments 8:337–48.
    Further Reading
    Obituary, 1943, Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 90(1):540–1. P.Dunsheath, 1962, A History of Electrical Engineering, London: Faber \& Faber, pp.
    308–9 (for a brief account of the Unipivot instrument).
    John Barnes, 1976, The Beginnings of Cinema in Britain, London. Brian Coe, 1981, The History of Movie Photography, London.
    BC / GW

    Biographical history of technology > Paul, Robert William

  • 18 Pihl, Carl Abraham

    [br]
    b. 16 January 1825 Stavanger, Norway
    d. 14 September 1897 Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway
    [br]
    Norwegian railway engineer, protagonist of narrow-gauge railways.
    [br]
    Pihl trained as an engineer at Göteborg, Sweden, and then moved to London, where he worked under Robert Stephenson during 1845 and 1846. In 1850 he returned to Norway and worked with the English contractors building the first railway in Norway, the Norwegian Trunk Railway from Kristiania to Eidsvold, for which the English standard gauge was used. Subsequently he worked in England for a year, but in 1856 joined the Norwegian government's Road Department, which was to have responsibility for railways. In 1865 a distinct Railway Department was set up, and Pihl became Director for State Railway Construction. Because of the difficulties of the terrain and limited traffic, Pihl recommended that in the case of two isolated lines to be built the outlay involved in ordinary railways would not be justified, and that they should be built to the narrow gauge of 3 ft 6 in. (1.07 m). His recommendation was accepted by the Government in 1857 and the two lines were built to this gauge and opened during 1861–4. Six of their seven locomotives, and all their rolling stock, were imported from Britain. The lines cost £3,000 and £5,000 per mile, respectively; a standard-gauge line built in the same period cost £6,400 per mile.
    Subsequently, many hundreds of miles of Norwegian railways were built to 3 ft 6 in. (1.07 m) gauge under Pihl's direction. They influenced construction of railways to this gauge in Australia, Southern Africa, New Zealand, Japan and elsewhere. However, in the late 1870s controversy arose in Norway over the economies that could in fact be gained from the 3 ft 6 in. (1,07 m) gauge. This controversy in the press, in discussion and in the Norwegian parliament became increasingly acrimonious during the next two decades; the standard-gauge party may be said to have won with the decision in 1898, the year after Pihl's death, to build the Bergen-Oslo line to standard gauge.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knight of the Order of St Olaf 1862; Commander of the Order of St Olaf 1877. Commander of the Royal Order of Vasa 1867. Royal Order of the Northern Star 1882.
    Further Reading
    P.Allen and P.B.Whitehouse, 1959, Narrow Gauge Railways of Europe, Ian Allan (describes the Norwegian Battle of the Gauges).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Pihl, Carl Abraham

  • 19 Rankine, William John Macquorn

    [br]
    b. 5 July 1820 Edinburgh, Scotland
    d. 1872
    [br]
    [br]
    Rankine was educated at Ayr Academy and Glasgow High School, although he appears to have learned much of his basic mathematics and physics through private study. He attended Edinburgh University and then assisted his father, who was acting as Superintendent of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway. This introduction to engineering practice was followed in 1838 by his appointment as a pupil to Sir John MacNeill, and for the next four years he served under MacNeill on his Irish railway projects. While still in his early twenties, Rankine presented pioneering papers on metal fatigue and other subjects to the Institution of Civil Engineers, for which he won a prize, but he appears to have resigned from the Civils in 1857 after an argument because the Institution would not transfer his Associate Membership into full Membership. From 1844 to 1848 Rankine worked on various projects for the Caledonian Railway Company, but his interests were becoming increasingly theoretical and a series of distinguished papers for learned societies established his reputation as a leading scholar in the new science of thermodynamics. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1853. At the same time, he remained intimately involved with practical questions of applied science, in shipbuilding, marine engineering and electric telegraphy, becoming associated with the influential coterie of fellow Scots such as the Thomson brothers, Napier, Elder, and Lewis Gordon. Gordon was then the head of a large and successful engineering practice, but he was also Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Glasgow, and when he retired from the Chair to pursue his business interests, Rankine, who had become his Assistant, was appointed in his place.
    From 1855 until his premature death in 1872, Rankine built up an impressive engineering department, providing a firm theoretical basis with a series of text books that he wrote himself and most of which remained in print for many decades. Despite his quarrel with the Institution of Civil Engineers, Rankine took a keen interest in the institutional development of the engineering profession, becoming the first President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, which he helped to establish in 1857. Rankine campaigned vigorously for the recognition of engineering studies as a full university degree at Glasgow, and he achieved this in 1872, the year of his death. Rankine was one of the handful of mid-nineteenth century engineers who virtually created engineering as an academic discipline.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1853. First President, Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, 1857.
    Bibliography
    1858, Manual of Applied Mechanics.
    1859, Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers.
    1862, Manual of Civil Engineering.
    1869, Manual of Machinery and Millwork.
    Further Reading
    J.Small, 1957, "The institution's first president", Proceedings of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland: 687–97.
    H.B.Sutherland, 1972, Rankine. His Life and Times.
    AB

    Biographical history of technology > Rankine, William John Macquorn

  • 20 Ricardo, Sir Harry Ralph

    [br]
    b. 26 January 1885 London, England
    d. 18 May 1974 Graffham, Sussex, England
    [br]
    English mechanical engineer; researcher, designer and developer of internal combustion engines.
    [br]
    Harry Ricardo was the eldest child and only son of Halsey Ricardo (architect) and Catherine Rendel (daughter of Alexander Rendel, senior partner in the firm of consulting civil engineers that later became Rendel, Palmer and Tritton). He was educated at Rugby School and at Cambridge. While still at school, he designed and made a steam engine to drive his bicycle, and by the time he went up to Cambridge in 1903 he was a skilled craftsman. At Cambridge, he made a motor cycle powered by a petrol engine of his own design, and with this he won a fuel-consumption competition by covering almost 40 miles (64 km) on a quart (1.14 1) of petrol. This brought him to the attention of Professor Bertram Hopkinson, who invited him to help with research on turbulence and pre-ignition in internal combustion engines. After leaving Cambridge in 1907, he joined his grandfather's firm and became head of the design department for mechanical equipment used in civil engineering. In 1916 he was asked to help with the problem of loading tanks on to railway trucks. He was then given the task of designing and organizing the manufacture of engines for tanks, and the success of this enterprise encouraged him to set up his own establishment at Shoreham, devoted to research on, and design and development of, internal combustion engines.
    Leading on from the work with Hopkinson were his discoveries on the suppression of detonation in spark-ignition engines. He noted that the current paraffinic fuels were more prone to detonation than the aromatics, which were being discarded as they did not comply with the existing specifications because of their high specific gravity. He introduced the concepts of "highest useful compression ratio" (HUCR) and "toluene number" for fuel samples burned in a special variable compression-ratio engine. The toluene number was the proportion of toluene in heptane that gave the same HUCR as the fuel sample. Later, toluene was superseded by iso-octane to give the now familiar octane rating. He went on to improve the combustion in side-valve engines by increasing turbulence, shortening the flame path and minimizing the clearance between piston and head by concentrating the combustion space over the valves. By these means, the compression ratio could be increased to that used by overhead-valve engines before detonation intervened. The very hot poppet valve restricted the advancement of all internal combustion engines, so he turned his attention to eliminating it by use of the single sleeve-valve, this being developed with support from the Air Ministry. By the end of the Second World War some 130,000 such aero-engines had been built by Bristol, Napier and Rolls-Royce before the piston aero-engine was superseded by the gas turbine of Whittle. He even contributed to the success of the latter by developing a fuel control system for it.
    Concurrent with this was work on the diesel engine. He designed and developed the engine that halved the fuel consumption of London buses. He invented and perfected the "Comet" series of combustion chambers for diesel engines, and the Company was consulted by the vast majority of international internal combustion engine manufacturers. He published and lectured widely and fully deserved his many honours; he was elected FRS in 1929, was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1944–5 and was knighted in 1948. This shy and modest, though very determined man was highly regarded by all who came into contact with him. It was said that research into internal combustion engines, his family and boats constituted all that he would wish from life.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1948. FRS 1929. President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1944–5.
    Bibliography
    1968, Memo \& Machines. The Pattern of My Life, London: Constable.
    Further Reading
    Sir William Hawthorne, 1976, "Harry Ralph Ricardo", Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 22.
    JB

    Biographical history of technology > Ricardo, Sir Harry Ralph

См. также в других словарях:

  • Too Many Cooks — infobox Book | name = Too Many Cooks title orig = translator = image caption = author = Rex Stout cover artist = country = United States language = English series = Nero Wolfe genre = Detective fiction publisher = Farrar Rinehart release date =… …   Wikipedia

  • Eugene Trivizas — Eugene (Eugenios) Trivizas, (born in 1946 in Athens, Greece) is the author of more than 100 children s books. He received his LL.B degree at Athens University in 1969. In 1972 passed the Athens Bar examinations and in the same year he was called… …   Wikipedia

  • O'Neill dynasty — O Neill Ancestral house Cenél nEógain / Uí Néill Titles High Kings of Ireland Kings of Tara Kings of Ulster Kings of Ailech Kings of Tyrone Sept t …   Wikipedia

  • dis·tinc·tion — /dıˈstıŋkʃən/ noun, pl tions 1 [count] : a difference that you can see, hear, smell, feel, etc. : a noticeable difference between things or people These dogs are different breeds, but this distinction is lost on most people. [=most people do not… …   Useful english dictionary

  • O'Neills of Puerto Rico — The O Neills of Puerto Rico are the descendants of various O Neill families, mainly soldiers of Irish and Spanish ancestry who emigrated and settled on northern coast of the island of Puerto Rico during the 1700s and early 1800s.The O Neills in… …   Wikipedia

  • KATTAN, NAÏM — (1928– ), writer and critic. Naïm Kattan was born into a low income family in baghdad , Iraq. He studied at a Jewish elementary school and then at a Muslim secondary school. His mother tongue was Arabic, and his first literary efforts were in… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • distinction — noun Date: 13th century 1. a. archaic division b. class 4 2. the distinguishing of a difference < without distinction as to race, sex, or religion >; also the difference distinguished < the …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Bernardo Houssay — Infobox Scientist name = Bernardo Houssay image size = 160px caption = Bernardo Houssay birth date = April 10, 1887 birth place = Buenos Aires, Argentina death date = September 21, 1971 death place = Buenos Aires nationality = Argentina,… …   Wikipedia

  • Carlos Julio Villar Aleman — Articleissues cleanup=February 2008 notability=February 2008 orphan= December 2007 unreferenced=February 2008 wikify=February 2008 copyedit=February 2008The Artist Carlos Julio Villar Aleman was born in Cárdenas, Matanzas, Cuba, October 1, 1946.… …   Wikipedia

  • EKT-Gdynia — Infobox musical artist Name = EKT Gdynia Img capt = Img size = Landscape = Background = group or band Alias = Origin = Gdynia, Poland Genre = Sea shanty Years active = 1986 present Label = Associated acts = URL = Current members = Jan Wydra… …   Wikipedia

  • David Hardie — For the politician, see David Hardie (politician). For other people of the same name, see David Hardy (disambiguation). Sir David Hardie (4 June 1856 – 11 November 1945) was an Australian medical practitioner. Hardie was born on at New Spynie… …   Wikipedia

Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное

Прямая ссылка:
Нажмите правой клавишей мыши и выберите «Копировать ссылку»