Перевод: с английского на все языки

со всех языков на английский

became convinced

  • 1 convinced

    убедил; убежденный

    English-Russian big medical dictionary > convinced

  • 2 Scott de Martinville, Edouard-Léon

    SUBJECT AREA: Recording
    [br]
    b. 25 April 1817 Paris, France
    d. 29 April 1879 Paris, France
    [br]
    French amateur phonetician, who developed a recorder for sound waves.
    [br]
    He was the descendant of a Scottish family who emigrated to France in 1688. He trained as a printer and later became a proof corrector in printing houses catering predominantly for scientific publishers. He became interested in shorthand systems and eventually turned his interest to making a permanent record of sounds in air. At the time it was already known (Young, Duhamel, Wertheim) to record vibrations of bodies. He made a theoretical study and deposited under sealed wrapper a note in the Académie des Sciences on 26 January 1857. He approached the scientific instrument maker Froment and was able to pay for the manufacture of one instrument due to support from the Société d'Encouragement à l'Industrie Nationale. This funding body obtained a positive report from the physicist Lissajous on 6 January 1858. A new model phonautograph was constructed in collaboration with the leading scientific instrument maker in Paris at the time, Rudolph Koenig, and a contract was signed in 1859. The instrument was a success, and Koenig published a collection of traces in 1864.
    Although the membrane was parallel to the rotating surface, a primitive lever system generated lateral movements of a bristle which scratched curves in a thin layer of lampblack on the rotating surface. The curves were not necessarily representative of the vibrations in the air. Scott did not imagine the need for reproducing a recorded sound; rather, his intention was to obtain a trace that would lend itself to mathematical analysis and visual recognition of sounds. Obviously the latter did not require the same degree of linearity as the former. When Scott learned that similar apparatus had been built independently in the USA, he requested that his sealed wrapper be opened on 15 July 1861 in order to prove his scientific priority. The contract with Koenig left Scott without influence over his instrument, and eventually he became convinced that everyone else, including Edison in the end, had stolen his invention. Towards the end of his life he became interested mainly in the history of printing, and he was involved in the publishing of a series of books about books.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    25 March 1857, amended 29 July 1859, French patent no. 31,470.
    Further Reading
    P.Charbon, 1878, Scott de Martinville, Paris: Hifi Stereo, pp. 199–205 (a good biography produced at the time of the centenary of the Edison phonograph).
    V.J.Philips, 1987, Waveforms, Bristol: Adam Hilger, pp. 45–8 (provides a good account of the importance of his contributions to accurate measurements of temporal phenomena).
    GB-N

    Biographical history of technology > Scott de Martinville, Edouard-Léon

  • 3 oversell

    [ˌəuvə'sel]
    гл.; прош. вр., прич. прош. вр. oversold
    1) перехваливать (кого-л. / что-л.), преувеличить достоинства (кого-л. / чего-л.)

    He has a tendency to oversell himself. — У него есть склонность перехваливать себя.

    She so oversold the picnic that I became convinced I'd have a better time at the movies. — Она так усиленно расхваливала (будущий) пикник, что я понял: лучше просто сходить в кино.

    Syn:

    The seats on the plane were oversold. — Количество проданных билетов на самолёт превышало количество мест.

    3) амер.; разг. навязывать свою продукцию, настойчиво рекламировать свой товар потенциальному покупателю

    Англо-русский современный словарь > oversell

  • 4 Ford, Henry

    (1863–1947) Gen Mgt
    U.S. industrialist. Founder of the Ford Motor Company, who organized the assembly line along the scientific management principles of Frederick Winslow Taylor and recorded his philosophy in My Life and Work (1922)
         After spending time as a machinist’s apprentice, a watch repairer, and a mechanic, Ford built his first car in 1896. He quickly became convinced of the vehicle’s commercial potential and started his own company in 1903. His first car was the Model A. After a year in business he was selling 600 a month.
         In 1907 Ford professed that his aim was to build a motor car for the masses. In 1908 his Model T was born. Through innovative use of new mass-production techniques, 15 million Model Ts were produced between 1908 and 1927.
         At that time, Ford’s factory at Highland Park, Michigan, was the biggest in the world. Over 14,000 people worked on the 57-acre site. He was quick to establish international operations as well. Ford’s first overseas sales branch was opened in France in 1908 and, in 1911, Ford began making cars in the United Kingdom.
         In 1919 Henry Ford resigned as the company’s president, letting his son, Edsel, take over. By then the Ford company was making a car a minute and Ford’s market share was in excess of 57%.

    The ultimate business dictionary > Ford, Henry

  • 5 Smith, Sir Francis Pettit

    SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping
    [br]
    b. 9 February 1808 Copperhurst Farm, near Hythe, Kent, England
    d. 12 February 1874 South Kensington, London, England
    [br]
    English inventor of the screw propeller.
    [br]
    Smith was the only son of Charles Smith, Postmaster at Hythe, and his wife Sarah (née Pettit). After education at a private school in Ashford, Kent, he took to farming, first on Romney Marsh, then at Hendon, Middlesex. As a boy, he showed much skill in the construction of model boats, especially in devising their means of propulsion. He maintained this interest into adult life and in 1835 he made a model propelled by a screw driven by a spring. This worked so well that he became convinced that the screw propeller offered a better method of propulsion than the paddle wheels that were then in general use. This notion so fired his enthusiasm that he virtually gave up farming to devote himself to perfecting his invention. The following year he produced a better model, which he successfully demonstrated to friends on his farm at Hendon and afterwards to the public at the Adelaide Gallery in London. On 31 May 1836 Smith was granted a patent for the propulsion of vessels by means of a screw.
    The idea of screw propulsion was not new, however, for it had been mooted as early as the seventeenth century and since then several proposals had been advanced, but without successful practical application. Indeed, simultaneously but quite independently of Smith, the Swedish engineer John Ericsson had invented the ship's propeller and obtained a patent on 13 July 1836, just weeks after Smith. But Smith was completely unaware of this and pursued his own device in the belief that he was the sole inventor.
    With some financial and technical backing, Smith was able to construct a 10 ton boat driven by a screw and powered by a steam engine of about 6 hp (4.5 kW). After showing it off to the public, Smith tried it out at sea, from Ramsgate round to Dover and Hythe, returning in stormy weather. The screw performed well in both calm and rough water. The engineering world seemed opposed to the new method of propulsion, but the Admiralty gave cautious encouragement in 1839 by ordering that the 237 ton Archimedes be equipped with a screw. It showed itself superior to the Vulcan, one of the fastest paddle-driven ships in the Navy. The ship was put through its paces in several ports, including Bristol, where Isambard Kingdom Brunel was constructing his Great Britain, the first large iron ocean-going vessel. Brunel was so impressed that he adapted his ship for screw propulsion.
    Meanwhile, in spite of favourable reports, the Admiralty were dragging their feet and ordered further trials, fitting Smith's four-bladed propeller to the Rattler, then under construction and completed in 1844. The trials were a complete success and propelled their lordships of the Admiralty to a decision to equip twenty ships with screw propulsion, under Smith's supervision.
    At last the superiority of screw propulsion was generally accepted and virtually universally adopted. Yet Smith gained little financial reward for his invention and in 1850 he retired to Guernsey to resume his farming life. In 1860 financial pressures compelled him to accept the position of Curator of Patent Models at the Patent Museum in South Kensington, London, a post he held until his death. Belated recognition by the Government, then headed by Lord Palmerston, came in 1855 with the grant of an annual pension of £200. Two years later Smith received unofficial recognition when he was presented with a national testimonial, consisting of a service of plate and nearly £3,000 in cash subscribed largely by the shipbuilding and engineering community. Finally, in 1871 Smith was honoured with a knighthood.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1871.
    Further Reading
    Obituary, 1874, Illustrated London News (7 February).
    1856, On the Invention and Progress of the Screw Propeller, London (provides biographical details).
    Smith and his invention are referred to in papers in Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 14 (1934): 9; 19 (1939): 145–8, 155–7, 161–4, 237–9.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Smith, Sir Francis Pettit

  • 6 Caetano, Marcello José das Neves Alves

    (19061980)
       Marcello Caetano, as the last prime minister of the Estado Novo, was both the heir and successor of Antônio de Oliveira Salazar. In a sense, Caetano was one of the founders and sustainers of this unusual regime and, at various crucial stages of its long life, Caetano's contribution was as important as Salazar's.
       Born in Lisbon in 1906 to a middle-class family, Caetano was a member of the student generation that rebelled against the unstable parliamentary First Republic and sought answers to Portugal's legion of troubles in conservative ideologies such as integralism, Catholic reformism, and the Italian Fascist model. One of the most brilliant students at the University of Lisbon's Law School, Caetano soon became directly involved in government service in various ministries, including Salazar's Ministry of Finance. When Caetano was not teaching full-time at the law school in Lisbon and influencing new generations of students who became critical of the regime he helped construct, Caetano was in important government posts and working on challenging assignments. In the 1930s, he participated in reforms in the Ministry of Finance, in the writing of the 1933 Constitution, in the formation of the new civil code, of which he was in part the author, and in the construction of corporativism, which sought to control labor-management relations and other aspects of social engineering. In a regime largely directed by academics from the law faculties of Coimbra University and the University of Lisbon, Caetano was the leading expert on constitutional law, administrative law, political science, and colonial law. A prolific writer as both a political scientist and historian, Caetano was the author of the standard political science, administrative law, and history of law textbooks, works that remained in print and in use among students long after his exile and death.
       After his apprenticeship service in a number of ministries, Caetano rose steadily in the system. At age 38, he was named minister for the colonies (1944 47), and unlike many predecessors, he "went to see for himself" and made important research visits to Portugal's African territories. In 1955-58, Caetano served in the number-three position in the regime in the Ministry of the Presidency of the Council (premier's office); he left office for full-time academic work in part because of his disagreements with Salazar and others on regime policy and failures to reform at the desired pace. In 1956 and 1957, Caetano briefly served as interim minister of communications and of foreign affairs.
       Caetano's opportunity to take Salazar's place and to challenge even more conservative forces in the system came in the 1960s. Portugal's most prominent law professor had a public falling out with the regime in March 1962, when he resigned as rector of Lisbon University following a clash between rebellious students and the PIDE, the political police. When students opposing the regime organized strikes on the University of Lisbon campus, Caetano resigned his rectorship after the police invaded the campus and beat and arrested some students, without asking permission to enter university premises from university authorities.
       When Salazar became incapacitated in September 1968, President Américo Tomás named Caetano prime minister. His tasks were formidable: in the midst of remarkable economic growth in Portugal, continued heavy immigration of Portuguese to France and other countries, and the costly colonial wars in three African colonies, namely Angola, Guinea- Bissau, and Mozambique, the regime struggled to engineer essential social and political reforms, win the wars in Africa, and move toward meaningful political reforms. Caetano supported moderately important reforms in his first two years in office (1968-70), as well as the drafting of constitutional revisions in 1971 that allowed a slight liberalization of the Dictatorship, gave the opposition more room for activity, and decentrali zed authority in the overseas provinces (colonies). Always aware of the complexity of Portugal's colonial problems and of the ongoing wars, Caetano made several visits to Africa as premier, and he sought to implement reforms in social and economic affairs while maintaining the expensive, divisive military effort, Portugal's largest armed forces mobilization in her history.
       Opposed by intransigent right-wing forces in various sectors in both Portugal and Africa, Caetano's modest "opening" of 1968-70 soon narrowed. Conservative forces in the military, police, civil service, and private sectors opposed key political reforms, including greater democratization, while pursuing the military solution to the African crisis and personal wealth. A significant perspective on Caetano's failed program of reforms, which could not prevent the advent of a creeping revolution in society, is a key development in the 1961-74 era of colonial wars: despite Lisbon's efforts, the greater part of Portuguese emigration and capital investment during this period were directed not to the African colonies but to Europe, North America, and Brazil.
       Prime Minister Caetano, discouraged by events and by opposition to his reforms from the so-called "Rheumatic Brigade" of superannuated regime loyalists, attempted to resign his office, but President Américo Tomás convinced him to remain. The publication and public reception of African hero General Antônio Spinola's best-selling book Portugal e Futuro (Portugal and the Future) in February 1974 convinced the surprised Caetano that a coup and revolution were imminent. When the virtually bloodless, smoothly operating military coup was successful in what became known as the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Caetano surrendered to the Armed Forces Movement in Lisbon and was flown to Madeira Island and later to exile in Brazil, where he remained for the rest of his life. In his Brazilian exile, Caetano was active writing important memoirs and histories of the Estado Novo from his vantage point, teaching law at a private university in Rio de Janeiro, and carrying on a lively correspondence with persons in Portugal. He died at age 74, in 1980, in Brazil.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Caetano, Marcello José das Neves Alves

  • 7 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

  • 8 become

    1. copula,
    became, become werden

    become a politician/dentist — Politiker/Zahnarzt werden

    become a nuisance/rule — zu einer Plage/zur Regel werden

    2. intransitive verb,
    became, become werden

    what has become of him? — was ist aus ihm geworden?

    what has become of that book?wo ist das Buch geblieben?

    3. transitive verb,
    became, become
    1) see academic.ru/6230/befit">befit
    2) (suit)

    become somebody — jemandem stehen; zu jemandem passen

    * * *
    past tense - became; verb
    1) (to come or grow to be: Her coat has become badly torn; She has become even more beautiful.) werden
    2) (to qualify or take a job as: She became a doctor.) werden
    3) ((with of) to happen to: What became of her son?) werden aus
    4) (to suit: That dress really becomes her.) stehen
    - becoming
    - becomingly
    * * *
    be·come
    <became, become>
    [beˈkʌm]
    I. vi + adj/n werden
    this species almost became extinct diese Art wäre fast ausgestorben
    what ever became of Moe Lester? was ist wohl aus Moe Lester geworden?
    what has become of my jacket? wo ist nur meine Jacke hingekommen?
    to \become angry ärgerlich [o böse] werden
    to \become convinced that... zu der Überzeugung kommen [o geh gelangen], dass...
    to \become interested in sb/sth anfangen, sich akk für jdn/etw zu interessieren
    II. vt
    1. (change into)
    to \become sth etw werden
    she wants to \become an actress sie will Schauspielerin werden
    to \become a legend in one's own time [or lifetime] schon zu Lebzeiten zur Legende werden
    sth \becomes sb etw steht jdm
    3. (befit)
    to \become sb sich akk für jdn schicken
    * * *
    [bɪ'kʌm] pret became, ptp become
    1. vi
    1) (= grow to be) werden

    it has become a rulees ist jetzt Vorschrift

    it has become a custom/nuisance —

    he's becoming a problemer wird zum Problem

    to become interested in sb/sth — anfangen, sich für jdn/etw zu interessieren

    2) (= acquire position of) werden

    to become king/a doctor — König/Arzt werden

    3)

    what's to become of him? —

    2. vt
    1) (= suit) stehen (+dat)
    2) (= befit) sich schicken für, sich ziemen für (geh)
    * * *
    become [bıˈkʌm] prät became [-ˈkeım], pperf become
    A v/i werden:
    what has become of him?
    a) was ist aus ihm geworden?,
    b) umg wo steckt er nur?;
    become better besser werden;
    become a rule zur Regel werden
    B v/t
    1. sich (ge)ziemen oder gebühren oder schicken für: ill B 1
    2. jemandem stehen, passen zu, jemanden kleiden
    * * *
    1. copula,
    became, become werden

    become a politician/dentist — Politiker/Zahnarzt werden

    become a nuisance/rule — zu einer Plage/zur Regel werden

    2. intransitive verb,
    became, become werden
    3. transitive verb,
    became, become

    become somebody — jemandem stehen; zu jemandem passen

    * * *
    v.
    (§ p.,p.p.: became, become)
    = anfangen v.
    kleiden v.
    stehen v.
    (§ p.,pp.: stand, gestanden)
    werden v.
    (§ p.,pp.: wurde, ist geworden)

    English-german dictionary > become

  • 9 become

    be·come <became, become> [beʼkʌm] vi + adj/n
    werden;
    this species almost became extinct diese Art wäre fast ausgestorben;
    what ever became of Moe Lester? was ist wohl aus Moe Lester geworden?;
    what has become of my jacket? wo ist nur meine Jacke hingekommen?;
    to \become angry ärgerlich [o böse] werden;
    to \become convinced that... zu der Überzeugung kommen [o ( geh) gelangen], dass...;
    to \become interested in sb/ sth anfangen, sich akk für jdn/etw zu interessieren vt
    to \become sth etw werden;
    she wants to \become an actress sie will Schauspielerin werden;
    to \become a legend in one's own time [or lifetime] schon zu Lebzeiten zur Legende werden
    2) (dated: look good)
    sth \becomes sb etw steht jdm
    3) ( befit)
    to \become sb sich akk für jdn schicken

    English-German students dictionary > become

  • 10 got

    Синонимический ряд:
    1. acquired (verb) acquired; annexed; chalked up; come by; compassed; had; landed; obtained; procured; pulled
    2. affected (verb) affected; carried; impressed; influenced; inspired; moved; struck; swayed; touched
    3. became/become (verb) became; became/become; grew; grew/grown; ran/run; turned; waxed; went/gone
    4. bothered (verb) aggravated; annoyed; bothered; burned up or burnt up; chafed; disturbed; exasperated; fretted; galled; grated; inflamed; irked; irritated; nettled; peeved; piqued; provoked; put out; riled; roiled; ruffled; vexed
    5. came/come (verb) arrived; came/come; contacted; got in/got in or gotten in; reached; showed up/shown up or showed up; showed/shown or showed; turned up
    6. contracted (verb) came down with/come down with; contracted; sickened of; sickened with; took/taken
    7. drew (verb) derived; drew
    8. fathered (verb) begot/begotten or begot; bred; fathered; procreated; sired
    9. induced (verb) argued into; brought around; convinced; drew in/drawn in; drew on/drawn on; drew/drawn; induced; persuaded; prevailed on; prevailed upon; prompted; talked into; won over
    10. learned (verb) learned; mastered; pick up; picked up
    11. made (verb) brought in; deserved; draw down; drew down/drawn down; earned; gained; knocked down; made; merited; pull down; won
    12. memorized (verb) conned; memorized
    13. nonplused (verb) beat/beaten; buffaloed; nonplused; stuck; stumped
    14. prepared (verb) fitted; fixed; made up; prepared; readied
    15. took (verb) bagged; captured; caught; collared; developed; nailed; netted; secured; sickened; took

    English-Russian base dictionary > got

  • 11 Lesseps, Ferdinand de

    SUBJECT AREA: Canals
    [br]
    b. 19 November 1805 Versailles, France
    d. 7 December 1894 La Chesnaye, near Paris, France
    [br]
    French diplomat and canal entrepreneur.
    [br]
    Ferdinand de Lesseps was born into a family in the diplomatic service and it was intended that his should be his career also. He was educated at the Lycée Napoléon in Paris. In 1825, aged 20, he was appointed an attaché to the French consulate in Lisbon. In 1828 he went to the Consulate-General in Tunis and in 1831 was posted from there to Egypt, becoming French Consul in Cairo two years later. For his work there during the plague in 1836 he was awarded the Croix de Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur. During this time he became very friendly with Said Mohammed and the friendship was maintained over the years, although there were no expectations then that Said would occupy any great position of authority.
    De Lesseps then served in other countries. In 1841 he had thought about a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and he brooded over the idea until 1854. In October of that year, having retired from the diplomatic service, he returned to Egypt privately. His friend Said became Viceroy and he readily agreed to the proposal to cut the canal. At first there was great international opposition to the idea, and in 1855 de Lesseps travelled to England to try to raise capital. Work finally started in 1859, but there were further delays following the death of Said Pasha in 1863. The work was completed in 1869 and the canal was formally opened by the Empress Eugenic on 20 November 1869. De Lesseps was fêted in France and awarded the Grand Croix de la Légion d'honneur.
    He subsequently promoted the project of the Corinth Canal, but his great ambition in his later years was to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. This idea had been conceived by Spanish adventurers in 1514, but everyone felt the problems and cost would be too great. De Lesseps, riding high in popularity and with his charismatic character, convinced the public of the scheme's feasibility and was able to raise vast sums for the enterprise. He proposed a sea-level canal, which required the excavation of a 350 ft (107 m) cut through terrain; this eventually proved impossible, but work nevertheless started in 1881.
    In 1882 de Lesseps became first President d'-Honneur of the Syndicat des Entrepreneurs de Travaux Publics de France and was elected to the Chair of the French Academy in 1884. By 1891 the Panama Canal was in a disastrous financial crisis: a new company was formed, and because of the vast sums expended a financial investigation was made. The report led to de Lesseps, his son and several high-ranking government ministers and officials being charged with bribery and corruption, but de Lesseps was a very sick man and never appeared at the trial. He was never convicted, although others were, and he died soon after, at the age of 89, at his home.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur 1836; Grand Croix 1869.
    Further Reading
    John S.Pudney, 1968, Suez. De Lesseps' Canal, London: Dent.
    John Marlowe, 1964, The Making of the Suez Canal, London: Cresset.
    JHB

    Biographical history of technology > Lesseps, Ferdinand de

  • 12 clear

    klɪə
    1. прил.
    1) а) светлый, ясный, безоблачный( о небе) a clear day ≈ ясный, безоблачный день The day dawned with a clear sky. ≈ День наступал ясный, безоблачный. clear whiteчистый белый clear brownсветло коричневый Syn: cloudless, unclouded б) прозрачный The water in the bay was clear as glass. ≈ Вода в заливе была прозрачной, как стекло. Syn: transparent, lucid, translucent, crystalline
    1., pellucid, diaphanous в) яркий, блестящий;
    чистый (особ. о коже без прыщей, морщин и т. п.) a dark-coloured coat with clear buttons ≈ темное пальто с яркими пуговицами a clear lightяркий свет clear fire ≈ яркий огонь( без дыма) Her complexion was clear, but quite olive. ≈ Кожа на лице у нее была чистой, но с желтоватым оттенком. Syn: lustrous, bright
    1., brilliant
    2., radiant
    1., luminous
    2) о восприятии, распознавании а) четкий, отчетливый, ясно видимый Syn: well-marked, sharp
    1. б) ясно слышный, звонкий, отчетливый The singing was loud and clear. ≈ Пение было громким и отчетливым. Syn: audible, articulate
    1. в) ясный, понятный, недвусмысленный( о словах, значениях и т. п.) to make clear the meaning of the questionпрояснить смысл вопроса If I have made myself clear, you will understand my original meaning. ≈ Если мне удалось ясно выразиться, вы поймете подлинное значение моей мысли. in clear Syn: perspicuous, definite, intelligible, unmistakable, transparent ∙ Syn: distinct Ant: foggy, unclear, unintelligible, blurred, confused, doubtful
    3) а) четкий, ясный, логический;
    проницательный( о мнении, понятии, представлении, памяти, уме) a clear remembrance of Bill Foster's crimes ≈ четкие воспоминания о преступлениях Билла Фостера This problem requires clear thinking. ≈ Для решение этой проблемы требуется ясная голова. Syn: keen I, sharp б) очевидный, явный, не вызывающий сомнений In the midst of the unreality, it became clear that one man at least was serious. ≈ Среди всей этой нереальности стало очевидным, что, по крайней мере, один человек был серьезен. Syn: evident, plain I
    1.
    4) убежденный, уверенный, не сомневающийся I am not quite clear about the date. ≈ Я не очень уверен относительно даты. As to the necessity of including Ireland in its scope he was clear. ≈ Что касалось включения Ирландии в эти границы, то тут он не колебался. Syn: positive
    1., convinced, confident
    1., certain
    1., determined
    5) о моральных качествах ясный, прямой, простодушный;
    чистый, непорочный, невинный a clear conscienceчистая совесть Syn: unsophisticated, guileless, pure, innocent
    2., unspotted
    6) свободный;
    свободный, беспрепятственный( о проходе, дороге и т. п.), свободный (от долгов, подозрений) The path was clear. ≈ Дорога была свободна. Is the sea clear of ice yet? ≈ Море уже свободно ото льда? You are now clear of suspicion. ≈ Вы свободны от подозрений. clear day ≈ свободный, незанятый день all clear all clear signal clear of debts get away clear keep clear of Syn: free
    1., unobstructed, unimpeded
    7) полный, целый;
    абсолютный, неограниченный a clear month ≈ целый месяц Syn: absolute
    1., complete
    1., entire
    1., sheer I
    1.
    8) амер.;
    сл. чистый, без примеси, 'настоящий' solid silver, the clear thing, and no mistakeсплошное серебро, настоящая вещь, без дураков
    2. нареч.
    1) ясно, четко, отчетливо;
    громко, внятно, членораздельно The message came over the wireless loud and clear. ≈ Сообщение, переданное по радио, прозвучало громко и отчетливо. to see one's way clear ≈ не иметь затруднений Syn: clearly, distinctly, plainly, audibly
    2) совсем, совершенно;
    полностью (тж. несколько усиливает знач. наречий away, off, through при глаголах) The jogger ran clear to the end of the island. ≈ Бегун добежал до самого конца острова. three feet clear ≈ целых три фута Syn: entirely, wholly, completely ∙ clear of
    3. гл.
    1) а) очищать;
    осветлять;
    делать прозрачным to clear the water by filteringочистить воду с помощью фильтров б) очищаться;
    проясняться;
    становиться прозрачным The skies finally cleared. ≈ Погода наконец прояснилась. ∙ Syn: brighten, lighten I
    2) а) оправдывать, снимать подозрение в чем-л. (of) The boy was cleared of the charge of stealing. ≈ С мальчика сняли обвинение в краже. A surprise witness cleared him of the crime. ≈ Удивленный свидетель снял с него подозрение в совершении преступления. to clear one's name ≈ восстановить свое честное имя clear the skirts of Syn: exculpate, exonerate, absolve, acquit, vindicate б) рассеивать( сомнения, подозрения) ;
    подтверждать надежность( кого-л. при приеме на секретную работу) to clear for top-secret work ≈ допускать на сверхсекретную работу Dr. Graham might require access to restricted information, and so he had to be cleared. ≈ Доктору Грэхему может понадобиться конфиденциальная информация, поэтому он должен получить допуск.
    3) прояснять, разъяснять, объяснять, истолковывать to clear up the mystery ≈ прояснить тайну Syn: enlighten, explain, elucidate
    4) а) расчищать, прочищать;
    освобождать, очищать от чего-л., кого-л. (of) to clear the dishesубирать посуду со стола to clear the tableубирать со стола The snowplows cleared the streets. ≈ Снегоочистители очистили улицы. He cleared his throat, and was silent awhile. ≈ Он прочистил горло и немного помолчал. Machines have cleared the way for progress. ≈ Машины расчистили путь прогресса. to clear the airразрядить атмосферу;
    положить конец недоразумениям Will you help me clear the garden of these stones? ≈ Поможешь мне убрать из сада эти камни. We must clear the area of enemy soldiers as soon as possible. ≈ Нам нужно очистить район от врага как можно скорее. clear the way clear the decks for action clear one's mind of Syn: unblock, clean
    2., free
    3., unstop, empty
    3., rid, clean
    4. ;
    remove
    2., free
    3. б) спорт отбивать, выбивать (мяч) из штрафной площадки
    5) а) одобрять, разрешать Syn: authorize б) успешно пройти( какие-л. инстанции) ;
    получить одобрение The bill cleared the legislature. ≈ Законопроект получил одобрение законодательных органов.
    6) а) урегулировать финансовые обязательства, производить рассчет;
    заплатить долг to clear an accountрассчитаться clear one's expenses б) банк. осуществлять клиринг чеков или векселей
    7) уплачивать пошлину;
    очищать (товары) от пошлин
    8) распродавать товар по сниженным ценам great reductions in order to clear ≈ большая скидка с целью распродажи
    9) получать чистый доход Syn: net II
    3.
    10) избежать, не задеть;
    преодолеть препятствие to clear the fenceперескочить через барьер This horse can clear 5 feet. ≈ Эта лошадь берет барьер в 5 футов.
    11) эвакуировать
    12) разгружать to clear a ship ≈ разгрузить судноclear away clear off clear out clear up clear with ясный, светлый;
    - * day ясный день;
    - * sky чистое небо чистый, прозрачный;
    - * water of the lake чистая вода озера;
    - * glass прозрачное стекло зеркальный( о поверхности) отчетливый, ясный;
    - * outline ясное очертание;
    - * sight хорошее зрение;
    - * reflection in the water ясное отражение в воде;
    - * view хорошая видимость звонкий, отчетливый, чистый (о звуке) ;
    - * tone чистый звук;
    - * voices of the children звонкие детские голоса отчетливый, внятный, четкий;
    - his delivery was * and distinct он говорил внятно и отчетливо ясный, понятный;
    не вызывающий сомнений;
    - * conclusion ясный вывод;
    - a * case of murder явное убийство;
    - to make a * statement высказаться ясно и определенно;
    - to have a * idea иметь ясное представление;
    - it is * to me what he is driving at (разговорное) мне понятно, к чему он клонит;
    - I am not * on the point мне этот вопрос не ясен;
    - I am not * about... я не уверен, что... светлый, ясный, логический (об уме) ;
    - * intellect ясный ум;
    - * head светлая голова свободный, незанятый;
    беспрепятственный;
    - * passage свободный проход;
    - * line (железнодорожное) свободный путь;
    свободный перегон;
    - * opening( техническое) просвет;
    свободное сечение;
    - * way (морское) фарватер;
    - next week is *, let's meet then будущая неделя у меня не занята, давай тогда и встретимся (телефония) свободный, незанятый (о линии) чистый;
    здоровый;
    - * conscience чистая совесть;
    - * skin чистая кожа( без прыщей и т. п.) (of) свободный от чего-либо;
    - * of debt не обремененный долгами;
    - * of suspicion вне подозрений;
    - he is * of all bad intentions у него нет дурных намерений;
    - roads * of traffic закрытая для движения дорога;
    - * of strays (радиотехника) свободный от атмосферных помех;
    - we are * of danger now мы сейчас вне опасности полный, целый;
    весь;
    - * month целый месяц чистый (о доходе и т. п.) ;
    - a hundred pounds * profit сто фунтов чистой прибыли;
    - I get a * $50 a week я получаю 50 долларов в неделю чистыми абсолютный, совершенный, полный;
    - a * victory полная победа;
    - he obtained a * majority он получил явное большинство голосов( техническое) незадевающий;
    свободно проходящий (фонетика) светлый;
    - * I sound светлый оттенок звука I в грам. знач. сущ. клер, нешифрованный текст;
    - in * клером, в незашифрованном виде, открытым текстом > to be in the * быть вне подозрений, снять с себя обвинение;
    > the coast is * путь свободен, препятствий нет;
    > all * путь свободен;
    (военное) противник не обнаружен;
    > all * signal сигнал отбоя после тревоги;
    > (as) * as day ясно, как день;
    > (as) * as two and two make four ясно как дважды два четыре;
    > (as) * as a bell ясно слышный, отчетливый ясно (эмоционально-усилительно) совсем, совершенно;
    целиком;
    начисто;
    - three feet * целых три фута (of) в стороне от чего-либо;
    - to steer * (of) избегать, сторониться;
    - keep * of pickpockets! остерегайтесь воров!;
    - keep * of the traffic! соблюдайте осторожность при переходе улиц (спортивное) чисто;
    - (to be) * abreast( быть) чисто в стороне (о яхте в соревновании) > to see one's way * to do smth. не видеть препятствий к чему-либо;
    > to get * away удрать, не оставив следов;
    отделаться;
    разделаться;
    выйти сухим из воды;
    > to get * of отделаться;
    разделаться;
    удрать не оставив следов > to keep * of smth. держаться вдали от чего-либо, сторониться чего-либо очищать;
    - thunder has *ed the air после грозы воздух стал чистым;
    - to * the table убирать со стола очищаться, становиться ясным, чистым;
    делаться прозрачным;
    - the sky is *ing небо очищается от туч;
    - the weather is *ing погода проясняется;
    - the wine will * if the sediment is allowed to settle вино становится прозрачным, если дать ему отстояться объяснить, разъяснить, пролить свет;
    - to * one's meaning разъяснить смысл своих слов;
    - to * smb. in regard to a matter разъяснить кому-либо вопрос освобождать, очищать;
    убирать, устранять препятствия;
    - to * the stones from the road убрать с дороги камни - to * a way освободить дорогу;
    - to * the way открыть путь;
    - to * the way for future action расчистить путь для дальнейших действий;
    - to * the ground расчистить участок земли под пашню;
    - land *ed for cultivation земля, расчищенная для посева;
    - to * the room of people освободить комнату от людей;
    - * the way! разойдитесь!, освободите дорогу!;
    посторонись!, берегись!;
    - to * one's mind of doubts отбросить сомнения оправдывать;
    очищать от подозрений;
    - to * one's character восстановить свою репутацию;
    - to * oneself of a charge оправдаться взять, преодолеть препятствие;
    - to * a hedge перемахнуть через изгородь;
    - to * the hurdle (спортивное) преодолеть препятствие;
    - to * the bar (спортивное) брать высоту;
    - he *ed the bar at six feet (спортивное) он взял высоту в шесть футов едва не задеть, избежать;
    - to * an iceberg at sea еле-еле избежать столкновения с айсбергом;
    - our bus just managed to * the truck наш автобус едва не столкнулся с грузовиком;
    - a tree with branches that barely * the roof дерево, ветки которого почти касаются крыши (военное) вывозить, эвакуировать;
    - to * casualties эвакуировать раненых;
    - to * the enemy очистить от противника (район и т. п.) распутывать( веревку и т. п.) - to * a hawser распутать трос разгружать;
    - to * a ship of her cargo разгрузить корабль заплатить долг, произвести расчет;
    оплатить расходы и т. п.;
    - this sum will * all his debts эта сумма покроет все его долги;
    - to * an encumbered estate очистить имение от долгов (банковское) производить клиринг чеков или векселей;
    производить расчет по векселям или чекам через расчетную палату (коммерческое) очищать товары, груз от пошлин;
    выполнять таможенные формальности;
    - to * a ship at the custom-house произвести очистку судна на таможне (коммерческое) получать чистую прибыль;
    - the firm *ed 300 000 фирма получила триста тысяч чистой прибыли распродавать, устраивать распродажи;
    - to * goods распродавать товары дать допуск к (совершенно) секретной работе( спортивное) отбить( мяч и т. п.) - to * a corner отбить угловой в поле;
    - to * the puck выбить шайбу из зоны защиты (специальное) осветлять;
    очищать (телефония) разъединять абонентов (with) (американизм) согласовать с кем-либо;
    - you must * your plan with the headquarters насчет своего плана вы должны договориться с руководством расшифровывать, декодировать > to * an examinator paper ответить на все вопросы по экзаменационному билету;
    > to * the coast расчистить путь, устранить препятствия;
    > to * one's throat откашляться;
    > to * the decks( морское) приготовиться к бою;
    приготовиться к действиям;
    > to * the air разрядить атмосферу, устранить недоразумения;
    > to * the skirts of smb. смыть позорное пятно с кого-либо;
    восстановить чью-либо репутацию;
    > to * a score расквитаться all ~ отбой( после тревоги) ;
    all clear signal сигнал отбоя all ~ воен. противник не обнаружен all ~ путь свободен all ~ отбой (после тревоги) ;
    all clear signal сигнал отбоя clear гасить ~ не задеть, проехать или перескочить через барьер, не задев его;
    to clear an obstacle взять препятствие;
    this horse can clear 5 feet эта лошадь берет барьер в 5 футов ~ необремененный, свободный от чего-либо ~ объяснять ~ оправдывать ~ освобождать, очищать ~ осуществлять клиринг векселей ~ осуществлять клиринг чеков ~ отчетливый ~ очищать(ся) ;
    расчищать;
    to clear the air разрядить атмосферу;
    положить конец недоразумениям;
    to clear the dishes убирать посуду со стола;
    to clear the table убирать со стола ~ очищать ~ очищать от пошлин, уплачивать пошлины ~ очищать от пошлин ~ получать чистую прибыль ~ торг. получать чистую прибыль ~ понятный, ясный, недвусмысленный ~ понятный ~ прозрачный ~ производить расчет ~ проходить мимо, миновать ~ проясняться ~ пустой ~ разъяснять ~ распродавать (товар) ;
    great reductions in order to clear большая скидка с целью распродажи ~ распродавать ~ торг. распродавать товары по сниженным ценам ~ рассеивать (сомнения, подозрения) ~ сброшенный ~ свободный;
    clear passage свободный проход ~ свободный ~ совсем, целиком (тж. несколько усиливает знач. наречий away, off, through при глаголах) ;
    three feet clear целых три фута ~ становиться прозрачным (о вине) ~ уплачивать пошлины, очищать от пошлин ~ вчт. устанавливать в исходное состояние ~ устранять препятствия ~ целый, полный;
    a clear month целый месяц ~ чистый (о весе, доходе или о совести) ~ чистый ~ эвакуировать ~ ясно;
    to see one's way clear не иметь затруднений ~ ясно слышный, отчетливый ~ ясный, явный, очевидный ~ ясный (об уме) ;
    to get away clear отделаться ~ ясный, светлый;
    clear sky безоблачное небо ~ ясный ~ не задеть, проехать или перескочить через барьер, не задев его;
    to clear an obstacle взять препятствие;
    this horse can clear 5 feet эта лошадь берет барьер в 5 футов ~ away рассеивать (сомнения) ~ away рассеиваться( о тумане, облаках) ~ away убирать со стола ~ down вчт. разъединить ~ down вчт. разъединять ~ from suspicion вне подозрений ~ line ж.-д. свободный перегон (между станциями) ~ целый, полный;
    a clear month целый месяц ~ of debts свободный от долгов ~ of suspicion отводить подозрения ~ off отделываться( от чего-л.) ~ off проясняться (о погоде) ~ off разг. убираться;
    just clear off at once! убирайтесь немедленно! to ~ the way подготовить почву;
    to clear one's expenses покрыть свои расходы ~ out внезапно уехать, уйти ~ out вычищать ~ out очищать ~ out разг. разорять ~ out stocks освобождать склады ~ свободный;
    clear passage свободный проход ~ ясный, светлый;
    clear sky безоблачное небо ~ очищать(ся) ;
    расчищать;
    to clear the air разрядить атмосферу;
    положить конец недоразумениям;
    to clear the dishes убирать посуду со стола;
    to clear the table убирать со стола to ~ the skirts (of smb.) смыть позорное пятно (с кого-л.) ;
    восстановить (чью-л.) репутацию;
    to clear the decks (for action) мор. приготовиться к бою (перен. к действиям) deck: on ~ амер. готовый к действиям;
    to clear the decks (for action) мор. приготовиться к бою;
    перен. приготовиться к действиям ~ очищать(ся) ;
    расчищать;
    to clear the air разрядить атмосферу;
    положить конец недоразумениям;
    to clear the dishes убирать посуду со стола;
    to clear the table убирать со стола to ~ the skirts (of smb.) смыть позорное пятно (с кого-л.) ;
    восстановить (чью-л.) репутацию;
    to clear the decks (for action) мор. приготовиться к бою (перен. к действиям) ~ очищать(ся) ;
    расчищать;
    to clear the air разрядить атмосферу;
    положить конец недоразумениям;
    to clear the dishes убирать посуду со стола;
    to clear the table убирать со стола to ~ the way подготовить почву;
    to clear one's expenses покрыть свои расходы ~ up выяснять ~ up приводить в порядок ~ up раскрывать ~ ясный (об уме) ;
    to get away clear отделаться ~ распродавать (товар) ;
    great reductions in order to clear большая скидка с целью распродажи in ~ тех. в свету in ~ открытым текстом, в незашифрованном виде ~ off разг. убираться;
    just clear off at once! убирайтесь немедленно! to keep ~ (of smb.) остерегаться, избегать ( кого-л.) ~ ясно;
    to see one's way clear не иметь затруднений ~ не задеть, проехать или перескочить через барьер, не задев его;
    to clear an obstacle взять препятствие;
    this horse can clear 5 feet эта лошадь берет барьер в 5 футов ~ совсем, целиком (тж. несколько усиливает знач. наречий away, off, through при глаголах) ;
    three feet clear целых три фута up выяснять;
    распутывать (дело) up прибирать, убирать up проясняться ( о погоде) up: up prep вверх по, по направлению к( источнику, центру, столице и т. п.) ;
    up the river вверх по реке;
    up the hill в гору;
    up the steps вверх по лестнице ~ prep вдоль по;
    вглубь;
    up the street по улице;
    to travel up (the) country ехать вглубь страны ~ вздорожание ~ спорт. впереди;
    he is two points up он на два очка впереди своего противника ~ разг. вскакивать ~ идущий, поднимающийся вверх ~ поезд, автобус и т. п., идущий в Лондон, в большой город или на север ~ prep к северу, в северном направлении ~ направляющийся в крупный центр или на север (особ. о поезде) ;
    up train поезд, идущий в Лондон или большой город ~ повышающийся ~ разг. поднимать;
    повышать (цены) ~ подъем ~ prep против (течения, ветра и т. п.) ;
    up the wind против ветра;
    to row up the stream грести против течения ~ указывает на близость или сходство: he is up to his father as a scientist как ученый он не уступает своему отцу ~ указывает на истечение срока, завершение или результат действия: Parliament is up сессия парламента закрылась ~ указывает на нахождение наверху или на более высокое положение наверху;
    выше;
    high up in the air высоко в небе или в воздухе ~ указывает на переход из горизонтального положения в вертикальное или от состояния покоя к деятельности: he is up он встал ~ указывает на подъем наверх, вверх;
    he went up он пошел наверх;
    up and down вверх и вниз;
    взад и вперед ;
    hands up! руки вверх! ~ указывает на приближение: a boy came up подошел мальчик ~ указывает на совершение действия: something is up что-то происходит;
    что-то затевается;
    what's up? в чем дело?, что случилось? ~ указывает на увеличение, повышение в цене, в чине, в значении и т. п. выше;
    the corn is up хлеб подорожал;
    age 12 up от 12 лет и старше ~ успех ~ шипучий( о напитках) up: ~ там и сям;
    см. тж. up

    Большой англо-русский и русско-английский словарь > clear

  • 13 clear

    [klɪə] 1. прил.
    1) светлый, ясный; безоблачный ( о небе)

    a clear day — ясный, безоблачный день

    a clear night — ясная, звёздная ночь

    The day dawned with a clear sky. — День наступал ясный, безоблачный.

    Syn:

    The water in the bay was clear as glass. — Вода в заливе была прозрачной, как стекло.

    Syn:
    3) чёткий, отчётливый
    Syn:
    4) звонкий, отчётливый

    The singing was loud and clear. — Пение было громким и звонким.

    Syn:
    5) ясный, понятный, недвусмысленный

    If I have made myself clear, you will understand my original meaning. — Если мне удалось ясно выразиться, вы поймёте, что я имел в виду.

    Syn:
    Ant:
    6) чёткий, ясный, логический

    This problem requires clear thinking. — Для решения этой проблемы требуется ясная голова.

    Syn:
    7) очевидный, явный, не вызывающий сомнений

    In the midst of the unreality, it became clear that one man at least was serious. — Среди всех этих фантастических событий стало очевидным, что, по крайней мере, один человек был серьёзен.

    Syn:
    evident, plain I 1.
    8) убеждённый, уверенный, не сомневающийся

    I am not quite clear about the date. — Я не очень уверен относительно даты.

    Syn:
    9) простодушный; чистый, непорочный
    Syn:
    10) свободный, незанятый; беспрепятственный

    The path was clear. — Дорога была свободна.

    11) чистый; здоровый

    Her complexion was clear, but quite olive. — Кожа на лице у неё была чистой, но с желтоватым оттенком.

    12) яркий, блестящий
    Syn:
    13) свободный (от чего-л.); необременённый (чем-л.)
    Syn:
    14) полный, целый; абсолютный, неограниченный
    Syn:
    absolute 1., complete 1., entire 1., sheer I 1.
    15) амер.; разг. чистый, без примеси, настоящий

    solid silver, the clear thing, and no mistake — сплошное серебро, настоящая вещь, без дураков

    ••
    - all clear
    - all clear signal
    - get away clear
    - keep clear of smb.
    2. нареч.
    1) ясно, чётко, отчётливо

    The message came over the wireless loud and clear. — Сообщение, переданное по радио, прозвучало громко и отчётливо.

    Syn:
    2) совсем, совершенно; полностью

    The jogger ran clear to the end of the island. — Бегун добежал до самого конца острова.

    Syn:
    3) ( clear of) в стороне, на расстоянии от (чего-л.)

    He jumped three inches clear of the bar. — Он прыгнул в трёх дюймах от планки.

    ••

    to see one's way clear to do smth. — не видеть препятствий (к осуществлению чего-л.)

    3. гл.
    1)
    а) очищать; осветлять; делать прозрачным
    б) очищаться; проясняться; становиться прозрачным

    The skies finally cleared. — Небо наконец прояснилось.

    Syn:
    2) = clear away / off рассеяться ( о тумане), разъясниться ( о погоде)

    The fog cleared. — Туман рассеялся.

    In the afternoon, the mist cleared off and the rest of the day was fine. — После полудня туман рассеялся, и в оставшуюся часть дня была хорошая погода.

    3) = clear away / off расчищать, прочищать; освобождать, очищать

    to clear (away) the dishes / the table — убирать (посуду) со стола

    Please help your mother to clear away. — Пожалуйста, помоги маме убрать со стола.

    The snowplows cleared the streets. — Снегоуборочные машины расчистили улицы.

    He cleared his throat, and was silent awhile. — Он прочистил горло и немного помолчал.

    Machines have cleared the way for progress. — Машины расчистили дорогу, теперь можно двигаться вперёд.

    We must clear the area of enemy soldiers as soon as possible. — Нам нужно очистить район от врага как можно скорее.

    Syn:
    unblock, clean 2., remove 2., free 3.
    4) = clear away / up удалить, устранить
    5) = clear away / up

    This book has cleared my doubts. — Эта книга рассеяла мои сомнения.

    When he read the letter, his doubts cleared away. — Когда он прочёл письмо, его сомнения окончательно рассеялись.

    6) прояснять, разъяснять, объяснять, истолковывать
    Syn:
    7) оправдывать, снимать подозрение

    The boy was cleared of the charge of stealing. — С мальчика сняли обвинение в краже.

    A surprise witness cleared him of the crime. — Неожиданный свидетель снял с него подозрение в совершении преступления.

    Syn:
    8) подтверждать надёжность (кого-л. при приёме на секретную работу)

    Dr. Graham might require access to restricted information, and so he had to be cleared. — Доктору Грэхему, возможно, придётся работать с конфиденциальной информацией, поэтому он должен получить допуск.

    9) спорт. отбивать, выбивать ( мяч) из штрафной площадки
    10)
    а) одобрять, разрешать
    Syn:
    б) успешно пройти (какие-л. инстанции); получить одобрение

    The bill cleared the legislature. — Законопроект получил одобрение законодательных органов.

    11) = clear off урегулировать финансовые обязательства, произвести расчёт; заплатить долг

    I'm glad I've cleared off the money I owed my mother. — Я рад, что вернул матери все долги.

    12) фин. осуществлять клиринг чеков или векселей
    13) уплачивать пошлину; очищать ( товары) от пошлин
    14) = clear off распродавать товар по сниженным ценам

    The shop decided to clear off the summer clothes when the new winter fashions arrived. — Когда поступила новая зимняя одежда, в магазине решили устроить распродажу летней.

    Syn:
    net II 3.

    This horse can clear 5 feet. — Эта лошадь берёт барьер в 5 футов.

    19) ( clear with) согласовывать (что-л. с кем-л.)

    Clear this with the boss. — Согласуй это с шефом.

    - clear out
    - clear up
    ••
    - clear the skirts of smb.
    - clear the air
    - clear the way
    - clear the decks for action
    - clear one's mind of smth.

    Англо-русский современный словарь > clear

  • 14 Behr, Fritz Bernhard

    [br]
    b. 9 October 1842 Berlin, Germany
    d. 25 February 1927
    [br]
    German (naturalized British in 1876) engineer, promoter of the Lartigue monorail system.
    [br]
    Behr trained as an engineer in Britain and had several railway engineering appointments before becoming associated with C.F.M.-T. Lartigue in promoting the Lartigue monorail system in the British Isles. In Lartigue's system, a single rail was supported on trestles; vehicles ran on the rail, their bodies suspended pannier-fashion, stabilized by horizontal rollers running against light guide rails fixed to the sides of the trestles. Behr became Managing Director of the Listowel \& Ballybunion Railway Company, which in 1888 opened its Lartigue system line between those two places in the south-west of Ireland. Three locomotives designed by J.T.A. Mallet were built for the line by Hunslet Engine Company, each with two horizontal boilers, one either side of the track. Coaches and wagons likewise were in two parts. Technically the railway was successful, but lack of traffic caused the company to go bankrupt in 1897: the railway continued to operate until 1924.
    Meanwhile Behr had been thinking in terms far more ambitious than a country branch line. Railway speeds of 150mph (240km/h) or more then lay far in the future: engineers were uncertain whether normal railway vehicles would even be stable at such speeds. Behr was convinced that a high-speed electric vehicle on a substantial Lartigue monorail track would be stable. In 1897 he demonstrated such a vehicle on a 3mile (4.8km) test track at the Brussels International Exhibition. By keeping the weight of the motors low, he was able to place the seats above rail level. Although the generating station provided by the Exhibition authorities never operated at full power, speeds over 75mph (120 km/h) were achieved.
    Behr then promoted the Manchester-Liverpool Express Railway, on which monorail trains of this type running at speeds up to 110mph (177km/h) were to link the two cities in twenty minutes. Despite strong opposition from established railway companies, an Act of Parliament authorizing it was made in 1901. The Act also contained provision for the Board of Trade to require experiments to prove the system's safety. In practice this meant that seven miles of line, and a complete generating station to enable trains to travel at full speed, must be built before it was known whether the Board would give its approval for the railway or not. Such a condition was too severe for the scheme to attract investors and it remained stillborn.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    H.Fayle, 1946, The Narrow Gauge Railways of Ireland, Greenlake Publications, Part 2, ch. 2 (describes the Listowel \& Ballybunion Railway and Behr's work there).
    D.G.Tucker, 1984, "F.B.Behr's development of the Lartigue monorail", Transactions of
    the Newcomen Society 55 (covers mainly the high speed lines).
    See also: Brennan, Louis
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Behr, Fritz Bernhard

  • 15 Cayley, Sir George

    SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace
    [br]
    b. 27 December 1773 Scarborough, England
    d. 15 December 1857 Brompton Hall, Yorkshire, England
    [br]
    English pioneer who laid down the basic principles of the aeroplane in 1799 and built a manned glider in 1853.
    [br]
    Cayley was born into a well-to-do Yorkshire family living at Brompton Hall. He was encouraged to study mathematics, navigation and mechanics, particularly by his mother. In 1792 he succeeded to the baronetcy and took over the daunting task of revitalizing the run-down family estate.
    The first aeronautical device made by Cayley was a copy of the toy helicopter invented by the Frenchmen Launoy and Bienvenu in 1784. Cayley's version, made in 1796, convinced him that a machine could "rise in the air by mechanical means", as he later wrote. He studied the aerodynamics of flight and broke away from the unsuccessful ornithopters of his predecessors. In 1799 he scratched two sketches on a silver disc: one side of the disc showed the aerodynamic force on a wing resolved into lift and drag, and on the other side he illustrated his idea for a fixed-wing aeroplane; this disc is preserved in the Science Museum in London. In 1804 he tested a small wing on the end of a whirling arm to measure its lifting power. This led to the world's first model glider, which consisted of a simple kite (the wing) mounted on a pole with an adjustable cruciform tail. A full-size glider followed in 1809 and this flew successfully unmanned. By 1809 Cayley had also investigated the lifting properties of cambered wings and produced a low-drag aerofoil section. His aim was to produce a powered aeroplane, but no suitable engines were available. Steam-engines were too heavy, but he experimented with a gunpowder motor and invented the hot-air engine in 1807. He published details of some of his aeronautical researches in 1809–10 and in 1816 he wrote a paper on airships. Then for a period of some twenty-five years he was so busy with other activities that he largely neglected his aeronautical researches. It was not until 1843, at the age of 70, that he really had time to pursue his quest for flight. The Mechanics' Magazine of 8 April 1843 published drawings of "Sir George Cayley's Aerial Carriage", which consisted of a helicopter design with four circular lifting rotors—which could be adjusted to become wings—and two pusher propellers. In 1849 he built a full-size triplane glider which lifted a boy off the ground for a brief hop. Then in 1852 he proposed a monoplane glider which could be launched from a balloon. Late in 1853 Cayley built his "new flyer", another monoplane glider, which carried his coachman as a reluctant passenger across a dale at Brompton, Cayley became involved in public affairs and was MP for Scarborough in 1832. He also took a leading part in local scientific activities and was co-founder of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1831 and of the Regent Street Polytechnic Institution in 1838.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    Cayley wrote a number of articles and papers, the most significant being "On aerial navigation", Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy (November 1809—March 1810) (published in three numbers); and two further papers with the same title in Philosophical Magazine (1816 and 1817) (both describe semi-rigid airships).
    Further Reading
    L.Pritchard, 1961, Sir George Cayley, London (the standard work on the life of Cayley).
    C.H.Gibbs-Smith, 1962, Sir George Cayley's Aeronautics 1796–1855, London (covers his aeronautical achievements in more detail).
    —1974, "Sir George Cayley, father of aerial navigation (1773–1857)", Aeronautical Journal (Royal Aeronautical Society) (April) (an updating paper).
    JDS

    Biographical history of technology > Cayley, Sir George

  • 16 Dunne, John William

    SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace
    [br]
    b. 2 December 1875 Co. Kildare, Ireland
    d. 24 August 1949 Oxfordshire, England
    [br]
    Irish inventor who pioneered tailless aircraft designed to be inherently stable.
    [br]
    After serving in the British Army during the Boer War. Dunne returned home convinced that aeroplanes would be more suitable than balloons for reconnaissance work. He built models to test his ideas for a tailless design based on the winged seed of a Javanese climbing plant. In 1906 Dunne joined the staff of the Balloon Factory at Farnborough, where the Superintendent, Colonel J.E.Capper, was also interested in manned kites and aeroplanes. Since 1904 the colourful American "Colonel" S.F. Cody had been experimenting at Farnborough with manned kites, and in 1908 his "British Army Dirigible No. 1" made the first powered flight in Britain. Dunne's first swept-wing tailless glider was ready to fly in the spring of 1907, but it was deemed to be a military secret and flying it at Farnborough would be too public. Dunne, Colonel Capper and a team of army engineers took the glider to a remote site at Blair Atholl in Scotland for its test flights. It was not a great success, although it attracted snoopers, with the result that it was camouflaged. Powered versions made short hops in 1908, but then the War Office withdrew its support. Dunne and his associates set up a syndicate to continue the development of a new tailless aeroplane, the D 5; this was built by Short Brothers (see Short, Hugh Oswald) and flew successfully in 1910. It had combined elevators and ailerons on the wing tips (or elevons as they are now called when fitted to modern delta-winged aircraft). In 1913 an improved version of the D 5 was demonstrated in France, where the pilot left his cockpit and walked along the wing in flight. Dunne had proved his point and designed a stable aircraft, but his health was suffering and he retired. During the First World War, however, it was soon learned that military aircraft needed to be manoeuvrable rather than stable.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1913, "The theory of the Dunne aeroplane", Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society (April).
    After he left aviation, Dunne became well known for his writings on the nature of the universe and the interpretation of dreams. His best known-work was An Experiment
    With Time (1927; and reprints).
    Further Reading
    P.B.Walker, 1971, Early Aviation at Farnborough, Vol. I, London; 1974, Vol. II (provides a detailed account of Dunne's early work; Vol. II is the more relevant).
    P.Lewis, 1962, British Air craft 1809–1914, London (for details of Dunne's aircraft).
    JDS

    Biographical history of technology > Dunne, John William

  • 17 Essen, Louis

    SUBJECT AREA: Horology
    [br]
    b. 6 September 1908 Nottingham, England
    [br]
    English physicist who produced the first practical caesium atomic clock, which was later used to define the second.
    [br]
    Louis Essen joined the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) at Teddington in 1927 after graduating from London University. He spent his whole working life at the NPL and retired in 1972; his research there was recognized by the award of a DSc in 1948. At NPL he joined a team working on the development of frequency standards using quartz crystals and he designed a very successful quartz oscillator, which became known as the "Essen ring". He was also involved with radio frequency oscillators. His expertise in these fields was to play a crucial role in the development of the caesium clock. The idea of an atomic clock had been proposed by I.I.Rabbi in 1945, and an instrument was constructed shortly afterwards at the National Bureau of Standards in the USA. However, this device never realized the full potential of the concept, and after seeing it on a visit to the USA Essen was convinced that a more successful instrument could be built at Teddington. Assisted by J.V.L.Parry, he commenced work in the spring of 1953 and by June 1955 the clock was working reliably, with an accuracy that was equivalent to one second in three hundred years. This was significantly more accurate than the astronomical observations that were used at that time to determine the second: in 1967 the second was redefined in terms of the value for the frequency of vibration of caesium atoms that had been obtained with this clock.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1960. Clockmakers' Company Tompion Gold Medal 1957. Physical Society C.V.Boys Prize 1957. USSR Academy of Science Popov Gold Medal 1959.
    Bibliography
    1957, with J.V.L.Parry, "The caesium resonator as a standard of frequency and time", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Series A) 25:45–69 (the first comprehensive description of the caesium clock).
    Further Reading
    P.Forman, 1985, "Atomichron: the atomic clock from concept to commercial product", Proceedings of the IEEE 75:1,181–204 (an authoritative critical review of the development of the atomic clock).
    N.Cessons (ed.), 1992, The Making of the Modern World, London: Science Museum, pp.
    190–1 (contains a short account).
    DV

    Biographical history of technology > Essen, Louis

  • 18 Ferguson, Harry

    [br]
    b. 4 November 1884 County Down, Ireland
    d. 25 October 1960 England
    [br]
    Irish engineer who developed a tractor hydraulic system for cultivation equipment, and thereby revolutionized tractor design.
    [br]
    Ferguson's father was a small farmer who expected his son to help on the farm from an early age. As a result he received little formal education, and on leaving school joined his brother in a backstreet workshop in Belfast repairing motor bikes. By the age of 19 he had built his own bike and began hill-climbing competitions and racing. His successes in these ventures gained useful publicity for the workshop. In 1907 he built his own car and entered it into competitions, and in 1909 became the first person in Britain to build and fly a machine that was heavier than air.
    On the outbreak of the First World War he was appointed by the Irish Department of Agriculture to supervise the operation and maintenance of all farm tractors. His experiences convinced him that even the Ford tractor and the implements available for it were inadequate for the task, and he began to experiment with his own plough designs. The formation of the Ferguson-Sherman Corporation resulted in the production of thousands of the ploughs he had designed for the Ford tractor, but in 1928 Ford discontinued production of tractors, and Ferguson returned to Ireland. He immediately began to design his own tractor. Six years of development led to the building of a prototype that weighed only 16 cwt (813kg). In 1936 David Brown of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, began production of these tractors for Ferguson, but the partnership was not wholly successful and was dissolved after three years. In 1939 Ferguson and Ford reached their famous "Handshake agreement", in which no formal contract was signed, and the mass production of the Ford Ferguson system tractors began that year. During the next nine years 300,000 tractors and a million implements were produced under this agreement. However, on the death of Henry Ford the company began production, under his son, of their own tractor. Ferguson returned to the UK and negotiated a deal with the Standard Motor Company of Coventry for the production of his tractor. At the same time he took legal action against Ford, which resulted in that company being forced to stop production and to pay damages amounting to US$9.5 million.
    Aware that his equipment would only operate when set up properly, Ferguson established a training school at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire which was to be a model for other manufacturers. In 1953, by amicable agreement, Ferguson amalgamated with the Massey Harris Company to form Massey Ferguson, and in so doing added harvesting machinery to the range of equipment produced. A year later he disposed of his shares in the new company and turned his attention again to the motor car. Although a number of experimental cars were produced, there were no long-lasting developments from this venture other than a four-wheel-drive system based on hydraulics; this was used by a number of manufacturers on occasional models. Ferguson's death heralded the end of these developments.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Honorary DSc Queen's University, Belfast, 1948.
    Further Reading
    C.Murray, 1972, Harry Ferguson, Inventor and Pioneer. John Murray.
    AP

    Biographical history of technology > Ferguson, Harry

  • 19 Whittle, Sir Frank

    SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace
    [br]
    b. 1 June 1907 Coventry, England
    [br]
    English engineer who developed the first British jet engine.
    [br]
    Frank Whittle enlisted in the Royal Air Force (RAF) as an apprentice, and after qualifying as a pilot he developed an interest in the technical aspects of aircraft propulsion. He was convinced that the gas-turbine engine could be adapted for use in aircraft, but he could not convince the Air Ministry, who turned down the proposal. Nevertheless, Whittle applied for a patent for his turbojet engine the following year, 1930. While still in the RAF, he was allowed time to study for a degree at Cambridge University and carry out postgraduate research (1934–7). By 1936 the official attitude had changed, and a company called Power Jets Ltd was set up to develop Whittle's jet engine. On 12 April 1937 the experimental engine was bench-tested. After further development, an official order was placed in March 1938. Whittle's engine had a centrifugal compressor, ten combustion chambers and a turbine to drive the compressor; all the power output came from the jet of hot gases.
    In 1939 an experimental aircraft was ordered from the Gloster Aircraft Company, the E 28/39, to house the Whittle W1 engine, and this made its first flight on 15 May 1941. A development of the W1 by Rolls-Royce, the Welland, was used to power the twin-engined Gloster Meteor fighter, which saw service with the RAF in 1944. Whittle retired from the RAF in 1948 and became a consultant. From 1977 he lived in the United States. Comparisons between the work of Whittle and Hans von Ohain show that each of the two engineers developed his engine without knowledge of the other's work. Whittle was the first to take out a patent, Ohain achieved the first flight; the Whittle engine and its derivatives, however, played a much greater role in the history of the jet engine.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1948. Commander of the Order of the Bath 1947. Order of Merit 1986. FRS 1947. Honorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
    Bibliography
    1953, Jet, London (an account not only of his technical problems, but also of the difficulties with civil servants, politicians and commercial organizations).
    Further Reading
    J.Golley, 1987, Whittle: The True Story, Shrewsbury (this author based his work on Jet, but carried out research, aided by Whittle, to give a fuller account with the benefit of hindsight).
    JDS

    Biographical history of technology > Whittle, Sir Frank

  • 20 Yale, Linus Jr

    [br]
    b. 4 April 1821 Salisbury, New York, USA
    d. 25 December 1868 New York City, USA
    [br]
    American locksmith, inventor of the Yale pin-tumbler cylinder lock.
    [br]
    The son of a locksmith, Linus Yale Jr set out to become a portrait painter but gave this up in the 1840s to embark on the same profession as his father. He opened a shop of his own at Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts; his first products were keyoperated bank locks. The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London convinced him that any lock could be picked by someone with the necessary skill; he then turned his attention to the design of combination locks, designing the first doubledial bank lock in 1863. In 1868 he formed a partnership with John Henry Towne and his son Henry Robinson Towne to form the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company in Stamford, Connecticut, to make a patented key lock which incorporated a series of pin tumblers inside a cylinder. The principle of the pin-tumbler mechanism could be traced back to ancient Egypt; in Yale's cylinder lock, the serrations of the correct key raised the pin tumblers to the height at which the cylinder could turn, withdrawing the bolt. These cylinder locks made possible the use of smaller keys and became the foundation of the modern lock industry. Yale died soon after forming his partnership with the Townes.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    J.J.Fucini and S.Fucini, 1985, Entrepreneurs, Boston: C.K.Hall \& Co.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Yale, Linus Jr

См. также в других словарях:

  • convinced — [[t]kənvɪ̱nst[/t]] ♦♦♦ ADJ: usu v link ADJ, usu ADJ that, ADJ of n If you are convinced that something is true, you feel sure that it is true. He was convinced that I was part of the problem... He became convinced of the need for cheap editions… …   English dictionary

  • convinced — adj. VERBS ▪ appear, be, feel, seem, sound ▪ become ▪ She became convinced that something was wrong. ▪ …   Collocations dictionary

  • How I Became Stupid — (or Comment je suis devenu stupide ) is a philosophical novel by French author Martin Page. It was published in 2004 under Penguin Books.Background How I Became Stupid is Page s first novel, and has been translated into 24 languages. The book was …   Wikipedia

  • The Young and the Restless minor characters — The following are characters from the American soap opera The Young and the Restless who are notable for their actions or relationships, but who do not warrant their own articles. Contents 1 Current Characters 1.1 Genevieve …   Wikipedia

  • Germany — /jerr meuh nee/, n. a republic in central Europe: after World War II divided into four zones, British, French, U.S., and Soviet, and in 1949 into East Germany and West Germany; East and West Germany were reunited in 1990. 84,068,216; 137,852 sq.… …   Universalium

  • Zhou Enlai — This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhou. Zhou Enlai 周恩来 1st Premier of the People s Republic of China In offic …   Wikipedia

  • china — /chuy neuh/, n. 1. a translucent ceramic material, biscuit fired at a high temperature, its glaze fired at a low temperature. 2. any porcelain ware. 3. plates, cups, saucers, etc., collectively. 4. figurines made of porcelain or ceramic material …   Universalium

  • China — /chuy neuh/, n. 1. People s Republic of, a country in E Asia. 1,221,591,778; 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Cap.: Beijing. 2. Republic of. Also called Nationalist China. a republic consisting mainly of the island of Taiwan off the SE coast …   Universalium

  • Spain — /spayn/, n. a kingdom in SW Europe. Including the Balearic and Canary islands, 39,244,195; 194,988 sq. mi. (505,019 sq. km). Cap.: Madrid. Spanish, España. * * * Spain Introduction Spain Background: Spain s powerful world empire of the 16th and… …   Universalium

  • France — /frans, frahns/; Fr. /frddahonns/, n. 1. Anatole /ann nann tawl /, (Jacques Anatole Thibault), 1844 1924, French novelist and essayist: Nobel prize 1921. 2. a republic in W Europe. 58,470,421; 212,736 sq. mi. (550,985 sq. km). Cap.: Paris. 3.… …   Universalium

  • education — /ej oo kay sheuhn/, n. 1. the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. 2. the act or process of… …   Universalium

Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное

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