bought+journal

1 to wait (for).

te esperaremos en el aeropuerto we'll meet you at the airport, we'll be waiting for you at the airport

esperar a que alguien haga algo to wait for somebody to do something

espera, que ya voy wait a minute, I'm coming

quien espera desespera (Prov) a watched pot never boils

Elsa espera pacientemente Elsa waits patiently.

2 to hope (tener esperanza de).

espero poder ayudar I hope I can be of some help

esperar que to hope that

espero que sí/no I hope so/not

esperar hacer algo to hope to do something

Esperamos que suceda lo mejor We hope for the best.

3 to expect (tener confianza en).

no esperábamos esta reacción we didn't expect this reaction

esperar algo de alguien to expect something from somebody, to hope for something from somebody

como era de esperar as was to be expected

Elsa espera un milagro Elsa expects a miracle.

4 to await, to be in store for (ser inevitable).

le esperan dificultades many difficulties await him

¡me espera una buena en casa! (informal) I'm in for it when I get home!

5 to wait for, to await, to wait.

Elsa espera el tren Elsa waits for the train.

6 to expect to, to look forward to, to hope to, to be expecting to.

Ellos esperan llegar pronto They hope to arrive soon.

7 to await for, to expect, to watch for.

Ellos esperan la noticia They await for the news.

Me espera una sorpresa A surprise awaits for me.

* * *

► verbo transitivo

1 (tener esperanza) to hope for, expect

■ esperan un milagro they're hoping for a miracle

■ esperar la gloria to hope for glory

2 (contar, creer) to expect

■ no te esperábamos hasta mañana we didn't expect you till tomorrow

■ llegaron tarde como era de esperar they arrived late as expected

3 (aguardar) to wait for, await

■ espera un momento wait a moment

■ espero a mi padre I'm waiting for my father

4 (desear) to hope

■ espero que cantes I hope you'll sing

■ espero verlo I hope to see him

5 (ser inevitable) to await, be ahead

■ mala noche nos espera there's a bad night ahead

6 figurado (bebé) to expect

► verbo intransitivo

1 to wait

■ esperaré hasta que lleguen I'll wait until they get here

► verbo pronominal esperarse

1 (aguardar) to wait

■ espérense en recepción please wait in reception

2 (creer, contar) to expect

■ se espera que seas puntual you're expected to be punctual

3 (desear) to hope

■ se espera que lo hayan pasado bien we hope you've had a good time

\

en espera de noticias tuyas we hope to hear from you soon

¡espérate sentado! don't hold your breath!, you'll be waiting till the cows come home!

espero que no I hope not

espero que sí I hope so

hacer esperar a alguien to keep somebody waiting

hacerse esperar to keep people waiting

quien espera desespera a watched pot never boils

* * *

1) to wait for, await

2) expect

3) hope

•

- esperarse

* * *

1. VT

1) (=aguardar) [+ tren, persona] to wait for

2) (=desear) to hope

3) (=contar con) to expect

- esperar algo como agua de mayo

4) [+ bebé]

2. VI

1) (=aguardar) to wait

- esperar desesperando

- espera y verás

- puedes esperar sentado

- el que espera desespera

2)

esperarse

* * *

verbo transitivo

1)

a) <autobús/persona/acontecimiento> to wait for

b) ( recibir) to meet

c) sorpresa to await

2)

a) (contar con, prever) to expect

b) <niño/bebé> to be expecting

3) ( con esperanza) to hope

a) ( aguardar) to wait

b) embarazada

esperarse v pron

1) (fam) ( aguardar) to hang on (colloq), to hold on (colloq)

2) (fam) ( prever) to expect

* * *

verbo transitivo

1)

a) <autobús/persona/acontecimiento> to wait for

b) ( recibir) to meet

c) sorpresa to await

2)

a) (contar con, prever) to expect

b) <niño/bebé> to be expecting

3) ( con esperanza) to hope

a) ( aguardar) to wait

b) embarazada

esperarse v pron

1) (fam) ( aguardar) to hang on (colloq), to hold on (colloq)

2) (fam) ( prever) to expect

* * *

esperar¹

¹ = await, wait, wait for, hang on, be in store, tarry.

esperar²

² = call on/upon, expect, hope, count on, look to, bank on.

* * *

esperar [A1 ]

1 ‹autobús/persona/acontecimiento› to wait for

esperaba el tren/a un amigo he was waiting for the train/a friend

podrías haber esperado un momento más oportuno you could have waited for a better moment

espérame, ya voy wait for me, I'm just coming

la esperé dos horas/en el bar I waited for her for two hours/in the bar

esperaban con impaciencia la llegada de sus amigos they were really looking forward to their friends coming, they couldn't wait for o they were dying for their friends to arrive ( colloq)

le encanta hacerse esperar he loves to keep people waiting

¿qué estás esperando para decírselo? tell him! what are you waiting for?

no me esperes para cenar eat without me o don't wait for me to eat

2 (recibir) to meet

la fuimos a esperar al aeropuerto we went to meet her at the airport

¿dónde van a esperar el Año Nuevo? where will you be seeing the New Year in?

3 «sorpresa» to await

la reacción del gobierno no se hizo esperar the government was swift to react

como no salgamos temprano ya sabes lo que nos espera a la salida de Madrid if we don't leave early, you know what problems we'll have o you know what it'll be like trying to leave Madrid

le espera un futuro difícil he has a difficult future ahead of him

¡ya verás la que te espera en casa! ( fam); you'll catch it o you'll be for it when you get home! ( colloq)

1 (contar con, prever) to expect

tal como esperábamos just as we expected

cuando uno menos lo espera when you least expect it

ven a cenar, te espero alrededor de las nueve come to dinner, I'll expect you around nine

estoy esperando una llamada de Nueva York I'm expecting a call from New York

esperan un lleno completo they expect a full house

tuvo mayor aceptación de lo que se esperaba it proved to be more popular than had been expected

se espera que más de un millón de personas visite la exposición over a million people are expected to visit the exhibition

¿qué esperabas, que te felicitara? what did you expect me to do? congratulate you?

era de esperar que el proyecto fracasara the project was bound to fail, it was only to be expected that the project would fail

no esperes que cambie de idea don't expect me to change my mind

esperar algo DE algn/algo to expect sth OF sb/sth

esperaba otra cosa de ti I expected more of you

no hay que esperar mucho de las conversaciones we shouldn't expect too much of the talks

de ella no puedes esperar ayuda don't expect her to help, you can't expect to get any help from her

2 ‹niño/bebé› to be expecting

esperan el primer hijo para mayo they're expecting their first child in May

está esperando familia she's expecting

C (con esperanza) to hope

¿te vienen a recoger? — eso espero are they coming to collect you? — I hope so

¿quedarán entradas? — espero que sí will there be any tickets left? — I hope so

¿habrá perdido el tren? — espero que no do you think he's missed the train? — I hope not

espero poder llegar a la cumbre esta vez I hope to be able to reach the summit this time

espero no haberme olvidado de nada I hope I haven't forgotten anything

espero que no llueva/que haga buen tiempo I hope it doesn't rain/the weather's nice

espero que tengas suerte I wish you luck

espero que no me haya mentido I hope he hasn't lied to me

esperemos que no sea nada grave let's hope it's nothing serious

¡y yo que esperaba que estuviera todo listo! and there was I hoping that everything would be ready!

1 (aguardar) to wait

lo siento, no podemos esperar más I'm sorry, we can't wait any longer

mientras esperaba corregí los exámenes I corrected the tests while I was waiting

espera, que bajo contigo wait a minute o ( colloq) hold on, I'll come down with you

espere un momento, por favor wait a moment, please

espera un momento ¿tú qué haces aquí? just a moment, what are you doing here?

vamos, que el tren no espera come on, the train won't wait for us

espera a estar seguro antes de hablar con ella wait until you're sure before you talk to her

mejor espero a tener un poco más de dinero ahorrado I'd better wait until I've saved a bit more money

el profesor esperó (a) que hubiera silencio the teacher waited for them to be quiet

tiene que esperar (a) que lo llamen you have to wait for them to call you o until they call you

esperaron (a) que él se fuera para entrar they waited for him to go before they went in

esperar sentado ( fam): si piensa que lo voy a llamar puede esperar sentado if he thinks I'm going to call him he's got another think coming ( colloq)

¿que él cambie de idea? mejor espera sentada him change his mind? some hope! o don't hold your breath! o we could be waiting till the cows come home! ( colloq)

quien espera desespera waiting's the worst part, the waiting gets you down

«embarazada»: no sabía que estaba esperando I didn't know she was expecting

¿para cuándo espera? when's the baby due?

quedar esperando ( Chi); to get pregnant

B esperar por ( ant) esperar vt A 1.

A ( fam) (aguardar) to hang on ( colloq), to hold on ( colloq)

espérate ¿no ves que estoy ocupada? wait a minute o hang on o hold on! can't you see I'm busy?

B ( fam) (prever) to expect

¿qué te esperabas por ese precio? what did you expect for that price?

no me esperaba esa reacción I hadn't expected her to react like that

¿quién se iba a esperar que saliera elegido él? who would have thought he would be elected?

* * *

a) ‹autobús/persona/acontecimiento› to wait for;

◊ ¿qué estás esperando para decírselo? tell him! what are you waiting for?

b) ( recibir) to meet;

◊ la fuimos a esperar al aeropuerto we went to meet her at the airport

c) [ sorpresa] to await;

◊ le espera un futuro difícil he has a difficult future ahead of him

a) (contar con, prever) to expect;

◊ tal como esperábamos just as we expected;

b) ‹niño/bebé› to be expecting

◊ espero que no I hope not;

a) ( aguardar) to wait;

◊ no podemos esperar más we can't wait any longer;

b) [ embarazada]:

◊ estar esperando to be expecting

◊ ¡quién se lo iba a esperar! who would have thought it!

* * *

♦ vt

1. [aguardar] to wait for;

esperar el autobús to wait for the bus;

te esperaremos en el aeropuerto we'll meet you at the airport, we'll be waiting for you at the airport;

espéranos un minuto wait for us a minute;

¡espérame, que voy contigo! wait for me, I'm coming with you!;

¿a qué estás esperando? what are you waiting for?;

esperar a que alguien haga algo to wait for sb to do sth;

esperaré a que vuelva I'll wait till she gets back

2. [tener esperanza de]

esperamos salir al campo el domingo we are hoping to go on a trip to the countryside on Sunday;

espero poder ayudar I hope I can be of some help;

esperar que… to hope that…;

espero que sí/no I hope so/not;

espero que no te hayas ofendido I hope you didn't take offence;

esperamos que no sea nada let's hope it's nothing serious;

ser de esperar: es de esperar que no ocurra ninguna desgracia let's hope nothing terrible happens;

era de esperar que ocurriría esto you could have predicted this would happen;

como era de esperar as was to be expected;

como era de esperar, llovió mucho as was to be expected o as you might expect, there was a lot of rain

3. [tener confianza en] to expect;

no esperábamos esta reacción we didn't expect this reaction;

espero que venga esta noche I expect (that) she'll come tonight;

esperar algo de alguien to expect sth from sb, to hope for sth from sb;

espero discreción de usted I expect discretion from you, I expect you to be discreet;

¿y qué esperabas (de alguien así)? what did you expect (from someone like that)?;

no esperaba menos de él I expected no less of him

4. [ser inminente para] to await, to be in store for;

nos esperan un buen baño y una cama there's a nice warm bath and a bed waiting for us;

le esperan dificultades he's in for some problems, there are problems in store for him;

¡me espera una buena en casa! I'm in for it when I get home!;

¡no sabes la o [m5] lo que te espera! you don't know what you're in for!

♦ vi

1. [aguardar] to wait;

espera en este despacho wait in this office;

espera, que ya voy wait a minute, I'm coming;

espera un instante o [m5]momento, ¿no es el famoso Pedro Valverde? hang on o wait a minute, isn't that the famous Pedro Valverde?;

no creo que puedas hacerlo – espera y verás I don't think you'll be able to do it – just (you) wait and see;

su enfado no se hizo esperar it didn't take long for her anger to surface;

si crees que te voy a dejar dinero, puedes esperar sentado if you think I'm going to lend you some money, you've got another think coming;

hacer esperar a alguien to keep sb waiting, to make sb wait;

me hiciste esperar una hora you kept me waiting (for) an hour;

quien espera desespera a watched pot never boils

2. [estar embarazada] to be expecting;

está esperando desde hace cuatro meses she's four months pregnant

♦ See also the pronominal verb esperarse

* * *

I v/t

1 ( aguardar) wait for;

hacerse esperar keep people waiting

2 con esperanza hope;

(así) lo espero I hope so, hopefully;

espero que no I hope not, hopefully not;

es de esperar que it is to be hoped that

3 ( suponer, confiar en) expect

esperar un hijo be expecting a baby

de aquí te espero fam incredible fam

II v/i ( aguardar) wait;

puedes esperar sentado you’re in for a long wait

* * *

esperar vt

1) aguardar: to wait for, to await

2) : to expect

3) : to hope

espero poder trabajar: I hope to be able to work

espero que sí: I hope so

esperar vi

: to wait

♦ See also the reflexive verb esperarse

* * *

esperar vb

1. (aguardar) to wait / to wait for

2. (creer, imaginar) to expect

3. (tener esperanza, desear) to hope

rachat [ʀa∫a]

[d'objet que l'on possédait avant] buying back ; [d'objet d'occasion] buying

• rachat d'entreprise par les salariés employee buyout

• après le rachat du journal par le groupe after the group bought the paper back

* * *

nom masculin

1) ( d'objet vendu) buying back, buyback

2) ( de société) buyout

3) ( d'actions) repurchase

4) ( de dette) redemption

5) ( pardon) redemption

* * *

1) [objet d'occasion] buying, [objet vendu] buying back

2) RELIGION redemption

3) (moral) [mauvaise conduite, oubli, défaut] atonement

4) [prisonnier, captif] (contre rançon) ransoming

* * *

rachat nm

1 ( d'objet vendu) buying back, buyback; Jur vente avec faculté de rachat sale with option of repurchase;

2 ( de société) buyout;

3 ( d'actions) repurchase;

4 (de dette, rente) redemption;

5 ( de prisonnier) ransoming;

6 ( pardon) fml redemption.

rachat d'entreprise par l'encadrement management buyout, MBO; rachat d'entreprise par les salariés, RES employee buyout.

[raʃa] nom masculin

1. [de ce qu'on avait vendu] repurchase, buying back

2. [achat]

3. FINANCE [d'actions, d'obligations] buying up ou in

[d'une affaire] take over

[d'une franchise, d'une rente] redemption

4. (soutenu) [des péchés] redemption

SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology, Synthetic materials, Textiles

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Cross was educated at the universities of London, Zurich and Manchester. It was at Owens College, Manchester, that Cross first met E.J. Bevan and where these two first worked together on the nature of cellulose. After gaining some industrial experience, Cross joined Bevan to set up a partnership in London as analytical and consulting chemists, specializing in the chemistry and technology of cellulose and lignin. They were at the Jodrell laboratory, Kew Gardens, for a time and then set up their own laboratory at Station Avenue, Kew Gardens. In 1888, the first edition of their joint publication A Textbook of Paper-making, appeared. It went into several editions and became the standard reference and textbook on the subject. The long introductory chapter is a discourse on cellulose.

In 1892, Cross, Bevan and Clayton Beadle took out their historic patent on the solution and regeneration of cellulose. The modern artificial-fibre industry stems from this patent. They made their discovery at New Court, Carey Street, London: wood-pulp (or another cheap form of cellulose) was dissolved in a mixture of carbon disulphide and aqueous alkali to produce sodium xanthate. After maturing, it was squirted through fine holes into dilute acid, which set the liquid to give spinnable fibres of "viscose". However, it was many years before the process became a commercial operation, partly because the use of a natural raw material such as wood involved variations in chemical content and each batch might react differently. At first it was thought that viscose might be suitable for incandescent lamp filaments, and C.H.Stearn, a collaborator with Cross, continued to investigate this possibility, but the sheen on the fibres suggested that viscose might be made into artificial silk. The original Viscose Spinning Syndicate was formed in 1894 and a place was rented at Erith in Kent. However, it was not until some skeins of artificial silk (a term to which Cross himself objected) were displayed in Paris that textile manufacturers began to take an interest in it. It was then that Courtaulds decided to investigate this new fibre, although it was not until 1904 that they bought the English patents and developed the first artificial silk that was later called "rayon". Cross was also concerned with the development of viscose films and of cellulose acetate, which became a rival to rayon in the form of "Celanese". He retained his interest in the paper industry and in publishing, in 1895 again collaborating with Bevan and publishing a book on Cellulose and other technical articles. He was a cultured man and a good musician. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1917.

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SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

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The young Eastman was a clerk-bookkeeper in the Rochester Savings Bank when in 1877 he took up photography. Taking lessons in the wet-plate process, he became an enthusiastic amateur photographer. However, the cumbersome equipment and noxious chemicals used in the process proved an obstacle, as he said, "It seemed to be that one ought to be able to carry less than a pack-horse load." Then he came across an account of the new gelatine dry-plate process in the British Journal of Photography of March 1878. He experimented in coating glass plates with the new emulsions, and was soon so successful that he decided to go into commercial manufacture. He devised a machine to simplify the coating of the plates, and travelled to England in July 1879 to patent it. In April 1880 he prepared to begin manufacture in a rented building in Rochester, and contacted the leading American photographic supply house, E. \& H.T.Anthony, offering them an option as agents. A local whip manufacturer, Henry A.Strong, invested $1,000 in the enterprise and the Eastman Dry Plate Company was formed on 1 January 1881. Still working at the Savings Bank, he ran the business in his spare time, and demand grew for the quality product he was producing. The fledgling company survived a near disaster in 1882 when the quality of the emulsions dropped alarmingly. Eastman later discovered this was due to impurities in the gelatine used, and this led him to test all raw materials rigorously for quality. In 1884 the company became a corporation, the Eastman Dry Plate \& Film Company, and a new product was announced. Mindful of his desire to simplify photography, Eastman, with a camera maker, William H.Walker, designed a roll-holder in which the heavy glass plates were replaced by a roll of emulsion-coated paper. The holders were made in sizes suitable for most plate cameras. Eastman designed and patented a coating machine for the large-scale production of the paper film, bringing costs down dramatically, the roll-holders were acclaimed by photographers worldwide, and prizes and medals were awarded, but Eastman was still not satisfied. The next step was to incorporate the roll-holder in a smaller, hand-held camera. His first successful design was launched in June 1888: the Kodak camera. A small box camera, it held enough paper film for 100 circular exposures, and was bought ready-loaded. After the film had been exposed, the camera was returned to Eastman's factory, where the film was removed, processed and printed, and the camera reloaded. This developing and printing service was the most revolutionary part of his invention, since at that time photographers were expected to process their own photographs, which required access to a darkroom and appropriate chemicals. The Kodak camera put photography into the hands of the countless thousands who wanted photographs without complications. Eastman's marketing slogan neatly summed up the advantage: "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest." The Kodak camera was the last product in the design of which Eastman was personally involved. His company was growing rapidly, and he recruited the most talented scientists and technicians available. New products emerged regularly—notably the first commercially produced celluloid roll film for the Kodak cameras in July 1889; this material made possible the introduction of cinematography a few years later. Eastman's philosophy of simplifying photography and reducing its costs continued to influence products: for example, the introduction of the one dollar, or five shilling, Brownie camera in 1900, which put photography in the hands of almost everyone. Over the years the Eastman Kodak Company, as it now was, grew into a giant multinational corporation with manufacturing and marketing organizations throughout the world. Eastman continued to guide the company; he pursued an enlightened policy of employee welfare and profit sharing decades before this was common in industry. He made massive donations to many concerns, notably the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and supported schemes for the education of black people, dental welfare, calendar reform, music and many other causes, he withdrew from the day-to-day control of the company in 1925, and at last had time for recreation. On 14 March 1932, suffering from a painful terminal cancer and after tidying up his affairs, he shot himself through the heart, leaving a note: "To my friends: My work is done. Why wait?" Although Eastman's technical innovations were made mostly at the beginning of his career, the organization which he founded and guided in its formative years was responsible for many of the major advances in photography over the years.

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SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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He was apprenticed to his uncles, makers of metalware, in 1815 and showed such aptitude for business that he was taken into partnership. On their deaths, Elkington assumed sole ownership of the business. In conjunction with his cousin Henry (1810–52), by unrelenting enterprise, he established an industry for electroplating and electrogilding. Up until c.1840, silver-plated goods were produced by rolling or soldering thin sheets of silver to a base metal, such as copper. Back in 1801, the English chemist William Wollaston had deposited one metal upon another by means of an electric current generated from a voltaic pile or battery. In the 1830s, certain inventors, such as Bessemer used this result to produce plated articles and these efforts in turn induced the Elkingtons to apply the method in their trade. In 1836 and 1837 they took out patents for "mercurial gilding", and one patent of 1838 refers to a separate electric current. In 1840 they bought from John Wright, a Birmingham surgeon, his discovery of what proved to be the best electroplating solution: namely, solutions of cyanides of gold and silver in potassium cyanide. They also purchased rights to use the electric machine invented by J.S. Woolrich. Armed with these techniques, the Elkingtons produced in their large new works in Newhall Street a wide range of gold-and silver-plated decorative and artistic ware. Henry was particularly active on the artistic side of the business, as was their employee Alexander Parkes. For some twenty-five years, Britain enjoyed a virtual monopoly of this kind of ware, due largely to the enterprise of the Elkingtons, although by the end of the century rising tariffs had closed many foreign markets and the lead had passed to Germany. George spent all his working life in Birmingham, taking some part in the public life of the city. He was a governor of King Edward's Grammar School and a borough magistrate. He was also a caring employer, setting up houses and schools for his workers.

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SUBJECT AREA: Recording

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He graduated from the Dover Academy (Delaware) in 1882 and was apprenticed in a machine-repair firm in Philadelphia and studied in evening classes at the Spring Garden Institute. In 1888 he took employment in a small Philadelphia machine shop owned by Andrew Scull, specializing in repair and bookbinding machinery. After travels in the western part of the US, in 1891 he became a partner in Scull \& Johnson, Manufacturing Machinists, and established a further company, the New Jersey Wire Stitching Machine Company. He bought out Andrew Scull's interest in October 1894 (the last instalment being paid in 1897) and became an independent general machinist. In 1896 he had perfected a spring motor for the Berliner flat-disc gramophone, and he started experimenting with a more direct method of recording in a spiral groove: that of cutting in wax. Co-operation with Berliner eventually led to the incorporation of the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901. The innumerable court cases stemming from the fact that so many patents for various elements in sound recording and reproduction were in very many hands were brought to an end in 1903 when Johnson was material in establishing cross-licencing agreements between Victor, Columbia Graphophone and Edison to create what is known as a patent pool. Early on, Johnson had a thorough experience in all matters concerning the development and manufacture of both gramophones and records. He made and patented many major contributions in all these fields, and his approach was very business-like in that the contribution to cost of each part or process was always a decisive factor in his designs. This attitude was material in his consulting work for the sister company, the Gramophone Company, in London before it set up its own factories in 1910. He had quickly learned the advantages of advertising and of providing customers with durable equipment and records. This motivation was so strong that Johnson set up a research programme for determining the cause of wear in records. It turned out to depend on groove profile, and from 1911 one particular profile was adhered to and processes for transforming the grooves of valuable earlier records were developed. Without precise measuring instruments, he used the durability as the determining factor. Johnson withdrew more and more to the role of manager, and the Victor Talking Machine Company gained such a position in the market that the US anti-trust legislation was used against it. However, a generation change in the Board of Directors and certain erroneous decisions as to product line started a decline, and in February 1926 Johnson withdrew on extended sick leave: these changes led to the eventual sale of Victor. However, Victor survived due to the advent of radio and the electrification of replay equipment and became a part of Radio Corporation of America. In retirement Johnson took up various activities in the arts and sciences and financially supported several projects; his private yacht was used in 1933 in work with the Smithsonian Institution on a deep-sea hydrographie and fauna-collecting expedition near Puerto Rico.

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SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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After a private education, Percy went to Paris in 1834 to study medicine and to attend lectures on chemistry by Gay-Lussac and Thenard. After 1838 he studied medicine at Edinburgh, obtaining his MD in 1839. In that year he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Queen's College, Birmingham, moving to Queen's Hospital at Birmingham in 1843. During his time at Birmingham, Percy became well known for his analysis of blast furnace slags, and was involved in the manufacture of optical glass. On 7 June 1851 Percy was appointed Metallurgical Professor and Teacher at the Museum of Practical Geology established in Jermyn Street, London, and opened in May 1851. In November of 1851, when the Museum became the Government (later Royal) School of Mines, Percy was appointed Lecturer in Metallurgy. In addition to his work at Jermyn Street, Percy lectured on metallurgy to the Advanced Class of Artillery at Woolwich from 1864 until his death, and from 1866 he was Superintendent of Ventilation at the Houses of Parliament. He served from 1861 to 1864 on the Special Committee on Iron set up to examine the performance of armour-plate in relation to its purity, composition and structure.

Percy is best known for his metallurgical text books, published by John Murray. Volume I of Metallurgy, published in 1861, dealt with fuels, fireclays, copper, zinc and brass; Volume II, in 1864, dealt with iron and steel; a volume on lead appeared in 1870, followed by one on fuels and refractories in 1875, and the first volume on gold and silver in 1880. Further projected volumes on iron and steel, noble metals, and on copper, did not materialize. In 1879 Percy resigned from his School of Mines appointment in protest at the proposed move from Jermyn Street to South Kensington. The rapid growth of Percy's metallurgical collection, started in 1839, eventually forced him to move to a larger house. After his death, the collection was bought by the South Kensington (later Science) Museum. Now comprising 3,709 items, it provides a comprehensive if unselective record of nineteenth-century metallurgy, the most interesting specimens being those of the first sodium-reduced aluminium made in Britain and some of the first steel produced by Bessemer in Baxter House. Metallurgy for Percy was a technique of chemical extraction, and he has been criticized for basing his system of metallurgical instruction on this assumption. He stood strangely aloof from new processes of steel making such as that of Gilchrist and Thomas, and tended to neglect early developments in physical metallurgy, but he was the first in Britain to teach metallurgy as a discipline in its own right.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology

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After early education at the Jonkoping elementary school and the Weixo Gymnasium, George Scheutz entered the University of Lund, gaining a degree in law in 1805. Following five years' legal work, he moved to Stockholm in 1811 to work at the Supreme Court and, in 1814, as a military auditor. In 1816, he resigned, bought a printing business and became editor of a succession of industrial and technical journals, during which time he made inventions relating to the press. It was in 1830 that he learned from the Edinburgh Review of Babbage's ideas for a difference engine and started to make one from wood, pasteboard and wire. In 1837 his 15-yearold student son, Edvard Raphael Scheutz, offered to make it in metal, and by 1840 they had a working machine with two five-digit registers, which they increased the following year and then added a printer. Obtaining a government grant in 1851, by 1853 they had a fully working machine, now known as Swedish Difference Engine No. 1, which with an experienced operator could generate 120 lines of tables per hour and was used to calculate the logarithms of the numbers 1 to 10,000 in under eighty hours. This was exhibited in London and then at the Paris Great Exhibition, where it won the Gold Medal. It was subsequently sold to the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, for US$5,000 and is now in a Chicago museum.

In England, the British Registrar-General, wishing to produce new tables for insurance companies, and supported by the Astronomer Royal, arranged for government finance for construction of a second machine (Swedish Difference Engine No. 2). Comprising over 1,000 working parts and weighing 1,000 lb (450 kg), this machine was used to calculate over 600 tables. It is now in the Science Museum.

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SUBJECT AREA: Paper and printing

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Sholes was born on his parents' farm, of a family that had originally come from England. After leaving school at 14, he was apprenticed for four years to the local newspaper, the Danville Intelligencer. He moved with his parents to Wisconsin, where he followed his trade as journalist and printer, within a year becoming State Printer and taking charge of the House journal of the State Legislature. When he was 20 he left home and joined his brother in Madison, Wisconsin, on the staff of the Wisconsin Enquirer. After marrying, he took the editorship of the Southport Telegraph, until he became Postmaster of Southport. His experiences as journalist and postmaster drew him into politics and, in spite of the delicate nature of his health and personality, he served with credit as State Senator and in the State Assembly. In 1860 he moved to Milwaukee, where he became Editor of the local paper until President Lincoln offered him the post of Collector of Customs at Milwaukee.

That position at last gave Sholes time to develop his undoubted inventive talents. With a machinist friend, Samuel W.Soule, he obtained a patent for a paging machine and another two years later for a machine for numbering the blank pages of a book serially. At the small machine shop where they worked, there was a third inventor, Carlos Glidden. It was Glidden who suggested to Sholes that, in view of his numbering machine, he would be well equipped to develop a letter printing machine. Glidden drew Sholes's attention to an account of a writing machine that had recently been invented in London by John Pratt, and Sholes was so seized with the idea that he devoted the rest of his life to perfecting the machine. With Glidden and Soule, he took out a patent for a typewriter on June 1868 followed by two further patents for improvements. Sholes struggled unsuccessfully for five years to exploit his invention; his two partners gave up their rights in it and finally, on 1 March 1873, Sholes himself sold his rights to the Remington Arms Company for $12,000. With their mechanical skills and equipment, Remingtons were able to perfect the Sholes typewriter and put it on the market. This, the first commercially successful typewriter, led to a revolution not only in office work, but also in work for women, although progress was slow at first. When the New York Young Women's Christian Association bought six Remingtons in 1881 to begin classes for young women, eight turned up for the first les-son; and five years later it was estimated that there were 60,000 female typists in the USA. Sholes said, "I feel that I have done something for the women who have always had to work so hard. This will more easily enable them to earn a living."

Sholes continued his work on the typewriter, giving Remingtons the benefit of his results. His last patent was granted in 1878. Never very strong, Sholes became consumptive and spent much of his remaining nine years in the vain pursuit of health.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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Sikorsky trained as an engineer but developed an interest in aviation at the age of 19 when he was allowed to spend several months in Paris to meet French aviators. He bought an Anzani aero-engine and took it back to Russia, where he designed and built a helicopter. In his own words, "It had one minor technical problem—it would not fly—but otherwise it was a good helicopter".

Sikorsky turned to aeroplanes and built a series of biplanes: by 1911 the 5–5 was capable of flights lasting an hour. Following this success, the Russian-Baltic Railroad Car Company commissioned Sikorsky to build a large aeroplane. On 13 May 1913 Sikorsky took off in the Grand, the world's first four-engined aeroplane. With a wing span of 28 m (92 ft) it was also the world's largest, and was unique in that the crew were in an enclosed cabin with dual controls. The even larger Ilia Mourometz flew the following year and established many records, including the carriage of sixteen people. During the First World War many of these aircraft were built and served as heavy bombers.

Following the revolution in Russia during 1917, Sikorsky emigrated first to France and then the United States, where he founded his own company. After building the successful S-38 passenger-carrying amphibian, the Sikorsky Aviation Corporation became part of the United Aircraft Corporation and went on to produce several large flying boats. Of these, the four-engined S-42 was probably the best known, for its service to Hawaii in 1935 and trial flights across the Atlantic in 1937.

In the late 1930s Sikorsky once again turned his attention to helicopters, and on 14 September 1939 his VS-300 made its first tentative hop, with Sikorsky at the controls. Many improvements were made and on 6 May 1941 Sikorsky made a record-breaking flight of over 1½ hours. The Sikorsky design of a single main lifting rotor combined with a small tail rotor to balance the torque effect has dominated helicopter design to this day. Sikorsky produced a long series of outstanding helicopter designs which are in service throughout the world.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology, Telecommunications

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Sigurd Varian left school in 1920 and entered California Polytechnic to study engineering, but he soon dropped out and trained as an electrician, taking up employment with the Southern Californian Edison Company. As a result of working on an airfield he developed an interest in flying. He took lessons and in 1924 bought a First World War biplane and became a "barnstorming" pilot, giving flying displays and joy-rides, etc., to earn his living. Beset by several prolonged bouts of tuberculosis, he used his periods of recuperation to study aerial navigation and to devise navigation instruments. In 1929 he took a permanent job as a pilot for Pan American in Mexico, but in 1935 he went to California to work on electron tubes with his younger brother, Eric. They were soon joined by Russell, and with William Hansen they developed the klystron. For details of this part of his life and the founding of Varian Associates, see under Russell Varian. In later years, his health increasingly poor, he lived in semi-retirement in Mexico, where he died in a plane crash while flying himself home.

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