in the Paris area

area

A n

1 ( region) ( of land) région f ; ( of sky) zone f ; ( of city) zone f ; ( district) quartier m ; in the London/Paris area dans la région de Londres/de Paris ; residential/rural/slum area zone f résidentielle/rurale/pauvre ;

2 ( part of building) dining area coin m salle-à-manger ; no-smoking/smoking area zone f non-fumeurs/fumeurs ; reception area entrée f ; sleeping area coin m chambre ; waiting area salle f d'attente ;

3 ( sphere of knowledge) domaine m ; (part of activity, business, economy) secteur m ; that's not my area ce n'est pas mon domaine ; area of interest/of expertise/of responsibility domaine d'intérêt/d'expertise/de responsabilité ; area of doubt/of concern/of disagreement sujet de doute/d'inquiétude/de désaccord ;

4 Anat zone f ;

5 Math ( in geometry) aire f ; ( of land) superficie f ; the farm was 50 km² in area la ferme était d'une superficie de 50 km² ;

6 GB ( access to basement) cour f d'entrée en sous-sol.

B modif [board, headquarters, manager, office] régional.

SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology

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Of Huguenot stock, his ancestor William having probably come to England in 1569, he was admitted to Cambridge University in 1615 at the age of 14. He graduated Doctor of Medicine in Padua in 1619, having also spent some time at Heidelberg. In 1628 he was elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians, though with some reservations on account of his dress and conduct; these appear to have had some foundation for he was dismissed from the fellowship for repeated contumacy in 1659. Nonetheless, he was appointed Physician in Ordinary to Charles I in 1660. There are grounds for suspecting that in later years he developed some signs of insanity.

Chamberlen was engaged extensively in the practice of midwifery, and his reputation and that of the other members of the family, several of whom were also called Peter, was enhanced by their possession of their own pattern of obstetric forceps, hitherto unknown and kept carefully guarded as a family secret. The original instruments were discovered hidden at the family home in Essex in 1815 and have been preserved by the Royal Society of Medicine. Chamberlen appears to have threatened the physicians' obstetric monopoly by attempting to organize mid-wives into a corporate company, to be headed by himself, a move which was successfully opposed by the College of Physicians.

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SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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Pliny was well educated in Rome, and for ten years or so followed a military career with which he was able to combine literary work, writing especially on historical subjects. He completed his duties c. 57 AD and concentrated on writing until he resumed his official career in 69 AD with administrative duties. During this last phase he began work on his only extant work, the thirty-seven "books" of his Historia Naturalis (Natural History), each dealing with a broad subject such as astronomy, geography, mineralogy, etc. His last post was the command of the fleet based at Misenum, which came to an end when he sailed too near Vesuvius during the eruption that engulfed Pompeii and he was overcome by the fumes.

Pliny developed an insatiable curiosity about the natural world. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans made few original contributions to scientific thought and observation, but some made careful compilations of the learning and observations of Greek scholars. The most notable and influential of these was the Historia Naturalis. To the ideas about the natural world gleaned from earlier Greek authors, he added information about natural history, mineral resources, crafts and some technological processes, such as the extraction of metals from their ores, reported to him from the corners of the Empire. He added a few observations of his own, noted during travels on his official duties. Not all the reports were reliable, and the work often presents a tangled web of fact and fable. Gibbon described it as an immense register in which the author has "deposited the discoveries, the arts, and the errors of mankind". Pliny was indefatigable in his relentless note-taking, even dictating to his secretary while dining.

During the Dark Ages and early Middle Ages in Western Europe, Pliny's Historia Naturalis was the largest known collection of facts about the natural world and was drawn upon freely by a succession of later writers. Its influence survived the influx into Western Europe, from the twelfth century, of translations of the works of Greek and Arab scholars. After the invention of printing in the middle of the fifteenth century, Pliny was the first work on a scientific subject to be printed, in 1469. Many editions followed and it may still be consulted with profit for its insights into technical knowledge and practice in the ancient world.

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fly [flaɪ]

mouche ⇒ 1 (a) braguette ⇒ 1 (b) voler ⇒ 2 (a), 2 (c) prendre l'avion ⇒ 2 (a) filer ⇒ 2 (b) piloter ⇒ 3 (a)

(pl flies, pt flew [flu:], pp flown [fləʊn])

1 noun

(a) Entomology & Fishing mouche f;

∎ familiar they're dropping like flies (dying, fainting) ils tombent comme des mouches;

∎ familiar this illness is killing them off like flies cette maladie les fait tomber comme des mouches;

∎ familiar the recession is killing companies off like flies la récession fait une véritable hécatombe parmi les entreprises;

∎ figurative the fly in the ointment (person) l'empêcheur(euse) m,f de tourner en rond; (problem) l'os m;

∎ figurative there's a fly in the ointment il y a un os;

∎ familiar there are no flies on him il n'est pas fou;

∎ figurative he wouldn't hurt a fly il ne ferait pas de mal à une mouche;

∎ British familiar I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall j'aimerais bien être une petite souris;

∎ familiar to be catching flies (yawn, have mouth open) gober les mouches;

∎ American familiar to live on the fly vivre à cent à l'heure

(b) (often pl) (on trousers) braguette f;

∎ your flies are or fly is undone or open ta braguette est ouverte

(c) (entrance to tent) rabat m; (flysheet) auvent m

(d) Technology (flywheel) volant m

(e) (in aeroplane)

∎ to go for a fly faire un tour en avion

(f) British familiar (idiom)

∎ to do sth on the fly (craftily, secretively) faire qch en douce

2 intransitive verb

(a) (bird, insect, plane, pilot) voler; (passenger) prendre l'avion; (arrow, bullet, missile) voler, filer;

∎ the first plane to fly faster than the speed of sound le premier avion à dépasser la vitesse du son;

∎ it flies well (plane) il se pilote bien;

∎ I'm flying to Berlin tomorrow (passenger) je prends l'avion pour Berlin demain; (pilot) je vole à Berlin demain;

∎ he flies to Paris about twice a month (passenger) il va à Paris en avion environ deux fois par mois;

∎ we fly to Berlin four days a week (airline) nous avons des vols pour Berlin quatre jours par semaine;

∎ we fly to over a dozen destinations (airline) nous desservons plus d'une douzaine de destinations;

∎ soon we'll be flying over Manchester nous allons bientôt survoler Manchester;

∎ to fly across the Channel traverser la Manche en avion;

∎ to fly via London faire escale à Londres;

∎ those who have flown British in or American with Concorde ceux qui ont voyagé en Concorde, ceux qui ont pris le Concorde;

∎ he flies for an American airline il est pilote dans une compagnie aérienne américaine;

∎ which airline did you fly with? avec quelle compagnie aérienne as-tu voyagé?;

∎ they don't fly from Heathrow any more ils n'ont plus de vols au départ de Heathrow;

∎ the trapeze artist flew through the air le trapéziste a voltigé;

∎ figurative the bird had already flown l'oiseau s'était envolé

(b) (move quickly → person) filer; (→ time) passer à toute vitesse; (flee) s'enfuir; (shoot into air → sparks, dust, cork, shavings) voler;

∎ familiar I really must fly! il faut vraiment que je file ou que je me sauve!;

∎ she flew out of the room elle est sortie de la pièce comme un bolide;

∎ he came flying round the corner il a débouché du coin comme un bolide;

∎ he flew to her rescue il a volé à son secours;

∎ the time seems to have flown! le temps est passé à une vitesse!;

∎ the past two years have just flown les deux dernières années ont passé à toute vitesse ou se sont envolées;

∎ time flies!, doesn't time fly! comme le temps passe!;

∎ the door flew open and there stood… la porte s'est ouverte brusquement sur…;

∎ to fly into a rage or temper s'emporter, sortir de ses gonds;

∎ to knock or to send sb flying envoyer qn rouler à terre;

∎ to knock or to send sth flying envoyer qch voler;

∎ his hat went flying across the room son chapeau a volé ou voltigé à travers la pièce;

∎ the insults were really flying les insultes fusaient de toutes parts

(c) (kite) voler; (flag) être déployé; (in wind → flag, coat) flotter; (→ hair) voler

(d) (idioms)

∎ to let fly (physically) envoyer ou décocher un coup; (verbally) s'emporter;

∎ he let fly with a powerful left hook il a décoché ou envoyé un puissant crochet du gauche;

∎ she then let fly with a string of accusations elle a alors lancé un flot d'accusations;

∎ to (let) fly at sb (physically) sauter ou se jeter sur qn; (verbally) s'en prendre violemment à qn;

∎ to fly in the face of sth (reason, evidence, logic) défier qch;

∎ this flies in the face of our agreement cela contrecarre notre accord

3 transitive verb

(a) (plane, helicopter → of pilot) piloter;

∎ to fly Concorde (pilot) piloter le Concorde; (passenger) prendre le Concorde, voyager en Concorde

(b) (passengers, people, goods) transporter en avion; (route → of pilot, passenger) emprunter; (airline) voyager avec; (distance → of passenger, pilot, plane) parcourir; (combat mission) effectuer;

∎ to fly the Atlantic (pilot, passenger) traverser l'Atlantique en avion; (plane) traverser l'Atlantique;

∎ her employers flew her to the States ses employeurs l'ont envoyée aux États-Unis en avion;

∎ we're flying them home on the first flight nous les rapatrions par le premier vol

(c) (flag → of ship) arborer; (kite) faire voler;

∎ a flag is flown on public buildings when… tous les bâtiments publics arborent un drapeau quand…

(d) (flee from → the country) fuir;

∎ familiar to fly the coop se faire la malle;

∎ to fly the nest (baby bird) quitter le nid; figurative (person) quitter le foyer familial

4 adjective familiar

(a) British old-fashioned (sharp) malin(igne)^□, rusé^□ ;

∎ a fly guy un malin, un rusé

(b) black American slang (excellent) génial, super, géant; (stylish, attractive) chouette

►► fly agaric amanite f tue-mouches;

fly ball (in baseball) chandelle f;

fly cruise forfait m avion et croisière;

Sport fly half (in rugby) demi m d'ouverture;

∎ to play fly half jouer (en) demi d'ouverture;

Sport fly kick (in rugby) coup m de pied à suivre;

Fishing fly rod canne f à mouche;

fly spray bombe f insecticide

➲ fly about, fly around intransitive verb

(bird, insect) voleter, voltiger; (plane, pilot) voler dans les parages, survoler les parages; figurative (rumours) courir;

∎ there are lots of figures flying about or around on entend tellement de chiffres différents

➲ fly away intransitive verb

(bird, insect, plane) s'envoler

➲ fly back

1 intransitive verb

(bird, insect) revenir; (plane) revenir; (passenger) rentrer en avion

2 separable transitive verb

(person, passengers → to an area) emmener en avion; (→ from an area) ramener en avion; (→ to own country) rapatrier en avion

➲ fly by intransitive verb

(a) (time) passer à toute vitesse;

∎ the time has flown by! comme le temps a passé!;

∎ as the days flew by à mesure que les jours s'enfuyaient

(b) (plane) passer

➲ fly in

1 intransitive verb

(a) (person) arriver en avion; (plane) arriver

(b) (bird, insect) entrer

2 separable transitive verb

(troops, reinforcements, food) envoyer en avion; (of pilot → to an area) emmener; (→ from an area) amener

➲ fly off

1 intransitive verb

(a) (bird, insect) s'envoler; (plane) décoller; (person) partir en avion;

∎ when do you fly off to Paris? quand prenez-vous l'avion pour Paris?;

∎ she's always flying off somewhere elle est toujours entre deux avions

(b) (hat, lid) s'envoler; (button) sauter

2 separable transitive verb

(a) (from oil rig, island) évacuer en avion ou hélicoptère

(b) (transport by plane → to an area) emmener en avion; (→ from an area) amener en avion

➲ fly out

1 intransitive verb

(a) (person) partir (en avion), prendre l'avion; (plane) s'envoler;

∎ planes fly out of the airport at a rate of 20 an hour les avions décollent de l'aéroport au rythme de 20 par heure;

∎ which airport did you fly out of? de quel aéroport es-tu parti?;

∎ a medical team flew out to the disaster area une équipe médicale s'est rendue en avion sur la région sinistrée;

∎ I'll fly out to join you next Monday je prendrai l'avion pour te rejoindre lundi prochain;

∎ we flew out but we're going back by boat nous avons fait l'aller en avion mais nous rentrons en bateau

(b) (come out suddenly → from box, pocket) s'échapper;

∎ the knife flew out of his hand le couteau lui a échappé de la main

(c) (bird) sortir en volant

2 separable transitive verb

(person, supplies → to an area) envoyer par avion; (→ from an area) évacuer par avion;

∎ they flew the President out (to a place) ils ont emmené le président en avion; (from a place) ils ont ramené le président en avion

➲ fly past intransitive verb

(a) (plane, bird) passer; (plane → as part of display, ceremony) défiler;

∎ figurative he flew past on a bicycle il est passé à toute vitesse en bicyclette

(b) (time, days) passer à toute vitesse

➲ fly up intransitive verb

(a) (plane, bird) s'envoler;

∎ the plane flew up to 10,000 metres l'avion est monté à 10000 mètres;

∎ I flew up from London on Saturday j'ai pris l'avion depuis Londres samedi

(b) (end of plank, lid) se soulever;

∎ glass flew up into the air des éclats de verre ont été projetés en l'air

✾ Book ✾ Film 'One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' Kesey, Forman 'Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou'

SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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Chapelon's technical education at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris, was interrupted by extended military service during the First World War. From experience of observing artillery from the basket of a captive balloon, he developed a method of artillery fire control which was more accurate than that in use and which was adopted by the French army.

In 1925 he joined the motive-power and rolling-stock department of the Paris-Orléans Railway under Chief Mechanical Engineer Maurice Lacoin and was given the task of improving the performance of its main-line 4–6–2 locomotives, most of them compounds. He had already made an intensive study of steam locomotive design and in 1926 introduced his Kylchap exhaust system, based in part on the earlier work of the Finnish engineer Kyläla. Chapelon improved the entrainment of the hot gases in the smokebox by the exhaust steam and so minimized back pressure in the cylinders, increasing the power of a locomotive substantially. He also greatly increased the cross-sectional area of steam passages, used poppet valves instead of piston valves and increased superheating of steam. PO (Paris-Orléans) 4–6–2s rebuilt on these principles from 1929 onwards proved able to haul 800-ton trains, in place of the previous 500-ton trains, and to do so to accelerated schedules with reduced coal consumption. Commencing in 1932, some were converted, at the time of rebuilding, into 4–8–0s to increase adhesive weight for hauling heavy trains over the steeply graded Paris-Toulouse line.

Chapelon's principles were quickly adopted on other French railways and elsewhere.

H.N. Gresley was particularly influenced by them. After formation of the French National Railways (SNCF) in 1938, Chapelon produced in 1941 a prototype rebuilt PO 2–10–0 freight locomotive as a six-cylinder compound, with four low-pressure cylinders to maximize expansive use of steam and with all cylinders steam-jacketed to minimize heat loss by condensation and radiation. War conditions delayed extended testing until 1948–52. Meanwhile Chapelon had, by rebuilding, produced in 1946 a high-powered, three-cylinder, compound 4–8–4 intended as a stage in development of a proposed range of powerful and thermally efficient steam locomotives for the postwar SNCF: a high-speed 4–6–4 in this range was to run at sustained speeds of 125 mph (200 km/h). However, plans for improved steam locomotives were then overtaken in France by electriflcation and dieselization, though the performance of the 4–8–4, which produced 4,000 hp (3,000 kW) at the drawbar for the first time in Europe, prompted modification of electric locomotives, already on order, to increase their power.

Chapelon retired from the SNCF in 1953, but continued to act as a consultant. His principles were incorporated into steam locomotives built in France for export to South America, and even after the energy crisis of 1973 he was consulted on projects to build improved, high-powered steam locomotives for countries with reserves of cheap coal. The eventual fall in oil prices brought these to an end.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace, Steam and internal combustion engines

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Giffard entered the works of the Western Railway of France at the age of 16 but became absorbed by the problem of steam-powered aerial navigation. He proposed a steam-powered helicopter in 1847, but he then turned his attention to an airship. He designed a lightweight coke-burning, single-cylinder steam engine and boiler which produced just over 3 hp (2.2 kW) and mounted it below a cigar-shaped gas bag 44 m (144 ft) in length. A triangular rudder was fitted at the rear to control the direction of flight. On 24 September 1852 Giffard took off from Paris and, at a steady 8 km/h (5 mph), he travelled 28 km (17 miles) to Trappes. This can be claimed to be the first steerable lighter-than-air craft, but with a top speed of only 8 km/h (5 mph) even a modest headwind would have reduced the forward speed to nil (or even negative). Giffard built a second airship, which crashed in 1855, slightly injuring Giffard and his companion; a third airship was planned with a very large gas bag in order to lift the inherently heavy steam engine and boiler, but this was never built. His airships were inflated by coal gas and refusal by the gas company to provide further supplies brought these promising experiments to a premature end.

As a draughtsman Giffard had the opportunity to travel on locomotives and he observed the inadequacies of the feed pumps then used to supply boiler feedwater. To overcome these problems he invented the injector with its series of three cones: in the first cone (convergent), steam at or below boiler pressure becomes a high-velocity jet; in the second (also convergent), it combines with feedwater to condense and impart high velocity to it; and in the third (divergent), that velocity is converted into pressure sufficient to overcome the pressure of steam in the boiler. The injector, patented by Giffard, was quickly adopted by railways everywhere, and the royalties provided him with funds to finance further experiments in aviation. These took the form of tethered hydrogen-inflated balloons of successively larger size. At the Paris Exposition of 1878 one of these balloons carried fifty-two passengers on each tethered "flight". The height of the balloon was controlled by a cable attached to a huge steam-powered winch, and by the end of the fair 1,033 ascents had been made and 35,000 passengers had seen Paris from the air. This, and similar balloons, greatly widened the public's interest in aeronautics. Sadly, after becoming blind, Giffard committed suicide; however, he died a rich man and bequeathed large sums of money to the State for humanitarian an scientific purposes.

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SUBJECT AREA: Weapons and armour

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Belidor was the son of a French army officer, who died when he was six months old, and was thereafter brought up by a brother officer. He soon demonstrated a scientific bent, and gravitated to Paris, where he became involved in the determination of the Paris meridian. He was then appointed Professor at the artillery school at La Fère, where he began to pursue the science of ballistics in earnest. He was able to disprove the popular theory that range was directly proportional to the powder charge, and also argued that the explosive power of a charge was greatest at the end of the explosion; he advocated spherical chambers in order to take advantage of this. His ideas made him unpopular with the "establishment", especially the Master of the King's artillery, and he was forced to leave France for a time, becoming a consultant to authorities in Bohemia and Bavaria. However, he was reinstated, and in 1758 he was appointed Royal Inspector of Artillery, a post that he held until his death.

Belidor also made a name for himself in hydraulics and influenced design in this field for more than a century after his death. In addition, he was the first to make practical application of integral calculus.

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off [ɒf]

1 adverb

(a) (indicating removal)

∎ to take sth off enlever ou ôter qch;

∎ to come off (sticker, handle) se détacher; (lipstick, paint) partir;

∎ you can leave your jacket off ce n'est pas la peine de remettre votre veste;

∎ with his jacket off sans sa veste;

∎ she kicked off her shoes elle ôta ses chaussures d'un coup de pied;

∎ the knob had broken off la poignée était cassée;

∎ peel off the wallpaper décollez le papier peint;

∎ she cut off her hair elle s'est coupé les cheveux;

∎ could you take two centimetres off? (off sleeves, hemline) est-ce que vous pourriez enlever deux centimètres?;

∎ off with those wet clothes! retire(-moi) ou enlève(-moi) ces vêtements humides!;

∎ off with his head! coupez-lui la tête!

(b) (indicating departure)

∎ the truck drove off le camion démarra;

∎ to run off partir en courant;

∎ when are you off to Dublin? quand partez-vous pour Dublin?;

∎ we'd better be off on doit partir;

∎ Sport they're off! ils sont partis!;

∎ familiar I'm off! j'y vais!^□ ;

∎ off you go, you'll be late! sauve-toi ou vas-y, tu vas être en retard!;

∎ off we go! c'est parti!;

∎ off to bed with you! au lit!;

∎ isn't it time you were off to bed? n'est-il pas l'heure que tu ailles te coucher?;

∎ familiar be off with you! va-t'en!^□ ;

∎ (get) off! enlevez-vous de là!;

∎ humorous oh no, he's off again! ça y est, ça le reprend!

(c) (indicating movement away from a surface)

∎ the ball hit the wall and bounced off la balle a heurté le mur et a rebondi;

∎ I knocked the glass off with my elbow j'ai fait tomber le verre d'un coup de coude

(d) (indicating location)

∎ it's off to the right c'est sur la droite;

∎ she's off playing tennis elle est partie jouer au tennis

(e) (indicating disembarkment, dismounting etc)

∎ to get off descendre;

∎ to jump off sauter

(f) (indicating absence, inactivity)

∎ to take a week off prendre une semaine de congé;

∎ Monday's my day off le lundi est mon jour de congé;

∎ have you any time off during the week? avez-vous des heures libres pendant la semaine?;

∎ I get two hours off for lunch j'ai deux heures de libres pour le déjeuner

(g) (indicating distance in time or space)

∎ Paris/Christmas is still a long way off Paris/Noël est encore loin;

∎ it's a few miles off c'est à quelques kilomètres d'ici

(h) Theatre off;

∎ voice off voix f off;

∎ noises/voices off bruits mpl/voix fpl en coulisses

(i) (indicating disconnection)

∎ to put or switch or turn the light off éteindre la lumière;

∎ to turn the tap off fermer le robinet;

∎ leave the lights off n'allume pas

(j) (indicating separation, partition)

∎ the playing area is divided off by a low wall l'aire de jeu est délimitée par un petit mur;

∎ to fence off land clôturer un terrain;

∎ the police have cordoned off the area la police a bouclé le quartier

(k) (indicating price reduction)

∎ special offer: £5 off (sign) offre spéciale: 5 livres de réduction;

∎ the salesman gave me $20/20 percent off le vendeur m'a fait une remise de 20 dollars/20 pour cent

(l) (indicating relief from discomfort)

∎ to sleep/to walk sth off faire passer qch en dormant/marchant

2 preposition

(a) (indicating movement away from) de;

∎ he fell off his chair il est tombé de sa chaise;

∎ she knocked the vase off the table elle a fait tomber le vase de la table;

∎ take your elbows off the table enlève tes coudes de la table;

∎ off the sofa! (don't stand on it) descends du canapé!; (don't sit on it) lève-toi du canapé!;

∎ couples started drifting off the dance floor les couples commencèrent à quitter la piste de danse;

∎ drinks must not be taken off the premises (sign) les boissons doivent être consommées sur place;

∎ figurative it'll take your mind off it ça te changera les idées

(b) (indicating removal) de;

∎ take the top off the bottle enlève le bouchon de la bouteille;

∎ to cut a slice off sth couper une tranche de qch;

∎ I've stripped the wallpaper off the walls j'ai décollé le papier peint des murs;

∎ get that knife off him! prends-lui son couteau!;

∎ off the peg en confection, en prêt-à-porter

(c) (from)

∎ to buy sth off sb acheter qch à qn;

∎ I bought it off a stall je l'ai acheté sur le marché;

∎ can I borrow £5 off you? je peux t'emprunter 5 livres?;

∎ I caught a cold off my brother mon frère m'a passé son rhume

(d) (from the direction of) de;

∎ a cool breeze off the sea une brise fraîche venant du large

(e) (indicating location)

∎ a few miles off the coast à quelques kilomètres de la côte;

∎ off the coast of Spain au large de la côte espagnole;

∎ most students live off campus la plupart des étudiants vivent à l'extérieur du campus;

∎ we ate in a small restaurant off the main road nous avons mangé dans un petit restaurant à l'écart de la grand-route;

∎ the bathroom's off the bedroom la salle de bains donne dans la chambre;

∎ an alley off Oxford Street une ruelle qui part d'Oxford Street;

∎ just off Oxford Street there's a pretty little square à deux pas d'Oxford Street il y a une petite place ravissante

(f) (absent from)

∎ Mr Dale is off work today M. Dale est absent aujourd'hui;

∎ you need a few days off work vous avez besoin de quelques jours de congé;

∎ Wayne's off school with the flu Wayne est à la maison avec la grippe;

∎ I've been off work for over a year now voilà un an que je ne travaille plus

(g) (by means of)

∎ it runs off gas/electricity/solar power ça marche au gaz/à l'électricité/à l'énergie solaire;

∎ the radio works off the mains la radio fonctionne sur secteur

(h) (indicating source of nourishment) de;

∎ to live off vegetables vivre de légumes;

∎ to live off the land vivre (des produits) de la terre;

∎ we dined off a leg of lamb nous avons dîné d'une tranche de gigot

(i) (reduced from)

∎ I can get $20/20 percent off the list price je peux avoir une remise de 20 dollars/20 pour cent sur le prix de vente;

∎ familiar they'll knock or take something off it if you pay cash ils vous feront une remise si vous payez en liquide^□ ;

∎ that's 2 seconds off the record c'est 2 secondes de moins que le record

(j) familiar (no longer wanting or needing)

∎ to be off one's food ne pas avoir faim^□ ;

∎ I'm off whisky je n'aime plus le whisky^□ ;

∎ I'm off him at the moment j'en ai marre de lui en ce moment;

∎ she's off antibiotics now elle ne prend plus d'antibiotiques maintenant^□ ;

∎ he's off heroin now il ne touche plus à l'héroïne maintenant^□

3 adjective

(a) (not working → electricity, light, radio, TV) éteint; (→ tap) fermé; (→ engine, machine) arrêté, à l'arrêt; (→ handbrake) desserré;

∎ the gas is off (at mains) le gaz est fermé; (under saucepan) le gaz est éteint; (for safety reasons) le gaz est coupé;

∎ off (on switch, appliance) arrêt;

∎ make sure the switches are in the off position vérifiez que les interrupteurs sont sur (la position) arrêt;

∎ the off button le bouton d'arrêt

(b) (bad, tainted) mauvais, avarié;

∎ the milk is off le lait a tourné;

∎ this beer's off cette bière est éventée;

∎ it smells/tastes off on dirait que ce n'est plus bon

(c) (cancelled) annulé;

∎ tonight's match is off le match de ce soir est annulé;

∎ if that's your attitude, the deal's off! si c'est comme ça que vous le prenez, ma proposition ne tient plus!

(d) (on vacation, not working) en congé, en vacances;

∎ to be off sick être absent parce qu'on est malade, être malade;

∎ he's off today il n'est pas là aujourd'hui;

∎ are you off tomorrow? tu travailles demain?; (no school) tu (n')as (pas d')école demain?; (no college) tu (n')as (pas) cours demain?;

∎ I'm off from 3 to 5 je ne travaille pas entre 3 et 5 heures

(e) British (not available)

∎ I'm afraid the salmon's off je regrette, mais il n'y a plus de saumon

(f) (unwell)

∎ I felt decidedly off the next morning le lendemain matin, je ne me sentais vraiment pas bien;

∎ everyone has their off days on a tous nos mauvais jours

(g) (inaccurate)

∎ his timing was a bit off (when he asked for a rise etc) il n'a pas choisi un très bon moment

(h) familiar (unacceptable)

∎ that's a bit off! vous y allez un peu fort!;

∎ I thought it was a bit off the way she just ignored me je n'ai pas apprécié qu'elle m'ignore comme ça^□

(i) British Cars (when driving on right) (du côté) gauche; (when driving on left) (du côté) droit

(j) (having a certain amount of)

∎ how are we off for milk? combien de lait nous reste-t-il?

4 noun

familiar (start) départ^□ m;

∎ they're ready for the off ils sont prêts à partir^□ ;

∎ right from the off dès le départ

5 transitive verb

American familiar (kill) buter, refroidir, zigouiller

6 off chance noun

∎ on the off chance au cas où, à tout hasard;

∎ I called by just on the off chance je suis passé au cas où ou à tout hasard;

∎ I phoned on the off chance of catching him at home j'ai appelé en espérant qu'il serait chez lui;

∎ she kept it on the off chance (that) it might prove useful elle l'a gardé pour le cas où cela pourrait servir

7 off and on adverb

par intervalles;

∎ we lived together off and on for three years on a plus ou moins vécu ensemble pendant trois ans

►► Cinema & Television off camera hors champ, off;

British off sales = vente à emporter de boissons alcoolisées

SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Textiles

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Cosnier was probably an Angevin as he had property in Tours although he lived in Paris; his father was valet de chambre to King Henri IV. Although he qualified as an engineer, he was primarily a man of ideas. On 23 December 1603 he obtained a grant to establish silkworm breeding, or sericulture, in Poitou by introducing 100,000 mulberry plants, together with 200 oz (5.7 kg) of mulberry seed. He had 2,000 instruction leaflets on silkworm breeding printed, but his project collapsed when the Poitevins refused to co-operate. Cosnier then distributed the plants and seeds to other parts of France. The same year he approached Henri IV with the proposal to build a canal from the Loire to the Seine, partly via the Loing, from Briare to Montargis. On the king's acceptance of his proposal, Cosnier on 11 March 1604 undertook to complete the canal, which necessitated crossing the ridge between the two rivers, over a three-year period for 505,000 livres. The Canal de Briare, as it became known, with thirty-six locks including the flight of seven at Rogny, was almost complete in 1610; however, the death of Henri IV led to its abandonment. Cosnier offered to complete it at his own expense, but his offer was refused. Instead, his accounts were examined and it was found that he had already exceeded his authorized credits by 35,000 livres. In settlement, after some quibbling, he was awarded the two seigneuries of Trousse near Briare. Cosnier then suggested encircling the Paris suburbs with a canal which would not only be navigable but would also provide a water supply for fountains and drains. His proposal was accepted in 1618, but the works were never started. In the 1620s the marquis d'Effiet proposed the completion of the Canal de Briare and Cosnier was invited to resume work. Before anything more could be done Cosnier died, some time between July 1629 and March 1630, and the work was again abandoned. The canal was ultimately completed by Boutheroue in 1642, but the seven locks at Rogny remain a dramatic monument to Cosnier's ability.

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SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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Deville was the son of a prosperous shipowner with diplomatic duties in the Virgin Islands. With his elder brother Charles, who later became a distinguished physicist, he was sent to Paris to be educated. He took his degree in medicine in 1843, but before that he had shown an interest in chemistry, due particularly to the lectures of Thenard. Two years later, with Thenard's influence, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Besançon. In 1851 he was able to return to Paris as Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. He remained there for the rest of his working life, greatly improving the standard of teaching, and his laboratory became one of the great research centres of Europe. His first chemical work had been in organic chemistry, but he then turned to inorganic chemistry, specifically to improve methods of producing the new and little-known metal aluminium. Essentially, the process consisted of forming sodium aluminium trichloride and reducing it with sodium to metallic aluminium. He obtained sodium in sufficient quantity by reducing sodium carbonate with carbon. In 1855 he exhibited specimens of the metal at the Paris Exhibition, and the same year Napoleon III asked to see them, with a view to using it for breastplates for the Army and for spoons and forks for State banquets. With the resulting government support, he set up a pilot plant at Jarvel to develop the process, and then set up a small company, the Société d'Aluminium at Nan terre. This raised the output of this attractive and useful metal, so it could be used more widely than for the jewellery to which it had hitherto been restricted. Large-scale applications, however, had to await the electrolytic process that began to supersede Deville's in the 1890s. Deville extended his sodium reduction method to produce silicon, boron and the light metals magnesium and titanium. His investigations into the metallurgy of platinum revolutionized the industry and led in 1872 to his being asked to make the platinum-iridium (90–10) alloy for the standard kilogram and metre. Deville later carried out important work in high-temperature chemistry. He grieved much at the death of his brother Charles in 1876, and his retirement was forced by declining health in 1880; he did not survive for long.

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SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

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He began his photographic career as a daguerreotypist and at an early date called himself "Nadar", the name by which he was known for the rest of his life. Between 1855 and 1858 he made captive balloon ascents with the idea of producing a topographic map of Paris from aerial photographs. Nadar was also one of the first photographers to take successful photographs with the aid of artificial illuminants; using Bunsen batteries to power electric arc lamps, he was able to take views of the underground catacombs in Paris during 1861 and 1862. This exercise captured the imagination of the Paris public, and Nadar's work was widely acclaimed. In December 1863 he exhibited portraits taken by electric light, and later used magnesium illuminants to photograph underground canal construction. For many years Nadar practised as a photographer with his son Paul, a relationship that was sometimes stormy. Paul eventually took the name Nadar for himself and was, in turn, to become one of France's most celebrated photographers.

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SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

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Chrétien studied science, and after obtaining his bachelors degree he started his working life at Meudon Observatory. He married in 1910, the same year as he was appointed Head of Astrophysics at Nice. In 1917 he helped to found the Institut d'Optique in Paris. Chrétien became Professor of astrophysics at the Sorbonne and in 1927, as part of his work on optical systems, demonstrated the use of an anamorphic lens for wide-screen motion pictures. Although the system was demonstrated in Washington as early as 1928 and again at the Paris International Exposition of 1937, it was not until 1952 that Twentieth-Century Fox were able to complete purchase of the patents which became the basis of their Cinemascope system. Cinemascope was one of the most successful technical innovations introduced by film studios in the early 1950s as part of their attempts to combat competition from television. The first Cinemascope epic, The Robe, shown in 1953, was an outstanding commercial success, and a series of similarly spectacular productions followed.

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SUBJECT AREA: Automotive engineering, Steam and internal combustion engines

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Otto's involvement in internal combustion engines was first prompted by his interest in Lenoir's coal-gas engine of 1860. He built his first engine in 1861; in 1864, Otto's engine came to the attention of Eugen Langen, who arranged for the capital to set up the world's first engine company, N.A.Otto and Company, in Cologne. In 1867 the Otto- Langen free-piston internal combustion engine was exhibited at the Paris Exposition, where it won the gold medal. The company continued to expand, and five years after the Paris triumph its name was changed to the Gasmotoren Fabrik; amongst Otto's colleagues at this time were Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach .

Otto is most famous for the development of the four-stroke cycle which was to bear his name. He patented his version of this in 1876, although the principle of the four-stroke cycle had been patented by Alphonse Beau de Rochas fourteen years previously; Otto was the first, however, to put the principle into practice with the "Otto Silent Engine". Many thousands of Otto fourstroke engines had already been built by 1886, when a German patent lawyer successfully claimed that Otto had infringed the Beau de Rochas patent, and Otto's patent was declared invalid.

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SUBJECT AREA: Civil engineering, Land transport, Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering, Ports and shipping, Public utilities, Railways and locomotives

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The son of Marc Isambard Brunel and Sophia Kingdom, he was educated at a private boarding-school in Hove. At the age of 14 he went to the College of Caen and then to the Lycée Henri-Quatre in Paris, after which he was apprenticed to Louis Breguet. In 1822 he returned from France and started working in his father's office, while spending much of his time at the works of Maudslay, Sons \& Field.

From 1825 to 1828 he worked under his father on the construction of the latter's Thames Tunnel, occupying the position of Engineer-in-Charge, exhibiting great courage and presence of mind in the emergencies which occurred not infrequently. These culminated in January 1828 in the flooding of the tunnel and work was suspended for seven years. For the next five years the young engineer made abortive attempts to find a suitable outlet for his talents, but to little avail. Eventually, in 1831, his design for a suspension bridge over the River Avon at Clifton Gorge was accepted and he was appointed Engineer. (The bridge was eventually finished five years after Brunel's death, as a memorial to him, the delay being due to inadequate financing.) He next planned and supervised improvements to the Bristol docks. In March 1833 he was appointed Engineer of the Bristol Railway, later called the Great Western Railway. He immediately started to survey the route between London and Bristol that was completed by late August that year. On 5 July 1836 he married Mary Horsley and settled into 18 Duke Street, Westminster, London, where he also had his office. Work on the Bristol Railway started in 1836. The foundation stone of the Clifton Suspension Bridge was laid the same year. Whereas George Stephenson had based his standard railway gauge as 4 ft 8½ in (1.44 m), that or a similar gauge being usual for colliery wagonways in the Newcastle area, Brunel adopted the broader gauge of 7 ft (2.13 m). The first stretch of the line, from Paddington to Maidenhead, was opened to traffic on 4 June 1838, and the whole line from London to Bristol was opened in June 1841. The continuation of the line through to Exeter was completed and opened on 1 May 1844. The normal time for the 194-mile (312 km) run from Paddington to Exeter was 5 hours, at an average speed of 38.8 mph (62.4 km/h) including stops. The Great Western line included the Box Tunnel, the longest tunnel to that date at nearly two miles (3.2 km).

Brunel was the engineer of most of the railways in the West Country, in South Wales and much of Southern Ireland. As railway networks developed, the frequent break of gauge became more of a problem and on 9 July 1845 a Royal Commission was appointed to look into it. In spite of comparative tests, run between Paddington-Didcot and Darlington-York, which showed in favour of Brunel's arrangement, the enquiry ruled in favour of the narrow gauge, 274 miles (441 km) of the former having been built against 1,901 miles (3,059 km) of the latter to that date. The Gauge Act of 1846 forbade the building of any further railways in Britain to any gauge other than 4 ft 8 1/2 in (1.44 m).

The existence of long and severe gradients on the South Devon Railway led to Brunel's adoption of the atmospheric railway developed by Samuel Clegg and later by the Samuda brothers. In this a pipe of 9 in. (23 cm) or more in diameter was laid between the rails, along the top of which ran a continuous hinged flap of leather backed with iron. At intervals of about 3 miles (4.8 km) were pumping stations to exhaust the pipe. Much trouble was experienced with the flap valve and its lubrication—freezing of the leather in winter, the lubricant being sucked into the pipe or eaten by rats at other times—and the experiment was abandoned at considerable cost.

Brunel is to be remembered for his two great West Country tubular bridges, the Chepstow and the Tamar Bridge at Saltash, with the latter opened in May 1859, having two main spans of 465 ft (142 m) and a central pier extending 80 ft (24 m) below high water mark and allowing 100 ft (30 m) of headroom above the same. His timber viaducts throughout Devon and Cornwall became a feature of the landscape. The line was extended ultimately to Penzance.

As early as 1835 Brunel had the idea of extending the line westwards across the Atlantic from Bristol to New York by means of a steamship. In 1836 building commenced and the hull left Bristol in July 1837 for fitting out at Wapping. On 31 March 1838 the ship left again for Bristol but the boiler lagging caught fire and Brunel was injured in the subsequent confusion. On 8 April the ship set sail for New York (under steam), its rival, the 703-ton Sirius, having left four days earlier. The 1,340-ton Great Western arrived only a few hours after the Sirius. The hull was of wood, and was copper-sheathed. In 1838 Brunel planned a larger ship, some 3,000 tons, the Great Britain, which was to have an iron hull.

The Great Britain was screwdriven and was launched on 19 July 1843,289 ft (88 m) long by 51 ft (15.5 m) at its widest. The ship's first voyage, from Liverpool to New York, began on 26 August 1845. In 1846 it ran aground in Dundrum Bay, County Down, and was later sold for use on the Australian run, on which it sailed no fewer than thirty-two times in twenty-three years, also serving as a troop-ship in the Crimean War. During this war, Brunel designed a 1,000-bed hospital which was shipped out to Renkioi ready for assembly and complete with shower-baths and vapour-baths with printed instructions on how to use them, beds and bedding and water closets with a supply of toilet paper! Brunel's last, largest and most extravagantly conceived ship was the Great Leviathan, eventually named The Great Eastern, which had a double-skinned iron hull, together with both paddles and screw propeller. Brunel designed the ship to carry sufficient coal for the round trip to Australia without refuelling, thus saving the need for and the cost of bunkering, as there were then few bunkering ports throughout the world. The ship's construction was started by John Scott Russell in his yard at Millwall on the Thames, but the building was completed by Brunel due to Russell's bankruptcy in 1856. The hull of the huge vessel was laid down so as to be launched sideways into the river and then to be floated on the tide. Brunel's plan for hydraulic launching gear had been turned down by the directors on the grounds of cost, an economy that proved false in the event. The sideways launch with over 4,000 tons of hydraulic power together with steam winches and floating tugs on the river took over two months, from 3 November 1857 until 13 January 1858. The ship was 680 ft (207 m) long, 83 ft (25 m) beam and 58 ft (18 m) deep; the screw was 24 ft (7.3 m) in diameter and paddles 60 ft (18.3 m) in diameter. Its displacement was 32,000 tons (32,500 tonnes).

The strain of overwork and the huge responsibilities that lay on Brunel began to tell. He was diagnosed as suffering from Bright's disease, or nephritis, and spent the winter travelling in the Mediterranean and Egypt, returning to England in May 1859. On 5 September he suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed, and he died ten days later at his Duke Street home.

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SUBJECT AREA: Broadcasting, Electronics and information technology, Photography, film and optics, Recording, Telecommunications

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De Forest was born into the family of a Congregational minister that moved to Alabama in 1879 when the father became President of a college for African-Americans; this was a position that led to the family's social ostracism by the white community. By the time he was 13 years old, De Forest was already a keen mechanical inventor, and in 1893, rejecting his father's plan for him to become a clergyman, he entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University. Following his first degree, he went on to study the propagation of electromagnetic waves, gaining a PhD in physics in 1899 for his thesis on the "Reflection of Hertzian Waves from the Ends of Parallel Wires", probably the first US thesis in the field of radio.

He then joined the Western Electric Company in Chicago where he helped develop the infant technology of wireless, working his way up from a modest post in the production area to a position in the experimental laboratory. There, working alone after normal working hours, he developed a detector of electromagnetic waves based on an electrolytic device similar to that already invented by Fleming in England. Recognizing his talents, a number of financial backers enabled him to set up his own business in 1902 under the name of De Forest Wireless Telegraphy Company; he was soon demonstrating wireless telegraphy to interested parties and entering into competition with the American Marconi Company.

Despite the failure of this company because of fraud by his partners, he continued his experiments; in 1907, by adding a third electrode, a wire mesh, between the anode and cathode of the thermionic diode invented by Fleming in 1904, he was able to produce the amplifying device now known as the triode valve and achieve a sensitivity of radio-signal reception much greater than possible with the passive carborundum and electrolytic detectors hitherto available. Patented under the name Audion, this new vacuum device was soon successfully used for experimental broadcasts of music and speech in New York and Paris. The invention of the Audion has been described as the beginning of the electronic era. Although much development work was required before its full potential was realized, the Audion opened the way to progress in all areas of sound transmission, recording and reproduction. The patent was challenged by Fleming and it was not until 1943 that De Forest's claim was finally recognized.

Overcoming the near failure of his new company, the De Forest Radio Telephone Company, as well as unsuccessful charges of fraudulent promotion of the Audion, he continued to exploit the potential of his invention. By 1912 he had used transformer-coupling of several Audion stages to achieve high gain at radio frequencies, making long-distance communication a practical proposition, and had applied positive feedback from the Audion output anode to its input grid to realize a stable transmitter oscillator and modulator. These successes led to prolonged patent litigation with Edwin Armstrong and others, and he eventually sold the manufacturing rights, in retrospect often for a pittance.

During the early 1920s De Forest began a fruitful association with T.W.Case, who for around ten years had been working to perfect a moving-picture sound system. De Forest claimed to have had an interest in sound films as early as 1900, and Case now began to supply him with photoelectric cells and primitive sound cameras. He eventually devised a variable-density sound-on-film system utilizing a glow-discharge modulator, the Photion. By 1926 De Forest's Phonofilm had been successfully demonstrated in over fifty theatres and this system became the basis of Movietone. Though his ideas were on the right lines, the technology was insufficiently developed and it was left to others to produce a system acceptable to the film industry. However, De Forest had played a key role in transforming the nature of the film industry; within a space of five years the production of silent films had all but ceased.

In the following decade De Forest applied the Audion to the development of medical diathermy. Finally, after spending most of his working life as an independent inventor and entrepreneur, he worked for a time during the Second World War at the Bell Telephone Laboratories on military applications of electronics.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Domestic appliances and interiors

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Breuer began his student days following an art course in Vienna, but joined the Bauhaus at Weimar, where he later graduated, in 1920. When Gropius re-established the school in purpose-built structures at Dessau, Breuer became a member of the teaching staff in charge of the carpentry and furniture workshops. Much of his time there was spent in design and research into new materials being applied to furniture and interior decoration. The essence of his contribution was to relate the design of furniture to industrial production; in this field he developed the tubular-steel structure, especially in chair design, and experimented with aluminium as a furniture material as well as pieces of furniture made up from modular units. His furniture style was characterized by an elegance of line and a careful avoidance of superfluous detail. By 1926 he had furnished the Bauhaus with such furniture in chromium-plated steel, and two years later had developed a cantilevered chair.

Breuer left the Bauhaus in 1928 and set up an architectural practice in Berlin. In the early 1930s he also spent some time in Switzerland. Notable from these years was his Harnischmacher Haus in Wiesbaden and his apartment buildings in the Dolderthal area of Zurich. His architectural work was at first influenced by constructivism, and then by that of Le Corbusier (see Charles-Edouard Jeanneret). In 1935 he moved to England, where in partnership with F.R.S. Yorke he built some houses and continued to practise furniture design. The Isokon Furniture Co. commissioned him to develop ideas that took advantage of the new bending and moulding processes in laminated wood, one result being his much-copied reclining chair.

In 1937, like so many of the European architectural refugees from Nazism, he found himself under-occupied due to the reluctance of English clients to embrace the modern architectural movement. He went to the United States at Gropius's invitation to join him as a professor at Harvard. Breuer and Gropius were influential in training a new generation of American architects, and in particular they built a number of houses. This partnership ended in 1941 and Breuer set up practice in New York. His style of work from this time on was still modern, but became more varied. In housing, he adapted his style to American needs and used local materials in a functional manner. In the Whitney Museum (1966) he worked in a sculptural, granite-clad style. Often he utilized a bold reinforced-concrete form, as in his collaboration with Pier Luigi Nervi and Bernard Zehrfuss in the Paris UNESCO Building (1953–8) and the US Embassy in the Hague (1954–8). He displayed his masterly handling of poured concrete used in a strikingly expressionistic, sculptural manner in his St John's Abbey (1953–61) in Collegeville, Minnesota, and in 1973 his Church of St Francis de Sale in Michigan won him the top award of the American Institute of Architects.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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In 1783, following the early experiments with small hot-air balloons by the Montgolfier brothers, there was a growing interest in the prospect of a balloon flight with people on board. The Paris Académie des Sciences encouraged one of their physicists, Charles, to carry out experiments and produce a balloon. Charles enlisted the assistance of two brothers, Anne-Jean and Marie-Noël Robert, who were practical craftsmen with experience of coating silk fabric with rubber to make it impermeable to gases. Charles decided to use the recently discovered lighter-than-air gas, hydrogen, for his experiments rather than hot air. After making several unmanned balloons, he had a manned balloon ready for testing on 1 December 1783. Despite the fact that a Montgolfier balloon had already flown with two passengers, there was enormous public interest in the flight: one estimate suggested that 400,000 people turned out to watch. Charles and Marie-Noël Robert ascended from the gardens of the Tuileries and landed after two hours, having covered 45 km (28 miles). Technically the "Charlière" was far superior to the "Montgolfière" and was therefore used by most subsequent balloonists until the introduction of the modern hot-air balloon by the American Paul E. Yost in the 1960s. Following Meusnier's proposals for a dirigible (steerable) balloon, put forward during 1783–5, Charles and the Robert brothers built an elongated balloon incorporating Meusnier's ballonnet principle. It had a rudder but the method of propulsion, by opening and closing parasols used as paddles, was totally ineffective.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Civil engineering

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The American skyscraper was, in the 1870s and 1880s, very much the creation of what came to be known as the Chicago school of architecture. It was the most important American contribution to the urban architectural scene. At this time conditions were ripe for this type of office development, and in the big cities, notably Chicago and New York, steeply rising land values provided the incentive to build high; the structural means to do so had been triggered by the then low costs of making quality iron and steel. The skyscraper appeared after the invention of the passenger lift by Otis and the pioneer steel-frame work of Jenney. In 1875 Holabird was working in Jenney's office in Chicago. By 1883 he had set up in private practice, joined by another young architect, Martin Roche (1855–1927), and together they were responsible for the Tacoma Building (1887–9) in Chicago. In this structure the two front façades were entirely non-load-bearing and were carried by an internal steel skeleton; only the rear walls were load-bearing. The design of the building was not revolutionary (this had to wait for L.H. Sullivan) but was traditional in form. It was the possibility of being able to avoid load-bearing outer walls that enabled a building to rise above some nine storeys, and the thirteen-storeyed Tacoma Building pointed the way to the future development of the skyscraper. The firm of Holabird \& Roche continued in the following decades in Chicago to design and construct further high-quality, although lower, commercial buildings such as those in South Michigan Avenue and the McClurg Building. However, they are best remembered for their contribution in engineering to the development of high-rise construction.

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SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology

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Mansfield, the son of a country clergyman, was educated privately at first, then at Winchester College and at Cambridge; ill health, which dogged his early years, delayed his graduation until 1846. He was first inclined to medicine, but after settling in London, chemistry seemed to him to offer the true basis of the grand scheme of knowledge he aimed to establish. After completing the chemistry course at the Royal College of Chemistry in London, he followed the suggestion of its first director, A.W.von Hofmann, of investigating the chemistry of coal tar. This work led to a result of great importance for industry by demonstrating the valuable substances that could be extracted from coal tar. Mansfield obtained pure benzene, and toluene by a process for which he was granted a patent in 1848 and published in the Chemical Society's journal the same year The following year he published a pamphlet on the applications of benzene.

Blessed with a private income, Mansfield had no need to support himself by following a regular profession. He was therefore able to spread his brilliant talents in several directions instead of confining them to a single interest. During the period of unrest in 1848, he engaged in social work with a particular concern to improve sanitation. In 1850, a description of a balloon machine in Paris led him to study aeronautics for a while, which bore fruit in an influential book, Aerial Navigation (London, 1851). He then visited Paraguay, making a characteristically thorough and illuminating study of conditions there. Upon his return to London in 1853, Mansfield resumed his chemical studies, especially on salts. He published his results in 1855 as Theory of Salts, his most important contribution to chemical theory.

Mansfield was in the process of preparing specimens of benzene for the Paris Exhibition of 1855 when a naphtha still overflowed and caught fire. In carrying it to a place of safety, Mansfield sustained injuries which unfortunately proved fatal.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electricity, Public utilities

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Founding the firm of Messrs A. de Meritens of Paris to build magneto-electric generators for electric arc lighting, de Meritens revised the arrangement of the Holmes and Alliance machines. By employing a distributed rotor winding on laminated cores in place of individual bobbins, the wave-form was improved and a continuous output was achieved, as distinct from a series of short-duration pulses. The rotor windings were carried on the periphery of spoked wheels which revolved below the poles of stationary compound permanent magnets. These generators came to prominence in 1880; in France they quickly replaced the Alliance machines in lighthouses, and Trinity House also installed them in Britain. Two examples remained in continuous service at the Lizard lighthouse in Cornwall from 1881 to 1950, and one still survives there as an exhibit. Before being installed, this machine was shown at the Paris Electrical Exhibition of 1881. An electric candle invented by de Meritens was a variation on that of Jablochkoff and he is credited with being the first to suggest the use of a carbon electrode as one pole for electric-arc welding, with the metal to be welded serving as the other pole. Baron de Meritens died tragically in great poverty.

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