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leading variety

  • 1 leading variety

    1) Сельское хозяйство: ведущий сорт, основной сорт

    Универсальный англо-русский словарь > leading variety

  • 2 variety

    variety 1. вариетет, разновидность; 2. сорт
    variety разновидность, сорт, формы, встречающиеся в одной популяции, лишённые особых ареалов
    breed of variety размножение выделенной разновидности, формы, сорта, породы; выведение сорта или породы
    check variety контрольный сорт
    check variety контрольный сорт
    clonal variety сорт-клон
    distinct variety отчётливо выраженная разновидность
    drought-resistant variety засухоустойчивый сорт
    dummy variety мнимый сорт
    indigenous variety местный сорт
    leading variety ведущая разновидность
    line variety сорт-линия
    local variety местный сорт
    paternal variety отцовский сорт
    pollinating variety сорт-опылитель
    selection variety селекционный сорт

    English-Russian dictionary of biology and biotechnology > variety

  • 3 Boulle, André-Charles

    [br]
    b. 11 November 1642 Paris, France
    d. 29 February 1732 Paris, France
    [br]
    French cabinet-maker noted for his elaborate designs and high-quality technique in marquetry using brass and tortoiseshell.
    [br]
    As with the Renaissance artists and architects of fifteenth-and sixteenth-century Italy, Boulle worked as a young man in varied media, as a painter, engraver and metalworker an in mosaic techniques. It was in the 1660s that he turned more specifically to furniture and in the following decade, under the patronage of Louis XIV, that he became a leading ébéniste or cabinet-maker, In 1672 the King's Controller-General, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, recommended Boulle as an outstanding cabinet-maker and he was appointed ébéniste du roi. From then he spent the rest of his life working in the royal palaces, notably the Louvre and Versailles, and also carried out commissions for the French aristocracy and from abroad, particularly Spain and Germany.
    Before the advent of Boulle, the quality furniture made for the French court and aristocracy had come from foreign craftsmen, particularly Domenico Cucci of Italy and Pierre Colle of the Low Countries. Boulle made his name as their equal in his development of new forms of furniture such as his bureaux and commodes, the immense variety of his designs and their architectural quality, the beauty of his sculptural, gilded mounts, and the development of his elaborate marquetry. He was a leading exponent of the contemporary styles, which meant the elaborately rich baroque forms in the time of Louis XIV and the more delicate rococo elegance in that of Louis XV. The technique to which Boulle gave his name (sometimes referred to in its German spelling of Bühl) incorporated a rich variety of veneering materials into his designs: in particular, he used tortoiseshell and brass with ebony. Even greater richness was created with the introduction of an engraved design upon the brass surfaces. Further delicate elaboration derived from the use of paired panels of decoration to be used in reverse form in one piece, or two matching pieces, of furniture. In one panel, designated as première partie, the marquetry took the form of brass upon tortoiseshell, while in the other (contre-partie) the tortoiseshell was set into the brass background.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    J.Fleming and H.Honour, 1977, The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts: Allen Lane, pp. 107–9.
    1982, The History of Furniture: Orbis (contains many references to Boulle).
    DY

    Biographical history of technology > Boulle, André-Charles

  • 4 Port Wine

       Portugal's most famous wine and leading export takes its name from the city of Oporto or porto, which means "port" or "harbor" in Portuguese. Sometimes described as "the Englishman's wine," port is only one of the many wines produced in continental Portugal and the Atlantic islands. Another noted dessert wine is Madeira wine, which is produced on the island of Madeira. Port wine's history is about as long as that of Madeira wine, but the wine's development is recent compared to that of older table wines and the wines Greeks and Romans enjoyed in ancient Lusitania. During the Roman occupation of the land (ca. 210 BCE-300 CE), wine was being made from vines cultivated in the upper Douro River valley. Favorable climate and soils (schist with granite outcropping) and convenient transportation (on ships down the Douro River to Oporto) were factors that combined with increased wine production in the late 17th century to assist in the birth of port wine as a new product. Earlier names for port wine ( vinho do porto) were descriptive of location ("Wine of the Douro Bank") and how it was transported ("Wine of [Ship] Embarkation").
       Port wine, a sweet, fortified (with brandy) aperitif or dessert wine that was designed as a valuable export product for the English market, was developed first in the 1670s by a unique combination of circumstances and the action of interested parties. Several substantial English merchants who visited Oporto "discovered" that a local Douro wine was much improved when brandy ( aguardente) was added. Fortification prevented the wine from spoiling in a variety of temperatures and on the arduous sea voyages from Oporto to Great Britain. Soon port wine became a major industry of the Douro region; it involved an uneasy alliance between the English merchant-shippers at Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia, the town across the river from Oporto, where the wine was stored and aged, and the Portuguese wine growers.
       In the 18th century, port wine became a significant element of Britain's foreign imports and of the country's establishment tastes in beverages. Port wine drinking became a hallowed tradition in Britain's elite Oxford and Cambridge Universities' colleges, which all kept port wine cellars. For Portugal, the port wine market in Britain, and later in France, Belgium, and other European countries, became a vital element in the national economy. Trade in port wine and British woolens became the key elements in the 1703 Methuen Treaty between England and Portugal.
       To lessen Portugal's growing economic dependence on Britain, regulate the production and export of the precious sweet wine, and protect the public from poor quality, the Marquis of Pombal instituted various measures for the industry. In 1756, Pombal established the General Company of Viticulture of the Upper Douro to carry out these measures. That same year, he ordered the creation of the first demarcated wine-producing region in the world, the port-wine producing Douro region. Other wine-producing countries later followed this Portuguese initiative and created demarcated wine regions to protect the quality of wine produced and to ensure national economic interests.
       The upper Douro valley region (from Barca d'Alva in Portugal to Barqueiros on the Spanish frontier) produces a variety of wines; only 40 percent of its wines are port wine, whereas 60 percent are table wines. Port wine's alcohol content varies usually between 19 and 22 percent, and, depending on the type, the wine is aged in wooden casks from two to six years and then bottled. Related to port wine's history is the history of Portuguese cork. Beginning in the 17th century, Portuguese cork, which comes from cork trees, began to be used to seal wine bottles to prevent wine from spoiling. This innovation in Portugal helped lead to the development of the cork industry. By the early 20th century, Portugal was the world's largest exporter of cork.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Port Wine

  • 5 Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent

    SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology
    [br]
    b. 26 August 1743 Paris, France
    d. 8 May 1794 Paris, France
    [br]
    French founder of the modern science of chemistry.
    [br]
    As well as receiving a formal education in law and literature, Lavoisier studied science under some of the leading figures of the day. This proved to be an ideal formation of the man in whom "man of science" and "public servant" were so intimately combined. His early work towards the first geological map of France and on the water supply of Paris helped to win him election to the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1768 at the youthful age of 25. In the same year he used some of his private income to buy a part-share in the "tax farm", a private company which leased from the Government the right to collect certain indirect taxes.
    In 1772 Lavoisier began his researches into the related phenomena of combustion, respiration and the calcination or oxidation of metals. This culminated in the early 1780s in the overthrow of the prevailing theory, based on an imponderable combustion principle called "phlogiston", and the substitution of the modern explanation of these processes. At the same time, understanding of the nature of acids, bases and salts was placed on a sounder footing. More important, Lavoisier defined a chemical element in its modern sense and showed how it should be applied by drawing up the first modern list of the chemical elements. With the revolution in chemistry initiated by Lavoisier, chemists could begin to understand correctly the fundamental processes of their science. This understanding was the foundationo of the astonishing advance in scientific and industrial chemistry that has taken place since then. As an academician, Lavoisier was paid by the Government to carry out investigations into a wide variety of practical questions with a chemical bias, such as the manufacture of starch and the distillation of phosphorus. In 1775 Louis XVI ordered the setting up of the Gunpowder Commission to improve the supply and quality of gunpowder, deficiencies in which had hampered France's war efforts. Lavoisier was a member of the Commission and, as usual, took the leading part, drawing up its report and supervising its implementation. As a result, the industry became profitable, output increased so that France could even export powder, and the range of the powder increased by two-thirds. This was a material factor in France's war effort in the Revolution and the Napoleonic wars.
    As if his chemical researches and official duties were not enough, Lavoisier began to apply his scientific principles to agriculture when he purchased an estate at Frechines, near Blois. After ten years' work on his experimental farm there, Lavoisier was able to describe his results in the memoir "Results of some agricultural experiments and reflections on their relation to political economy" (Paris, 1788), which holds historic importance in agriculture and economics. In spite of his services to the nation and to humanity, his association with the tax farm was to have tragic consequences: during the reign of terror in 1794 the Revolutionaries consigned to the guillotine all the tax farmers, including Lavoisier.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1862–93, Oeuvres de Lavoisier, Vols I–IV, ed. J.B.A.Dumas; Vols V–VI, ed. E.Grimaux, Paris (Lavoisier's collected works).
    Further Reading
    D.I.Duveen and H.S.Klickstein, 1954, A Bibliography of the Works of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier 1743–1794, London: William Dawson (contains valuable biographical material).
    D.McKie, 1952, Antoine Lavoisier, Scientist, Economist, Social Reformer, London: Constable (the best modern, general biography).
    H.Guerlac, 1975, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, Chemist and Revolutionary, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (a more recent work).
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent

  • 6 act

    ækt
    1. сущ.
    1) дело, поступок, деяние act of bravery ≈ подвиг act of faith ≈ акт доверия to commit, perform an act ≈ совершить поступок He committed an act of folly. ≈ Он совершил глупость. barbaric act barbarous act courageous act criminal act foolish act heroic act humane act illegal act impulsive act justified act kind act rash act statesmanlike act thoughtful act volutional act Syn: deed, exploit, feat
    2) действие caught in the act of stealing ≈ пойманный при совершении кражи Language interpretation is the whole point of the act of reading. ≈ Интерпретация языковых выражений является самым главным при чтении. Syn: action, operation
    3) закон, постановление act of Parliament ≈ парламентский акт Syn: decree, statute
    1)
    4) (the Acts) Деяния апостолов
    5) акт, действие (в опере, драме) ;
    номер программы( в развлекательной программе, шоу и т. п.) nightclub act, variety act брит., vaudeville act амер. ≈ номер эстрадной программы Syn: performance
    6) неод. сцена His anger was real. It wasn't an act. ≈ Его гнев был неподдельным. Это не было притворством. There were moments when I wondered: did she do this on purpose, was it all just a game, an act? ≈ Были моменты, когда мне хотелось знать, делает ли она это нарочно, является ли это все игрой, сценой? Syn: pretence
    7) диссертация( в университетах)
    8) (the act) половое сношение ∙ to put on an act разг. ≈ притворяться, разыграть сцену
    2. гл.
    1) действовать, поступать;
    вести себя to act irresponsibly ≈ действовать безответственно to act impulsively ≈ действовать импульсивно to act immediately ≈ действовать без промедления to act bravely (correctly, generously) ≈ действовать смело (правильно, великодушно) to be quick to act ≈ действовать быстро to act up to a promise ≈ сдержать обещание It is time to act. ≈ Пора действовать. He was quick to act. ≈ Он сразу же откликнулся. Don't act from instinct. ≈ Не надо действовать под влиянием инстинкта. How did they act towards you? ≈ Как они относились к вам? The soldier acted like a real hero. ≈ Этот солдат действовал как настоящий герой. act in unison act out of spite
    2) действовать, работать (быть исправным) The brake refused to act. ≈ Тормоз отказал. The gadget acted immediately. ≈ Приспособление тут же сработало.
    3) влиять, действовать (on, upon) Has the medicine acted? ≈ Лекарство уже подействовало? This weather acts on my nerves. ≈ Эта погода действует мне на нервы.
    4) работать, служить;
    действовать в качестве( as - кого-л.) He acted as director for a month. ≈ Он замещал директора в течение месяца. She acts as our interpreter. ≈ Она работает в качестве нашего переводчика. This medicine acts as а stimulus. ≈ Это лекарство оказывает стимулирующее действие.
    5) прикидываться, притворяться He acted the idiot. ≈ Он строил из себя идиота. John did not feel fear, he was just acting it. ≈ Джон не испытывал страха, он просто делал вид, что боится.
    6) театр. играть, исполнять роль to act the part of Othello ≈ играть роль Отелло Children love to act. ≈ Дети любят играть в театр. Who will act the leading part? ≈ Кто будет играть главную роль? He acted in many films. ≈ Он снимался/играл во многих фильмах. "It's a long time since I acted on this stage," said the actor. ≈ "Как давно это было, когда я играл на этой сцене," - сказал артист. ∙ act for act upon act out act up act up to
    дело;
    поступок;
    - * of cruelty жестокий поступок;
    проявление жестокости;
    - * of kindness доброе дело акт;
    действие;
    деяние;
    - criminal * преступное деяние;
    - unilateral * односторонний акт, односторонее действие;
    - * of piracy акт пиратства;
    - * of delivery роды;
    - *s of force действия, связанные с применением силы;
    - * of war акт агрессии, вооруженная агрессия;
    - * of worship богослужение акт;
    закон;
    постановление;
    решение суда;
    - constituent * учредительный акт;
    - * of Parliament парламентский акт, закон;
    - * of Congress закон, принятый конгрессом (юридическое) (дипломатическое) акт, документ;
    - * of the law юридический акт;
    - * and deed официальный документ, обязательство;
    - final * заключительный акт (театроведение) акт, действие (неодобрительно) сцена;
    - to put on an * разыграть сцену, устроить спектакль;
    - she does not mean it, it's just an * у нее это не всерьез, она просто прикидывается номер программы - the next * will be a magician следующий номер программы - фокусник труппа, группа актеров, исполнителей (университетское) диссертация (библеизм) Деяния апостолов (искусство) (фотографическое) акт, изображение обнаженной натуры > to catch smb. in the * поймать кого-л. на месте преступления, с поличным;
    > to be in the * of doing smth. совершать что-л.;
    быть на грани совершения чего-л.;
    > to get into the * принимать участие, быть в доле, примазаться к какому-л. делу;
    > to get one's * together (сленг) хорошо подготовиться;
    спланировать работу;
    привести в порядок действовать, поступать;
    вести себя;
    - to * immediately действовать без промедления;
    - to * wisely вести себя умно;
    - to * bravely проявить мужество;
    действовать смело;
    - to * on smth. действовать в соответствии с чем-л.;
    - to * on smb.'s suggestion действовать по чьей-л. подсказке;
    - to * on advice действовать по совету, поступать как советуют;
    (for) действовать, принимать участие;
    - to * for smb. выполнять чьи-л. функции;
    исполнять обязанности;
    замещать;
    действовать от чьего-л. лица;
    - a solicitor *s for his clients адвокат представляет интересы своих клиентов;
    - to * on the defensive обороняться, защищаться, занимать оборонительную позицию;
    (военное) находиться в обороне;
    действовать, работать (о приборе и т. п.) ;
    - brakes refused to * тормоза отказали влиять, воздействовать;
    - to * on the emotions воздействовать на чувства;
    - these pills * on the liver эти таблетки действуют на печень;
    - does the drug take long to * on the pain? скоро ли подействует это болеутоляющее?;
    - acids * on metal кислоты воздействуют на металл( up to) быть на высоте;
    соответствовать;
    - to * up to one's principle(s) действовать в соответствии со своими принципами, поступать согласно своим принципам;
    - to * up to one's reputation не обмануть ожиданий (as) работать, служить;
    действовать в качестве;
    - to * as interpreter работать переводчиком;
    - a trained dog can * as a guide to a blind man дрессированная собака может служить слепому проводником (театроведение) исполнять роль, играть;
    - to * the Ghost in "Hamlet" играть роль призрака в "Гамлете" играться (о пьесе, роли) ;
    - his plays don't * well его пьесы трудно играть, его пьесы малосценичны (неодобрительно) прикидываться, притворяться;
    - to * the fool (разговорное) разыгрывать простачка;
    - he *ed very angry он сделал вид, что страшно рассердился;
    - to * interested притвориться заинтересованным;
    - to * outraged virtue разыгрывать оскорбленную невинность > to * one's age поступать в соответствии со своим возрастом;
    > * your age! не веди себя как ребенок!, брось ребячиться!
    act акт, действие (часть пьесы) ~ акт ~ акт (как наименование международного договора) ~ влиять, действовать (on, upon) ~ выполнять функции ~ действие ~ действие;
    деяние ~ действовать, поступать;
    вести себя;
    to act up to a promise сдержать обещание ~ действовать ~ дело, поступок;
    акт;
    act of bravery подвиг;
    act of God стихийное бедствие;
    caught in the (very) act (of committing a crime) захвачен на месте преступления ~ дело ~ деяние ~ документ ~ закон, постановление (парламента, суда) ~ закон ~ (шотл.) заносить, делать запись ~ театр. играть;
    to act the part of Othello играть роль Отелло ~ исполнять обязанности ~ миниатюра, номер ( программы варьете или представления в цирке) ;
    to put on an act разг. притворяться, разыграть сцену ~ постановление ~ постановление (суда) ~ поступать ~ работать, действовать;
    the brake refused to act тормоз отказал ~ работать ~ функционировать Act: Act: Community ~ Закон о Европейском экономическом сообществе act: act: conditional sales ~ закон об условных продажах Act: Act: Finance ~ Закон о государственном бюджете (Великобритания) act: act: fiscal ~ закон о налогообложении Act: Act: Judicature ~ Закон о судоустройстве (Великобритания) act: act: judicial ~ акт судебной власти Act: Act: Limitation ~ Закон о сроках давности (Великобритания) act: act: marriage ~ закон о браке Act: Act: Matrimonial Causes ~ Закон о бракоразводных процессах (Великобритания) act: act: negligent ~ неосмотрительный поступок Act: Act: Settled Land ~ Закон о закрепленной земле( Великобритания) act: act: social assistance ~ закон о социальном обеспечении Act: Act: Social Security ~ Закон о социальном обеспечении (США) act: act: stamp ~ ист. закон о гербовом сборе Act: Act: Tortious Liability ~ Закон об ответственности за гражданские правонарушения (Великобритания) act: act: trade ~ закон о торговле Act: Act: Will's ~ Закон о завещаниях (Великобритания) act: act: wrongful ~ незаконное действие
    ~ and deed официальный документ, обязательство
    ~ as действовать в качестве ~ as работать в качестве
    ~ for выполнять функции другого лица ~ for замещать ~ for исполнять обязанности ~ for представлять другое лицо
    ~ for someone действовать от имени другого лица
    ~ in law юридическое действие
    ~ in law for avoidance purposes юридическое действие для лишения юридической силы
    ~ of accession акт присоединения
    ~ of bankruptcy действие, дающее основания для возбуждения дела о банкротстве
    ~ дело, поступок;
    акт;
    act of bravery подвиг;
    act of God стихийное бедствие;
    caught in the (very) act (of committing a crime) захвачен на месте преступления
    ~ дело, поступок;
    акт;
    act of bravery подвиг;
    act of God стихийное бедствие;
    caught in the (very) act (of committing a crime) захвачен на месте преступления ~ of God страх. действия сил природы ~ of God юр. непреодолимая сила ~ of God страх. стихийное бедствие ~ of God страх. стихийные явления ~ of God страх.,юр. форс-мажор ~ of God страх. форс-мажорные обстоятельства
    ~ of grace амнистия ~ of grace парламентский акт об амнистии ~ of grace помилование grace: ~ милость, милосердие;
    прощение;
    Act of grace( всеобщая) амнистия
    ~ of killing совершение убийства
    ~ of necessity действие в силу необходимости
    ~ of pardon амнистия ~ of pardon парламентский акт об амнистии ~ of pardon помилование
    ~ of restriction ограничивающее постановление
    ~ of state акт государственной власти ~ of state действие государственной власти
    ~ of violence акт насилия ~ of violence насильственное действие
    ~ of war вооруженная агрессия
    ~ on behalf of another действовать от имени другого лица
    ~ on legal capacity закон о юридической правоспособности
    ~ театр. играть;
    to act the part of Othello играть роль Отелло
    ~ действовать, поступать;
    вести себя;
    to act up to a promise сдержать обещание
    aliens ~ закон об иностранцах
    amended ~ юр. закон с внесенными поправками
    ~ работать, действовать;
    the brake refused to act тормоз отказал
    ~ дело, поступок;
    акт;
    act of bravery подвиг;
    act of God стихийное бедствие;
    caught in the (very) act (of committing a crime) захвачен на месте преступления
    coinage ~ закон о чеканке монет
    commercial bank ~ закон о коммерческих банках
    act: conditional sales ~ закон об условных продажах
    criminal ~ преступное действие criminal ~ преступное деяние
    customs ~ закон о таможенных пошлинах
    emergency powers ~ акт о чрезвычайных полномочиях
    enabling ~ акт конгресса США, разрешающий( какой-л.) территории начать подготовку к переходу на статус штата enabling ~ законодательный акт о предоставлении чрезвычайных полномочий enabling ~ (амер.) законодательный акт о предоставлении чрезвычайных полномочий
    final ~ последнее действие
    act: fiscal ~ закон о налогообложении
    guilty ~ преступный акт
    implementing ~ выполняемый акт
    income tax ~ закон о подоходном налоге
    inheritance ~ закон о наследовании
    introductory ~ предварительный акт
    act: judicial ~ акт судебной власти
    juristic ~ юридическое действие
    land charges ~ закон о земельном налоге
    land registration ~ закон о регистрации земельных участков
    legal ~ юридическое действие, юридический акт
    legislative ~ закон legislative ~ законодательный акт
    act: marriage ~ закон о браке
    act: negligent ~ неосмотрительный поступок negligent ~ неумышленное действие
    nonbinding ~ необязывающий закон
    parent ~ старший законодательный акт
    preparatory ~ предварительный законодательный акт
    promulgate an ~ обнародовать закон promulgate an ~ промульгировать закон
    provisional ~ временный законодательный акт
    ~ миниатюра, номер (программы варьете или представления в цирке) ;
    to put on an act разг. притворяться, разыграть сцену
    railway ~ закон о железных дорогах
    reckless ~ неосторожное действие
    rent restriction ~ закон об ограничении арендной платы
    restrictive practices ~ закон против нарушения свободы конкуренции restrictive practices ~ закон против ограничительной торговой практики
    retrospective ~ закон, имеющий обратную силу
    act: social assistance ~ закон о социальном обеспечении
    act: stamp ~ ист. закон о гербовом сборе stamp ~ закон о гербовом сборе
    supplementary estimates ~ закон о дополнительных оценках
    tax assessments ~ закон о налогообложении
    tax control ~ закон о налоговом контроле
    tortious ~ гражданское правонарушение tortious ~ деликтное деяние tortious ~ деликтный акт
    act: trade ~ закон о торговле
    unlawful ~ противоправное деяние
    usury ~ закон против ростовщичества
    act: wrongful ~ незаконное действие wrongful ~ неправомерное действие wrongful ~ противоправное действие

    Большой англо-русский и русско-английский словарь > act

  • 7 product

    сущ.
    1)
    а) эк. продукт, изделие, товар (предмет, созданный человеком, машиной или природой; чаще всего имеются в виду предметы, созданные с целью продажи); мн. продукция

    food products — продукты, продовольственные товары

    high-quality product — товар высокого качества, высококачественный [первоклассный\] товар

    premium quality [premium grade\] product — товар высшего сорта [качества\], товар класса премиум-класса

    undiscounted products — товары, продаваемые без скидки

    fairly-priced product — товар по приемлемой [справедливой\] цене

    See:
    acceptable product, accessory product, actual product, adulterated product, advanced technology products, ageing product, agricultural product, alimentary products, allied products, all-meat product, alternative products, ancillary product, anonymous product, augmented product, bakery products 1), basic product, beauty product, best-selling product, business products, by-product 1), &3, capitalized product, captive product, characteristic product, 2), co-product, commercialized product, commodity product, common product, comparable products, competing products, competiting products, competitive product, competitive products, complementary products, complete product, complicated product, conforming product, consumer products, consumer durable product, convenience products, core product, crop products, custom-designed product, customized product, custom-made product, declining product, deficient product, dehydrated product, differentiated product, diminishing marginal product, disposable product, diversified products, DIY product, do-it-yourself product, domestic product, durable products, egg product, electronics products, end product 2), &3, energy-saving product, entrenched product, essential product, established product, ethical product, ethnic product, everyday product, exclusive product, export products, fair trade product, fairly traded product, fairtrade product, fighting product, final product 1), а&2, financial product, food products, foreign products, formal product, functional product, generic product, global product, green products, grooming product, hair-care product, half-finished product, harmful product, health product, hedonic product, heterogeneous product, high performance product, high quality product, high-interest product 1), high-involvement products, high-margin product, high-reliability product, high-risk product, high-tech product, high-turnover product, high-value product, home-grown product, home-produced product, homogeneous product, hot product, household cleaning product, household maintenance products, household product, hygiene product, imitative product, imperfect product, import products, import-sensitive products, impulse product, industrial product, inferior product, information product, innovative product, in-process product, intangible product, interlocking products, intermediate product, investigated product, joint product, key product, knowledge-intensive product, known product, laundry products, lead product, leading edge product, leisure products, leisure-time products, licensed product, line extension product, livestock product, low-interest product 1), low-involvement products, low-value product, luxury product, main product 2), &3, manufactured products, marginal physical product, marginal product, mature product, me-too product, metal product, misbranded product, multinational product, multiple-use product 2), mundane product, national product, necessary product, necessity product, new product, no-name product, nonconforming product, non-conforming product, non-durable products, nonfood products, non-standard product, novel product, office products, off-price product, off-standard product, oil products, one-shot product, optional product, over-engineered product, paper products, parity products, patentable product, patented product, patent-protected product, payment product, pension product, pharmaceutical product, physical product, plant products, potential product, premium product, prestige products, price-sensitive product, primary products, prime product, printed products, private brand products, private label products, processed product, qualified product, quality products, ready-made product, rejected product, related product, replacement product, representative product, retirement product, revenue product, revised product, safe product, saleable product, salutary product, satisfactory product, scarce product, second generation product, secondary product, semi-finished products, shoddy product, sideline product, single-use product, skill-intensive product, slow-moving product, social product, sophisticated product, standardized products, sugared product, superior product, supplementary products, surplus product, synthetic product, tainted products, tangible product, tied product, tied products, tinned products, tobacco products 1), tying products, unacceptable product, unbranded product, unidentified product, unpatented product, unsafe product, unsaleable product, unsatisfactory product, utilitarian product, vendible product, viable product, wanted product, well-designed product, worthwhile product, product acceptability, product acceptance, product adaptability, product adaptation, product addition, product advertising, product analysis, product announcement, product application, product area, product arsenal, product assessment, product association, product assortment, product assurance, product augmentation, product availability, product awareness, product benefit, product billing, product brand, product branding, product bundling, product capabilities, product category, product choice, product claim, product class, product classification, product company, product compatibility, product competition, product comprehension, product concept, product conception, product control, product copy, product cost, product costing, product coverage, product cycle, product decision, product deletion, product demand, product demonstration, product departmentalization, product design, product development, product differences, product differentiation, product display, product distribution network, product diversification, product division, product element, product elimination, product engineering, product enhancement, product evaluation, product evolution, product exchange, product exhaustion, product expansion, product extension, product failure, product family, product field, product flows, product form, product graduation, product group, product homogeneity, product idea, product image, product improvement, product inflation, product innovation, product inspection, product integrity, product introduction, product invention, product item, product knowledge, product label, product labelling, product layout, product leveraging, product liability, product life, product life cycle, product line, product lineup, product literature, product management, product manager, product manual, product market, product marketing, product matching, product message, product mix, product modification, product name, product nameplate, product offering, product opportunity, product organization, product orientation, product origin, product patent, product perception, product performance, product personality, product placement, product plan, product planner, product planning, product policy, product portfolio, product position, product positioning, product preference, product presentation, product price, product pricing, product profile, product proliferation, product promotion, product proof, product protection, product publicity, product puffery, product quality, product quantity, product range, product rationalization, product recall, product release, product requirements, product research, product research and development, product retailer, product revision, product revolution, product safety, product sales, product sample, product sampling, product satisfaction, product segment, product segmentation, product shortage, product specialization, product specifications, product standard, product statement, product strategy, product structure, product style, product styling, product subline, product superiority, product survey, product tangibility, product team, product technology, product test, product testimony, product testing, product trial, product type, product uniformity, product usage, product validation, product variation, product variety, product warranty, endorse a product, Central Product Classification, Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product, Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers, Clay Product and Refractory Manufacturing, debt-for-products swap
    б) эк. продукт, объем продукции ( количество произведенных товаров или услуг)

    company's product — продукция компании, товары компании

    See:
    2) общ. результат, продукт (итог какой-л. деятельности)

    History is the product of social and economic forces. — История — это результат взаимодействия общественных и экономических факторов.

    the product of this activity is radiation — в результате этой деятельности появляется радиация.

    See:
    3) мат. произведение ( результат умножения двух чисел)

    * * *
    продукт, товар: что-либо производимое для продажи.
    * * *
    * * *
    . . Словарь экономических терминов .
    * * *

    Англо-русский экономический словарь > product

  • 8 act

    [ækt] 1. сущ.
    1) дело, поступок, деяние

    barbaric / barbarous act — акт вандализма, варварский поступок

    courageous / heroic act — смелый поступок, геройский поступок

    criminal / illegal act — преступное деяние, преступление

    impulsive / rash act — опрометчивый поступок

    to commit, perform an act — совершить поступок

    He committed an act of folly. — Он совершил глупость.

    - humane act
    - justified act
    - kind act
    - statesmanlike act
    - thoughtful act
    - volitional act
    Syn:
    2) действие, деяние

    Language interpretation is the whole point of the act of reading. — Интерпретация языковых выражений является самым главным при чтении.

    Syn:
    3) закон, постановление
    Syn:
    4) ( Acts) библ. Деяния апостолов ( книга Нового Завета)
    5) акт, действие (в опере, драме); номер ( в программе эстрадного концерта); исполнитель ( номера)

    variety act брит. / vaudeville act амер. — номер эстрадной программы

    Syn:
    6) неодобр. сцена, спектакль, действие напоказ

    His anger was real. It wasn't an act. — Его гнев был неподдельным. Это не было притворством.

    Did she do this on purpose, was it all just a game, an act? — Делает ли она это нарочно, является ли это все игрой, сценой?

    Syn:
    8) ( the act) половой акт
    ••

    to put on an act — разг. притворяться, разыграть сцену

    2. гл.
    1) действовать, поступать; вести себя

    It is time to act. — Пора действовать.

    He was quick to act. — Он сразу же откликнулся.

    Don't act from instinct. — Не надо действовать под влиянием инстинкта.

    The soldier acted like a real hero. — Этот солдат действовал как настоящий герой.

    - act in unison
    - act out of spite
    2) действовать, работать ( быть исправным)

    The brake refused to act. — Тормоз отказал.

    The gadget acted immediately. — Приспособление тут же сработало.

    3) влиять, действовать

    This weather acts on my nerves. — Эта погода действует мне на нервы.

    4) ( act as) работать, служить в качестве (кого-л.)

    He acted as director for a month. — Он замещал директора в течение месяца.

    She acts as our interpreter. — Она работает в качестве нашего переводчика.

    This medicine acts as a stimulus. — Это лекарство оказывает стимулирующее действие.

    5) прикидываться, притворяться

    He acted the idiot. — Он строил из себя идиота.

    John did not feel fear, he was just acting it. — Джон не испытывал страха, он просто делал вид, что боится.

    Don't take her seriously, she's just acting out. — Не принимай ее всерьез, она прикидывается.

    6) театр. играть; исполнять роль

    Children love to act. — Дети любят играть в театр.

    He acted in many films. — Он снимался во многих фильмах.

    The group acts out the stories in such a way that the members experience really being there. — Эта труппа так ставит свои спектакли, что актерам кажется, как будто это всё происходит по-настоящему.

    7) ( act for) представлять, действовать от лица (кого-л.)

    As the chairman is ill, I am asking you to act for him. — Так как председатель болен, я прошу вас заменить его.

    8) ( act (up)on) действовать согласно (чему-л.)

    to act (up)on smb.'s advice — действовать по чьему-л. совету

    The police are acting on information received. — Полиция действует в соответствии с полученной информацией.

    •
    - act up

    Англо-русский современный словарь > act

  • 9 Historical Portugal

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

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Historical Portugal

  • 10 Media

       The purpose of the media during the Estado Novo (1926-74) was to communicate official government policy. Therefore, the government strictly censored newspapers, magazines, and books. Radio and television broadcasting was in the hands of two state-owned companies: Radiodifusão Portuguesa (RDP) and Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP). The first TV broadcasts aired in March 1957, and the official state visit of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain to Portugal was featured. The only independent broadcasting company during the Estado Novo was the Catholic Church's Radio Renascença. Writers and journalists who violated the regime's guidelines were severely sanctioned. Under Prime Minister Marcello Caetano, censorship was relaxed somewhat, and writers were allowed to publish critical and controversial works without fear of punishment. Caetano attempted to "speak to the people" through television. Daily program content consisted of little more than government-controlled (and censored) news programs and dull documentaries.
       After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, censorship was abolished. As the revolution veered leftward, some sectors of the media were seized by opponents of the views they expressed. The most famous case was the seizure of Radio Renascença by those who sought to bring it into line with the drift leftward. State ownership of the media was increased after 25 April 1974, when banks were nationalized because most banks owned at least one newspaper. As the Revolution moderated and as banking was privatized during the 1980s and 1990s, newspapers were also privatized.
       The history of two major Lisbon dailies illustrates recent cycles of Portuguese politics and pressures. O Século, a major Lisbon daily paper was founded in 1881 and was influenced by Republican, even Masonic ideas. When the first Republic began in 1910, the editorials of O Século defended the new system, but the economic and social turmoil disillusioned the paper's directors. In 1924, O Século, under publisher João Pereira da Rosa, called for political reform and opposed the Democratic Party, which monopolized elections and power in the Republic. This paper was one of the two most important daily papers, and it backed the military coup of 28 May 1926 and the emergent military dictatorship. Over the history of the Estado Novo, this paper remained somewhat to the left of the other major daily paper in Lisbon, Diário de Notícias, but in 1972 the paper suffered a severe financial crisis and was bought by a Lisbon banker. During the more chaotic times after the Revolution of 25 April 1974, O Século experienced its own time of turmoil, in which there was a split between workers and editors, firings, resignations, and financial trouble. After a series of financial problems and controversy over procommunist staff, the paper was suspended and then ceased publication in February 1977. In the 1990s, there was a brief but unsuccessful attempt to revive O Século.
       Today, the daily paper with the largest circulation is Diário de Notícias of Lisbon, which was established in 1883. It became the major daily paper of record, but after the Revolution of 25 April 1974, like O Século, the paper suffered difficulties, both political and financial. One of its editors in the "hot" summer of 1975 was José Saramago, future Nobel Prize winner in literature, and there was an internal battle in the editorial rooms between factions. The paper was, like O Século, nationalized in 1976, but in 1991, Diário de Notícias was reprivatized and today it continues to be the daily paper of record, leading daily circulation.
       Currently, about 20 daily newspapers are published in Portugal, in Lisbon, the capital, as well as in the principal cities of Oporto, Coimbra, and Évora. The major Lisbon newspapers are Diário de Notícias (daily and newspaper of record), Publico (daily), Correia da Manha (daily), Jornal de Noticias (daily), Expresso (weekly), The Portugal News (English language weekly), The Resident (English language weekly), and Get Real Weekly (English language).
       These papers range from the excellent, such as Público and the Diário de Notícias, to the sensationalistic, such as Correio da Manhã. Portugal's premier weekly newspaper is Expresso, founded by Francisco Balsemão during the last years of Marcello Caetano's governance, whose modern format, spirit, and muted criticism of the regime helped prepare public opinion for regime change in 1974. Another weekly is O Independente, founded in 1988, which specializes in political satire. In addition to these newspapers, Portugal has a large number of newspapers and magazines published for a specific readership: sports fans, gardeners, farmers, boating enthusiasts, etc. In addition to the two state-owned TV channels, Portugal has two independent channels, one of which is operated by the Catholic Church. TV programming is now diverse and sophisticated, with a great variety of programs of both domestic and foreign content. The most popular TV programs have been soap operas and serialized novels ( telenovelas) imported from Brazil. In the 1990s, Portugal attempted to produce its own telenovelas and soap operas, but these have not been as popular as the more exotic Brazilian imports.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Media

  • 11 excellence

    Gen Mgt, Ops
    a state of organizational performance achieved through the successful integration of a variety of operational and strategic elements that enables an organization to become one of the best in its field. Excellence is initially evident when an organization rises above its competitors, and it is usually measured by the ability to sustain a leading or significant market share. The strategic and operational elements contributing to excellence include the organization’s approach to total quality management, quality assurance, quality awards and quality standards, core competency, benchmarking, customer service, the balanced scorecard, and leadership. Taken altogether, these components should produce an organizational approach to the generation, development, and delivery of products and services that is better, cheaper, and smarter than that of the competition. Attempts at becoming an excellent organization have spawned terms such as best practice, bestin-class, and world class manufacturing and are usually associated with a holistic approach to competitive advantage.

    The ultimate business dictionary > excellence

  • 12 management education

    HR
    formal instruction in the principles and techniques of management, and in related subjects, leading to a qualification. Management education strives to develop management knowledge, understanding, and competence through classroom or distance-based methods. Management education is a main component of management development, and differs from management training in that the latter may exploit any one of a variety of formal or informal methods, tends to be focused on a specific skill, and does not result directly in a formal qualification.

    The ultimate business dictionary > management education

  • 13 Blériot, Louis

    SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace
    [br]
    b. 1 July 1872 Cambrai, France
    d. 2 August 1936 Paris, France
    [br]
    French aircraft manufacturer and pilot who in 1909 made the first flight across the English Channel in an aeroplane.
    [br]
    Having made a fortune with his patented automobile lamp, Blériot started experimenting with model aircraft in about 1900. He tried a flapping-wing layout which, surprisingly, did fly, but a full-size version was a failure. Blériot tried out a wide variety of designs: a biplane float-glider built with Gabriel Voisin; a powered float-plane with ellipsoidal biplane wings; a canard (tail-first) monoplane; a tandem monoplane; and in 1907 a monoplane of conventional layout. This last was not an immediate success, but it led to the Type XI in which Blériot made history by flying from France to England on 25 July 1909.
    Without a doubt, Blériot was an accomplished pilot and a successful manufacturer of aircraft, but he sometimes employed others as designers (a fact not made known at the time). It is now accepted that much of the credit for the design of the Type XI should go to Raymond Saulnier, who later made his name with the Morane-Saulnier Company.
    Blériot-Aéronautique became one of the leading manufacturers of aircraft and by the outbreak of war in 1914 some eight hundred aircraft had been produced. By 1918, aircraft were being built at the rate of eighteen per day. The Blériot company continued to produce aircraft until it was nationalized in 1937.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur. Daily Mail £1,000 prize for the first cross-Channel aeroplane flight.
    Further Reading
    C.H.Gibbs-Smith, 1965, The Invention of the Aeroplane 1799–1909, London (contains a list of all Blériot's early aircraft).
    J.Stroud, 1966, European Transport Aircraft since 1920, London (for information about Blériot's later aircraft).
    For information relating to the cross-Channel flight, see: C.Fontaine, 1913, Comment Blériota traversé la, Manche, Paris.
    T.D.Crouch, 1982, Blériot XI, the Story of a Classic Aircraft, Washington, DC: National Air \& Space Museum.
    JDS

    Biographical history of technology > Blériot, Louis

  • 14 Crookes, Sir William

    SUBJECT AREA: Electricity
    [br]
    b. 17 June 1832 London, England
    d. 4 April 1919 London, England
    [br]
    English chemist and physicist who carried out studies of electrical discharges and cathode rays in rarefied gases, leading to the development of the cathode ray tube; discoverer of the element thallium and the principle of the Crookes radiometer.
    [br]
    Crookes entered the Royal College of Chemistry at the age of 15, and from 1850 to 1854 held the appointment of Assistant at the college. In 1854 he became Superintendent of the Meteorological Department at the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford. He moved to a post at the College of Science in Chester the following year. Soon after this he inherited a large fortune and set up his own private laboratory in London. There he studied the nature of electrical discharges in gases at low pressure and discovered the dark space (later named after him) that surrounds the negative electrode, or cathode. He also established that the rays produced in the process (subsequently shown by J.J.Thompson to be a stream of electrons) not only travelled in straight lines, but were also capable of producing heat and/or light upon impact with suitable anode materials. Using a variety of new methods to investigate these "cathode" rays, he applied them to the spectral analysis of compounds of selenium and, as a result, in 1861 he discovered the element thallium, finally establishing its atomic weight in 1873. Following his discovery of thallium, he became involved in two main lines of research: the properties of rarified gases, and the investigation of the elements of the "rare earths". It was also during these experiments that he discovered the principle of the Crookes radiometer, a device in which light is converted into rotational motion and which used to be found frequently in the shop windows of English opticians. Also among the fruits of this work were the Crookes tubes and the development of spectacle lenses with differential ranges of radiational absorption. In the 1870s he became interested in spiritualism and acquired a reputation for his studies of psychic phenomena, but at the turn of the century he returned to traditional scientific investigations. In 1892 he wrote about the possibility of wireless telegraphy. His work in the field of radioactivity led to the invention of the spinthariscope, an early type of detector of alpha particles. In 1900 he undertook investigations into uranium which led to the study of scintillation, an important tool in the study of radioactivity.
    While the theoretical basis of his work has not stood the test of time, his material discoveries, observations and investigations of new facts formed a basis on which others such as J.J. Thomson were to develop subatomic theory. His later involvement in the investigation of spiritualism led to much criticism, but could be justified on the basis of a belief in the duty to investigate all phenomena.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1897. Order of Merit 1910. FRS 1863. President, Royal Society 1913–15. Honorary LLD Birmingham. Honorary DSc Oxon, Cambridge, Sheffield, Durham, Ireland and Cape of Good Hope.
    Bibliography
    1874, On Attraction and Repulsion Resulting from Radiation.
    1874, "Researches in the phenomenon of spiritualism", Society of Metaphysics; reprinted in facsimile, 1986.
    Further Reading
    E.E.Fournier D'Albe, 1923, Life of Sir William Crookes. Who Was Who II, 1916–28, London: A. \& C. Black. T.I.Williams, 1969, A Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. See also Braun, Karl Ferdinand.
    KF / MG

    Biographical history of technology > Crookes, Sir William

  • 15 Glauber, Johann Rudolf

    SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy
    [br]
    b. 1604 Karlstadt, Germany
    d. March 1670 Amsterdam, Holland
    [br]
    German chemist and metallurgist.
    [br]
    The son of a barber, Glauber took up the study of alchemy and travelled widely in search of its secrets. Around 1639, the political uncertainties of the Thirty Years War persuaded him to leave Germany for a more settled life in Amsterdam. While there, he carried out most of the practical work for which he is famous, including his distillation furnace, which made it possible to reach higher temperatures and to heat substances in a variety of conditions. To earn a living he set up in the wine trade, but he continued his alchemical pursuits, under cover on account of the unpopularity of the would-be gold makers. After the end of the war, he returned to Germany, but in 1655 personal disputes and religious friction drove him back to Amsterdam. He set about constructing the largest and most elaborate chemical laboratory in Europe.
    Glauber's best-known writing, the Furni novi philosophici (1646–9) gives the clearest idea of his practical methods and was influential on some of the leading chemists of the time and later. His name survives today in Glauber's salt for hydrated sodium sulphate. Glauber described several methods for preparing the mineral acids, materials of great importance to the chemist, and obtained the concentrated acids by using his distilling furnace. He tried distilling any substance he could lay hands on, and in the course of this work became probably the first chemist to distil coal and, using hydrochloric acid, obtain benzene and phenol. Glauber was the best practical chemist of the age and the first industrial chemist.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    Further Reading
    K.F.Gugel, 1955, Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604–1670), Leben und Werke, Würzburg (the fullest account of his life; with a bibliography).
    P.Walden, 1929, "Glauber", in Das Buch der grossen Chemiker, ed. G.Bugge, Berlin, pp. 151–72 (the best account of Glauber's practical methods).
    E.Farber, 1961, Great Chemists, New York, pp. 115–31 (an abridged translation of ibid.).
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Glauber, Johann Rudolf

  • 16 Hancock, Thomas

    SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology
    [br]
    b. 8 May 1786 Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
    d. 26 March 1865 Stoke Newington, London, England
    [br]
    English founder of the British rubber industry.
    [br]
    After education at a private school in Marlborough, Hancock spent some time in "mechanical pursuits". He went to London to better himself and c.1819 his interest was aroused in the uses of rubber, which until then had been limited. His first patent, dated 29 April 1820, was for the application of rubber in clothing where some elasticity was useful, such as braces or slip-on boots. He noticed that freshly cut pieces of rubber could be made to adhere by pressure to form larger pieces. To cut up his imported and waste rubber into small pieces, Hancock developed his "masticator". This device consisted of a spiked roller revolving in a hollow cylinder. However, when rubber was fed in to the machine, the product was not the expected shredded rubber, but a homogeneous cylindrical mass of solid rubber, formed by the heat generated by the process and pressure against the outer cylinder. This rubber could then be compacted into blocks or rolled into sheets at his factory in Goswell Road, London; the blocks and sheets could be used to make a variety of useful articles. Meanwhile Hancock entered into partnership with Charles Macintosh in Manchester to manufacture rubberized, waterproof fabrics. Despite these developments, rubber remained an unsatisfactory material, becoming sticky when warmed and losing its elasticity when cold. In 1842 Hancock encountered specimens of vulcanized rubber prepared by Charles Goodyear in America. Hancock worked out for himself that it was made by heating rubber and sulphur, and obtained a patent for the manufacture of the material on 21 November 1843. This patent also included details of a new form of rubber, hardened by heating to a higher temperature, that was later called vulcanite, or ebonite. In 1846 he began making solid rubber tyres for road vehicles. Overall Hancock took out sixteen patents, covering all aspects of the rubber industry; they were a leading factor in the development of the industry from 1820 until their expiry in 1858.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1857, Personal Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Caoutchouc or Indiarubber Manufacture in England, London.
    Further Reading
    H.Schurer, 1953, "The macintosh: the paternity of an invention", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 28:77–87.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Hancock, Thomas

  • 17 Hunter, John

    SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology
    [br]
    b. 14 (registered 13) February 1728 East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland
    d. 16 October 1793 London, England
    [br]
    Scottish surgeon and anatomist, pioneer of experimental methods in medicine and surgery.
    [br]
    The younger brother of William Hunter (1718–83), who was of great distinction but perhaps of slightly less achievement in similar fields, he owed much of his early experience to his brother; William, after a period at Glasgow University, moved to St George's Hospital, London. In his later teens, John assisted a brother-in-law with cabinet-making. This appears to have contributed to the lifelong mechanical skill which he displayed as a dissector and surgeon. This skill was particularly obvious when, after following William to London in 1748, he held post at a number of London teaching hospitals before moving to St George's in 1756. A short sojourn at Oxford in 1755 appears to have been unfruitful.
    Despite his deepening involvement in the study of comparative anatomy, facilitated by the purchase of animals from the Tower menagerie and travelling show people, he accepted an appointment as a staff surgeon in the Army in 1760, participating in the expedition to Belle Isle and also serving in Portugal. He returned home with over 300 specimens in 1763 and, until his appointment as Surgeon to St George's in 1768, was heavily involved in the examination of this and other material, as well as in studies of foetal testicular descent, placental circulation, the nature of pus and lymphatic circulation. In 1772 he commenced lecturing on the theory and practice of surgery, and in 1776 he was appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to George III.
    He is rightly regarded as the founder of scientific surgery, but his knowledge was derived almost entirely from his own experiments and observations. His contemporaries did not always accept or understand the concepts which led to such aphorisms as, "to perform an operation is to mutilate a patient we cannot cure", and his written comment to his pupil Jenner: "Why think. Why not trie the experiment". His desire to establish the aetiology of gonorrhoea led to him infecting himself, as a result of which he also contracted syphilis. His ensuing account of the characteristics of the disease remains a classic of medicine, although it is likely that the sequelae of the condition brought about his death at a relatively early age. From 1773 he suffered recurrent anginal attacks of such a character that his life "was in the hands of any rascal who chose to annoy and tease him". Indeed, it was following a contradiction at a board meeting at St George's that he died.
    By 1788, with the death of Percival Pott, he had become unquestionably the leading surgeon in Britain, if not Europe. Elected to the Royal Society in 1767, the extraordinary variety of his collections, investigations and publications, as well as works such as the "Treatise on the natural history of the human teeth" (1771–8), gives testimony to his original approach involving the fundamental and inescapable relation of structure and function in both normal and disease states. The massive growth of his collections led to his acquiring two houses in Golden Square to contain them. It was his desire that after his death his collection be purchased and preserved for the nation. It contained 13,600 specimens and had cost him £70,000. After considerable delay, Par-liament voted inadequate sums for this purpose and the collection was entrusted to the recently rechartered Royal College of Surgeons of England, in whose premises this remarkable monument to the omnivorous and eclectic activities of this outstanding figure in the evolution of medicine and surgery may still be seen. Sadly, some of the collection was lost to bombing during the Second World War. His surviving papers were also extensive, but it is probable that many were destroyed in the early nineteenth century.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1767. Copley Medal 1787.
    Bibliography
    1835–7, Works, ed. J.F.Palmer, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London.
    MG

    Biographical history of technology > Hunter, John

  • 18 Otis, Elijah Graves

    [br]
    b. 3 August 1811 Halifax, Vermont, USA
    d. 8 April 1861 Yonkers, New York, USA
    [br]
    American mechanic and inventor of the safety passenger elevator.
    [br]
    Otis was educated in public schools and worked in a variety of jobs in the trucking and construction industries as well as in a machine shop, a carriage makers, a grist mill, and a saw mill and in a bedstead factory. It was when supervisor of construction of a new bedstead factory at Yonkers in 1852 that he developed the innovative safety features of an elevator that was to be the foundation of his later success. If the ropes or cables of a hoist should break, springs would force pawls on the lift cage to engage the ratcheted guide rails fitted into the sides of the shaft and so stop the lift. In 1853 he was planning to leave his job to join the California Gold Rush but representatives of two New York City firms who had seen his Safety Elevator and were impressed with the safety devices requested that he make them replicas. He purchased space in the Yonkers plant and began manufacture of the lifts. Demand was small at first until in 1854 he exhibited at the American Institute Fair in New York City with an impressive performance. Standing on top of the lift cage, he ordered the rope supporting it to be cut. The safety pawls engaged and the cage stopped its downward movement. From then on orders gradually increased and in 1857 he installed the first safety lift for passengers in the Haughtwout Store in New York City. The invention immediately became popular and started a revolution in architecture and the construction industry, leading to the design and building of skyscrapers, as previously buildings were limited to six or seven storeys, because of the stairs people had to climb. Otis patented several other devices, the most important of which was for a steam elevator which established the future of the Otis Elevator Company. He died at Yonkers in 1861, leaving his business to his sons.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    Scribner's and Webster's Dictionaries of Biography.
    IMcN / DY

    Biographical history of technology > Otis, Elijah Graves

  • 19 Wedgwood, Josiah

    [br]
    baptized 12 July 1730 Burslem, Staffordshire, England
    d. 3 January 1795 Etruria Hall, Staffordshire, England
    [br]
    English potter and man of science.
    [br]
    Wedgwood came from prolific farming stock who, in the seventeenth century, had turned to pot-making. At the age of 9 his education was brought to an end by his father's death and he was set to work in one of the family potteries. Two years later an attack of smallpox left him with a weakness in his right knee which prevented him from working the potter's wheel. This forced his attention to other aspects of the process, such as design and modelling. He was apprenticed to his brother Thomas in 1744, and in 1752 was in partnership with Thomas Whieldon, a leading Staffordshire potter, until probably the first half of 1759, when he became a master potter and set up in business on his own account at Ivy House Works in Burslem.
    Wedgwood was then able to exercise to the full his determination to improve the quality of his ware. This he achieved by careful attention to all aspects of the work: artistic judgement of form and decoration; chemical study of the materials; and intelligent management of manufacturing processes. For example, to achieve greater control over firing conditions, he invented a pyrometer, a temperature-measuring device by which the shrinkage of prepared clay cylinders in the furnace gave an indication of the temperature. Wedgwood was the first potter to employ steam power, installing a Boulton \& Watt engine for crushing and other operations in 1782. Beyond the confines of his works, Wedgwood concerned himself in local issues such as improvements to the road and canal systems to facilitate transport of raw materials and products.
    During the first ten years, Wedgwood steadily improved the quality of his cream ware, known as "Queen's ware" after a set of ware was presented to Queen Charlotte in 1762. The business prospered and his reputation grew. In 1766 he was able to purchase an estate on which he built new works, a mansion and a village to which he gave the name Etruria. Four years after the Etruria works were opened in 1769, Wedgwood began experimenting with a barium compound combined in a fine-textured base allied to a true porcelain. The result was Wedgwood's most original and distinctive ware similar to jasper, made in a wide variety of forms.
    Wedgwood had many followers and imitators but the merit of initiating and carrying through a large-scale technical and artistic development of English pottery belongs to Wedgwood.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1783.
    Bibliography
    Wedgwood contributed five papers to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, two in 1783 and 1790 on chemical subjects and three in 1782, 1784 and 1786 on his pyrometer.
    Further Reading
    Meteyard, 1865, Life of Josiah Wedgwood, London (biography).
    A.Burton, 1976, Josiah Wedgwood: Biography, London: André Deutsch (a very readable account).
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Wedgwood, Josiah

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