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  • 1 treno

    m train
    treno intercity intercity train
    treno merci goods train
    in treno by train
    * * *
    treno1 s.m.
    1 train: treno a breve percorso, locale, local train; treno accelerato, slow train; treno rapido, express (train); treno a lungo percorso, mainline train; treno a vagoni intercomunicanti, corridor train; treno bestiame, cattle train; treno blindato, armoured train; treno del mattino, morning train; il treno delle 9,45, the 9.45 train; treno di lusso, luxury train; treno direttissimo, espresso, fast train; treno diretto, through train; treno di soccorso, breakdown train; treno merci, goods train (o amer. freight train); treno militare, ( tradotta) troop train; treno passeggeri, passenger train; treno postale, mail train; arrivo di un treno, train arrival; partenza di un treno, train departure; attenti al treno!, look out for the locomotive!; formazione di un treno, making-up of a train; in treno, in the train; movimento dei treni, train traffic; passaggio di un treno, running through of a train; viaggio in treno, train journey; andare in treno, to go by train; dare la partenza a un treno, to despatch a train; dare via libera al treno, to let the train run through; perdere un treno, to miss a train; prendere un treno, to catch a train; salire in treno, to get onto the train; scendere dal treno, to get off (o out of) the train
    2 ( seguito, scorta) train, retinue: arrivò con il suo treno di attendenti, he arrived with his train of attendants
    3 (non com.) ( tenore di vita) way of living, routine
    4 ( insieme, serie) set: treno di gomme, set of tyres; treno di ruote, wheel set; treno di ingranaggi, train of gear wheels // treno anteriore, ( avantreno) forecarriage; treno posteriore, rear end
    5 (metall.): treno laminatoio, train of rolls (o rolling mill); treno ( laminatoio) per lamiere, sheet rolling mill.
    treno2 s.m. trenodia s.f. ( poesia greca) threnody.
    * * *
    ['trɛno]
    sostantivo maschile
    1) ferr. train

    il treno da Napoli, per Londra — the Naples train, the train to London

    prendere il trenoto take o catch the train

    perdere il treno — to miss the train; fig. to miss the boat

    salire sul, scendere dal treno — to get on, off the train

    2) (di veicolo) carriage

    treno anteriore — front-axle assembly, forecarriage

    treno posteriore — back axle assembly, rear carriage

    3) (di animale) quarters pl.
    4) (serie) set

    treno di gommeaut. set of tyres

    treno d'ondefis. wave train

    treno regionale — local, stopping train, way train AE

    * * *
    treno
    /'trεno/
    sostantivo m.
     1 ferr. train; il treno da Napoli, per Londra the Naples train, the train to London; prendere il treno to take o catch the train; perdere il treno to miss the train; fig. to miss the boat; salire sul, scendere dal treno to get on, off the train; il treno delle 5 the 5 o'clock train; sono due ore di treno fino a Roma it's two hours by train to Rome
     2 (di veicolo) carriage; treno anteriore front-axle assembly, forecarriage; treno posteriore back axle assembly, rear carriage
     3 (di animale) quarters pl.; treno anteriore forequarters; treno posteriore hind quarter(s)
     4 (serie) set; treno di gomme aut. set of tyres
    treno diretto through train; treno espresso express; treno intercity inter-city (train); treno interregionale →  treno diretto; treno locale →  treno regionale; treno merci goods train; treno d'onde fis. wave train; treno passeggeri passenger train; treno rapido →  treno intercity; treno regionale local, stopping train, way train AE; treno straordinario relief train; treno a vapore steam train.

    Dizionario Italiano-Inglese > treno

  • 2 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

  • 3 fábrica

    f.
    factory, industry, industrial plant, mill.
    * * *
    1 (industria) factory, plant
    2 (fabricación) manufacture
    3 ARQUITECTURA masonry
    \
    fábrica de conservas cannery, canning factory
    fábrica de gas gasworks
    fábrica de harina flour mill
    fábrica de montaje assembly plant
    fábrica de papel paper mill
    precio de fábrica factory price, ex-works price
    * * *
    noun f.
    * * *
    SF
    1) (=factoría) factory

    precio de fábrica — price ex-works, price ex-factory

    fábrica de acero — steel plant, steelworks

    fábrica de conservas — canning plant, cannery

    2) (Arquit)

    de fábrica — stone, stonework

    3) (=proceso) manufacture
    4) And (=alambique) still, distillery
    * * *
    femenino factory

    fábrica de textiles/papel — textile/paper mill

    * * *
    = factory, manufacturing firm, manufactory, manufacturing enterprise, plant, manufacturing plant.
    Ex. A thesaurus might advise the searcher that the following alternative terms might prove fruitful: factories and other more specific terms, e.g. Printing works.
    Ex. Fee-for-service programmes can target non-traditional market segments such as pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, and manufacturing firms who regularly need and willingly pay a premium price for perishable medical information.
    Ex. The strength of the book 'The American manufactory' lies in its detailed narratives of success and failure.
    Ex. The author attempts to determine whether South African manufacturing enterprises used information to their competitive advantage.
    Ex. The author describes the approach and its application to 2 different processes: coffee roasting and decaffeination in a Nestle plant.
    Ex. Greater London constituted Britain's most important interwar centre for new manufacturing plants.
    ----
    * como salido de fábrica = in mint condition.
    * fábrica azucarera = sugar mill.
    * fábrica de azúcar = sugar factory.
    * fábrica de azúcar de remolacha = beet sugar factory.
    * fábrica de carruajes = carriage-making plant.
    * fábrica de cemento = cement plant.
    * fábrica de cerámica = ceramics factory.
    * fábrica de cerveza = brewery.
    * fábrica de conservas = cannery.
    * fábrica de diplomados = diploma mill.
    * fábrica de laminación de acero = steel mill.
    * fábrica de licenciados = diploma mill.
    * fábrica de muebles = furniture factory.
    * fábrica de papel = paper mill, pulp and paper mill.
    * fábrica de tejidos de algodón = mill, cotton mill.
    * fábrica de titulados = diploma mill.
    * fábrica de toneles = cooperage.
    * fábrica textil = mill.
    * máquina de fábrica = manufacturing equipment.
    * perforado de fábrica = pre-drilled.
    * propietario de una fábrica textil = wool-factor.
    * trabajador de fábrica = factory worker, factory hand.
    * * *
    femenino factory

    fábrica de textiles/papel — textile/paper mill

    * * *
    = factory, manufacturing firm, manufactory, manufacturing enterprise, plant, manufacturing plant.

    Ex: A thesaurus might advise the searcher that the following alternative terms might prove fruitful: factories and other more specific terms, e.g. Printing works.

    Ex: Fee-for-service programmes can target non-traditional market segments such as pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, and manufacturing firms who regularly need and willingly pay a premium price for perishable medical information.
    Ex: The strength of the book 'The American manufactory' lies in its detailed narratives of success and failure.
    Ex: The author attempts to determine whether South African manufacturing enterprises used information to their competitive advantage.
    Ex: The author describes the approach and its application to 2 different processes: coffee roasting and decaffeination in a Nestle plant.
    Ex: Greater London constituted Britain's most important interwar centre for new manufacturing plants.
    * como salido de fábrica = in mint condition.
    * fábrica azucarera = sugar mill.
    * fábrica de azúcar = sugar factory.
    * fábrica de azúcar de remolacha = beet sugar factory.
    * fábrica de carruajes = carriage-making plant.
    * fábrica de cemento = cement plant.
    * fábrica de cerámica = ceramics factory.
    * fábrica de cerveza = brewery.
    * fábrica de conservas = cannery.
    * fábrica de diplomados = diploma mill.
    * fábrica de laminación de acero = steel mill.
    * fábrica de licenciados = diploma mill.
    * fábrica de muebles = furniture factory.
    * fábrica de papel = paper mill, pulp and paper mill.
    * fábrica de tejidos de algodón = mill, cotton mill.
    * fábrica de titulados = diploma mill.
    * fábrica de toneles = cooperage.
    * fábrica textil = mill.
    * máquina de fábrica = manufacturing equipment.
    * perforado de fábrica = pre-drilled.
    * propietario de una fábrica textil = wool-factor.
    * trabajador de fábrica = factory worker, factory hand.

    * * *
    fábrica de zapatos/muebles shoe/furniture factory
    fábrica de textiles textile mill
    fábrica de papel paper mill
    fábrica de conservas canning plant
    un defecto de fábrica a manufacturing defect
    B ( Const) stonework
    una pared de fábrica a stone wall
    * * *

     

    Del verbo fabricar: ( conjugate fabricar)

    fabrica es:

    3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) presente indicativo

    2ª persona singular (tú) imperativo

    Multiple Entries:
    fabricar    
    fábrica
    fabricar ( conjugate fabricar) verbo transitivo
    to manufacture;
    fábrica en cadena/serie to mass-produce;


    ( on signs) fabricado en Perú made in Peru
    fábrica sustantivo femenino
    factory;

    fábrica de textiles/papel textile/paper mill;
    fábrica de cerveza brewery;
    fábrica de conservas cannery
    fabricar verbo transitivo
    1 (en serie) to manufacture
    2 (elaborar) to make
    3 (construir) to build
    4 figurado to fabricate
    fábrica sustantivo femenino factory
    fábrica de cemento, cement works
    fábrica de cerveza, brewery
    fábrica de papel, paper mill
    fábrica textil, textile plant

    ' fábrica' also found in these entries:
    Spanish:
    bodega
    - cantina
    - cervecería
    - comedor
    - comedora
    - enchufar
    - factoría
    - sirena
    - volar
    - azucarera
    - bocina
    - cafetería
    - cerrar
    - chimenea
    - cierre
    - defecto
    - encerrar
    - encierro
    - fichar
    - funcionamiento
    - modernizar
    - molino
    - música
    - obrero
    - ocupar
    - panadería
    - papelera
    - personal
    - situar
    - técnico
    - telar
    - toma
    - tomar
    - usina
    - velador
    - vidrio
    English:
    brewery
    - close down
    - downgrade
    - ex
    - factory
    - found
    - gasworks
    - grind
    - hooter
    - idle
    - mill
    - nowhere
    - output
    - plant
    - produce
    - scale down
    - shed
    - should
    - stop
    - trade secret
    - work
    - armory
    - blot
    - second
    - sweat
    - trade
    - works
    * * *
    1. [establecimiento industrial] factory;
    viene instalado de fábrica it's pre-installed;
    tiene un defecto de fábrica it has a manufacturing defect;
    es así de fábrica it's like that when you buy it
    fábrica de cerveza brewery;
    fábrica de conservas canning plant, cannery;
    Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre = Spanish national mint;
    fábrica de papel paper mill;
    fábrica siderúrgica iron and steelworks [singular]
    2. [construcción] [ladrillo] brickwork;
    [piedra] stonework;
    un muro de fábrica [de ladrillo] a brick wall;
    [de piedra] a stone wall
    * * *
    f
    1 plant, factory;
    en fábrica COM de precio ex works
    2 ARQUI stonework;
    de fábrica stone atr
    * * *
    factoría: factory
    * * *
    fábrica n factory [pl. factories]
    Si se trata de una fábrica de azúcar, de papel o textil se suele llamar mill

    Spanish-English dictionary > fábrica

  • 4 derecho

    adj.
    1 right-hand, right.
    2 straight, upright, erect, standing.
    3 uncurved, unbowed.
    4 dextral.
    5 according to law, uncrooked.
    adv.
    straight on, straight, straightly.
    m.
    1 right, legitimate faculty, individual right, just claim.
    2 law.
    3 prerogative.
    * * *
    1 right
    2 (recto) straight, upright
    1 straight
    1 (leyes) law
    2 (privilegio) right
    3 (de una tela, calcetín, etc) right side
    1 (impuestos) duties, taxes; (tarifa) fees
    \
    con derecho a with the right to
    ¿con qué derecho...? what right...?
    ¿con qué derecho te marchaste? what right did you have to leave?
    dar derecho to entitle to
    de derecho by right
    estar en su derecho to be within one's rights
    no hacer nada a derechas figurado to do nothing right
    ¡no hay derecho! it's not fair!
    'Reservados todos los derechos' "All rights reserved"
    'Se reserva el derecho de admisión' "The management reserves the right to refuse admission"
    tener derecho a to be entitled to, have the right to
    derecho civil civil law
    derecho de admisión right sing to refuse admission
    derecho mercantil commercial law, mercantile law
    derecho penal criminal law
    derecho político constitutional law
    derechos civiles civil rights
    derechos de aduana customs duties
    derechos de matrícula registration fees
    derechos de sucesión death duties
    derechos humanos human rights
    el derecho al voto the right to vote
    ————————
    1 straight
    * * *
    1. noun m.
    1) law
    - derechos de autor 2. (f. - derecha)
    adj.
    * * *
    1. ADJ
    1) [línea, dirección] (=recto) straight; (=vertical) upright, straight

    anda derecha — walk upright, stand straight when you walk

    poner algo derecho — (=no torcido) to put sth straight, straighten sth; (=no caído) to stand sth upright

    2) (=del lado derecho) [brazo, pierna, oreja] right; [lado, cajón] right-hand
    brazo 1), ojo 1)
    3) (=honrado) honest, straight
    4) CAm (=afortunado) lucky
    2. ADV
    1) (=en línea recta)

    seguir derechoto carry o go straight on

    siga todo derechocarry o go straight on

    2) (=directamente) straight

    después del cine, derechito para casa — after the cinema, straight home

    3. SM
    1) (Jur) (=estudios, legislación) law; (=justicia) justice

    conforme a derecho — in accordance with the law

    propietario en derecho — legal owner

    por derecho — in law, legally

    lo que me corresponde por derecho — what is legally mine, what is mine by law

    por derecho propioin one's own right

    derecho del trabajolabour o (EEUU) labor law

    derecho forallegislation pertaining to those Spanish regions which have charters called "fueros"

    derecho laboral — labour law, labor law (EEUU)

    2) [de persona, entidad] right

    ¿con qué derecho me hablas así? — what right have you to talk to me that way?

    ¡no hay derecho! — it's not fair!

    derecho a la educación — right to education

    lo único que nos queda es el derecho al pataleohum the only thing we can do is kick up a fuss *

    derecho al voto, derecho a votar — [gen] right to vote; [como derecho civil] franchise, right to vote

    con derecho a algo — entitled to sth

    entrada con derecho a consumiciónentrance ticket including one free drink

    dar derecho a hacer algo — to give the right to do sth

    estar en su derecho — to be within one's rights

    claro, estás en tu derecho de decir lo que quieras — of course, you are perfectly entitled to say whatever you like

    tener derecho a algo — to be entitled to sth

    tener derecho a hacer algoto have a o the right to do sth

    derecho de paso — right of way, easement (EEUU)

    derecho de pernada — ( Hist) droit du seigneur

    derecho de retención — (Com) lien

    3) pl derechos (Com) rights

    "reservados todos los derechos" — "all rights reserved"

    derechos de emisión — (TV, Radio) broadcasting rights

    4) pl derechos (=honorarios) [de arquitecto, notario] fee(s); (=impuestos) duty sing

    sujeto a derechos — subject to duty, dutiable

    derechos aduaneros, derechos arancelarios, derechos de aduana — customs duty

    derechos de asesoría, derechos de consulta — consulting fees, consultancy fees

    derechos de enganche — (Telec) connection charges

    derechos de muelle — dock dues, docking fees (EEUU)

    derechos de peaje — (Aut) toll sing

    derechos portuarios — harbour dues, harbor dues (EEUU)

    derechos realestax paid after the completion of an official transaction

    5) (tb: lado derecho) [de tela, papel] right side; [de calcetín, chaqueta] outside

    ¿cuál es el derecho de esta tela? — which is the right side of this fabric?

    poner algo al o del derecho — to put sth the right side o way up

    * * *
    I
    - cha adjetivo
    1) <mano/ojo/zapato> right; < lado> right, right-hand
    2)
    a) ( recto) straight
    b) (fam) (justo, honesto) honest, straight
    II
    a) ( en línea recta) straight

    siga todo derechogo o keep straight on

    b) (fam) ( directamente) straight

    fue derecho al temahe got straight o right to the point

    III
    1)
    a) (facultad, privilegio) right

    el derecho a la vida/al voto — the right to life/to vote

    derecho a + inf: tengo derecho a saber I have a o the right to know; da derecho a participar en el sorteo it entitles you to participate in the draw; tiene perfecto derecho a protestar she's perfectly within her rights to protest; tengo derecho a que se me escuche I have the right to be heard; no hay derecho! (fam) it's not fair!; no hay derecho a que la traten así a una — they've no right to treat a person like that

    b) (Com, Fin) tax
    2) (Der) law
    3) ( de prenda) right side, outside; ( de tela) right side, face
    * * *
    I
    - cha adjetivo
    1) <mano/ojo/zapato> right; < lado> right, right-hand
    2)
    a) ( recto) straight
    b) (fam) (justo, honesto) honest, straight
    II
    a) ( en línea recta) straight

    siga todo derechogo o keep straight on

    b) (fam) ( directamente) straight

    fue derecho al temahe got straight o right to the point

    III
    1)
    a) (facultad, privilegio) right

    el derecho a la vida/al voto — the right to life/to vote

    derecho a + inf: tengo derecho a saber I have a o the right to know; da derecho a participar en el sorteo it entitles you to participate in the draw; tiene perfecto derecho a protestar she's perfectly within her rights to protest; tengo derecho a que se me escuche I have the right to be heard; no hay derecho! (fam) it's not fair!; no hay derecho a que la traten así a una — they've no right to treat a person like that

    b) (Com, Fin) tax
    2) (Der) law
    3) ( de prenda) right side, outside; ( de tela) right side, face
    * * *
    derecho1
    1 = upright, straight [straighter -comp., straightest -sup.], standing.

    Ex: The letters are upright, narrow, and angular, standing on crooked feet, and the ascenders are usually decorated with barbs or thorns; f and p do not normally descend below the base line.

    Ex: The right tail of the Bradford distribution has been considered to be straight or drooping.
    Ex: Although this painting depicts a single standing man, his generalised features suggest that this was not meant as a portrait.
    * derecho hacia al norte = due north.
    * derecho hacia al sur = due south.
    * derecho hacia el este = due east.
    * derecho hacia el oeste = due west.
    * dos entuertos no hacen un derecho = two wrongs do not make a right.
    * hecho y derecho = full-bodied, full-scale, full-service, fully-fledged.
    * irse derecho a = make + a beeline for.

    derecho2
    2 = entitlement, law, right.

    Ex: Community education is another form of outreach that aims to educate the public about the availability of services that can help them, about their entitlement to benefits, or about their rights under the law.

    Ex: The social sciences class, 300, subsumes Economics, Politics, Law and Education.
    Ex: Access to information is a fundamental right of citizenship, in fact, the fourth right, following in the footsteps of civil rights, political rights and social rights.
    * bibliografía de derecho = legal bibliography.
    * biblioteca de derecho = law library.
    * bibliotecario de biblioteca de derecho = law librarian.
    * biblioteconomía para las bibliotecas de derecho = law librarianship.
    * carta de derechos = charter of rights.
    * carta de derechos humanos = charter of human rights.
    * colección de derecho = law collection.
    * colección de libros de derecho en una prisión = prison law library.
    * conceder el derecho al voto = enfranchise.
    * con derecho a voto = eligible to vote.
    * con derecho de autor = copyright-protected.
    * con derechos de autor = copyrightable, royalty-paid.
    * con pleno derecho = with full rights.
    * conseguir el derecho para = win + the right to.
    * dar derecho a = entitle to.
    * Declaración de Derechos = Bill of Rights.
    * Declaración de los Derechos del Usuario = Library Bill of Rights.
    * de derecho = de jure [iure].
    * de derecho pero no de hecho = in name only.
    * defender los derechos de Uno = stand up for + Posesivo + rights.
    * defensor de los derechos de los animales = animal rights campaigner.
    * defensor de los derechos de los animales = animal rights activist.
    * defensor de los derechos de los ciudadanos = citizen activist.
    * defensor de los derechos humanos = human rights activist, human rights campaigner.
    * de pleno derecho = in + Posesivo + own right, rightful.
    * derecho administrativo = administrative law.
    * derecho a independizarse, el = right to secede, the.
    * derecho a la lectura = right to read.
    * derecho a la libertad de expresión = right to free speech, right of free speech.
    * derecho a la muerte = right to die.
    * derecho a la privacidad = privacy right.
    * derecho a la vida = right to live.
    * derecho a leer = right to read.
    * derecho al veto = veto power.
    * derecho al voto = suffrage, voting rights, right to vote, the.
    * derecho a vivir = right to live.
    * derecho a votar = suffrage, voting rights, right to vote, the.
    * derecho a voto = voting rights, suffrage, right to vote, the.
    * derecho básico = natural right, basic right.
    * derecho canónico = canon law.
    * derecho civil = civil law.
    * derecho comunitario = Community law.
    * derecho constitucional = constitutional right, constitutional law.
    * derecho consuetudinario = common law.
    * derecho de acceso = access right.
    * derecho de acceso a la información = right of access to information.
    * derecho de alquiler = rental right.
    * derecho de autor de la Corona = Crown copyright.
    * derecho de grabación de ondas sonoras o televisivas = off-air recording right.
    * derecho de la comunidad = community right.
    * derecho del consumidor = consumer law.
    * derecho del individuo = individual's right.
    * derecho del trabajo = employment law.
    * derecho de nacimiento = birthright.
    * derecho de paso = the right of way, right of entry.
    * derecho de patentes = patent law.
    * derecho de préstamo = lending right.
    * derecho de reproducción = reprographic right.
    * derecho de retención = lien.
    * derecho de servidumbre = easement.
    * derecho de sucesión = inheritance law.
    * derecho de voto = suffrage, voting rights, right to vote, the.
    * derecho divino = divine right, divine law.
    * derecho eclesiástico = ecclesiastical law.
    * derecho eterno = eternal right.
    * derecho exclusivo = exclusive right.
    * derecho humano = human right.
    * derecho inalienable = inalienable right, birthright, unalienable right.
    * derecho internacional = international law.
    * derecho laboral = employment law.
    * derecho legal = legal right.
    * derecho medioambiental = environmental law.
    * derecho natural = natural right, natural law.
    * derecho penal = criminal law, penal law.
    * derecho preferente de compra = preemption [pre-emption].
    * derecho público = civic right, public law.
    * derechos = rights.
    * derechos afines = neighbouring rights.
    * derechos cívicos = civil rights.
    * derechos civiles = civil rights, civil liberties.
    * derechos de aduana = customs duties.
    * derechos de amarre = moorage.
    * derechos de atraque = moorage.
    * derechos de autor = copyright, royalty [royalties, -pl.].
    * derechos de la mujer = women's rights.
    * derechos de la propiedad intelectual = intellectual property rights.
    * derechos del ciudadano = civil liberties.
    * derechos del consumidor = consumer rights [consumers' rights].
    * derechos de licencia = licensing rights.
    * derechos de los animales = animal rights.
    * derechos democráticos = democratic rights.
    * derechos de patente = patent rights.
    * derechos de propiedad = property rights.
    * derechos de reproducción = reproduction rights.
    * derechos en materia de procreación = reproductive rights.
    * derechos humanos específicos de la mujer = human rights of women.
    * derechos individuales = individual rights.
    * derecho soberano = sovereign right.
    * derecho sobre el préstamo al público (PLR) = public lending right (PLR).
    * derechos políticos = political rights.
    * derechos reproductivos = reproductive rights.
    * derechos sociales = social rights.
    * ejercer un derecho = exercise + right.
    * estado de derecho = rule of law.
    * facultad de derecho = law school.
    * hacer valer sus derechos = assert + Posesivo + rights.
    * igualdad de derechos = equal rights, equality of rights.
    * individualización de los derechos = individualisation of rights.
    * infracción del derecho de autor = copyright infringement.
    * infringir un derecho = infringe + right, violate + right.
    * instrucción sobre los derechos de los ciudadanos = community education.
    * ley de derechos de autor = copyright law.
    * Ley del Derecho a la Privacidad = privacy law, privacy protection law, Privacy Act.
    * libre de derechos de autor = royalty-free.
    * libro de derecho = law book.
    * luchar por los derechos = campaign for + rights.
    * material protegido por el derecho de autor = copyright material, copyrighted material.
    * mención de derecho de autor = statement of copyright.
    * movimiento en defensa de los derechos de la mujer = women's rights movement.
    * movimiento en defensa de los derechos de los animales = animal rights movement.
    * movimiento por los derechos civiles = civil rights movement.
    * obra amparada por el derecho de autor = copyright work.
    * obtener el derecho para = win + the right to.
    * oficina de derechos de autor = copyright office.
    * pagar derechos reales = pay + royalty.
    * propietario de los derechos de autor = rightholder.
    * protegido por el derecho de autor = copyrighted, copyright-protected.
    * reclamar el derecho a Algo = stake + Posesivo + claim.
    * reivindicar el derecho de Uno = stake + Posesivo + claim.
    * reservados todos los derechos = all rights reserved.
    * reservarse el derecho de = reserve + the right to.
    * respetar un derecho = respect + right.
    * sociedad de gestión de derechos de autor = copyright collective, copyright collecting society, copyright collecting agency.
    * tarifa de derechos de autor = royalty charge.
    * tener derecho a = be entitled to, have + a right to, entitle to, have + the right to, have + a say in.
    * tener derecho a expresar + Posesivo + opinión = be entitled to + Posesivo + own opinion.
    * tener derecho de paso = have + the right of way.
    * tener el derecho de = have + the right to.
    * titular del derecho = payee entitled.
    * titular del derecho de autor = rights-holder [rightsholder], copyright holder.
    * titular de los derechos de autor = rights-owner.
    * todos los derechos reservados = all rights reserved.
    * violación del derecho de la gente a + Nombre = invasion of people's right to + Nombre.
    * violación de los derechos humanos = violation of human rights, human rights abuse.
    * violar los derechos = invade + rights.
    * violar un derecho = infringe + right, violate + right.

    * * *
    A ‹mano/ojo/zapato› right; ‹lado› right, right-hand
    el ángulo superior derecho the top right-hand angle
    queda a mano derecha it's on the right-hand side o on the right
    tiene el lado derecho paralizado he's paralyzed down his right side
    B
    1 (recto) straight
    ese cuadro no está derecho that picture isn't straight
    ¿tengo el sombrero derecho? is my hat (on) straight?
    ¡pon la espalda derecha! straighten your back!
    siéntate derecho sit up straight
    cortar por lo derecho ( Chi); to take drastic measures
    2 ( fam) (justo, honesto) honest, straight
    siga todo derecho por esta calle go o keep straight on down this street
    corta derecho cut it straight
    2 ( fam) (directamente) straight
    fue derecho al tema he got straight o right to the point
    y de aquí derechito a casa and from here you go straight home
    derecho viejo ( RPl fam); straight
    si no te gusta, se lo dices derecho viejo if you don't like it, tell him straight
    A
    1 (facultad, privilegio) right
    tienes que hacer valer tus derechos you have to stand up for your rights
    estás en tu derecho you're within your rights
    [ S ] reservado el derecho de admisión right of admission reserved, the management reserves the right to refuse admission
    ¿con qué derecho te apropias de lo que es mío? what right do you have to take something that belongs to me?
    derecho A algo right TO sth
    el derecho a la vida/libertad the right to life/freedom
    el derecho al voto the right to vote
    derecho A + INF:
    tengo derecho a saber I have a o the right to know
    eso no te da derecho a insultarme that doesn't give you the right to insult me
    da derecho a participar en el sorteo it entitles you to participate in the draw
    no tienes ningún derecho a hacerme esto you have no right to do this to me
    tiene perfecto derecho a protestar she's perfectly within her rights to protest
    derecho A QUE + SUBJ:
    tengo tanto derecho como tú a que se me escuche I have as much right as you to be heard
    derecho al pataleo ( fam hum): después no hay derecho al pataleo you can't start kicking up a fuss later ( colloq)
    ¡no hay derecho! ( fam); it's not fair!, it's just not on! ( colloq)
    no hay derecho a que la traten así a una they've no right to treat a person like that
    pagar el derecho de piso (CS fam); to pay one's dues
    2 ( Com, Fin) tax
    Compuestos:
    right to privacy
    right of access
    acquisition rights (pl), rights of acquisition (pl)
    right of asylum
    freedom of association o assembly
    right of self-defense*
    right to self-determination
    right of self-defense*
    prerogative of mercy
    right to strike
    registration fee
    birthright
    derecho de paso or servidumbre
    right of way
    patent right
    droit de seigneur
    right of ownership
    derecho de propiedad intelectual or literaria
    (literary) copyright
    publishing rights (pl)
    copyright
    right of abode
    lien
    right of repurchase
    right of assembly
    right to vote
    right to run for election ( AmE), right to stand for election ( BrE)
    right of first refusal
    passage
    derecho de or al veto
    right o power of veto
    right of access ( to children)
    divine right
    pre-emption right
    mpl vested or acquired rights (pl)
    derechos arancelarios or de aduana
    mpl customs duties (pl)
    mpl film rights (pl)
    mpl civil rights (pl), civil liberties (pl)
    mpl conjugal rights (pl)
    derechos de adaptación cinematográfica or al cine
    mpl film rights (pl), movie rights (pl) ( AmE), screen rights (pl)
    mpl broadcasting rights (pl)
    mpl royalties (pl)
    mpl examination fees (pl)
    derechos de exportación/importación
    mpl export/import duties (pl)
    derechos de interpretación or representación
    mpl performing rights (pl)
    mpl women's rights (pl)
    mpl consumer rights (pl)
    mpl rights of the individual (pl)
    mpl workers' rights (pl)
    mpl grazing rights (pl)
    mpl ( Auto) tolls (pl)
    mpl port o anchorage dues (pl)
    mpl paperback rights (pl)
    mpl copyright (pl)
    mpl publishing rights (pl)
    mpl human rights (pl)
    mpl harbor* dues (pl)
    B ( Der) law
    estudio derecho I'm studying law
    según el derecho inglés according to o under English law
    no se ajusta a derechoor no es conforme a derecho it is not lawful
    Compuestos:
    administrative law
    aviation law
    canon law
    civil law
    commercial law
    community law
    comparative law
    common law
    contract law
    family law
    patent law
    business law
    statute law
    tax law
    international law
    labor* law
    maritime law
    commercial law
    criminal law
    statute law
    private law
    procedural law
    public law
    C (de una prenda) right side, outside; (de una tela) right side, face
    es de doble faz, no tiene derecho ni revés it's reversible, it doesn't have a right and a wrong side
    no lo planches por el derecho don't iron it on the right side, iron it inside out
    póntelo al derecho put it on properly o right side out
    * * *

     

    derecho 1
    ◊ - cha adjetivo

    1mano/ojo/zapato right;
    lado right, right-hand;

    queda a mano derecha it's on the right-hand side o on the right
    2


    siéntate derecho sit up straight
    b) (fam) (justo, honesto) honest, straight

    derecho 2 adverbio
    straight;
    siga todo derecho go o keep straight on

    derecho 3 sustantivo masculino
    1
    a) (facultad, privilegio) right;


    estás en tu derecho you're within your rights;
    derecho a algo right to sth;
    el derecho al voto the right to vote;
    tengo derecho a saber I have a o the right to know;
    esto da derecho a participar this entitles you to participate;
    ¡no hay derecho! (fam) it's not fair!
    b) (Com, Fin) tax;


    derechos de autor royalties;
    derecho de matrícula registration fee;
    derecho de reproducción copyright
    2 (Der) law
    3 ( de prenda) right side, outside;
    ( de tela) right side, face;
    póntelo al derecho put it on properly o right side out

    derecho,-a
    I adjetivo
    1 (lado, acera, etc) right
    2 (recto, erguido) upright, straight
    3 (parte del cuerpo) right: le dolía el brazo derecho, her right arm was hurting
    II sustantivo masculino
    1 (petición o exigencia legítima) right: está usted en su derecho, you are within your rights
    no tienes derecho a decirme eso, you have no the right to tell me that
    derecho de admisión, right to refuse admission
    los derechos del niño, children's rights
    2 Jur (conjunto de leyes) law
    derecho laboral/procesal, labour/procedural law
    derecho penal, criminal law
    3 (justicia) no hay derecho a que nos traten así, it's not fair to treat people like that
    4 Com derechos, duties
    derechos de autor, royalties
    III adv (en línea recta) sigue todo derecho, go straight ahead
    ' derecho' also found in these entries:
    Spanish:
    admisión
    - brazo
    - constitucional
    - derecha
    - digna
    - digno
    - disputarse
    - ejercer
    - enchufada
    - enchufado
    - foral
    - jurisprudencia
    - mercantil
    - obstáculo
    - opción
    - otorgar
    - pataleo
    - plena
    - pleno
    - poder
    - proteger
    - reclamar
    - reconocer
    - renunciar
    - rescate
    - reservarse
    - restringir
    - segundón
    - segundona
    - sostener
    - suprimir
    - unirse
    - voto
    - arancelario
    - carrera
    - ceder
    - cojo
    - cuestión
    - cursar
    - desistir
    - directamente
    - discutir
    - disfrutar
    - disputar
    - doctor
    - en
    - enderezar
    - extremo
    - fuero
    - goce
    English:
    bar
    - basic
    - check up on
    - claim
    - clause
    - commercial law
    - common law
    - criminal law
    - entitle
    - entitlement
    - entry
    - exercise
    - fair
    - forehand
    - forfeit
    - franchise
    - fully-fledged
    - grant
    - grown
    - ineligible
    - law
    - LLB
    - LLD
    - nineteenth
    - pension
    - prerogative
    - privacy
    - qualify
    - relinquish
    - right
    - right brain
    - right-hand
    - right-hand man
    - Roman law
    - sign away
    - standing
    - statutory
    - straight
    - straighten
    - straighten up
    - surrender
    - title
    - upright
    - common
    - county
    - criminal
    - crown
    - disenfranchise
    - due
    - eligible
    * * *
    derecho, -a
    adj
    1. [vertical] upright;
    [recto] straight;
    este cuadro no está derecho this picture isn't straight;
    recogió la lámpara del suelo y la puso derecha she picked the lamp up off the floor and stood it upright;
    siéntate o [m5] ponte derecho o te dolerá la espalda sit straight or you'll get backache;
    siempre anda muy derecha she always walks with a very straight back
    2. [de la derecha] right;
    mano/pierna derecha right hand/leg;
    el margen derecho the right-hand margin;
    a mano derecha on the right, on the right-hand side
    nm
    1. [leyes, estudio] law;
    un estudiante de derecho a law student;
    estudiar derecho to study o read law;
    una licenciada en derecho a law graduate;
    la Facultad de Derecho the Faculty of Law;
    voy a Derecho a una conferencia I'm going to a lecture in the Faculty of Law;
    el derecho me asiste the law is on my side;
    conforme o [m5] según derecho according to the law
    derecho administrativo administrative law;
    derecho canónico canon law;
    derecho civil civil law;
    derecho constitucional constitutional law;
    derecho financiero financial law;
    derecho fiscal tax law;
    derecho foral = ancient regional laws still existing in some parts of Spain;
    derecho internacional international law;
    derecho internacional público public international law;
    derecho laboral labour law, employment law;
    derecho marítimo maritime law;
    derecho mercantil commercial law, mercantile law;
    derecho natural natural law;
    derecho de patentes patent law;
    derecho penal criminal law;
    derecho privado private law;
    derecho procesal procedural law;
    derecho público public law;
    derecho romano Roman law;
    derecho de sociedades Br company law, US corporation law;
    2. [prerrogativa] right;
    el derecho al voto the right to vote;
    los derechos de la mujer women's rights;
    los derechos y obligaciones del consumidor the rights and responsibilities of the consumer;
    Fam
    me queda el derecho al pataleo all I can do now is complain;
    ¿con qué derecho entras en mi casa sin llamar? what gives you the right to come into my house without knocking?;
    con derecho a dos consumiciones [en entrada] this ticket entitles the holder to two free drinks;
    esta tarjeta me da derecho a un 5 por ciento de descuento this card entitles me to a 5 percent discount;
    el que sea el jefe no le da derecho a tratarnos así just because he's the boss doesn't mean he can o doesn't give him the right to treat us like this;
    si quiere abstenerse, está en su derecho if she wants to abstain, she's perfectly within her rights to do so;
    hizo valer sus derechos he exercised his rights;
    ¡no hay derecho! it's not fair!;
    ¡no hay derecho a que unos tengan tanto y otros tan poco! it's not fair that some people should have so much and others so little!;
    es de derecho que consiga la indemnización que reclama it is only right that she should receive the compensation she is claiming;
    ha entrado, por derecho propio o [m5]por propio derecho, en la historia de la literatura she's gone down in literary history in her own right;
    reservado el derecho de admisión [en letrero] the management reserves the right of admission;
    reservados todos los derechos all rights reserved;
    tener derecho a algo to have a right to sth, to be entitled to sth;
    tener derecho a hacer algo to have the right to do sth, to be entitled to do sth;
    tengo derecho a descansar, ¿no? I'm entitled to be able to rest now and then, aren't I?;
    no tienes ningún derecho a insultarme you have no right to insult me
    derechos de antena broadcasting rights;
    derecho de apelación right of appeal;
    derecho de asilo right of asylum;
    derechos de autor [potestad] copyright;
    derechos civiles civil rights;
    derecho de distribución distribution rights;
    derechos especiales de giro special drawing rights;
    derecho de gracia right to show clemency;
    derechos humanos human rights;
    derecho de paso right of way;
    Hist derecho de pernada droit du seigneur;
    derechos de propiedad proprietary rights;
    derecho de réplica right to reply;
    derecho de respuesta right to reply;
    Econ derecho de retención right of retention;
    derecho de reunión right of assembly;
    derecho de visita (a los hijos) [de divorciado] visiting rights, right of access
    3. [contrario de revés] right side;
    me puse el jersey del derecho I put my jumper on the right way round o properly;
    cose los botones del derecho sew the buttons on the right side
    derechos nmpl
    [tasas] duties, taxes; [profesionales] fees derechos de aduana customs duty;
    derechos de autor [dinero] royalties;
    derechos de entrada import duties;
    derechos de examen examination fees;
    derechos de inscripción membership fee;
    derechos de matrícula matriculation fee;
    derechos de puerto harbour dues;
    derechos reales death duty
    adv
    1. [en línea recta] straight;
    fue derecho a su despacho she went straight to her office;
    se fue derecho a casa she went straight home;
    todo derecho straight ahead;
    siga todo derecho para llegar al museo carry on straight ahead and you'll come to the museum
    2. [sin rodeos] straight;
    iré derecho al asunto I'll get straight to the point;
    RP
    decir o [m5] hacer algo derecho viejo to say sth straight out, to come right out with sth
    * * *
    I adj
    1 lado right
    2 ( recto) straight
    3 C.Am. fig
    straight, honest
    II adv straight;
    siga derecho carry straight on;
    tenerse derecho stand up/sit up straight;
    poner derecho algo straighten sth; vertical right sth, set sth upright;
    vamos derecho a casa we’re going straight home
    III m
    1 ( privilegio) right;
    con derecho a with a right to;
    dar derecho a alguien a algo entitle s.o. to sth;
    la tarjeta da derecho a entrar gratuitamente the card entitles you to free entry;
    tener derecho a have a right to, be entitled to;
    tener el derecho de have the right to, be entitled to;
    estar en su derecho be within one’s rights;
    no hay derecho it’s not fair, it’s not right;
    2 JUR law;
    estudiar derecho study law
    3
    :
    del derecho vestido, jersey on the right side
    IV mpl
    :
    derechos fees;
    derechos de almacenaje storage charges
    * * *
    derecho adv
    1) : straight
    2) : upright
    3) : directly
    derecho, - cha adj
    1) : right
    2) : right-hand
    3) recto: straight, upright, erect
    1) : right
    derechos humanos: human rights
    2) : law
    derecho civil: civil law
    3) : right side (of cloth or clothing)
    * * *
    derecho1 adj
    1. (diestro) right
    2. (recto) straight
    derecho2 adv straight
    1. (facultad, posibilidad) right
    2. (leyes, ciencia) law
    3. (anverso) right side

    Spanish-English dictionary > derecho

  • 5 Brunel, Isambard Kingdom

    [br]
    b. 9 April 1806 Portsea, Hampshire, England
    d. 15 September 1859 18 Duke Street, St James's, London, England
    [br]
    English civil and mechanical engineer.
    [br]
    The son of Marc Isambard Brunel and Sophia Kingdom, he was educated at a private boarding-school in Hove. At the age of 14 he went to the College of Caen and then to the Lycée Henri-Quatre in Paris, after which he was apprenticed to Louis Breguet. In 1822 he returned from France and started working in his father's office, while spending much of his time at the works of Maudslay, Sons \& Field.
    From 1825 to 1828 he worked under his father on the construction of the latter's Thames Tunnel, occupying the position of Engineer-in-Charge, exhibiting great courage and presence of mind in the emergencies which occurred not infrequently. These culminated in January 1828 in the flooding of the tunnel and work was suspended for seven years. For the next five years the young engineer made abortive attempts to find a suitable outlet for his talents, but to little avail. Eventually, in 1831, his design for a suspension bridge over the River Avon at Clifton Gorge was accepted and he was appointed Engineer. (The bridge was eventually finished five years after Brunel's death, as a memorial to him, the delay being due to inadequate financing.) He next planned and supervised improvements to the Bristol docks. In March 1833 he was appointed Engineer of the Bristol Railway, later called the Great Western Railway. He immediately started to survey the route between London and Bristol that was completed by late August that year. On 5 July 1836 he married Mary Horsley and settled into 18 Duke Street, Westminster, London, where he also had his office. Work on the Bristol Railway started in 1836. The foundation stone of the Clifton Suspension Bridge was laid the same year. Whereas George Stephenson had based his standard railway gauge as 4 ft 8½ in (1.44 m), that or a similar gauge being usual for colliery wagonways in the Newcastle area, Brunel adopted the broader gauge of 7 ft (2.13 m). The first stretch of the line, from Paddington to Maidenhead, was opened to traffic on 4 June 1838, and the whole line from London to Bristol was opened in June 1841. The continuation of the line through to Exeter was completed and opened on 1 May 1844. The normal time for the 194-mile (312 km) run from Paddington to Exeter was 5 hours, at an average speed of 38.8 mph (62.4 km/h) including stops. The Great Western line included the Box Tunnel, the longest tunnel to that date at nearly two miles (3.2 km).
    Brunel was the engineer of most of the railways in the West Country, in South Wales and much of Southern Ireland. As railway networks developed, the frequent break of gauge became more of a problem and on 9 July 1845 a Royal Commission was appointed to look into it. In spite of comparative tests, run between Paddington-Didcot and Darlington-York, which showed in favour of Brunel's arrangement, the enquiry ruled in favour of the narrow gauge, 274 miles (441 km) of the former having been built against 1,901 miles (3,059 km) of the latter to that date. The Gauge Act of 1846 forbade the building of any further railways in Britain to any gauge other than 4 ft 8 1/2 in (1.44 m).
    The existence of long and severe gradients on the South Devon Railway led to Brunel's adoption of the atmospheric railway developed by Samuel Clegg and later by the Samuda brothers. In this a pipe of 9 in. (23 cm) or more in diameter was laid between the rails, along the top of which ran a continuous hinged flap of leather backed with iron. At intervals of about 3 miles (4.8 km) were pumping stations to exhaust the pipe. Much trouble was experienced with the flap valve and its lubrication—freezing of the leather in winter, the lubricant being sucked into the pipe or eaten by rats at other times—and the experiment was abandoned at considerable cost.
    Brunel is to be remembered for his two great West Country tubular bridges, the Chepstow and the Tamar Bridge at Saltash, with the latter opened in May 1859, having two main spans of 465 ft (142 m) and a central pier extending 80 ft (24 m) below high water mark and allowing 100 ft (30 m) of headroom above the same. His timber viaducts throughout Devon and Cornwall became a feature of the landscape. The line was extended ultimately to Penzance.
    As early as 1835 Brunel had the idea of extending the line westwards across the Atlantic from Bristol to New York by means of a steamship. In 1836 building commenced and the hull left Bristol in July 1837 for fitting out at Wapping. On 31 March 1838 the ship left again for Bristol but the boiler lagging caught fire and Brunel was injured in the subsequent confusion. On 8 April the ship set sail for New York (under steam), its rival, the 703-ton Sirius, having left four days earlier. The 1,340-ton Great Western arrived only a few hours after the Sirius. The hull was of wood, and was copper-sheathed. In 1838 Brunel planned a larger ship, some 3,000 tons, the Great Britain, which was to have an iron hull.
    The Great Britain was screwdriven and was launched on 19 July 1843,289 ft (88 m) long by 51 ft (15.5 m) at its widest. The ship's first voyage, from Liverpool to New York, began on 26 August 1845. In 1846 it ran aground in Dundrum Bay, County Down, and was later sold for use on the Australian run, on which it sailed no fewer than thirty-two times in twenty-three years, also serving as a troop-ship in the Crimean War. During this war, Brunel designed a 1,000-bed hospital which was shipped out to Renkioi ready for assembly and complete with shower-baths and vapour-baths with printed instructions on how to use them, beds and bedding and water closets with a supply of toilet paper! Brunel's last, largest and most extravagantly conceived ship was the Great Leviathan, eventually named The Great Eastern, which had a double-skinned iron hull, together with both paddles and screw propeller. Brunel designed the ship to carry sufficient coal for the round trip to Australia without refuelling, thus saving the need for and the cost of bunkering, as there were then few bunkering ports throughout the world. The ship's construction was started by John Scott Russell in his yard at Millwall on the Thames, but the building was completed by Brunel due to Russell's bankruptcy in 1856. The hull of the huge vessel was laid down so as to be launched sideways into the river and then to be floated on the tide. Brunel's plan for hydraulic launching gear had been turned down by the directors on the grounds of cost, an economy that proved false in the event. The sideways launch with over 4,000 tons of hydraulic power together with steam winches and floating tugs on the river took over two months, from 3 November 1857 until 13 January 1858. The ship was 680 ft (207 m) long, 83 ft (25 m) beam and 58 ft (18 m) deep; the screw was 24 ft (7.3 m) in diameter and paddles 60 ft (18.3 m) in diameter. Its displacement was 32,000 tons (32,500 tonnes).
    The strain of overwork and the huge responsibilities that lay on Brunel began to tell. He was diagnosed as suffering from Bright's disease, or nephritis, and spent the winter travelling in the Mediterranean and Egypt, returning to England in May 1859. On 5 September he suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed, and he died ten days later at his Duke Street home.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    L.T.C.Rolt, 1957, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, London: Longmans Green. J.Dugan, 1953, The Great Iron Ship, Hamish Hamilton.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Brunel, Isambard Kingdom

  • 6 Vitruvius Pollio

    [br]
    b. early first century BC
    d. c. 25 BC
    [br]
    Roman writer on architecture and engineering subjects.
    [br]
    Nothing is known of Vitruvius apart from what can be gleaned from his only known work, the treatise De architectura. He seems to have been employed in some capacity by Julius Caesar and continued to serve under his heir, Octavianus, later Emperor Augustus, to whom he dedicated his book. It was written towards the end of his life, after Octavianus became undisputed ruler of the Empire by his victory at Actium in 31 BC, and was based partly on his own experience and partly on earlier, Hellenistic, writers.
    The De architectura is divided into ten books. The first seven books expound the general principles of architecture and the planning, design and construction of various types of building, public and domestic, including a consideration of techniques and materials. Book 7 deals with interior decoration, including stucco work and painting, while Book 8 treats water supply, from the location of sources to the transport of water by aqueducts, tunnels and pipes. Book 9, after a long and somewhat confused account of the astronomical theories of the day, describes various forms of clock and sundial. Finally, Book 10 deals with mechanical devices for handling building materials and raising and pumping water, for which Vitruvius draws on the earlier Greek authors Ctesibius and Hero.
    Although this may seem a motley assembly of subjects, to the Roman architect and builder it was a logical compendium of the subjects he was expected to know about. At the time, Vitruvius' rigid rules for the design of buildings such as temples seem to have had little influence, but his accounts of more practical matters of building materials and techniques were widely used. His illustrations to the original work were lost in antiquity, for no later manuscript includes them. Through the Middle Ages, manuscript copies were made in monastic scriptoria, although the architectural style in vogue had little relevance to those in Vitruvius: these came into their own with the Italian Renaissance. Alberti, writing the first great Renaissance treatise on architecture from 1452 to 1467, drew heavily on De architectura; those who sought to revive the styles of antiquity were bound to regard the only surviving text on the subject as authoritative. The appearance of the first printed edition in 1486 only served to extend its influence.
    During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Vitruvius was used as a handbook for constructing machines and instruments. For the modern historian of technology and architecture the work is a source of prime importance, although it must be remembered that the illustrations in the early printed editions are of contemporary reproductions of ancient devices using the techniques of the time, rather than authentic representations of ancient technology.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    Of the several critical editions of De architectura there are the Teubner edition, 1899. ed. V.Rose, Leipzig; the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1962, ed. F.Granger, London: Heinemann, (with English trans. and notes); and the Collection Guillaume Budé with French trans. and full commentary, 10 vols, Paris (in progress).
    Further Reading
    Apart from the notes to the printed editions, see also: H.Plommer, 1973, Vitruvius and Later Roman Building Manuals, London. A.G.Drachmann, 1963, The Mechanical Technology of Greek and Roman Antiquity Copenhagen and London.
    S.L.Gibbs, 1976, Greek and Roman Sundials, New Haven and London.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Vitruvius Pollio

  • 7 São Bento, Palace of

       São Bento Palace in Estrela district of Lisbon in an earlier life was a convent (constructed 1598-1615). After 1834, Portugal's national legislature or Cortes was transferred to the old convent, which thereafter was adapted and renovated. In common usage, "São Bento" refers to the seat of national government, much the way "Whitehall" in London describes the location of the British government. In Portugal, however, São Bento houses not one but two branches of the national government: both the legislative branch and part of the executive. Since the foundation of the First Republic, then, São Bento has been the home of the legislature and of the residence and office of the prime minister (or president of the Council of Ministers).
       By the first decade of the 20th century, the legislative hall or chamber of São Bento was essentially the building of today. In a grand and imposing neoclassical style, the palace has housed all the legislative bodies whatever their names: in the constitutional monarchy, the House of Deputies and Peers; in the First Republic, the Senate and House of Deputies; in the Estado Novo dictatorship, the National Assembly and Corporate Chamber; in democratic (post-1974) Portugal, the Assembly of the Republic. While the building is largely pre-1910, the art and decorations are more recent. The halls, foyers, stairways, and chambers are decorated with murals, frescoes, and statuary, including the impressive oils of the 1920s in the murals by Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, which depict the pageant of Portugal's main legislators since 1821. Other art dates to the 1930s under the Estado Novo. Tellingly, the delegates' hall outside the main legislative chamber is known as the hall of "Wasted Time."
       Behind the legislative halls, in another part of São Bento, is situated residence and offices of the prime minister, the official home of all heads of government beginning in the First Republic. Until the late 1980s, too, São Bento housed the country's main national archives, the National Archive of Torre do Tombo.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > São Bento, Palace of

  • 8 Kurtz, Thomas E.

    [br]
    b. USA
    [br]
    American mathematician who, with Kemeny developed BASIC, a high-level computer language.
    [br]
    Kurtz took his first degree in mathematics at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), where he also gained experience in numerical methods as a result of working in the National Bureau of Standards Institute for Numerical Analysis located on the campus. In 1956 he obtained a PhD in statistics at Princeton, after which he took up a post as an instructor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. There he found a considerable interest in computing was already in existence, and he was soon acting as the Dartmouth contact with the New England Regional Computer Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an initiative partly supported by IBM. With Kemeny, he learned the Share Assembly Language then in use, but they were concerned about the difficulty of programming computers in assembly language and of teaching it to students and colleagues at Dartmouth. In 1959 the college obtained an LGP-30 computer and Kurtz became the first Director of the Dartmouth Computer Center. However, the small memory (4 k) of this 30-bit machine precluded its use with the recently available high-level language Algol 58. Therefore, with Kemeny, he set about developing a simple language and operating system that would use simple English commands and be easy to learn and use. This they called the Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC). At the same time they jointly supervised the design and development of a time-sharing system suitable for college use, so that by 1964, when Kurtz became an associate professor of mathematics, they had a fully operational BASIC system; by 1969 a sixth version was already in existence. In 1966 Kurtz left Dartmouth to become a Director of the Kiewit Computer Center, and then, in 1975, he became a Director of the Office of Academic Computing; in 1978 he returned to Dartmouth as Professor of Mathematics. He also served on various national committees.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1964, with J.G.Kemeny, BASIC Instruction Manual: Dartmouth College (for details of the development of BASIC etc.).
    1968, with J.G.Kemeny "Dartmouth time-sharing", Science 223.
    Further Reading
    R.L.Wexelblat, 1981, History of Programming Languages, London: Academic Press (a more general view of the development of computer languages).
    KF

    Biographical history of technology > Kurtz, Thomas E.

  • 9 Ford, Henry

    [br]
    b. 30 July 1863 Dearborn, Michigan, USA
    d. 7 April 1947 Dearborn, Michigan, USA
    [br]
    American pioneer motor-car maker and developer of mass-production methods.
    [br]
    He was the son of an Irish immigrant farmer, William Ford, and the oldest son to survive of Mary Litogot; his mother died in 1876 with the birth of her sixth child. He went to the village school, and at the age of 16 he was apprenticed to Flower brothers' machine shop and then at the Drydock \& Engineering Works in Detroit. In 1882 he left to return to the family farm and spent some time working with a 1 1/2 hp steam engine doing odd jobs for the farming community at $3 per day. He was then employed as a demonstrator for Westinghouse steam engines. He met Clara Jane Bryant at New Year 1885 and they were married on 11 April 1888. Their only child, Edsel Bryant Ford, was born on 6 November 1893.
    At that time Henry worked on steam engine repairs for the Edison Illuminating Company, where he became Chief Engineer. He became one of a group working to develop a "horseless carriage" in 1896 and in June completed his first vehicle, a "quadri cycle" with a two-cylinder engine. It was built in a brick shed, which had to be partially demolished to get the carriage out.
    Ford became involved in motor racing, at which he was more successful than he was in starting a car-manufacturing company. Several early ventures failed, until the Ford Motor Company of 1903. By October 1908 they had started with production of the Model T. The first, of which over 15 million were built up to the end of its production in May 1927, came out with bought-out steel stampings and a planetary gearbox, and had a one-piece four-cylinder block with a bolt-on head. This was one of the most successful models built by Ford or any other motor manufacturer in the life of the motor car.
    Interchangeability of components was an important element in Ford's philosophy. Ford was a pioneer in the use of vanadium steel for engine components. He adopted the principles of Frederick Taylor, the pioneer of time-and-motion study, and installed the world's first moving assembly line for the production of magnetos, started in 1913. He installed blast furnaces at the factory to make his own steel, and he also promoted research and the cultivation of the soya bean, from which a plastic was derived.
    In October 1913 he introduced the "Five Dollar Day", almost doubling the normal rate of pay. This was a profit-sharing scheme for his employees and contained an element of a reward for good behaviour. About this time he initiated work on an agricultural tractor, the "Fordson" made by a separate company, the directors of which were Henry and his son Edsel.
    In 1915 he chartered the Oscar II, a "peace ship", and with fifty-five delegates sailed for Europe a week before Christmas, docking at Oslo. Their objective was to appeal to all European Heads of State to stop the war. He had hoped to persuade manufacturers to replace armaments with tractors in their production programmes. In the event, Ford took to his bed in the hotel with a chill, stayed there for five days and then sailed for New York and home. He did, however, continue to finance the peace activists who remained in Europe. Back in America, he stood for election to the US Senate but was defeated. He was probably the father of John Dahlinger, illegitimate son of Evangeline Dahlinger, a stenographer employed by the firm and on whom he lavished gifts of cars, clothes and properties. He became the owner of a weekly newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, which became the medium for the expression of many of his more unorthodox ideas. He was involved in a lawsuit with the Chicago Tribune in 1919, during which he was cross-examined on his knowledge of American history: he is reputed to have said "History is bunk". What he actually said was, "History is bunk as it is taught in schools", a very different comment. The lawyers who thus made a fool of him would have been surprised if they could have foreseen the force and energy that their actions were to release. For years Ford employed a team of specialists to scour America and Europe for furniture, artefacts and relics of all kinds, illustrating various aspects of history. Starting with the Wayside Inn from South Sudbury, Massachusetts, buildings were bought, dismantled and moved, to be reconstructed in Greenfield Village, near Dearborn. The courthouse where Abraham Lincoln had practised law and the Ohio bicycle shop where the Wright brothers built their first primitive aeroplane were added to the farmhouse where the proprietor, Henry Ford, had been born. Replicas were made of Independence Hall, Congress Hall and the old City Hall in Philadelphia, and even a reconstruction of Edison's Menlo Park laboratory was installed. The Henry Ford museum was officially opened on 21 October 1929, on the fiftieth anniversary of Edison's invention of the incandescent bulb, but it continued to be a primary preoccupation of the great American car maker until his death.
    Henry Ford was also responsible for a number of aeronautical developments at the Ford Airport at Dearborn. He introduced the first use of radio to guide a commercial aircraft, the first regular airmail service in the United States. He also manufactured the country's first all-metal multi-engined plane, the Ford Tri-Motor.
    Edsel became President of the Ford Motor Company on his father's resignation from that position on 30 December 1918. Following the end of production in May 1927 of the Model T, the replacement Model A was not in production for another six months. During this period Henry Ford, though officially retired from the presidency of the company, repeatedly interfered and countermanded the orders of his son, ostensibly the man in charge. Edsel, who died of stomach cancer at his home at Grosse Point, Detroit, on 26 May 1943, was the father of Henry Ford II. Henry Ford died at his home, "Fair Lane", four years after his son's death.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1922, with S.Crowther, My Life and Work, London: Heinemann.
    Further Reading
    R.Lacey, 1986, Ford, the Men and the Machine, London: Heinemann. W.C.Richards, 1948, The Last Billionaire, Henry Ford, New York: Charles Scribner.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Ford, Henry

  • 10 Lanston, Tolbert

    SUBJECT AREA: Paper and printing
    [br]
    b. 3 February 1844 Troy, Ohio, USA
    d. 18 February 1913 Washington, DC, USA
    [br]
    American inventor of the Monotype typesetting machine.
    [br]
    Although reared in a farming community, Lanston was able to develop his mechanical talent. After serving in the American Civil War he secured a clerkship in the Pensions Office in Washington, where he remained for twenty-two years. He studied law in his spare time and was called to the Bar. At the same time, he invented a whole variety of mechanical devices, many of which he patented. Around 1883 Lanston began taking an interest in machines for composing printers' type, probably stimulated by Ottmar Mergenthaler, who was then in Washington and working in this field. Four years' work were rewarded on 7 June 1887 by the grant of a patent, followed by three more, for a machine "to produce justified lines of type". The machine, the Monotype, consisted of two components: first a keyboard unit produced a strip of paper tape with holes punched in patterns corresponding to the characters required; this tape controlled the matrices in the caster, the second and "hot metal" component, from which types were ejected singly and fed to an assembly point until a complete line of type had been formed. Lanston resigned his post and set up the Lanston Type Machine Company in Washington. He laboured for ten years to convert the device defined in his patents into a machine that could be made and used commercially. In 1897 the perfected Monotype appeared. The company was reorganized as the Lanston Monotype Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia, and Lanston devoted himself to promoting and improving the machine. Monotype, with Mergenthaler's Linotype, steadily supplanted hand-setting and the various inadequate mechanical methods that were then in use, and by the 1920s they reigned supreme, until the 1960s, when they themselves began to be superseded by computer-controlled photosetting methods.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Franklin Institute Cresson Gold Medal 1896.
    Further Reading
    Obituary, 1913, American Printer (March).
    L.A.Legros and J.C.Grant, 1916, Typographical Printing Surfaces, London.
    J.Moran, 1964, The Composition of Reading Matter, London.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Lanston, Tolbert

  • 11 Peter the Great (Pyotr Alekseyevich Romanov)

    SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping
    [br]
    b. 10 June 1672 (30 May 1672 Old Style) Moscow, Russia
    d. 8 February 1725 (28 January 1725 Old Style) St Petersburg, Russia
    [br]
    Russian Tsar (1682–1725), Emperor of all the Russias (1722–5), founder of the Russian Navy, shipbuilder and scientist; as a shipbuilder he was known by the pseudonym Petr Mikhailov.
    [br]
    Peter the Great was a man with a single-minded approach to problems and with passionate and lifelong interests in matters scientific, military and above all maritime. The unusual and dominating rule of his vast lands brought about the age of Russian enlightenment, and ensured that his country became one of the most powerful states in Europe.
    Peter's interest in ships and shipbuilding started in his childhood; c. 1687 he had an old English-built day sailing boat repaired and launched, and on it he learned the rudiments of sailing and navigation. This craft (still preserved in St Petersburg) became known as the "Grandfather of the Russian Navy". In the years 1688 to 1693 he established a shipyard on Lake Plestsheev and then began his lifelong study of shipbuilding by visiting and giving encouragement to the industry at Archangelsk on the White Sea and Voronezh in the Sea of Azov. In October 1696, Peter took Azov from the Turks, and the Russian Fleet ever since has regarded that date as their birthday. Setting an example to the young aristocracy, Peter travelled to Western Europe to widen his experience and contacts and also to learn the trade of shipbuilding. He worked in the shipyards of Amsterdam and then at the Naval Base of Deptford on the Thames.
    The war with Sweden concentrated his attention on the Baltic and, to establish a base for trading and for the Navy, the City of St Petersburg was constructed on marshland. The Admiralty was built in the city and many new shipyards in the surrounding countryside, one being the Olonez yard which in 1703 built the frigate Standart, the first for the Baltic Fleet, which Peter himself commanded on its first voyage. The military defence of St Petersburg was effected by the construction of Kronstadt, seawards of the city.
    Throughout his life Peter was involved in ship design and it is estimated that one thousand ships were built during his reign. He introduced the building of standard ship types and also, centuries ahead of its time, the concept of prefabrication, unit assembly and the building of part hulls in different places. Officially he was the designer of the ninety-gun ship Lesnoe of 1718, and this may have influenced him in instituting Rules for Shipbuilders and for Seamen. In 1716 he commanded the joint fleets of the four naval powers: Denmark, Britain, Holland and Russia.
    He established the Marine Academy, organized and encouraged exploration and scientific research, and on his edict the St Petersburg Academy of Science was opened. He was not averse to the recruitment of foreigners to key posts in the nation's service. Peter the Great was a remarkable man, with the unusual quality of being a theorist and an innovator, in addition to the endowments of practicality and common sense.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    Robert K.Massie, 1981, Peter the Great: His Life and Work, London: Gollancz.
    Henri Troyat, 1979, Pierre le Grand; pub. in English 1988 as Peter the Great, London: Hamish Hamilton (a good all-round biography).
    AK / FMW

    Biographical history of technology > Peter the Great (Pyotr Alekseyevich Romanov)

  • 12 Sholes, Christopher Latham

    SUBJECT AREA: Paper and printing
    [br]
    b. 14 February 1819 Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, USA
    d. 17 February 1890 USA
    [br]
    American inventor of the first commercially successful typewriter.
    [br]
    Sholes was born on his parents' farm, of a family that had originally come from England. After leaving school at 14, he was apprenticed for four years to the local newspaper, the Danville Intelligencer. He moved with his parents to Wisconsin, where he followed his trade as journalist and printer, within a year becoming State Printer and taking charge of the House journal of the State Legislature. When he was 20 he left home and joined his brother in Madison, Wisconsin, on the staff of the Wisconsin Enquirer. After marrying, he took the editorship of the Southport Telegraph, until he became Postmaster of Southport. His experiences as journalist and postmaster drew him into politics and, in spite of the delicate nature of his health and personality, he served with credit as State Senator and in the State Assembly. In 1860 he moved to Milwaukee, where he became Editor of the local paper until President Lincoln offered him the post of Collector of Customs at Milwaukee.
    That position at last gave Sholes time to develop his undoubted inventive talents. With a machinist friend, Samuel W.Soule, he obtained a patent for a paging machine and another two years later for a machine for numbering the blank pages of a book serially. At the small machine shop where they worked, there was a third inventor, Carlos Glidden. It was Glidden who suggested to Sholes that, in view of his numbering machine, he would be well equipped to develop a letter printing machine. Glidden drew Sholes's attention to an account of a writing machine that had recently been invented in London by John Pratt, and Sholes was so seized with the idea that he devoted the rest of his life to perfecting the machine. With Glidden and Soule, he took out a patent for a typewriter on June 1868 followed by two further patents for improvements. Sholes struggled unsuccessfully for five years to exploit his invention; his two partners gave up their rights in it and finally, on 1 March 1873, Sholes himself sold his rights to the Remington Arms Company for $12,000. With their mechanical skills and equipment, Remingtons were able to perfect the Sholes typewriter and put it on the market. This, the first commercially successful typewriter, led to a revolution not only in office work, but also in work for women, although progress was slow at first. When the New York Young Women's Christian Association bought six Remingtons in 1881 to begin classes for young women, eight turned up for the first les-son; and five years later it was estimated that there were 60,000 female typists in the USA. Sholes said, "I feel that I have done something for the women who have always had to work so hard. This will more easily enable them to earn a living."
    Sholes continued his work on the typewriter, giving Remingtons the benefit of his results. His last patent was granted in 1878. Never very strong, Sholes became consumptive and spent much of his remaining nine years in the vain pursuit of health.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    23 June 1868, US patent no. 79,265 (the first typewriter patent).
    Further Reading
    M.H.Adler, 1973, The Writing Machine, London: Allen \& Unwin.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Sholes, Christopher Latham

  • 13 Symington, William

    SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping
    [br]
    b. 1764 Leadhills, Lanarkshire, Scotland
    d. 22 March 1831 Wapping, London, England
    [br]
    Scottish pioneer of steam navigation.
    [br]
    Symington was the son of the Superintendent of the Mines Company in Lanarkshire, and attended the local school. When he was 22 years old he was sent by Gilbert Meason, Manager of the Wanlockhead mines, to Edinburgh University. In 1779 he was working on the assembly of a Watt engine as an apprentice to his brother, George, and in 1786 he started experiments to modify a Watt engine in order to avoid infringing the separate condenser patent. He sought a patent for his alternative, which was paid for by Meason. He constructed a model steam road carriage which was completed in 1786; it was shown in Edinburgh by Meason, attracting interest but inadequate financial support. It had a horizontal cylinder and was non-condensing. No full-sized engine was ever built but the model secured the interest of Patrick Miller, an Edinburgh banker, who ordered an engine from Symington to drive an experimental boat, 25 ft (7.6 m) long with a dual hull, which performed satisfactorily on Dalswinton Loch in 1788. In the following year Miller ordered a larger engine for a bigger boat which was tried on the Forth \& Clyde Canal in December 1789, the component parts having been made by the Carron Company. The engine worked perfectly but had the effect of breaking the paddle wheels. These were repaired and further trials were successful but Miller lost interest and his experiments lapsed. Symington devoted himself thereafter to building stationary engines. He built other engines for mine pumping at Sanquhar and Leadhills before going further afield. In all, he built over thirty engines, about half of them being rotary. In 1800–1 he designed the engine for a boat for Lord Dundas, the Charlotte Dundas; this was apparently the first boat of that name and sailed on both the Forth and Clyde rivers. A second Charlotte Dundas with a horizontal cylinder was to follow and first sailed in January 1803 for the Forth \& Clyde Canal Company. The speed of the boat was only 2 mph (3 km/h) and much was made by its detractors of the damage said to be caused to the canal banks by its wash. Lord Dundas declined to authorize payment of outstanding accounts; Symington received little reward for his efforts. He died in the house of his son-in-law, Dr Robert Bowie, in Wapping, amidst heated controversy about the true inventor of steam navigation.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    W.S.Harvey and G.Downs-Rose, 1980, William Symington, Inventor and Engine- Builder, London: Mechanical Engineering Publications.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Symington, William

  • 14 Лондонская международная ассамблея

    Универсальный русско-английский словарь > Лондонская международная ассамблея

  • 15 A Portuguesa

       The official Portuguese national anthem since 1911. A Portuguesa, which means "The Portuguese Woman," refers to the historical symbolic female figure or "Lady Republic," a Portuguese woman who wears republican garb, including a republican banner or flag and a Phrygian bonnet. The concept and name were modeled on the similar figure from the French Revolution of 1789, and the name of the French national anthem, "The Woman from Marseilles," and republican symbols from France's Third Republic. Under the constitutional monarchy, the national anthem was called "The Hymn of the Charter," referring to the 1826 Charter or constitution drafted by Emperor Pedro I of Brazil or Pedro IV of Portugal to replace the controversial 1822 Constitution.
        A Portuguesa was composed during the popular frenzy and outcry generated by the English Ultimatum crisis of January 1890. Portugal capitulated to an English ultimatum presented to Lisbon by London during an Anglo-Portuguese conflict over possession of territory in central-east Africa. Intense feelings of patriotism, nationalism, and xenophobia were generated in the wake of the Lisbon government's capitulation and its subsequent resignation from office. Inspired by the popular reaction to this incident, Alfredo Keil, a Portuguese musician and opera composer of German descent, wrote the music for A Portuguesa, whose melody bears a slight resemblance to that of the stirring Internationale. The sentimental, bellicose lyrics were written by Keil's friend, Lopes de Mendonça.
       During the remaining years of the waning monarchy, A Portuguesa was sung as a rallying cry by republican partisans who wished to abolish the monarchy. The song's spirit is not only nationalistic, but is imbued with an imperative of Portuguese national revival in order to remind the people of their greatness of centuries ago. After the First Republic replaced the monarchy, the republic's Constituent Assembly adopted A Portuguesa as the country's national anthem in June 1911, and it has remained so ever since. The first verse with chorus imparts the spirit of the entire patriotic message of the anthem:
       Heroes of the sea, noble race
       valiant and immortal nation,
       now is the hour to raise up on high once more
       Portugal's splendor.
       From out of the mists of memory,
       of Homeland, we hear the voices
       of your great forefathers
       that shall lead you on to victory!
        Chorus:
       To arms, to arms
       on land and sea!
       To arms, to arms
       to fight for our Homeland!
       To march against the enemy guns!

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > A Portuguesa

  • 16 Socialist Party / Partido Socialista

    (PS)
       Although the Socialist Party's origins can be traced back to the 1850s, its existence has not been continuous. The party did not achieve or maintain a large base of support until after the Revolution of 25 April 1974. Historically, it played only a minor political role when compared to other European socialist parties.
       During the Estado Novo, the PS found it difficult to maintain a clandestine existence, and the already weak party literally withered away. Different groups and associations endeavored to keep socialist ideals alive, but they failed to create an organizational structure that would endure. In 1964, Mário Soares, Francisco Ramos da Costa, and Manuel Tito de Morais established the Portuguese Socialist Action / Acção Socialista Português (ASP) in Geneva, a group of individuals with similar views rather than a true political party. Most members were middle-class professionals committed to democratizing the nation. The rigidity of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) led some to join the ASP.
       By the early 1970s, ASP nuclei existed beyond Portugal in Paris, London, Rome, Brussels, Frankfurt, Sweden, and Switzerland; these consisted of members studying, working, teaching, researching, or in other activities. Extensive connections were developed with other foreign socialist parties. Changing conditions in Portugal, as well as the colonial wars, led several ASP members to advocate the creation of a real political party, strengthening the organization within Portugal, and positioning this to compete for power once the regime changed.
       The current PS was founded clandestinely on 19 April 1973, by a group of 27 exiled Portuguese and domestic ASP representatives at the Kurt Schumacher Academy of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Bad Munstereifel, West Germany. The founding philosophy was influenced by nondogmatic Marxism as militants sought to create a classless society. The rhetoric was to be revolutionary to outflank its competitors, especially the PCP, on its left. The party hoped to attract reform-minded Catholics and other groups that were committed to democracy but could not support the communists.
       At the time of the 1974 revolution, the PS was little more than an elite faction based mainly among exiles. It was weakly organized and had little grassroots support outside the major cities and larger towns. Its organization did not improve significantly until the campaign for the April 1975 constituent elections. Since then, the PS has become very pragmatic and moderate and has increasingly diluted its socialist program until it has become a center-left party. Among the party's most consistent principles in its platform since the late 1970s has been its support for Portugal's membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Union (EU), a view that clashed with those of its rivals to the left, especially the PCP. Given the PS's broad base of support, the increased distance between its leftist rhetoric and its more conservative actions has led to sharp internal divisions in the party. The PS and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) are now the two dominant parties in the Portuguese political party system.
       In doctrine and rhetoric the PS has undergone a de-Marxification and a movement toward the center as a means to challenge its principal rival for hegemony, the PSD. The uneven record of the PS in general elections since its victory in 1975, and sometimes its failure to keep strong legislative majorities, have discouraged voters. While the party lost the 1979 and 1980 general elections, it triumphed in the 1983 elections, when it won 36 percent of the vote, but it still did not gain an absolute majority in the Assembly of the Republic. The PSD led by Cavaco Silva dominated elections from 1985 to 1995, only to be defeated by the PS in the 1995 general elections. By 2000, the PS had conquered the commanding heights of the polity: President Jorge Sampaio had been reelected for a second term, PS prime minister António Guterres was entrenched, and the mayor of Lisbon was João Soares, son of the former socialist president, Mário Soares (1986-96).
       The ideological transformation of the PS occurred gradually after 1975, within the context of a strong PSD, an increasingly conservative electorate, and the de-Marxification of other European Socialist parties, including those in Germany and Scandinavia. While the PS paid less attention to the PCP on its left and more attention to the PSD, party leaders shed Marxist trappings. In the 1986 PS official program, for example, the text does not include the word Marxism.
       Despite the party's election victories in the mid- and late-1990s, the leadership discovered that their grasp of power and their hegemony in governance at various levels was threatened by various factors: President Jorge Sampaio's second term, the constitution mandated, had to be his last.
       Following the defeat of the PS by the PSD in the municipal elections of December 2001, Premier Antônio Guterres resigned his post, and President Sampaio dissolved parliament and called parliamentary elections for the spring. In the 17 March 2002 elections, following Guterres's resignation as party leader, the PS was defeated by the PSD by a vote of 40 percent to 38 percent. Among the factors that brought about the socialists' departure from office was the worsening post-September 11 economy and disarray within the PS leadership circles, as well as charges of corruption among PS office holders. However, the PS won 45 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections of 2005, and the leader of the party, José Sócrates, a self-described "market-oriented socialist" became prime minister.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Socialist Party / Partido Socialista

  • 17 Corliss, George Henry

    [br]
    b. 2 June 1817 Easton, Washington City, New York, USA
    d. 21 February 1888 USA
    [br]
    American inventor of a cut-off mechanism linked to the governor which revolutionized the operation of steam engines.
    [br]
    Corliss's father was a physician and surgeon. The son was educated at Greenwich, New York, but while he showed an aptitude for mathematics and mechanics he first of all became a storekeeper and then clerk, bookkeeper, salesperson and official measurer and inspector of the cloth produced at W.Mowbray \& Son. He went to the Castleton Academy, Vermont, for three years and at the age of 21 returned to a store of his own in Greenwich. Complaints about stitching in the boots he sold led him to patent a sewing machine. He approached Fairbanks, Bancroft \& Co., Providence, Rhode Island, machine and steam engine builders, about producing his machine, but they agreed to take him on as a draughtsman providing he abandoned it. Corliss moved to Providence with his family and soon revolutionized the design and construction of steam engines. Although he started working out ideas for his engine in 1846 and completed one in 1848 for the Providence Dyeing, Bleaching and Calendering Company, it was not until March 1849 that he obtained a patent. By that time he had joined John Barstow and E.J.Nightingale to form a new company, Corliss Nightingale \& Co., to build his design of steam-engines. He used paired valves, two inlet and two exhaust, placed on opposite sides of the cylinder, which gave good thermal properties in the flow of steam. His wrist-plate operating mechanism gave quick opening and his trip mechanism allowed the governor to regulate the closure of the inlet valve, giving maximum expansion for any load. It has been claimed that Corliss should rank equally with James Watt in the development of the steam-engine. The new company bought land in Providence for a factory which was completed in 1856 when the Corliss Engine Company was incorporated. Corliss directed the business activities as well as technical improvements. He took out further patents modifying his valve gear in 1851, 1852, 1859, 1867, 1875, 1880. The business grew until well over 1,000 workers were employed. The cylindrical oscillating valve normally associated with the Corliss engine did not make its appearance until 1850 and was included in the 1859 patent. The impressive beam engine designed for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition by E. Reynolds was the product of Corliss's works. Corliss also patented gear-cutting machines, boilers, condensing apparatus and a pumping engine for waterworks. While having little interest in politics, he represented North Providence in the General Assembly of Rhode Island between 1868 and 1870.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    Many obituaries appeared in engineering journals at the time of his death. Dictionary of American Biography, 1930, Vol. IV, New York: C.Scribner's Sons. R.L.Hills, 1989, Power from Steam. A History of the Stationary Steam Engine, Cambridge University Press (explains Corliss's development of his valve gear).
    J.L.Wood, 1980–1, "The introduction of the Corliss engine to Britain", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 52 (provides an account of the introduction of his valve gear to Britain).
    W.H.Uhland, 1879, Corliss Engines and Allied Steam-motors, London: E. \& F.N.Spon.
    RLH

    Biographical history of technology > Corliss, George Henry

  • 18 Goddard, Dr Robert Hutchings

    SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace
    [br]
    b. 5 October 1882 Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
    d. 10 August 1945 Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    [br]
    American inventory developer of rocket propulsion.
    [br]
    At the age of seventeen Goddard climbed a tree and, seeing the view from above, he became determined to make some device with which to ascend towards the planets. In an autobiography, published in 1959 in the journal Astronautics, he stated, "I was a different boy when I descended the ladder. Life now had a purpose for me." His first idea was to launch a projectile by centrifugal force, but in 1909 he started to design a rocket that was to be multi-stage and fuelled by liquid oxygen and hydrogen. Not long before the First World War he produced a report, "A method of reaching extreme altitudes", which was for the Smithsonian Institution and was published in book form in 1919. During the war he worked on solid-fuelled rockets as weapons. His book contained notes on the amount of fuel required to raise 1 lb (454 g) of payload to an infinite altitude. He incurred ridicule as "the moon man" when he proposed the use of flash powder to indicate successful arrival on the moon. In 1923 he severed his connections with military work and returned to the University of Massachusetts. On 16 March 1926 he launched the world's first liquid-fuelled rocket from his aunt's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts; powered by gasoline and liquid oxygen, it flew to a height of 12 m (40 ft) and travelled 54 m (177 ft) in 2.4 seconds.
    In November 1929 he met the aviator Charles Lindbergh, who persuaded both the Guggenheim Foundation and the Carnegie Institute to support Goddard's experiments financially. He moved to the more suitable location of the Mescalere Ranch, near Roswell, New Mexico, where he worked until 1941. His liquid-fuelled rockets reached speeds of 1,100 km/h (700 mph) and heights of 2,500 m (8,000ft). He investigated the use of the gyroscope to steady his rockets and the assembly of power units in clusters to increase the total thrust. In 1941 he moved to the naval establishment at Annapolis, Maryland, working on liquid-fuelled rockets to assist the take-off of aircraft from carriers. He worked for the US Government on this and the development of military rockets until his death from throat cancer in 1945. In all, he was granted 214 patents, roughly three per year of his life.
    In 1960 the US Government admitted infringement of Goddard's patents during the rocket programme of the 1950s and awarded his widow a payment of $1,000,000, while the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) honoured him by naming the Goddard Spaceflight Center near Washington, DC, after him. The Goddard Memorial Library at Clark University, in his home town of Worcester, Massachusetts, was also named in his honour.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    A.Osman, 1983, Space History, London: Michael Joseph. P.Marsh, 1985, The Space Business, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
    K.C.Parley, 1991, Robert H.Goddard, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press. T.Streissguth, 1994, Rocket Man: The Story of Robert Goddard, Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Goddard, Dr Robert Hutchings

  • 19 Hertz, Heinrich Rudolph

    [br]
    b. 22 February 1857 Hamburg, Germany
    d. 1 January 1894 Bonn, Germany
    [br]
    German physicist who was reputedly the first person to transmit and receive radio waves.
    [br]
    At the age of 17 Hertz entered the Gelehrtenschule of the Johaneums in Hamburg, but he left the following year to obtain practical experience for a year with a firm of engineers in Frankfurt am Main. He then spent six months at the Dresden Technical High School, followed by year of military service in Berlin. At this point he decided to switch from engineering to physics, and after a year in Munich he studied physics under Helmholtz at the University of Berlin, gaining his PhD with high honours in 1880. From 1883 to 1885 he was a privat-dozent at Kiel, during which time he studied the electromagnetic theory of James Clerk Maxwell. In 1885 he succeeded to the Chair in Physics at Karlsruhe Technical High School. There, in 1887, he constructed a rudimentary transmitter consisting of two 30 cm (12 in.) rods with metal balls separated by a 7.5 mm (0.3 in.) gap at the inner ends and metallic plates at the outer ends, the whole assembly being mounted at the focus of a large parabolic metal mirror and the two rods being connected to an induction coil. At the other side of his laboratory he placed a 70 cm (27½ in.) diameter wire loop with a similar air gap at the focus of a second metal mirror. When the induction coil was made to create a spark across the transmitter air gap, he found that a spark also occurred at the "receiver". By a series of experiments he was not only able to show that the invisible waves travelled in straight lines and were reflected by the parabolic mirrors, but also that the vibrations could be refracted like visible light and had a similar wavelength. By this first transmission and reception of radio waves he thus confirmed the theoretical predictions made by Maxwell some twenty years earlier. It was probably in his experiments with this apparatus in 1887 that Hertz also observed that the voltage at which a spark was able to jump a gap was significantly reduced by the presence of ultraviolet light. This so-called photoelectric effect was subsequently placed on a theoretical basis by Albert Einstein in 1905. In 1889 he became Professor of Physics at the University of Bonn, where he continued to investigate the nature of electric discharges in gases at low pressure until his death after a long and painful illness. In recognition of his measurement of radio and other waves, the international unit of frequency of an oscillatory wave, the cycle per second, is now universally known as the Hertz.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Royal Society Rumford Medal 1890.
    Bibliography
    Much of Hertz's work, including his 1890 paper "On the fundamental equations of electrodynamics for bodies at rest", is recorded in three collections of his papers which are available in English translations by D.E.Jones et al., namely Electric Waves (1893), Miscellaneous Papers (1896) and Principles of Mechanics (1899).
    Further Reading
    J.G.O'Hara and W.Pricha, 1987, Hertz and the Maxwellians, London: Peter Peregrinus. J.Hertz, 1977, Heinrich Hertz, Memoirs, Letters and Diaries, San Francisco: San Francisco Press.
    KF

    Biographical history of technology > Hertz, Heinrich Rudolph

  • 20 Morris, William Richard, Viscount Nuffield

    [br]
    b. 10 October 1877 Worcester, England
    d. 22 August 1963 Nuffield Place, England
    [br]
    English industrialist, car manufacturer and philanthropist.
    [br]
    Morris was the son of Frederick Morris, then a draper. He was the eldest of a family of seven, all of whom, except for one sister, died in childhood. When he was 3 years old, his father moved to Cowley, near Oxford, where he attended the village school. After a short time with a local bicycle firm he set up on his own at the age of 16 with a capital of £4. He manufactured pedal cycles and by 1902 he had designed a motor cycle and was doing car-repair work. By 1912, at the Motor Show, he was able to announce his first car, the 8.9 hp, two-seater Morris Oxford with its characteristic "bull-nose". It could perform at up to 50 mph (80 km/h) and 50 mpg (5.65 1/100 km). It cost £165.
    Though untrained, Morris was a born engineer as well as a natural judge of character. This enabled him to build up a reliable team of assistants in his growing business, with an order for four hundred cars at the Motor Show in 1912. Much of his business was built up in the assembly of components manufactured by outside suppliers. In he moved out of his initial premises by New College in Longwall and bought land at Cowley, where he brought out his second model, the 11.9hp Morris Oxford. This was after the First World War, during which car production was reduced to allow the manufacture of tanks and munitions. He was awarded the OBE in 1917 for his war work. Morris Motors Ltd was incorporated in 1919, and within fifteen months sales of cars had reached over 3,000 a year. By 1923 he was producing 20,000 cars a year, and in 1926 50,000, equivalent to about one-third of Britain's output. With the slump, a substantial overdraft, and a large stock of unsold cars, Morris took the bold decision to cut the prices of cars in stock, which then sold out within three weeks. Other makers followed suit, but Morris was ahead of them.
    Morris was part-founder of the Pressed Steel Company, set up to produce car bodies at Cowley. A clever operation with the shareholding of the Morris Motors Company allowed Morris a substantial overall profit to provide expansion capital. By 1931 his "empire" comprised, in addition to Morris Motors, the MG Car Company, the Wolseley Company, the SU Carburettor Company and Morris Commercial Cars. In 1936, the value of Morris's financial interest in the business was put at some £16 million.
    William Morris was a frugal man and uncomplicated, having little use for all the money he made except to channel it to charitable purposes. It is said that in all he gave away some £30 million during his lifetime, much of it invested by the recipients to provide long-term benefits. He married Elizabeth Anstey in 1904 and lived for thirty years at Nuffield Place. He lived modestly, and even after retirement, when Honorary President of the British Motor Corporation, the result of a merger between Morris Motors and the Austin Motor Company, he drove himself to work in a modest 10 hp Wolseley. His generosity benefited many hospitals in London, Oxford, Birmingham and elsewhere. Oxford Colleges were another class of beneficiary from his largesse.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Viscount 1938; Baron (Lord Nuffield) 1934; Baronet 1929; OBE 1917; GBE 1941; CH 1958. FRS 1939. He was a doctor of seven universities and an honorary freeman of seven towns.
    Further Reading
    R.Jackson, 1964, The Nuffield Story.
    P.W.S.Andrews and E.Brunner, The Life of Lord Nuffield.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Morris, William Richard, Viscount Nuffield

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  • London Assembly — London Assembly, the a group of 25 people who are elected every four years, and who are responsible for checking the performance of the ↑Mayor of London …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • London Assembly — Die London Assembly ist eine vom Volk gewählte Legislativbehörde in Greater London. Sie bildet mit dem exekutiven Mayor of London die Greater London Authority und ist befugt dessen Amtsgeschäfte zu überwachen, Untersuchungen durchzuführen, das… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • London Assembly — Assemblée de Londres London Assembly Type Type : Monocaméral Présidence …   Wikipédia en Français

  • London Assembly election, 2008 — An election to the Assembly of London took place on 1 May, 2008, along with the London mayoral election, 2008. The Conservatives gained 2 seats, Labour gained one seat, the Liberal Democrats lost two seats, and United Kingdom Independence Party… …   Wikipedia

  • London Assembly constituencies — Greater London is divided into fourteen territorial constituencies for London Assembly elections, each returning one member. The electoral system used is Additional Member System without an overhang and there are, therefore, a fixed number of… …   Wikipedia

  • London Assembly election, 2000 — The first elections for members of the London Assembly were held on 4 May 2000, alongside the first mayoral election.The assembly elections used the Mixed member proportional representation, a form of Additional member system, with 14 directly… …   Wikipedia

  • London Assembly — a group of people forming part of the local government of London, elected by the people of London every four years, at the same time as the Mayor of London. The Assembly is made up of 25 members. 14 of them are directly elected to represent… …   Universalium

  • London Assembly election, 2004 — An election to the Assembly of London took place on June 10, 2004, along with the London mayoral election, 2004.The Assembly is elected by the Additional Member System. There are fourteen directly elected constituencies, nine of which were won by …   Wikipedia

  • List of Labour Party Members of the London Assembly — The Labour Party Members of the London Assembly make up the second largest group of Assembly Members (AM) in the London Assembly forming part of the Greater London Authority (GLA). From the twentyfive Assembly constituencies or Londonwide list… …   Wikipedia

  • North East (London Assembly constituency) — North East London Assembly constituency North East shown within London Created: 2000 Member: Jennette Arnold P …   Wikipedia

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