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 Talk Talk - Communication terms
Category: General technical and industrial
Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK
Words: 18630


bee-eater
Brightly-coloured bird Merops apiaster, family Meropidae, order Coraciiformes, found in Africa, southern Europe, and Asia. Bee-eaters are slender, with chestnut, yellow, and blue-green plumage, a long bill and pointed wings, and a flight like that of the swallow, which ...

berry
Fleshy, many-seeded fruit that does not split open to release the seeds. The outer layer of tissue, the exocarp, forms an outer skin that is often brightly coloured to attract birds to eat the fruit and thus disperse the seeds. Examples of berries are the tomato and the grape. A pepo is a type of...

Bernoulli, Jakob
Swiss mathematician who with his brother Johann pioneered German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz's calculus. Jakob used calculus to study the forms of many curves arising in practical situations, and studied mathematical probability; Bernoulli numbers are named after him. Jakob Bernoulli's papers on transcendental curves (1696) and isop...

Berkeley, George
Irish philosopher and cleric who believed that nothing exists apart from perception, and that the all-seeing mind of God makes possible the continued apparent existence of things. For Berkeley, everyday objects are collections of ideas or sensations, hence the dictum esse est percipi (`to exist is to be perceived`)....

bed
Click images to enlargeIn geology, a single sedimentary rock unit with a distinct set of physical characteristics or contained fossils, readily distinguishable from those of beds above and below. Well-defined partings called bedding planes separate successive beds or strata. The depth of a bed can vary from a fraction...

Berry, Chuck
US singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the most influential performers in rock-and-roll music, his characteristic guitar riffs and humorous storytelling lyrics have been widely imitated. He had a string of hits in the 1950s and 1960s beginning with `Maybellene` (1955), which became an early rock-and-roll c...

Beatles, the
English pop group with a career spanning 1960–70. The members, all born in Liverpool, England, were John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals), and Ringo Starr (drums). Using songs written largely by Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles dominated rock music and pop culture in the 1960...

Beaton, Cecil Walter Hardy
English photographer. His elegant and sophisticated fashion pictures and society portraits often employed exotic props and settings. He adopted a more simple style for his wartime photographs of bomb-damaged London. He also worked as a stage and film designer, notably for the musicals Gigi (1959) and My Fair Lady<...

Behn, Aphra
English novelist and dramatist. She was the first woman in England to earn her living as a writer. Her works were criticized for their explicitness; they frequently present events from a woman's point of view. Her novel Oroonoko (1688), based on her visit to Suriname, is an attack on slavery. Between 1670 and 1687 fifteen...

Beaconsfield
(title) Title taken by Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of Britain in 1868 and 1874–80

Beecher, Harriet
Unmarried name of US author Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin

Bevin, Ernest
British Labour politician. Chief creator of the Transport and General Workers' Union, he was its general secretary 1921–40. He served as minister of labour and national service 1940–45 in Winston Churchill's wartime coalition government, and organized the `Bevin boys`, chosen by ballot to work in the coalmines as war ser...

Bevan, Aneurin
(Nye) British Labour politician. Son of a Welsh miner, and himself a miner at 13, he was member of Parliament for Ebbw Vale 1929–60. As minister of health 1945–51, he inaugurated the National Health Service (NHS); he was minister of labour from January to April 1951, when he resi...

beta-blocker
Any of a class of drugs that block impulses that stimulate certain nerve endings (beta receptors) serving the heart muscle. This reduces the heart rate and the force of contraction, which in turn reduces the amount of oxygen (and therefore the blood supply) required by the heart. Beta-blockers may be useful in the treatment of angina, arrhythmi...

Berzelius, Jöns Jakob
Swedish chemist. He accurately determined more than 2,000 relative atomic and molecular masses. In 1813–14, he devised the system of chemical symbols and formulae now in use and proposed oxygen as a reference standard for atomic masses. His discoveries include the elements cerium in 1804, selenium in 1817, and thorium in 1828; he was the f...

Bermuda
British overseas territory in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean; area 54 sq km/21 sq mi; population (1994 est) 60,500. The colony consists of 138 small islands, of which 20 are inhabited; the 6 principal islands are linked by bridges and causeways. The capital and chief port is Hamilton. B...

Berkshire
Former county of south-central England; from April 1998 split into six unitary authorities: West Berkshire, Reading, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham and Bracknell Forest

Benin
(province) Former African kingdom 1200–1897, now a province of Nigeria known as Edo; population (1991 est) 2,172,000. It reached the height of its power in the 14th–17th centuries when it ruled the area between the Niger Delta and Lagos. The province trades in timber and rubber. ...

Beneš, Edvard
Czechoslovak politician. He worked with Tomáš Masaryk towards Czechoslovak nationalism from 1918 and was foreign minister and representative at the League of Nations. He was president of the republic from 1935 until forced to resign by the Germans and headed a government in exile in London during World War II. He personally gave the order...

Ben Bella, Muhammad Ahmed
Algerian politician, a founder and leader of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), the first prime minister of independent Algeria 1962–63, and its first president 1963–65. He carried out land reforms to benefit landless farmers, but his centralization of power and systematic purges were among the reasons behind his overthrow in 1...

bell
(instrument) Musical instrument, made in many sizes, comprising a suspended resonating vessel swung by a handle or from a pivoted frame to make contact with a beater which hangs inside the bell. Church bells are among the most massive structures to be cast in bronze in one piece; from high...

Belize City
Former capital (until 1970) and chief port of Belize, situated at the mouth of the Belize River on the Caribbean coast; population (2000 est) 49,100. It is Belize's largest city and capital of Belize district. Exports include sugar, timber, citrus fruits, coconuts, and maize. The port also serves parts of Mexico. The city was severely damag...

Belgrade
Port and capital of Serbia, at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers: population (2002) 1,120,100. It is linked to the port of Bar on the Adriatic Sea. Industries include light engineering, food processing, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and electrical goods. History The settlement grew up around the 4th-century BC Celtic fortress of Kal...

Belfort
Administrative centre of the département of the Territoire de Belfort in the Franche-Comté region of northeast France, situated on the River Savoureuse, in the Trouée de Belfort (Belfort Gap), a 24 km/15 mi pass between the Vosges and Jura mountains; population (1999) 50,400. The town is the centre of a...

Belfast
(city) Capital city and industrial port of Northern Ireland, situated in County Antrim and County Down, at the mouth of the River Lagan on Belfast Lough; population (2001) 277,400. It is the county town of County Antrim, and has been the capital of Northern Ireland since 1920. Industries i...

Belém
Port and capital of Pará federal unit (state) in northern Brazil, on the River Pará near the mouth of the River Tocantins and River Amazon, 144 km/89 mi from the Atlantic; population (2000) 1,272,400; metropolitan area (2005 est) 2,042,500. Belém lies just 161 km/100 mi south of the Equator, and is hot (mean temperatu...

Beirut
Capital and port of Lebanon, 90 km/60 mi northwest of Damascus, situated on a promontory into the eastern Mediterranean with the Lebanon Mountains behind it; population (2002 est) 1,147,800, conurbation 1,878,200. The city dates back to at least 1400 BC. It was devastated by civil war in the 1970s and 1980s and by the conflict between the P...

Beiderbecke, Bix
US jazz cornetist, composer, and pianist. A romantic soloist with the bands of King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Paul Whiteman, Beiderbecke was the first accepted white jazz innovator. He was influenced by the classical composers Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Igor Stravinsky. His recordings include `I'm Coming, Virginia` (1927) a...

Behring, Emil
(Adolph von) German physician who was awarded the first Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, in 1901, for his discovery that the body produces antitoxins, substances able to counteract poisons released by bacteria. Using this knowledge, he developed new treatments for diseases such as dipht...

Behrens, Peter
German architect. A pioneer of the Modern Movement and of the adaptation of architecture to industry. He designed the AEG turbine factory in Berlin (1909), a landmark in industrial architecture, and taught Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe

begonia
Any of a group of tropical and subtropical plants. They have fleshy and succulent leaves, and some have large, brilliant flowers. There are numerous species in the tropics, especially in South America and India. (Genus Begonia, family Begoniaceae.)

Begin, Menachem
Israeli politician. He was leader of the extremist Irgun Zvai Leumi organization in Palestine from 1942 and prime minister of Israel 1977–83, as head of the right-wing Likud party. Following strong encouragement from US president Jimmy Carter, he entered into negotiations with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, which resulted in the Camp Davi...

Beethoven, Ludwig van
German composer. His mastery of musical expression in every type of music made him the dominant influence on 19th-century music. Beethoven's repertoire includes concert overtures; the opera Fidelio (1805, revised 1806 and 1814); 5 piano concertos and 1 for violin...

beet
Any of several plants belonging to the goosefoot family, used as food crops. One variety of the common beet (Beta vulgaris) is used to produce sugar and another, the mangelwurzel, is grown as a cattle feed. The beetroot, or red beet (B. rubra), is a salad plant. (Genus Beta, family Chenopodia...

Beersheba
Industrial city in the south of Israel, 80 km/50 mi from Jerusalem; population (2006 est) 185,300. It has been a settlement since Stone Age times and is now the chief centre for the Negev Desert, which has undergone development as an agricultural area through widespread irrigation. Industries include glass, porcelain and textiles, and the m...

Beecham, Thomas
English conductor and impresario. He established the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1946 and fostered the works of composers such as Delius, Sibelius, and Richard Strauss. He was knighted and succeeded to the baronetcy in 1916

Bedfordshire
County of south central England (since April 1997 Luton has been a separate unitary authority). Area 1,192 sq km/460 sq mi Towns and cities Bedford (administrative headquarters), Dunstable Physical the Great Ouse River and its tributary, the Ivel; the county is low lying with the Chiltern Hil...

Bedford
Town and administrative headquarters of Bedfordshire, southern England, on the River Ouse, about 80 km/50 mi north of London; population (2001) 82,500. Industries include light engineering, food-processing, aircraft services, and the manufacture of agricultural machinery, diesel engines, pumps, bricks, communications systems, and electr...

Beckmann, Max
German expressionist painter and graphic artist. He was influenced both by medieval art and by the Neue Sachlichkeit movement and after World War I his art concentrated on themes of cruelty in human society, as in Night (1918–19; Kunstsammlung Nardrheim-Westfalen, Düsseldorf). Beckmann was bor...

Becket, St Thomas à
English archbishop and politician. He was chancellor to Henry II from 1155 to 1162, when he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. The interests of the Roman Catholic medieval church soon conflicted with those of the crown and Becket was assassinated; he was canonized (made into a saint) in 1172

Bechuanaland
Former name (to 1966) of Botswana

Beaverbrook,
(William) Canadian-born British financier, proprietor and publisher of the Daily Express group of newspapers, and a UK government minister in cabinets during both world wars. He bought a majority interest in the Daily Express in 1916, founded the
Beauvais
Administrative centre of the Oise département in the Picardy region of north-central France, situated 76 km/47 mi northwest of Paris at the confluence of the Thérain and Avelon rivers; population (1999) 55,400. It is a trading centre for fruit, dairy produce, and agricultural machinery. Manufacturing industr...

Beaune
City in the département of Côte-d'Or, France, 35 km/22 mi southwest of Dijon; population (1999) 21,900. It is the centre of the Burgundian wine trade, and has a wine museum, the Musée du Vin de Bourgogne. Industries include the production of agricultural equipment, casks, oil, white metal, and musta...

Beatrix,
(Wilhelmina Armgard) Queen of the Netherlands. The eldest daughter of Queen Juliana, she succeeded to the throne on her mother's abdication in 1980. In 1966 she married West German diplomat Claus von Amsberg, who was created Prince of the Netherlands. Her heir is Prince Willem Alexander

Bear, Great and Little
Common names (and translations of the Latin) for the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor respectively

Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent
English illustrator and leading member of the Aesthetic Movement. His meticulously executed black-and-white drawings show the influence of Japanese prints and French rococo, and also display the sinuous line, asymmetry, and decorative mannerisms of art nouveau. His work was often charged with being grotesque and decadent

Beaker people
Prehistoric people thought to have been of Iberian origin, who spread out over Europe from the 3rd millennium BC. They were skilled in metalworking, and are associated with distinctive earthenware drinking vessels with various designs, in particular, a type of beaker with a bell-shaped profile, widely distributed throughout Europe. The Beaker p...

Bergson, Henri Louis
French philosopher. He believed that time, change, and development were the essence of reality. He thought that time was a continuous process in which one period merged imperceptibly into the next. In Creative Evolution (1907) he attempted to prove that all evolution and progress are due to the working of the élan v...

Bergius, Friedrich Karl Rudolf
German chemist who invented processes for converting coal into oil and wood into sugar. He shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1931 with Carl Bosch for his part in inventing and developing high-pressure industrial methods

Benz, Karl
(Friedrich) German automobile engineer. He produced the world's first petrol-driven motor vehicle. He built his first model engine in 1878 and the petrol-driven car in 1885. Benz made his first four-wheeled prototype in 1891 and by 1895 he was building a range of four-wheel...

Bell, Alexander Graham
Scottish-born US scientist and inventor. He was the first person ever to transmit speech from one point to another by electrical means. This invention – the telephone – was made in 1876, when Bell transmitted speech from Paris, Ontario, to Brantford, Ontario (a distance of 13 km/8 mi). Later Bell experimented with a type of phonog...

Belgravia
Residential district of west central London, laid out in squares by Thomas Cubitt (1788–1855) between 1825 and 1830, and bounded to the north by Knightsbridge

Bejaia
Port in Algeria, 193 km/120 mi east of Algiers; population (1998) 147,100. The town lies on the edge of a fertile plain, with an annual rainfall of 1,000 mm/40 in at the mouth of the Wadi Soummam and near Mount Gouraya (660 m/2,165 ft). Trade includes exports in wood, hides, iron ore, phosphates, tobacco, hydrocarbons, and liqueurs....

behaviourism
School of psychology originating in the USA, of which the leading exponent was John B Watson. Behaviourists maintain that all human activity can ultimately be explained in terms of conditioned reactions or reflexes and habits formed in consequence. Leading behaviourists include Ivan Pavlov and B F Skinner

Beerbohm,
(Henry) English caricaturist and author. A perfectionist in style, he contributed to The Yellow Book (1894); wrote a novel of Oxford undergraduate life, Zuleika Dobson (1911); and published volumes of caricature, including Rossetti and His...

Beecher, Lyman
US Congregational and Presbyterian minister, one of the most popular pulpit orators of his time. He was the father of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher

Bedouin
Click images to enlargeMember of any of the nomadic, Arabic-speaking peoples occupying the desert regions of Arabia and North Africa. Originating in Arabia, they spread to Syria and Mesopotamia, and later to Egypt and Tunisia. Bedouins are organized into tribes, each led by a council of elders and a sheikh chosen for ...

Bede
English theologian and historian, known as the Venerable Bede. Active in Durham and Northumbria, he wrote many scientific, theological, and historical works. His Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) of 731 is a primary source for early English history, and was tr...

Beckett, Samuel Barclay
Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet, who wrote in both French and English. He won international acclaim for his work, which includes the play En attendant Godot – first performed in Paris in 1952, and then in his own translation as Waiting for Godot in London in 1955 and New York in 1956 – and for his...

Beaumont, Francis
English dramatist and poet. From about 1606 to 1613 he collaborated with John Fletcher. Their joint plays include the tragicomedies Philaster (1610), A King and No King (c. 1611), and The Maid's Tragedy (c. 1611). The Woman Hater (a...

Beaufort Sea
Section of the Arctic Ocean off Alaska and Canada, named after the British admiral Francis Beaufort. Oil drilling is allowed only in the winter months because the sea is the breeding and migration route of bowhead whales, the staple diet of the local Inuit people

Beaufort scale
System of recording wind velocity, devised by Francis Beaufort in 1806. It is a numerical scale ranging from 0 to 17, calm being indicated by 0 and a hurricane by 12; 13–17 indicate degrees of hurricane force. In 1874 the scale received international recognition; it was modified in 1926. Measurements are made at 10 m/33 ft above gr...

Beatty, David
British admiral in World War I. He commanded the cruiser squadron 1912–16 and bore the brunt of the Battle of Jutland in 1916

Beatitudes
In the New Testament, the sayings of Jesus reported in Matthew 5:3–11 and Luke 6:20–22, describing the spiritual qualities of character that should characterize those influenced by the kingdom of God, and are the way to true happiness. They form part of the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes describe a picture of the ideal Christ...

beatification
In the Catholic Church, the first step towards canonization. Persons who have been beatified can be prayed to, and the title `Blessed` can be put before their names

Beachy Head
Chalk headland on the south coast of England, between Seaford and Eastbourne in East Sussex. Rising to 163 m/535 ft, it is the eastern end of the South Downs. The lighthouse at the foot of the cliff is 38 m/125 ft high

Beagle Channel
Channel to the south of Tierra del Fuego, South America, named after the ship of Charles Darwin's voyage. Three islands at its eastern end, with krill and oil reserves within their 322 km/200 mi territorial waters, and the dependent sector of the Antarctic with its resources, were disputed between Argentina and Chile and awarded to Chile in...

bergamot
Small evergreen tree belonging to the rue family. A fragrant citrus-scented essence is obtained from the rind of its fruit and used as a perfume and food flavouring, for example in Earl Grey tea. The sole source of supply is southern Calabria, Italy, but the name comes from the town of Bergamo, in Lombardy. (Citrus bergamia, ...

betony
Plant belonging to the mint family, formerly used in medicine and dyeing. It has a hairy stem and leaves, and dense heads of reddish-purple flowers. (Stachys (formerly Betonica) officinalis, family Labiatae.)

Belau
Former name for the Republic of Palau

beryl
Mineral that forms crystals chiefly in granite. It is the chief ore of beryllium. Two of its gem forms are aquamarine (light-blue crystals) and emerald (dark-green crystals)

Becquerel,
(Antoine) French physicist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 for his discovery of penetrating radiation coming from uranium salts, the first indication of spontaneous radioactivity. He shared the award with Marie and Pierre Curie

bearing
(engineering) Device used in a machine to allow free movement between two parts, typically the rotation of a shaft in a housing. Ball bearings consist of two rings, one fixed to a housing, one to the rotating shaft. Between them is a ...

Bessemer process
First cheap method of making steel, invented by Henry Bessemer in England in 1856. It has since been superseded by more efficient steel-making processes, such as the basic–oxygen process. In the Bessemer process compressed air is blown into the bottom of a converter, a furnace shaped like a ...

Bernoulli's principle
Law stating that the pressure of a fluid varies inversely with speed, an increase in speed producing a decrease in pressure (such as a drop in hydraulic pressure as the fluid speeds up flowing through a constriction in a pipe) and vice versa. The principle also explains the pressure differences on each surface of an aerofoil, which gives lift to th...

Berthollet, Claude Louis
French chemist who carried out research into dyes and bleaches (introducing the use of chlorine as a bleach) and determined the composition of ammonia. Modern chemical nomenclature is based on a system worked out by Berthollet and Antoine Lavoisier

Bellini
Venetian family of artists, founders of the Venetian School in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Jacopo Bellini (c. 1400–1470/71) worked in Venice, Padua, Verona, and Ferrara. Gentile Bellini (c. 1429–1507) was probably the elder son of Jacopo and was trained by him. Although now overshadowed by ...

Bellini, Vincenzo
Italian composer of operas. He worked with the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini (1794–1854) to develop lyrical melodic lines, and his operas contain superbly crafted dramatic tension often with potentially tragic themes, as in La sonnambula/The Sleepwalker and Norma (both 1831). In I puritani...

Belmopan
Capital of Belize from 1970; situated in central Belize, 80 km/50 mi inland in Central America, between the Belize and Sibun Rivers; population (2000 est) 8,100. It is 80 km/50 mi southwest of Belize City, near the junction of the Western Highway and the Hummingbird Highway to Dangriga. Principal exports from the region are sugar ca...

Benares
Alternative transliteration of Varanasi, a holy Hindu city in Uttar Pradesh, India

bends
Popular name for a syndrome seen in deep-sea divers, arising from too rapid a release of nitrogen from solution in their blood. If a diver surfaces too quickly, nitrogen that had dissolved in the blood under increasing water pressure is suddenly released, forming bubbles in the bloodstream and causing pain (the `bends`) and paralysis....

Benedict, St
Founder of Christian monasticism in the West and of the Benedictine order. He founded the monastery of Monte Cassino and others in Italy. His feast day is 11 July

Benedictine order
Religious order of monks and nuns in the Roman Catholic Church, founded by St Benedict at Subiaco, Italy, in the 6th century. It had a strong influence on medieval learning and reached the height of its prosperity early in the 14th century

Bengal
Former province of British India, in the northeast of the subcontinent. It was the first major part of India to come under the control of the British East India Company (the `Bengal Presidency`). When India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was divided into West Bengal, a state of India, and East Bengal, which from 1972 onwards became p...

Benghazi
Historic city and industrial port in northern Libya on the Gulf of Sirte; population (2005 est) 685,400. It is the second largest Libyan city and lies 645 km/400 mi east of the largest, Tripoli. It is linked by road to other cities of the Mediterranean coast. Industries include oil refining, engineering, food and salt processing, brewing, a...

Bennett, Richard Rodney
English composer of jazz, film music, symphonies, and operas. His film scores for Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), and Murder on the Orient Express (1974) all received Academy Award nominations. His operas include The Mines of Sulphur (1963)...

Ben Nevis
Highest mountain in the British Isles (1,344 m/4,409 ft), 7 km/4 mi southeast of Fort William, Scotland. The northeast side of Ben Nevis has a precipice of 450 m/1,480 ft. From the summit, which consists of a large plateau, there is an extensive view of the Scottish Highlands and islands, as far as the Hebrides. There is a well-mark...

Belloc,
(Joseph) French-born British writer. He wrote nonsense verse for children, including The Bad Child's Book of Beasts (1896) and Cautionary Tales for Children (1907). Belloc also wrote historical, biographical, travel, and religious books (he was a d...

Bellow, Saul
Canadian-born US novelist. From his first novel, Dangling Man (1944), Bellow typically set his naturalistic narratives in Chicago and made his central character an anxious, Jewish-American intellectual. Other works, known for their skilled characterization, include The Adventures of Augie March (1953), ...

bell ringing
The art of ringing church bells individually or in sequence by rhythmically drawing on a rope fastened to a wheel rotating the bell, so that it falls back and strikes in time. Change ringing is an English art, dating from the 17th century, of ringing a patterned sequence of permutations of 5–12 church bells, using one player to each bell

Benelux
Customs union of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, an agreement for which was signed in London by the three governments in exile in 1944, and ratified in 1947. It came into force in 1948 and was further extended and strengthened by the Benelux Economic Union Treaty in 1958. The full economic union between the three countries came into opera...

Benn, Tony
British Labour politician, formerly the leading figure on the party's left wing. He was minister of technology 1966–70 and secretary of state for industry 1974–75, but his campaign against entry to the European Community (EC; now the European Union) led to his transfer to the Department of Energy 1975–79. A skilled parliament...

Bennett,
(Enoch) English novelist, playwright, and journalist. His major works are set in the industrial `five towns` of the Potteries in Staffordshire (now Stoke-on-Trent) and are concerned with the manner in which the environment dictates the pattern of his characters' lives. Th...

Benzedrine
Trade name for amphetamine, a stimulant drug

Berber
The non-Semitic Caucasoid people of North Africa who since prehistoric times have inhabited Barbary – the Mediterranean coastlands from Egypt to the Atlantic. Their language, present-day Berber (a member of the Hamito-Semitic or Afro-Asiatic language family), is written in both Arabic and Berber characters and is spoken by abou...

Berdyaev, Nikolai Alexandrovich
Russian philosopher who often challenged official Soviet viewpoints after the Revolution of 1917. Although appointed professor of philosophy in 1919 at Moscow University, he was exiled in 1922 for defending Orthodox Christian religion. His books include The Meaning of History (1923) and The Destiny of Man (1935...

Bergamo
(town) Town in Lombardy, Italy, 48 km/30 mi northeast of Milan, at the foot of the Alps between the rivers Brembo and Serio; population (2001) 113,100. Industries include printing, engineering, and the manufacture of cement, textiles (silk), and electrical goods. The Academia Carrara h...

Bergen
Industrial port and capital of Hordaland county on the southwest coast of Norway; population (2003 est) 211,200. It is Norway's second-largest city and a major shipping centre. Industries include shipbuilding, engineering, steel, electrical equipment, off-shore oil services, and fish processing. Often called the `gateway to the...

Bergman,
(Ernst) Swedish stage and film director, regarded by many as a unique auteur and one of the masters of modern cinema. His work dealt with complex moral, psychological, and metaphysical problems and was often strongly pessimistic. Bergman gained an international reputation with Det sju...