Joseph, Chief (b. c. 1840, Wallowa Valley, Ore.Terr.—d. Sept. 21, 1904, Colville Reservation, Wash., U.S.) Nez Perce chief. In 1877 the U.S. attempted to force the Nez Perce to move to a reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph at first agreed but later decided instead to lead his followers on a trek to Canada. During the three-month, 1,000-mile journey, he outma- neuvered and outfought federal troops, and his humane conduct won the admiration of many whites. His group was finally surrounded near the Canadian border and subsequently removed to Indian Territory (Okla¬ homa). In 1885 they were relocated to a reservation in Washington.
Joseph, Father orig. Francois-Joseph le Clerc du Tremblay
(b. Nov. 4, 1577, Paris, France—d. Dec. 18, 1638, Rueil) French mystic and religious reformer. He joined the Capuchins in 1599. His fervent ambition to convert European Protestants to Roman Catholicism coin¬ cided with cardinal de Richelieu’s plans for French domination of Europe, and he became Richelieu’s secretary in 1611. He became known as the “Gray Eminence” (for his gray Capuchin cloak), and his close collabo¬ ration with Richelieu (the “Red Eminence”) gave him powers akin to those of a foreign minister, especially during Richelieu’s campaign to finance France’s participation in the Thirty Years' War, which Joseph’s policies did much to bring about.
Joseph, Saint (fl. 1st century ad, Nazareth, Galilee region of Pales¬ tine; principle feast day March 19; Feast of St. Joseph the Worker May 1) In the New Testament, the husband of Mary and the earthly father of Jesus. Descended from the house of David, he was a carpenter in Naza¬ reth. Betrothed to Mary when he found her already pregnant, an angel appeared to him in a vision and told him the expected child was the son of God. He and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem to be counted in the Roman census, and while they were there the child was born. The last mention of Joseph occurs in the Gospel of Luke, when he and Mary take the 12-year-old Jesus to Jerusalem.
Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Inlet of the Timor Sea, northern Australia. It spans 225 mi (360 km) east to west, and it indents the Australian coast for 100 mi (160 km). Entered by a Dutch navigator in 1644, it was vis¬ ited in 1803 by Nicolas Baudin, a Frenchman who named it after Napo¬ leon’s brother Joseph Bonaparte.
Josephine orig. Marie-Josephe-Rose Tascher de la Pagerie
(b. June 23, 1763, Trois Ilets, Mart.—d. May 29, 1814, Malmaison,
Joseph II, Holy Roman emperor, detail of a painting by Pompeo Batoni, 1769; in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
COURTESY OF THE KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM, VIENNA
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1000 I Josephson ► jousting
France) Consort of Napoleon and empress of the French. She married an army officer, Alexandre, vicomte de Beauharnais, in 1779. He was guillotined during the French Revo¬ lution, and Josephine was impris¬ oned briefly. A leader of Paris society, she married Napoleon in a civil ceremony in 1796. She was an indifferent and extravagant wife, but during the Consulate she used her social position to advance her hus¬ band’s political fortunes. After he became emperor (1804), she per¬ suaded him to marry her again, with religious rites. She proved unable to give him a son, and in 1810 he arranged for their marriage to be nul¬ lified so that he could make a politi¬ cally convenient marriage with Marie-Louise.
Josephson, Brian D(avid) (b. Jan. 4, 1940, Cardiff, Wales) British physicist. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and began building on earlier work done by Leo Esaki of IBM and Ivar Giae- ver (b. 1929) of General Electric. For his discovery of what is now called the Josephson effect in superconductivity, he shared a Nobel Prize with Esaki and Giaever in 1973. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1970 and was named a professor at Cambridge in 1974.
Josephson effect Flow of electric current between two pieces of superconducting material (see superconductivity) separated by a thin layer of insulating material. This flow was predicted by the British physicist Brian Josephson in 1962, based on the BCS theory (see John Bardeen). According to Josephson, pairs of electrons can move from one supercon¬ ductor to the other across the insulating layer (tunneling). The locus of this action is called a Josephson junction. The Josephson current flows only if no battery is connected across the two conductors. A major appli¬ cation of this discovery is in superfast switching devices used in comput¬ ers, which can be 100 times faster than ordinary semiconducting circuits.
Josephus Vjo-'se-fssV Flavius orig. Joseph Ben Matthias (b. ad
37/38, Jerusalem—d. c. 100, Rome) Jewish priest, scholar, and historian. Born of a priestly family, Josephus joined the Pharisees. While on a dip¬ lomatic mission he was impressed by the culture and sophistication of Rome, and in the Jewish revolt of ad 66-70 he eventually attached him¬ self to the Roman cause. Favoured in the courts of emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, he wrote valuable historical works. His History of the Jewish War (79) is the principal source on the revolt and includes much on Roman tactics and strategy. The Antiquities of the Jews (93), his great¬ est work, traces Judaism from creation up to the revolt. Against Apion defends Judaism against Hellenism.
Joshua Leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses. Accord¬ ing to the biblical book of Joshua, Joshua led the people of Israel west¬ ward across the Jordan River to invade Canaan. Under his leadership the Israelites conquered the Canaanites and gained control of the Promised Land. The book begins by recounting the battles, including the famous demolition of the walls of Jericho. Joshua then divides Canaan among the 12 tribes of Israel, makes his farewell speech, and dies. The book was compiled much later than the events described, perhaps during the Baby¬ lonian Exile in the 6th century bc.
Joshua Tree National Park National park, southeastern California, U.S. Situated on the border between the Mojave and Colorado deserts, it has an area of 1,241 sq mi (3,214 sq km). It was designated a national monument in 1936 and a national park in 1994. It is noted for its variety of desert plant life, including the Joshua tree, creosote bush, and Mojave yucca. Its fauna include coyotes, bobcats, and tarantulas.
Josiah \jo-'sI-3\ (b. c. 640 bc —d. 609 bc) King of Judah and religious reformer. He became king at age 8 after the assassination of his father, Amon. As the Assyrian empire crumbled, Judah gained a measure of independence, and in 621 bc Josiah began a program of national renewal. He drove out foreign cults, abolished local sanctuaries, and centred the worship of Yahweh in the Temple of Jerusalem. As his reforms were under way, parts of the book of Deuteronomy were discovered in the Temple,
giving added impetus to his efforts to revive observance of Mosaic law. Josiah hoped to reunify Judah and Israel, but he was killed in a battle against the Egyptians.
Jospin, Lionel (b. July 12, 1937, Meduon, France) French Socialist Party politician who served as the country’s prime minister (1997-2002). He was educated at the elite Ecole Nationale d’Administration. He joined the foreign service and later taught economics at the University Institute of Technology of Paris-Sceaux. He was elected to the National Assem¬ bly in 1977 and later was appointed head of the party by Pres. Francois Mitterrand. He served as minister of education and narrowly lost the presi¬ dential election in 1995 to Jacques Chirac. After the Socialists and their allies won a majority in the National Assembly in 1997, he was appointed prime minister by Chirac. He resigned in 2002 after an unsuccessful presi¬ dential bid.