Kienholz \ , ken- l holts\, Edward (b. Oct. 23, 1927, Fairfield, Wash., U.S.—d. June 10, 1994, Hope, Idaho) U.S. sculptor. He pursued painting until he moved to Los Angeles and began producing large wooden reliefs for walls (1954). His controversial environmental sculptures, begun in the late 1950s, were elaborately detailed three-dimensional assemblages that harshly indicted U.S. society. His most famous walk-in scenes include Roxy’s, a replica of a 1943 Los Angeles bordello, and The Beanery, a reproduction of a decrepit bar with 17 figures, piped-in smells, jukebox music, and background conversation. Critics labeled some of his images repulsive or pornographic.
Kieran the Younger See St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise
Kierkegaard Vkir-ko-.gardV Soren (Aabye) (b. May 5, 1813, Copenhagen, Den.—d. Nov. 11,
1855, Copenhagen) Danish religious philosopher, regarded as the founder of existentialism. He studied theology at the University of Copenhagen. He is remembered for his critique of sys¬ tematic rational philosophy, particu¬ larly Hegelianism, on the ground that actual life cannot be contained within an abstract conceptual sys¬ tem. With this stance, he intended to make possible an adequate consider¬ ation of faith and, accordingly, of religion—specifically Christianity.
His works include Either/Or (1843),
Fear and Trembling (1843), and The Sickness unto Death (1849). He insistently attacked the organized church in his later years; exhausted by the strain, he died at age 42. His work strongly influenced 20th- century Continental philosophers and theologians, including Karl Barth, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, and Martin Buber.
kieselguhr See diatomaceous earth
Kiev Vke-ef\ Ukrainian Kyyiv Vkyiv\ City (pop., 2001: 2,611,000), capital of Ukraine. Located along the Dnieper River, it was founded in the 8th century, and by the late 9th century its princes had expanded their territory to establish the state of Kievan Rus. In 1240 it was destroyed by the Tatars of the Golden Horde; after being rebuilt, it came successively under Lithuanian, Polish, and Cossack rule. It was incorporated into Rus¬ sia in 1793, and in 1934 it became the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It became Ukraine’s national capital after the country achieved its independence in 1991. An important industrial city, it is also an educational and cultural centre; it is the seat of a state university and the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Kievan Rus Vke-von-'riisX First eastern Slavic state. It was founded by the Viking Oleg, ruler of Novgorod from c. 879, who seized Smolensk and Kiev (882), which became the capital of Kievan Rus. Extending his rule, Oleg united local Slavic and Finnish tribes, defeated the Khazars, and, in 911, arranged trade agreements with Constantinople. Kievan Rus peaked in the 10th and 11th centuries under Vladimir I and Yaroslav, becoming eastern Europe’s chief political and cultural centre. At Yaro-
Soren Kierkegaard, drawing by Chris¬ tian Kierkegaard, c. 1840; in a private collection.
COURTESY OF THE ROYAL DANISH MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Kigali ► Kilwa I 1035
Slav’s death in 1054, his sons divided the empire into warring factions. The 13th-century Mongol conquest decisively ended its power.
Kigali \ke-'ga-le\ City (pop., 1996 est.: 356,000), capital of Rwanda. Located in the middle of the country, it was a trading centre during the German colonial administration (after 1895) and a regional centre during the Belgian colonial period (1919-62). It became the capital of indepen¬ dent Rwanda in 1962. The fast-growing city was adversely affected by the country’s political turmoil in the 1990s.
Kikuyu \ki-'ku-yu\ or Gikuyu Bantu-speaking people who live in the highland area of south-central Kenya, near Mount Kenya. Numbering some six million, they are the largest ethnic group in Kenya. They tra¬ ditionally lived in separate domestic family homesteads, but during the Mau Mau rebellion the British colonial government moved them into vil¬ lages for security purposes, and this arrangement became permanent. Their traditional economy rested on intensive hoe cultivation of millet and other crops; the main modem cash crops are coffee, corn, and fruits and vegetables. Many Kikuyu serve in government posts.
Kilauea V.ke-lau-'a-oX Crater, eastern side of Mauna Loa, Hawaii Volca¬ noes National Park, U.S. The world’s largest active volcanic crater, it is about 3 mi (5 km) long, 2 mi (3.2 km) wide, and 500 ft (150 m) deep, lying at an altitude of 4,090 ft (1,250 m). In its floor is the vent known as Halemaumau Pit, legendary home of the fire goddess Pele. Its frequent eruptions are usually contained within the vent as a boiling lake of lava, but occasionally the lava escapes; since 1983 a series of emptions pro¬ duced lava that reached the sea 30 mi (48 km) away.
Kilburn, Tom (b. Aug. 11, 1921, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. Jan. 17, 2001, Manchester) British computer scientist. His book A Storage System for Use with Binary Digital Computing Machines (1947) influ¬ enced several U.S. and Russian organizations to adopt his techniques. With Frederic C. Williams (1911-77) he designed and built the Manches¬ ter Mark I (1949), the first stored-program computer, which led to the first commercial computer, the Ferranti Mark I (1949). In 1964 he formed Britain’s first university computer science department and became its first professor. See also stored-program concept.
Kilby, Jack (St. Clair) (b. Nov. 8, 1923, Jefferson City, Mo., U.S.—d. June 20, 2005, Dallas, Texas) U.S. inventor. He studied at the University of Wisconsin. In 1958 he joined Texas Instruments; there he built the first integrated circuit, a device in which all of a circuit’s components are inte¬ grated on a single semiconductor surface. He also coinvented a handheld calculator with a thermal printer that is used in portable data terminals. The owner of more than 60 patents, he received the National Medal of Science (1970), the Kyoto Prize (1993), and the Nobel Prize for Physics (2000), shared with Herbert Kroemer and Zhores Alferov.
kilim \ke-'lem\ Pileless floor covering handwoven by tapestry techniques in Anatolia, the Balkans, and parts of Iran. The name is also given to a variety of brocaded, embroidered, warp-faced, and other flat-woven rugs and bags. A common characteristic is a slit that occurs wherever two colours meet along a vertical line in the pattern. The finest examples are silk 16th-17th-century pieces from Kashan, Iran. The largest kilims are produced in Turkey, as are smaller examples and prayer kilims (prayer rugs); Turkish weavers often use cotton for the white areas, and small details may be brocaded. The kilims of the southern Balkans, originally copies of Turkish types, gradually developed individual styles. Kilims become progressively less Asian in colour and pattern as the distance from Turkey increases.
Kilimanjaro V.ki-b-msn-'ja-roV Volcanic mountain, northeastern Tanzania. Situated in Kilimanjaro National Park (established 1973), it includes the peaks of three extinct volcanoes: Kibo, Mawensi, and Shira. Its highest peak is Kibo, which rises to 19,340 ft (5,895 m) and is the highest point in Africa. The first Europeans to see Kilimanjaro were German missionaries (1848). Kibo was first scaled in 1889 and Mawensi (16,896 ft [5,150 m]) in 1912.
killdeer Bird ( Charadrius vocif- erus ) that frequents grassy mudflats.
pastures, and fields. Its name is suggestive of its loud, insistent whistle. It is about 10 in. (25 cm) long and has a brown back, a white belly, and two black breast bands. Killdeers breed throughout North America and in northwestern South America. They migrate only to escape snow, return¬ ing before most songbirds. They eat beetles, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and other insects. To protect their young from predators, killdeers will feign injury and flutter awkwardly away from the nest, luring predators with the promise of an easy kill.