Kline, Franz (b. 1910, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., U.S.—d. May 13, 1962, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. He studied art in London before settling in New York City. He became one of the leading artists of the Abstract Expres-
Munchenbuchsee, Switz.—d. June
Klee, 1939.
AUFNAHME FOTOPRESS
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Klinefelter syndrome ► knot I 1043
sionist movement and was known for his use of inexpensive commercial paints and large house-painter’s brushes to build graphic networks of rough bars of black paint on white backgrounds. He achieved a sense of majesty and power in such large-scale works as Mahoning (1956). In the late 1950s he introduced colour into his paintings.
Klinefelter syndrome Chromosomal disorder that occurs in one out of 500 males. With an extra X chromosome in each cell (XXY), patients look male, with firm, small testes, but they produce no sperm and may have enlarged breasts and buttocks and very long legs. Testosterone is low and pituitary reproductive hormones high. Intelligence is usually normal, but social adjustment can be difficult. Rarer variants cause additional abnormalities, including mental retardation. In the XX male syndrome, Y chromosome material has been transferred to another chromosome, caus¬ ing changes typical of Klinefelter syndrome. All variants are treated with ANDROGENS.
Klinger, Max (b. Feb. 18, 1857, Leipzig, Ger.—d. July 5, 1920, near Naumburg) German painter, sculptor, and printmaker. He is known for his use of symbol, fantasy, and dreamlike situations, reflecting a late- 19th-century awareness of psychological depths. His vivid, frequently morbid imaginings and his interest in the gruesome and grotesque can be seen in his Goyaesque etchings. He is best known for a series of pen- and-ink drawings called Series upon the Theme of Christ and Fantasies upon the Finding of a Glove, which tells a strange parable of a hapless young man and his obsessive involvement with a woman’s elbow-length glove. He also created controversial treatments of religious themes. In his later years he worked primarily in sculpture. He had a deep influence on many artists, including Edvard Munch, Kathe Kollwitz, Max Ernst, and Giorgio de Chirico.
Klondike gold rush Canadian gold rush of the late 1890s. Gold was discovered on Aug. 17, 1896, near the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers in western Yukon Territory. The news spread quickly, and by late 1898 more than 30,000 prospectors had arrived. Annual production peaked at $22 million worth of gold in 1900, and soon prospectors began moving on to Alaska. By the time mining ended in 1966, the area had yielded $250 million in gold.
Kluane \klu-'6-ne\ National Park National park, southwestern Yukon, Canada. Located on the Alaskan border and established in 1972, it encompasses some 5,440,000 acres (2,201,500 hectares). Its focal point is Mount Logan, the highest peak in Canada. Kluane also has a large gla¬ cier system and abundant wildlife.
Kmart Corp. formerly (until 1977) S.S. Kresge Co. Major U.S. retail chain, marketing general merchandise primarily through discount and variety stores. It originated with a pair of 5-and-10-cent stores estab¬ lished in 1897 by S.S. Kresge and a partner. Kresge’s at first restricted the price of its merchandise to not more than 10 cents, but eventually to not more than one dollar. In 1962 Kresge’s entered the large-scale discount retail market with construction of the first Kmart outside Detroit, Mich. With its success, the company expanded aggressively, erecting an aver¬ age of 85 discount stores per year over the next two decades. In 1977 it became the second largest U.S. retailer. After introducing Martha Stew¬ art as its spokesperson in 1987, Kmart became the exclusive retailer for the Martha Stewart Everyday brand in 1997. Kmart declared bankruptcy, however, in 2002 after years of increasingly damaging competition from the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, and other discount stores. It merged with Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 2005, becoming part of Sears Holdings Corporation.
Knesset \k9-'nes-3t\ (Hebrew: “Assembly”) Unicameral national legis¬ lature of Israel. The first Knesset opened in 1949. Its name and the num¬ ber of its seats (120) are based on the Jewish assembly of biblical times; its traditions and organization are based on the Zionist Congress, the political system of the Jewish community in pre-Israel Palestine, and more loosely the British House of Commons. Its members are elected by pro¬ portional representation for four-year terms; candidates are chosen by their parties.
knight French chevalier \sh3-'val-,ya\ German Ritter In the Euro¬ pean Middle Ages, a formally professed cavalryman, generally a vassal holding land as a fief from the lord he served (see feudalism). At about 7 a boy bound for knighthood became a page, then at 12 a damoiseau (“lord- ling”), varlet, or valet, and subsequently a shieldbearer or esquire. When judged ready, he was dubbed knight by his lord in a solemn ceremony.
The Christian ideal of knightly behavior (see chivalry) required devotion to the church, loyalty to military and feudal superiors, and preservation of personal honor. By the 16th century knighthood had become honorific rather than feudal or military.
Knight, Frank H(yneman) (b. Nov. 7, 1885, White Oak township, McLean county. Ill., U.S.—d. April 15, 1972, Chicago, Ill.) U.S. econo¬ mist. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1916. He taught at the University of Chicago from 1927 to 1952; Milton Friedman was one of the many students he influenced. His book Risk, Uncertainty and Profit (1921) distinguished between insurable and uninsurable risks and asserted that profit was the reward entrepreneurs earned for bearing uninsurable risk. His monograph “Economic Organization” is a classic exposition of microeconomic theory. He is considered the founder of the Chicago school of economics.
Knight Templar See Templar
Knights of Labor First important national labour organization in the U.S. Founded in 1869 by Uriah Smith Stephens as the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor, it included both skilled and unskilled workers, and it proposed a system of workers’ cooperatives to replace capitalism. To pro¬ tect its members from employers’ reprisals, it originally maintained secrecy. Under Terence V. Powderly (1879-93) it favoured open arbitration with management and discouraged strikes. National membership reached 700,000 in 1886. Strikes by militant groups and the Haymarket Riot caused an antiunion reaction that rapidly reduced the organization’s influence. A splinter group left to form the AFL (later AFL-CIO).
Knights of Malta or Hospitallers \'has-,pi-t 3 l-3rz\ in full (since 1961) Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta Religious order founded at Jerusalem in the 11th century to care for sick pilgrims. Recognized by the pope in 1113, the order built hostels along the routes to the Holy Land. The Hospitallers acquired wealth and lands and began to combine the task of tending the sick with waging war on Islam, eventually becoming a major military force in the Crusades. After the fall of the crusader states, they moved their headquarters to Cyprus and later to Rhodes (1309). They ruled Rhodes until it fell to the Turks in 1523; thereupon they moved to Malta, where they ruled until their defeat by Napoleon I in 1798. In 1834 they moved to their present headquarters in Rome.
knitting machine Machine for textile and garment production. Flatbed machines may be hand-operated or power-driven, and, by selection of colour, type of stitch, cam design, and Jacquard device (see Jacquard loom), almost unlimited variety is possible. Modern circular machines may have 100 feeders, allowing each needle to pick up 100 threads per revolution. Both spring (invented c. 1589) and latch (invented 1847) needles are used, with the latter more common. Small bladelike units (sinkers) are inserted between every two needles to engage and hold the completed fabric. Machines may have pattern wheels controlling needle action to produce special stitches, and also a Jacquard mechanism. See also William Lee.