Knopf Xks-'nspf, ks-'nopA, Alfred A. (b. Sept. 12, 1892, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Aug. 11, 1984, Purchase, N.Y.) U.S. publisher. He worked a short time in publishing before he and his wife, Blanche, founded their own firm, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., in 1915. His appreciation of contempo¬ rary literature and his literary contacts helped make the firm renowned for publishing works of high literary quality. By the time of his death, authors published by the firm had won 16 Nobel and 27 Pulitzer prizes. In 1966 it became a subsidiary of Random House, Inc. Knopf also published the American Mercury (1924-34), an influential periodical he cofounded with H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan.
Knossos \'na-s3s\ Ancient royal city, Crete. It was King Minos’s capi¬ tal and the centre of the Minoan civilization. Settled by migrants from Asia Minor in the 7th millennium bc, it gave rise to a sophisticated Bronze Age culture. Two great palaces were built in the Middle Minoan period, the second c. 1720 bc after an earthquake leveled the city. About 1580 bc Minoan culture began to extend to mainland Greece, where it greatly influenced the Mycenaean culture. After its palace was destroyed by fire c. 1400 bc, it was reduced to town status, and Aegean political focus shifted to Mycenae. Knossos was the site of the legendary labyrinth of Daedalus.
knot In cording, the interlacement of parts of one or more ropes, cords, or other pliable materials, commonly used to bind objects together. Knots
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1044 i knot theory ► Knuth
have existed from the time humans first used vines and cordlike fibers to bind stone heads to wood in primitive axes, and were also used in the making of nets and traps. Knot making became sophisticated when it began to be used in the ropes, or rigging, that controlled the sails of early sailing vessels, and thus became the province of sailors. Knots are still depended on by campers and hikers, mountaineers, fishermen, and weav¬ ers, among others.
square knot overhand knot granny knot
running bowline sheet bend figure-eight knot
sheepshank cow hitch common whipping
fisherman’s knot clove hitch bowline
Examples of common knots.
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knot theory Mathematical theory of closed curves in three- dimensional space. The number of times and the manner in which a curve crosses itself distinguish different knots. The fewest possible crossings is three, for the overhand (trefoil) knot, which occurs in two mirror versions according to the directions in which the curve crosses itself. Knot theory has been used to understand both atomic and molecular structures (pro¬ tein folding).
Know-Nothing Party or American Party U.S. political party of the 1850s. The party’s precursor organization, the secret Order of the Star-Spangled Banner, was formed in New York City in 1849 from the anti-immigrant and anti-Roman Catholic movement, and lodges were soon established in other major cities. Members were instructed to reply to queries about their group with “I know nothing.” As its membership and importance grew in the 1850s, the group slowly shed its clandestine character and took the official name American Party. The party called for restrictions on immigration and on naturalized citizenship. Many local and state candidates won offices in the 1852 election, and by 1855 there were 43 Know-Nothing members of Congress. At its 1856 convention the party split over the slavery issue; proslavery advocates left to join the Demo¬ crats and antislavery adherents joined the Republicans. By 1859 the par¬ ty’s influence was limited to the border states.
Knowles VnolzV John (b. Sept. 16, 1926, Fairmont, W.Va., U.S.—d. Nov. 29, 2001, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) U.S. author. Educated at Yale Uni¬ versity, he gained prominence for his first novel, A Separate Peace (1959), about the competitive friendship of two private-school students. Most of his novels, which include Indian Summer (1966), Spreading Fires (1974), and Peace Breaks Out (1981), are psychological examinations of charac¬ ters caught in conflict between the wild and the pragmatic sides of their personalities.
Knox, Henry (b. July 25, 1750, Boston, Mass.—d. Oct. 25, 1806, Thomaston, Maine, U.S.) American Revolutionary officer. Active in the colonial militia, he joined the Continental Army and was sent by George Washington to transport British artillery captured in the Battle of Ticon- deroga. In mid-winter, he oversaw the transport of 120,000 lbs (55,000 kg) of artillery by oxen and horses over snow and ice 300 mi (480 km)
to Boston. Promoted to general, he commanded the artillery in the battles of Monmouth and Yorktown, and in 1783 he succeeded Washington as commander of the army. He was secretary of war under the Articles of Confederation from 1785 to 1789 and served as the first U.S. secretary of war from 1789 to 1795.
Knox, John (b. c. 1514, near Haddington, East Lothian, Scot.—d. Nov. 24, 1472, Edinburgh) Scottish cler¬ gyman, leader of the Scottish Refor¬ mation and founder of Scottish Presbyterianism. Probably trained for the priesthood at the University of St. Andrews, he was ordained in 1540. He joined a group of Protes¬ tants who fortified St. Andrews Castle, but they were captured by French Catholics and carried away into slavery in 1547. Released through English intervention in 1549, he spent four years preaching in England, where he influenced developments in the Church of England. With the accession of the Catholic Mary I, he fled to the Con¬ tinent. He served as pastor at Frank¬ furt am Main and Geneva until his return to Scotland in 1559. In England, Elizabeth I made common cause with the Scottish Presbyteri¬ ans, lest the French gain control of Scotland to support its Catholic monarch, Mary, Queen of Scots. Knox survived conflicts with Mary and spent the rest of his life in setting up the Presbyterian church.
Knox, Philander Chase (b. May 6, 1853, Brownsville, Pa., U.S.—d. Oct. 12, 1921, Washington, D.C.) U.S. lawyer and politician. After admis¬ sion to the bar in 1875 he became a successful corporation lawyer in Pittsburgh. As legal counsel for the Carnegie Steel Company, he helped organize the United States Steel Corp. (1900-01). Appointed attorney gen¬ eral by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, he initiated several suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1904 to 1909. As secretary of state (1909-13) under Pres. William H. Taft, he helped develop the foreign policy of expanded U.S. investment later criti¬ cized as Dollar Diplomacy. During his second term in the Senate (1917— 21), he opposed the formation of the League of Nations.
Knoxville City (pop., 2000: 173,890), eastern Tennessee, U.S. In 1786, Gen. James White, a former officer in the American Revolutionary army, established a frontier outpost near the Tennessee River. In 1791 White’s Fort was renamed Knoxville for Henry Knox. It served as the capital of the state of Tennessee from 1796 to 1812 and from 1817 to 1818. During the American Civil War, it was occupied by the Confederates until 1863. It is the seat of the University of Tennessee and Knoxville College as well as the headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Knudsen Vkniid-son, 'niid-sonV William Signius orig. Signius Wilhelm Poul Knudsen (b. March 25, 1879, Copenhagen, Den.—d. April 27, 1948, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) Danish-U.S. industrialist. He immi¬ grated to the U.S. in 1900. In 1914 he began supervising Ford Motor Co. assembly plants and directed the firm’s construction of submarine patrol boats and other war materiel in World War I. He joined General Motors Corp. in 1922 and became president in 1937. He was appointed director of industrial production for the National Defense Research Committee and directed production of war materiel as head of the U.S. Office of Produc¬ tion Management.