Magnus effect Generation of a sidewise force on a spinning cylindri¬ cal or spherical solid immersed in a fluid (liquid or gas) when there is relative motion between the spinning body and the fluid. Named after Heinrich Gustav Magnus (1802-1870), who first investigated the effect experimentally in 1853, it is responsible for the curved trajectory of a ten¬ nis or golf ball and affects the path of an artillery shell.
Magnus Pius, Sextus Pompeius See Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius
magpie Any of several genera of long-tailed songbirds of the crow family (Corvidae). The black-billed magpie (Pica pica) is 18 in. (45 cm) long and strikingly pied (black-and-white), with an iridescent blue-green tail. It is found in North Africa, across Eurasia, and in western North America. A bird of farmlands and tree-studded open country, it eats insects, seeds, small vertebrates, the eggs and young of other birds, and fresh carrion. It makes a large, round nest of twigs cemented with mud, and is known for hoarding small, bright objects. Other species (in the genera Cyanopica, Cissa, and Urocissa) include the brilliant blue or green magpies of Asia.
Magritte \ma-'gret\, Rene (-Francois-Ghislain) (b. Nov. 21,1898, Lessines, Belg.—d. Aug. 15, 1967, Brussels) Belgian painter. After study at the Belgian Academy of Fine Arts (1916-18), he designed wallpaper and did advertising sketches until the support of a Brussels art gallery enabled him to become a full-time painter. His early works were in the Cubist and Futurist styles, but in 1922 he discovered the work of Gior¬ gio de Chirico and embraced Surrealism with The Menaced Assassin (1927). Certain images appear over and over again in Magritte’s works—the sea, wide skies, the female torso, the bourgeois “little man” in a bowler hat, rocks that hover overhead—and dislocations of space, time, and scale were common elements in his enigmatic and illogical paintings.
Magsaysay \mag-'sl-,sl\ / Ramon (b. Aug. 31, 1907, Iba, Phil.—d. March 17, 1957, near Cebu) President of the Philippines (1953-57). Son of a Malay artisan, he was a schoolteacher before becoming a guerrilla leader during World War II. In 1950, as secretary of defense, he launched one of the most successful antiguerrilla campaigns in modern history, against insurgents of the Hukbalahap Rebellion. He deprived them of popu¬ lar support by offering peasants land and tools and insisting that the army treat them with respect. By 1953 the Huks were no longer a threat, and Magsaysay was elected president. His efforts at reform were frustrated by a conservative Congress. He was killed in a plane crash before the end of his term.
maguey See century plant
magus \'ma-gos\ Member of an ancient Persian clan specializing in cul- tic activities. The magi were a priestly caste during the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian dynasties, and parts of the Avesta are probably derived from them. Their priesthood is believed to have served several religions, includ¬ ing Zoroastrianism. From the 1st century ad onward, the word magus in
its Syriac form ( magusai ) was applied to magicians and soothsayers, chiefly from Babylonia. As long as the Persian empire lasted there was a distinction between the Persian magi, credited with profound religious knowledge, and the Babylonian magi, often considered outright impost¬ ers. See also Magi.
Magyar Vmag-.yar, 'ma-Jar\ Any member of the dominant ethnic group in Hungary. Speakers of a Finno-Ugric language, they migrated from their early home in the region of present-day Bashkortostan in eastern Euro¬ pean Russia across the southern Russian and Ukrainian steppes into the northern Balkans in the 9th century. After collisions with neighbouring peoples, the Magyars crossed the Carpathians and settled in the middle basin of the Danube River in the late 9th century, subjugating Slavs and other peoples there. Skilled and fierce horsemen, they raided deep into the heart of Europe in the 10th century and were greatly feared until their defeat by Otto I at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. They adopted Christian¬ ity in the 11th century under King Stephen I, the founder of Hungary, who made the kingdom part of the European community.
Mah-jongg \,ma-'zhai]\ Game of Chinese origin usually played by four persons with 144 domino-like tiles that are drawn and discarded until one player secures a winning hand. The object of play is similar to that of the rummy card games. It is probably of 19th-century origin. The name was coined by J. P. Babcock, who introduced the game to the West after World War I. The mah-jongg set includes a pair of dice, a quantity of tokens or chips used for scorekeeping, and a rack for keeping tiles upright and keeping their faces hidden from other players.
Mahabharata \mo- l ha- , ba-r3-t9\ One of the two major Sanskrit epics of India, valued for its literary merit and its religious inspiration. It tells of the struggle for supremacy between two groups of cousins, the Kau- ravas and the Pandavas. Many myths and legends are woven into the poem, along with didactic material on topics such as the proper conduct of a warrior and the way to attain emancipation from rebirth. Together with the second major epic, the Ramayana, it is an important source of information about the evolution of Hinduism. Contained within the Mahab¬ harata is the Bhagavadgita, Hinduism’s single most important religious text. The sage Vyasa (fl. c. 5th century bc) is traditionally named as the Mahabharata’ s author, but he probably compiled existing material. The poem reached its present form c. ad 400.
Mahan \m3-'han\, Alfred Thayer (b. Sept. 27, 1840, West Point, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 1, 1914,
Quogue, N.Y.) U.S. naval officer and historian. He studied at the U.S.
Naval Academy, and his nearly 40 years of active naval duty included fighting in the American Civil War.
He was president of the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. (1886-89).
His classic analysis The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 (1890) argued that sea power was decisive in determining national supremacy. In The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793-1812 (1892), he stressed the interdependence of mili¬ tary and commercial control of the sea. Avidly read in Britain and Ger¬ many, both books greatly influenced the buildup of naval forces before World War I.
Maharashtra V.ma-ho-'rash-troV State (pop., 2001 prelim.: 96,752,247), west-central India. It lies on the Arabian Sea and is bordered by the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Goa and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli; its capital is Mumbai (Bombay). Occupying an area of 118,800 sq mi (307,690 sq km), it covers much of the Deccan plateau, containing the valleys of the Krishna, Bhima, and Godavari rivers. The population is a mixture of ethnic groups; Marathi is the state lan¬ guage. The region was divided into Hindu kingdoms in the 8th—13th cen¬ turies; they were followed by a series of Muslim dynasties. A Maratha kingdom ruled by 1674, and by the 18th century a Maratha empire had been established. The British gained control early in the 19th century.
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When India won independence in 1947, the area was known as Bombay state; it was divided on linguistic lines in 1960, creating Gujarat in the north and Maharashtra in the south. Its economy is primarily agricultural; industries include oil-refining and cotton textiles.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi orig. Mahad Prasad Varma (b.
1911?, India) Indian religious leader, founder of Transcendental Medita¬ tion (TM). He took a degree in physics before going to the Himalayas to study the Advaita school of Vedanta religious thought with the yogi Guru Dev for 13 years. He arrived in the U.S. in 1959, preaching the virtues of TM; in the 1960s the Beatles were perhaps his most celebrated follow¬ ers. The Maharishi (the title means “Great Sage”) returned to India in the late 1970s and moved to The Netherlands in 1990. His organization, which includes real estate holdings, schools, and clinics, was worth more than $3 billion in the late 1990s.