Marco Polo See Marco Polo
Marco Polo Bridge Incident Conflict in 1937 between Chinese and Japanese troops near the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing. The incident was a culmination of the growing tensions between the two sides— increasing Japanese aggression and Chinese reaction against it—after Japan had occupied northeastern China and established its puppet state of Manchukuo in 1931. The skirmish expanded into a general war between Japan and China.
Marconi, Guglielmo (b. April 25, 1874, Bologna, Italy—d. July 20, 1937, Rome) Italian physicist and inventor. He began experimenting with radio waves in 1894. In 1896 he went to England, where he devel¬ oped a successful system of radio telegraphy. His work on the devel¬ opment of shortwave wireless com¬ munication constitutes the basis of nearly all modern radio broadcast¬ ing. His improved aerials greatly extended the range of radio signal¬ ing. In 1899 he established commu¬ nication across the English Channel.
In 1900 he established the American Marconi Co. In 1901 he sent signals across the Atlantic for the first time.
He acquired numerous patents, though probably his most famous one. No. 7777, for an apparatus that enabled several stations to operate on different wavelengths without interference, was later overturned.
Marconi shared the 1909 Nobel Prize for Physics with K. Ferdinand Braun (1850-1918). He was made a marquis and was nominated to the Italian Senate (1929), and he was elected president of the Royal Italian Academy (1930).
Marcos, Ferdinand (Edralin) (b. Sept. 11, 1917, Sarrat, Phil.—d. Sept. 28, 1989, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.) Philippine head of state (1966— 86). The son of a politician, he practiced as a trial lawyer before serving under Manuel Roxas, the first president of the independent Philippines. He was himself elected president in 1966. In his first term he made progress in agriculture, industry, and education, but in 1972 he imposed martial law, and his later years in power were noted for rampant government cor¬ ruption, economic stagnation, political repression, and the steady growth of a communist insurgency. Following public outcry over the assassina¬ tion of the opposition leader Benigno Aquino (1932-83) and Marcos’s apparently fraudulent electoral victory over Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, Marcos was forced into exile in Hawaii, U.S. There he and his wife, Imelda, were indicted on racketeering charges related to embezzling billions of dollars from the Philippine economy. After his death she returned to the Philippines, where she was tried and convicted of corrup¬ tion; the ruling was later overturned.
Guglielmo Marconi, c. 1908.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Marcus ► Margaret of Austria I 1193
Marcus, Rudolph A. (b. July 21, 1923, Montreal, Que., Can.) Canadian-born U.S. chemist. Educated at McGill University, he worked at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (from 1951), the University of Illinois (from 1964), and the California Institute of Technology (from 1978). He studied electron transfer in redox reactions in the 1950s and ’60s, finding that subtle changes in the molecular structures of the reac¬ tants and the solvent molecules around them influence the ability of elec¬ trons to move between the molecules. He also discovered the parabolic relationship between the driving force of an electron-transfer reaction and the reaction’s rate. His work, which has shed light on fundamental phe¬ nomena such as photosynthesis, cell metabolism, and simple corrosion, won him a 1992 Nobel Prize.
Marcus Aurelius V.mar-kos-o-'rel-yosX in full Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augus¬ tus orig. Marcus Annius Verus
(b. April 26, ad 121, Rome—d.
March 17, 180, Vindobona [Vienna] or Sirmium, Pannonia) Roman emperor (161-180). He was born into a wealthy and prominent family.
Hadrian arranged that Marcus and Lucius Verus be adopted by the des¬ ignated future emperor Antoninus Pius, who dutifully groomed Marcus as his heir. On his accession, Marcus nevertheless shared power with his adoptive brother as coemperor, though he himself remained the more dominant. His reign was marked by numerous military crises, all the major frontiers being threat¬ ened by invasion. Struggles against the Parthians (162-166) were suc¬ cessful, but returning troops brought a devastating plague to Rome. With a concurrent German invasion,
Roman morale declined; the Ger¬ mans were repulsed, but Verus died during the campaign (169). Marcus made his son Commodus coemperor in 177. Though a man of gentle character and wide learning, Marcus opposed Christianity and supported persecution of its adherents. His Meditations on Stoicism, considered one of the great books of all times, gives a full picture of his religious and moral values. His reign is often thought to mark the Golden Age of Rome.
Marcuse \mar-'ku-z3\, Herbert (b. July 19, 1898, Berlin—d. July 29, 1979, Stamberg, Ger.) German-U.S. political philosopher. A member of the Frankfurt school, he fled Germany after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. After working in U.S. intelligence in World War II, he taught at several universities, principally Brandeis University (1954-65) and the University of California at San Diego (1965-76). In his best known and most influential work, One-Dimensional Man (1964), Marcuse argued that society under advanced capitalism is unfree and repressive and that mod¬ ern man has become intellectually and spiritually complacent through his psychological dependence on the blandishments of consumer society, a phenomenon he termed “repressive desublimation.” He was also hostile to the Soviet system. His works were popular among student leftists, especially after the 1968 student rebellions at Columbia University and the Sorbonne. His other writings include Eros and Civilization (1955) and Counterrevolution and Revolt (1972).
Marcy, William L(earned) (b. Dec. 12, 1786, Southbridge, Mass., U.S.—d. July 4, 1857, Ballston Spa, N.Y.) U.S. politician. From 1823 to 1829 he was comptroller of New York state and a leading member of the “Albany Regency,” a group of powerful state Democrats. He was a jus¬ tice of the state supreme court from 1829 to 1831. In the U.S. Senate (1831-33), he championed the spoils system, remarking that “To the vic¬ tor belong the spoils of the enemy.” He served as governor of New York (1833-39), as U.S. secretary of war (1845-49), and as U.S. secretary of state (1853-57).
Mardi Gras \'mar-de-,gra\ (French: “Fat Tuesday”) Carnival celebrated on or culminating on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. Traditionally, households consumed all the remaining foods that would be forbidden during Lent (e.g., eggs) on that day. It is a one-
day event in France, but in the U.S. it lasts several days in New Orleans, where it is marked by parades, street celebrations, and extravagant cos¬ tumes.
Marduk \'mar-,duk\ or Bel In Mesopotamian religion, the chief god of the city of Babylon and the national god of Babylonia. He began as a god of thunderstorms, and according to legend he became lord of all the gods after conquering the monster of primeval chaos, Tiamat. Marduk’ s star was the planet Jupiter, and his sacred animals were horses, dogs, and a dragon with a forked tongue, representations of which adorned Babylon’s walls.
mare Ymar-a\ Any flat, low, dark plain on the Moon. Maria are huge impact basins containing lava flows marked by ridges, depressions (gra- ben), and faults; though mare means “sea” in Latin, they lack water. The best-known is probably Mare Tranquillitatis (“Sea of Tranquillity”), the site of the Apollo 11 manned Moon landing. Most of the approximately 20 major maria are on the side of the Moon that always faces Earth; they are its largest surface features and can be seen from Earth with the unaided eye. The dark features of the “man in the moon” are maria.