Michener Vmich-noA, James A(lbert) (b. Feb. 3, 1907?, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Oct. 16, 1997, Austin, Texas) U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Michener was a foundling discovered in Doylestown, Pa., and he was raised as a Quaker. From 1944 to 1946 he was a naval historian in the South Pacific, the setting of his early fiction; his Tales of the South Pacific (1947, Pulitzer Prize) was adapted as the Broadway musical South Pacific (1949; film, 1958). He is best known for epic and detailed novels drawing on extensive research, including Hawaii (1959; film, 1966), Ibe¬ ria (1968), Centennial (1974), Chesapeake (1978), Space (1982), and Mexico (1992).
Michigan State (pop., 2000: 9,938,444), midwestern U.S. Surrounded almost entirely by the Great Lakes, it is divided into two large land seg¬ ments: the Upper and Lower peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula is bordered to the south by Indiana and Ohio; the Upper Peninsula is bounded by Wisconsin to the west. Michigan, including the Great Lakes, covers 96,716 sq mi (250,493 sq km); its capital is Lansing. The western region of the Upper Peninsula is a rugged upland rich in minerals, and the remainder of the state consists of lowlands and rolling hills. The area was originally inhabited by ALGONQUiAN-speaking Indians. The French arrived in the 17th century, founding Sault Ste. AAarie in 1668 and Detroit in 1701; fur trading was their primary activity. The English gained control of Michigan in 1763 following the French and Indian War, and it passed to the U.S. in 1783. It was included in the Northwest Territory in 1787 and in Indiana Territory in 1800. Michigan Territory was organized on the Lower Peninsula in 1805. Though surrendered to the British in the War of 1812, U.S. rule was restored in 1813 by the victory of Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie. A boundary dispute with Ohio, known as the Toledo War, was settled by U.S. President Andrew Jackson, with Michigan receiving the Upper Peninsula and statehood as compensation. In 1837 it became the 26th U.S. state. Throughout the American Civil War, it made major contributions to the Union cause. In the 20th century its economy was dominated by the automotive industry.
Michigan, Lake Third largest of the five Great Lakes and the only one lying wholly within the U.S. Bordered by the states of Michigan, Wis¬
consin, Illinois, and Indiana, it connects with Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac in the north. It is 321 mi (517 km) long and up to 118 mi (190 km) wide, with a maximum depth of 923 ft (281 m); it occupies an area of 22,300 sq mi (57,757 sq km). The first European to discover it was the French explorer Jean Nicolet in 1634; the explorer La Salle brought the first sailing ship there in 1679. It now attracts international shipping as part of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway. The name is derived from the Algonquian word michigami or misschiganin, meaning “big lake.”
Michigan, University of U.S. state university with its main campus in Ann Arbor and branch campuses in Flint and Dearborn. It originated as a preparatory school in Detroit in 1817 and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. Today it is one of the nation’s leading research universities, con¬ sisting of a college of literature, science, and the arts and numerous gradu¬ ate and professional schools. Special facilities include a nuclear reactor, a hospital complex, an aerospace engineering laboratory, a Great Lakes research centre, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Michizane See Sugawara Michizane
Michoacan X.me-cho-a-'kanX State (pop., 2000: 3,985,667), southwest¬ ern Mexico. It covers 23,138 sq mi (59,928 sq km), and its capital is Morelia. Bounded by the Pacific Ocean, it rises from a narrow coastal plain to the Sierra AAadre. Important cities include Morelia, Uruapan, Zamora, and Patzcuaro. In the 1530s the Dominican Vasco de Quiroga established the first successful missions among the Tarascan Indians around Lake Patzcuaro. The state lies in an area of great volcanic activity; Mount Jorullo was formed by an eruption in 1759, and Paricutin was created by an eruption that lasted nearly a decade (1943-52). Michoacan produces a wide range of forest products and tropical crops.
Mickey Mouse Famous character of Walt Disney’s animated cartoons. He was introduced in Steamboat Willie (1928), the first animated cartoon with sound. Mickey was created by Disney, who also provided his high- pitched voice, and was usually drawn by the studio’s head animator, Ub Iwerks. Noted for his overlarge head and round black ears, he became the star of more than 100 cartoon shorts. The Mickey Mouse Club was one of the most popular television shows for children in the U.S. in the 1950s, and the signature black cap with mouse ears worn by the show’s stars became one of the most widely distributed items in merchandising his¬ tory.
Mickiewicz \m y ets-'k y e-v y ech\, Adam (Bernard) (b. Dec. 24, 1798, Zaosye, near Nowogrodek, Belorussia, Russian Empire—d. Nov. 25, 1855, Constantinople, Tur.) Polish poet. A lifelong apostle of Polish national freedom and one of Poland’s greatest poets, Mickiewicz was deported to Russia for his revolutionary activities in 1823. His Poetry, 2 vol. (1822-23), was the first major Polish Romantic work; it contained two parts of Forefathers’ Eve, a cycle combining folklore and mystic patriotism. Mickiewicz left Russia in 1829 and eventually settled in Paris. There he wrote The Books of Our Pilgrimage (1832), a prose interpreta¬ tion of the history of the Poles; and his masterpiece, the poetic epic Pan Tadeusz (1834), which describes the life of the Polish gentry in the early 19th century.
Micmac or Mi'kmaq North American Indian people living in Que¬ bec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, Can.; and in Aroostook, Maine, and near Boston, Mass., U.S. The Micmac comprise the largest of the Indian tribes of Canada’s eastern Maritime Provinces. Early chronicles describe them as fierce and warlike, but they were among the first Indians to accept Jesuit teachings and inter¬ marry with the settlers of New France. The Micmac formed a confed¬ eracy of several clans. In winter they hunted caribou, moose, and small game; in summer they fished, gathered shellfish, and hunted seals. They were expert canoeists. In the 17th—18th centuries they were allies of the French against the English. Estimates of the current population vary. The total population of Micmac in the U.S. and Canada is probably about
20 , 000 .
Micon \ , ml-,kan\ or Mikon (fl. 5th century bc, Greece) Greek painter and sculptor. A contemporary and pupil of Polygnotus, he joined him in developing the treatment of space and perspective in Greek painting. Micon is known for the mural painting on the Stoa Poikile (Painted Stoa [portico]) on the agora at Athens and for the paintings at the Theseum at Athens. His innovations in spatial elaboration helped initiate the decline of Greek pottery painting.
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microbiology Scientific study of microorganisms, a diverse group of simple life-forms including protozoans, algae, molds, bacteria, and viruses. Microbiology is concerned with the structure, function, and classification of these organisms and with ways of controlling and using their activi¬ ties. Its foundations were established in the later 19th century, with the work of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. Since then, many disease-causing microorganisms have been identified and means of controlling their harm¬ ful effects have been developed. In addition, means of channeling the activities of various microorganisms to benefit medicine, industry, and agriculture have been discovered. Molds, for example, produce antibiot¬ ics, notably penicillin. See also bacteriology, genetic engineering.