Minuteman missile U.S. ICBM first deployed in 1962. Its three generations—the Minuteman I (1962-73), the Minuteman II (1966-95), and the Minuteman III (from 1970)—have constituted most of the land- based nuclear arsenal of the U.S. since the 1960s. They were the first U.S. ICBMs to be based in underground silos, use solid fuel, and be fitted with multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles (see MIRV). Under the terms of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks, the Minuteman II force was dismantled and the Minuteman III scheduled for downgrading to a single warhead.
Miocene Vml-o-.senX Epoch Major division of the Tertiary Period, from 23.8 to 5.3 million years ago. The extensive fossil record of terrestrial life
during the Miocene provides a fairly complete picture of the development of vertebrates, especially mammals. Miocene mammals were essentially modern, and half of the known modern families are present in the Miocene record. The horse evolved, mainly in North America, and advanced pri¬ mates, including apes, were present in southern Europe. Some interchange of faunas occurred in the Northern Hemisphere between the Old and New Worlds. Free communication was possible between Africa and Eurasia, but South America and Australia remained isolated.
Miquelon See Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
Mir Russian space station. It consists of a core module launched in 1986 and five additional modules launched separately over the next decade and attached to the core unit to create a large, versatile space laboratory. The third generation of Russian space stations (see Salyut), Mir featured six docking ports for modules and other spacecraft, expanded living quarters, more power, and modernized research equipment. It supported human habitation between 1986 and 2000, including an uninterrupted stretch of occupancy of almost 10 years, and it hosted a series of U.S. astronauts in 1995-98 as part of a Mir-SPACE shuttle cooperative endeavour. In 1995, Valery Polyakov (b. 1942) set a world endurance record of nearly 438 days in space aboard Mir. In March 2001 the abandoned station was brought down in a controlled reentry, with the surviving pieces falling into the Pacific Ocean.
MTr Sayyid ‘All (fl. 16th century) Persian miniature painter. Born in Tabriz, he went to India about 1545. He and fellow countryman ‘Abd al-Samad instructed the artists of the imperial atelier, most of them Indi¬ ans, and thereby helped to found the school of Mughal painting. He super¬ vised part of the production of the illustrations to the Mughal manuscript Dastan-e Amir Hamzeh (“Stories of Amir Hamzeh”). The few paintings by him that have survived reveal that he was a highly gifted painter, wielding a delicate brushstroke and great powers of observation.
Mira Bai Vme-ra-'ba-eV (b. 1450?, Kudaki, India—d. 1547?, Dwarka, Gujarat) Rajput princess and Hindu mystic whose songs are popular in northern India. According to legend, Mirabai dedicated her life to Krishna after her husband’s death. She received sadhus and pilgrims at her pri¬ vate temple dedicated to Krishna and composed songs of devotion to him, unorthodox pursuits for a widow. Her poems allude to two attempts on her life, both foiled miraculously. When a delegation of Brahmans sought to return her to her husband’s kingdom, she disappeared. Only two poems bearing her signature can be dated before the 18th century, but her story is the most familiar among those of northern Indian saints.
Mirabeau \me-ra-'bo\, Honore-Gabriel Riqueti, count de orig. Honore-Gabriel Riqueti (b. March 9, 1749, Bignon, near Nemours, France—d. April 2, 1791, Paris) French politician and orator. Son of the economist Victor Riqueti (1715-89), he suffered his father’s disfavour; often imprisoned for intrigues and wild behaviour (1774-80), he wrote several essays on prison life. In 1789 he was elected to the Estates Gen¬ eral from the Third Estate. A skilled orator, he was popular with the people and was influential in the early years of the French Revolution. He advo¬ cated a constitutional monarchy and tried to mediate between the abso¬ lute monarchists and the revolutionaries. He was elected president of the National Assembly in 1791, but he died shortly thereafter.
Mirabello, Gulf of Gulf of the Aegean Sea on the northern coast of Crete, Greece. The gulf is separated by a promontory from the Bay of Sitfas on the east. Olonte and Lato are ruined Classical settlements; at Gournia and on the islets of Psfra and Mokhlos are the remains of Late Minoan I (1600-1450 bc) settlements.
miracle Extraordinary event attributed to a supernatural power. Belief in miracles exists in all cultures and nearly all religions. The Upanishads assert that the experience of religious insight and transformation is the only “miracle” worth considering, but popular Hinduism attributes miracu¬ lous powers to the ascetic yogis. Confucianism had little room for miracles. Daoism, however, mingled with Chinese folk religion to produce a rich crop of miracles. Though Buddha Gautama deprecated his own miracu¬ lous powers as devoid of spiritual significance, accounts of his miracu¬ lous birth and life were later woven into his legend and into those of later Buddhist saints. Miracles are taken for granted throughout the Hebrew scriptures and were fairly common in the Greco-Roman world. The New Testament records miracles of healing and other wonders performed by Jesus. Miracles also attest to the holiness of Christian saints. Muhammad renounced miracles as a matter of principle (the Qur’an was the great
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miracle), but his life was later invested with miraculous details. Muslim popular religion, particularly under the influence of Sufism, abounds in miracles and wonder-working saints.
miracle play Type of vernacular drama performed in the Middle Ages, presenting a real or fictitious account of the life, miracles, or martyrdom of a saint. The genre evolved from the liturgical dramas of the 10th- 11th centuries, which were intended to enhance church calendar festivals. By the 13th century the plays were separated from church services and per¬ formed at public festivals by members of craft guilds and other amateur actors. Most miracle plays concerned either the Virgin Mary or St. Nicho¬ las, both of whom had active cults in the Middle Ages. See also morality play; mystery play.
mirage \m3-'razh\ In optics, the deceptive appearance of a distant object caused by the bending of light rays (refraction) in layers of air of vary¬ ing density. Under certain conditions, such as over a stretch of pavement or desert air heated by intense sunshine, the air cools rapidly with eleva¬ tion and therefore increases in density and refractive power. Sunlight reflected down from the upper portion of an object will be directed through the cool air in the normal way; although the light would not be seen ordinarily because of the angle, it curves upward after it enters the rarefied hot air near the ground, thus being refracted to the observer’s eye as though it had originated below the heated surface. When the sky is the object of the mirage, the land is mistaken for a lake or sheet of water.
mi'raj \'mi-raj\ In Islamic tradition, the ascension of Muhammad into heaven. One night, according to the tradition, Muhammad was visited by two archangels, who opened his body and purified his heart of all doubt, error, and paganism. He was carried to heaven, where he ascended the seven levels to reach the throne of God. Along the way he and the arch¬ angel JibrTl met the prophets Adam, Yahya (John the Apostle), ( Isa (Jesus), Yusuf (Joseph), Idris, Harun (Aaron), Musa (Moses), and Ibrahim (Abra¬ ham) and visited hell and paradise. He learned that he was more highly regarded by God than all the other prophets. The mi'raj is popularly cel¬ ebrated with readings of the legend on the 27th day of Rajab, called the Laylaf al-Miraj (“Night of the Ascension”).