Mitchell, John (Newton) (b. Sept. 5, 1913, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—d. Nov. 9, 1988, Washington, D.C.) U.S. public official. A prominent attor¬ ney in New York City, he practiced with Richard Nixon after their firms merged in 1967. In 1968 he managed Nixon’s successful presidential campaign. As U.S. attorney general (1969-72), he was criticized for pros¬ ecuting war protesters, approving wiretaps without court authorization, and attempting to block publication of the Pentagon Papers. He resigned to direct Nixon’s reelection campaign but was soon caught up in the Watergate scandal. Convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury, he served 19 months in prison.
Mitchell, Joni orig. Roberta Joan Anderson (b. Nov. 7, 1943, Fort McLeod, Alta., Can.) Canadian singer and songwriter. Mitchell stud¬ ied art in Calgary, where she began to sing in clubs. She eventually settled in Laurel Canyon, Calif., U.S. Several early songs, including “Both Sides Now” and “Woodstock,” became hits for other artists. While her early recordings, such as Clouds (1969) and Blue (1971), were folk-oriented and reflected the idealism of the time, later releases, including Court and Spark (1974), Hejira (1976), Mingus (1979, with Charles Mingus) and Turbulent Indigo (1994), were marked by strong pop and jazz influences.
Her notably original lyrics and musical settings made her one of the pre¬ eminent female songwriters of the late 20th century.
Mitchell, Margaret (b. Nov. 8, 1900, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.—d. Aug. 16, 1949, Atlanta) U.S. writer. Mitchell attended Smith College and then wrote for The Atlanta Journal before spending 10 years writing her one book. Gone with the Wind (1936, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1939). A story of the American Civil War and Reconstruction from the white Southern point of view, it was almost certainly the largest-selling novel in the history of U.S. publishing to that time. A parody of the book, as told from a slave’s point of view, The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall, was published in
Mitchell, Mount Peak, western North Carolina, U.S. The highest U.S. peak east of the Mississippi River, it rises to 6,684 ft (2,037 m). It is situ¬ ated in North Carolina’s Black Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge system, within Mount Mitchell State Park and the Pisgah National Forest. For¬ merly called Black Dome, it was renamed for Elisha Mitchell, who sur¬ veyed it as the highest point in the eastern U.S. in 1835; he died on the mountain and is buried at its summit.
Mitchell, Peter Dennis (b. Sept. 29,1920, Mitcham, Surrey, Eng.—d. April 10, 1992, Bodmin, Cornwall) British chemist. He discovered how the distribution of enzymes in mitochondrial membranes helps them use energy from hydrogen ions to convert ADP to ATP. He received a 1978 Nobel Prize for formulating the chemiosmotic theory, which explains how energy is generated in the mitochondria of living cells.
Mitchell, Wesley C(lair) (b. Aug. 5, 1874, Rushville, Ill., U.S.—d. Oct. 29, 1948, New York, N.Y.) U.S. economist. Educated at the Univer¬ sity of Chicago under Thorstein Veblen and John Dewey, he later taught at several universities, including Columbia (1913-19, 1922-44). He helped found the National Bureau of Economic Research in 1920 and was its director of research until 1945. His work greatly influenced the develop¬ ment of quantitative studies of economic behaviour in the U.S. and abroad, and he was the foremost expert of his day on business cycles.
Mitchell River River, northern Queensland, Australia. Rising in the Eastern Highlands, it flows for 350 mi (560 km) northwest across Cape York Peninsula to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Fed by several rivers, it varies seasonally and may be dry for three months each year. It was explored in 1845 by Ludwig Leichhardt and was named for Thomas Mitchell, sur¬ veyor general for New South Wales. Crocodiles abound along its banks.
Mitchum, Robert (Charles Duran) (b. Aug. 6, 1917, Bridgeport, Conn., U.S.—d. July 1,1997, Santa Barbara county, Calif.) U.S. film actor. Expelled from high school in New York City, he spent his teenage years wandering the country and working odd jobs. After joining an acting com¬ pany in California, he made his screen debut in 1943, acting in several Hopalong Cassidy westerns. He won praise for his role in The Story of G ./. Joe (1945). With his trademark sleepy-eyed, tough-guy appearance, he usually played loners and villains, in movies (many of them B movies that have grown in critical esteem over time) such as Out of the Past (1947), The Lusty Men (1952), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Thunder Road (1958), Cape Fear (1962), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), and Farewell, My Lovely (1975). In his later years, he starred in the television miniseries Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988-89).
mite Any of about 20,000 species of tiny arachnids (subclass Acari, sometimes Acarina or Acarida). Spe¬ cies range from microscopic to 0.25 in. (6 mm) long. Mites live in water and soil, on plants, and as plant and animal parasites. Both parasitic and nonparasitic forms transmit plant and animal diseases. Itch mites (fam¬ ily Sarcoptidae), which burrow into the skin of humans and animals, cause the highly contagious disease scabies. A few species transmit tape¬ worms to cattle. Grain mites (family Glycyphagidae) damage stored prod¬ ucts and irritate the skin of those who
handle the products. House dust allergy is caused by species of the com¬ mon genus Dermatophagoides. See also chigger.
Red velvet mite ( Dinothrombium; mag¬ nified about five times)
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Mitford, Nancy (b. Nov. 28, 1904, London, Eng.—d. June 30, 1973, Versailles, France) British writer. Born into an eccentric, aristocratic fam-
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ily, she became known for her witty satiric novels of upper-class life, including the quasi-autobiographical The Pursuit of Love (1945), Love in a Cold Climate (1949), The Blessing (1951), and Don ’t Tell Alfred (1960). A volume of essays she coedited, Noblesse Oblige (1956), popularized the distinction between linguistic usages that are “U” (upper-class) and “non-U.” Her sister Jessica (1917-96) was a noted writer on U.S. society whose best-known book was The American Way of Death (1963).
Mithra \me-'tra, 'mith-roX In Indo-Iranian myth, the god of light. He was bom bearing a torch and armed with a knife, beside a sacred stream and under a sacred tree, a child of the earth itself. He soon rode, and later killed, the life-giving cosmic bull, whose blood fertilizes all vegetation. This deed became the prototype for a bull-slaying fertility ritual. As god of light, Mithra was associated with the Greek Helios and the Roman Sol Invictus. The first written reference to Mithra dates to 1400 bc. See also Mithraism.
Mithradates VI Eupator \ l mith-r3- , da-tez... , yu-p3- l tor\ known as Mithradates the Great Latin "Born of a Noble Father" (d.
63 bc, Panticapaeum) King of Pon- tus (120-63 bc) and enemy of Rome.
As a boy he was coruler with his mother from c. 120, then overthrew her to become sole ruler in 115. He gradually conquered areas along the western and southern regions of the Black Sea. He waged three wars against Rome, called the Mithradatic Wars (88-85, 83-82, 74-63).