Condemned by the Senate, he chose suicide over execution.
Nerses \'ner-sez\ I the Great,
Saint (b. c. 310—d. 373?; feast day,
February 19) Patriarch of the Arme¬ nian church from c. 353. A descen¬ dant of St. Gregory the Illuminator (240-332), Nerses became the most important figure in Armenia during his patriarchate, establishing monastic and charitable institutions and schools. He was a supporter of King Pap of Armenia but broke with him over his fostering of religious ties with the court of Constantinople, which led to Pap’s instigating the murder of Nerses.
Nerthus \'ner-thus\ Ancient Germanic goddess. Tacitus refers to her as Mother Earth and says she was worshiped by seven tribes. Her worship centered on a temple in a sacred grove on an island in the Baltic Sea. She was believed to enjoy visiting her people. Her presence was discerned by her priest, and while she was among them her people lived in peace. Her identification with the god Njord suggests that she may have been a her¬ maphrodite.
Neruda \na-'ru-tha\, Pablo orig. Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto (b. July 12, 1904, Parral,
Chile—d. Sept. 23, 1973, Santiago)
Chilean poet and diplomat. He began writing poetry at age 10, and at 20 he published his most widely read work, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924), inspired by an unhappy love affair. In 1927 he was named an honorary consul, and he later represented Chile in several Asian and Latin American countries; late in life he was ambassador to France. While in Asia he began Resi¬ dence on Earth (1933, 1935, 1947), a verse cycle remarkable for its examination of social decay and per¬ sonal isolation. In 1945 he was elected senator and joined the Com¬ munist Party; he later spent years in exile when the government turned toward the right. Canto General (1950), his great epic poem about the American continents, was deeply influenced by Walt Whitman and is the culminating expression of his political beliefs. Elemental Odes (1954) celebrates common, everyday objects. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
Nerva Vnor-voV in full Nerva Caesar Augustus orig. Marcus Cocceius Nerva (b. c. ad 35—d. Jan. 28, 98) Roman emperor (96-98), first of the Five Good Emperors. A member of a distinguished senatorial family, Nerva served twice as consul (71, 90). After an undistinguished career, he was chosen to succeed Domitian because of his age, dignity, and lack of children who would succeed him. He rejected Domitian’s autocratic tyranny but completed Domitian’s building projects and instituted his administrative and financial reforms. He adopted Trajan as his heir.
nerve See neuron
nerve gas Weapon of chemical warfare that affects the transmission of nerve impulses through the nervous system. The organophosphorus nerve agents Tabun, Sarin, and Soman were developed by Germany during World War II but not used. They and a newer agent, VX, were produced in huge quantities by the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War; their stockpiling and use during war are now banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. A single droplet of VX or Sarin, if inhaled or in contact with the skin, can be absorbed into the bloodstream and paralyze the nervous system, leading to respiratory failure and immedi¬ ate death. Sarin was used in 1995 in a lethal attack in the Tokyo subways by members of AUM Shinrikyo.
Nervi Vner-ve\, Pier Luigi (b. June 21, 1891, Sondrio, Italy—d. Jan. 9, 1979, Rome) Italian engineer and building contractor. He became inter¬ nationally renowned for his invention of ferro-cement, a material of his own invention composed of dense concrete heavily reinforced with evenly distributed steel mesh that together give it both lightness and strength. His first significant projects included a series of airplane hangars in Italy (1935-41) conceived as concrete vaults with huge spans. In addition to designing buildings, he succeeded in building a sailboat with a ferro- cement hull only 0.5 in. (1.25 cm) thick. Ferro-cement was vital to his complex for the Turin Exhibition (1949-50), a prefabricated, corrugated cylindrical 309-ft (93-m) arch. Nervi worked on the UNESCO headquar¬ ters in Paris (1950) with Marcel Breuer and helped design Italy’s first sky¬ scraper, the Pirelli Building in Milan (1955-59). Although Nervi’s primary concern was never aesthetic, many of his works nonetheless achieved remarkable expressive force.
nervous system System of specialized cells (neurons, or nerve cells) that conduct stimuli from a sensory receptor through a neuron network to the site (e.g., a gland or muscle) where the response occurs. In humans, it consists of the central and peripheral nervous systems, the former con¬ sisting of the brain and spinal cord and the latter of the nerves, which carry impulses to and from the central nervous system. The cranial nerves handle head and neck sensory and motor activities, except the vagus nerve, which conducts signals to visceral organs. Each spinal nerve is attached to the spinal cord by a sensory and a motor root. These exit between the vertebrae and merge to form a large mixed nerve, which branches to supply a defined area of the body. Disorders include amyo¬ trophic LATERAL SCLEROSIS, CHOREA, EPILEPSY, MYASTHENIA GRAVIS, NEURAL TUBE DEFECT, parkinsonism, and poliomyelitis. Effects of disorders range from transient tics and minor personality changes to major personality disruptions, seizures, paralysis, and death.
Nesiotes See Critius and Nesiotes
Ness, Eliot (b. April 19, 1903, Chicago—d. May 7, 1957, Coudersport, Pa.) U.S. law-enforcement official. He was 26 years old when he was hired as a special agent of the U.S. Department of Justice to head its Chicago Prohibition bureau, with the express purpose of breaking up the bootleg¬ ging network of Al Capone. He formed a nine-man team of extremely dedicated and unbribable officers, “the Untouchables”; the evidence they collected helped send Capone to prison for income-tax evasion in 1931. After Prohibition was ended in 1933, Ness headed the alcohol-tax unit of the U.S. Treasury department (1933-35); he was later director of public safety in Cleveland (1935—41) and director of a division of the Federal Security Agency (1941-45).
Ness, Loch Lake, Highland council area, Scotland. It is 788 ft (240 m) deep and about 23 mi (36 km) long and has the largest volume of fresh water in Britain. It forms part of the Caledonian Canal system developed by Thomas Telford. On its shores are remains of two fortresses. Surface oscillations, or seiches, caused by differential heating, are common. Reports of an aquatic monster inhabiting Loch Ness date back centuries but remain unproved.
Nesselrode \nyis-syil y -Tod-yi,\ English Vne-s3l-,rod\, Karl (Robert Vasilyevich), Count (b. Dec. 13, 1780, Lisbon, Port.—d. March 23, 1862, St. Petersburg, Russia) Russian statesman. After serving in the Rus¬ sian diplomatic service, he acted as minister of foreign affairs (1822-56) and as chancellor (1845-62). He sought to influence the Ottoman Empire with the Treaty of Hunkar isKELESi (1833) and the Straits Convention (1841). He supported aid to Austria in suppressing the Hungarian upris¬ ing (1848). His policy of promoting Russia’s influence in the Balkans helped precipitate the Crimean War. He negotiated the subsequent treaty at the Congress of Paris.
Nero, portrait bust; in the Roman National Museum, Rome.
ANDERSON-AUNARI FROM ART RESOURCE
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nest Structure built by an animal as a permanent home or for bearing and rearing offspring. The social insects build systems of chambers and tunnels, above or below ground.