Noverre \no-'ver\, Jean-Georges (b. April 29, 1727, Paris, Fr.—d. Oct. 19, 1810, Saint-Germain-en-Laye) French dancer and choreographer. His treatise Letters on Dancing and Ballets (1760) stressed the need for unified dramatic structure by integrating story, music, choreography, and set design, as opposed to the loosely connected episodes of the dance suite that then prevailed. This innovative approach—called ballet d’action, or “ballet with a story”—brought major reforms in ballet production. His invention of ballet d’action was challenged by Gasparo Angiouni, who had developed a simpler approach to the new form. In 1776 Noverre became ballet master of the Paris Opera.
Novgorod Vnov-go-roA City (pop., 2002: 217,200), northwestern Rus¬ sia. Located on the Volkhov River north of Lake Ilmen, it is one of the oldest Russian cities. First mentioned in the chronicles of ad 859, it came under Rurik c. 862. It was of great importance in the 11th to 15th centu¬ ries, when it was the capital of the principality of Novgorod. It prospered by trade with Central Asia, Byzantium, and the Hanseatic League. The centre of the Novgorod school of painting, it was ruled by Alexander Nevsky in the 13th century. It became a rival of Moscow, was destroyed by Ivan IV in 1570, and declined with the rise of St. Petersburg. It was held by the Germans in World War II and suffered heavy damage. Many his¬ toric buildings were later restored, and these were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992. The city is a centre of tourism.
Novgorod school Important school of Russian medieval icon and mural painting that flourished around Novgorod in the 12th-16th centu¬ ries. Novgorod, Russia’s cultural centre in the 13th—14th centuries, when most of the rest of the country was occupied by the Mongols, preserved the Byzantine traditions that formed the basis of Russian art but intro¬ duced lighter and brighter colours, flatter forms, softening of facial types, and increasing use of a graceful, rhythmic line to define form. Until the early 14th century, artistic activity was dominated by mural painting. A
new artistic impetus was provided by the introduction of the iconostasis.
When icons were displayed together on the iconostasis rather than scat¬ tered about the walls of the church, they demanded a coherent overall impression, which was achieved by strong, rhythmic lines and colour harmonies. Figures took on the elon¬ gated shape that became standard in Russian art. In the 16th century artis¬ tic leadership passed to the Moscow school.
Novi Sad Vn6-ve-'sad\ Hungarian Uvidek Vii-e- ,ve-,dak\ City (pop.,
2000 est.: 179,626), Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro. The administrative capital of the autonomous region of "Miracle of St. George over the the VoJVODINA, it is a transit port on Dragon," icon by an anonymous artist the Danube River, northwest of Bel- of the Novgorod school, egg tempera grade. Founded in the 17th century, it was part of Hungary until the for¬ mation of Yugoslavia in 1918. The city is an ethnically diverse agricul¬ tural centre; its economy suffered badly during the 1990s Balkan upheavals.
on panel, beginning of the 15th cen¬ tury; in the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, I.A. Ostroukhov Collection
NOVOSTI PRESS AGENCY
Novosibirsk \,no-v6-si-'birsk\ formerly (1895-1925) Novoni- kolayevsky City (pop., 2001 est.: 1,393,200), south-central Russia, in Asia. The capital of Novosibirsk province, it is the chief city of western Siberia and lies on the Ob River where the latter is crossed by the Trans- Siberian Railroad. The city began in 1893 and was named for Tsar Nicho¬ las II in 1895. During World War II many Russian factories from the west were moved there. It is renowned for industry and scientific research. As Siberia’s cultural and educational centre, it developed the satellite town Akademgorodok with research institutes and a university.
NOW See National Organization for Women
Noyce, Robert (Norton) (b. Dec. 12, 1927, Burlington, Iowa, U.S.—d. June 3, 1990, Austin, Texas) U.S. engineer. He received a Ph.D. from MIT. In 1957 he launched Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the first electronics firms in what came to be called Silicon Valley. Simultaneously but independently, he and Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit com¬ puter chip in 1959. With his colleague Gordon Moore, he founded Intel Corporation, in 1968. In 1988 Noyce became president of Sematech, Inc., a research consortium formed and financed jointly by industry and the U.S. government to keep the U.S. semiconductor industry at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing technology.
Noyes \'noiz\, John Humphrey (b. Sept. 3, 1811, Brattleboro, Vt., U.S.—d. April 13, 1886, Niagara Falls, Ont., Can.) U.S. social reformer. While studying for the ministry at Yale, Noyes declared his belief in “per¬ fectionism,” announcing that he had achieved a state of sinlessness. Because his views were in direct opposition to the prevailing Calvinism, he was forced to leave Yale. In 1836 he organized a community of “Bible communists” in Putney, Vt., where he advocated free love and “complex” marriage as opposed to “simple,” or monogamous, marriage. Arrested for adultery in 1846, he fled to Oneida, N.Y., where he established the Oneida Community, which he led until 1879, when he fled to Canada to avoid legal action. He wrote several books on perfectionism and a history of U.S. utopian communities.
Nozick, Robert (b. Nov. 16, 1938, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—d. Jan. 23, 2002, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. philosopher. He received a Ph.D. in phi¬ losophy at Princeton University in 1963 and taught at Harvard University from 1969 until his death. His best-known work, Anarchy, State, and Uto¬ pia (1974), is a closely argued and highly original defense of the liber¬ tarian “minimal state” (a state whose powers are limited to those necessary to protect citizens against violence, theft, and fraud) and a critique of the social-democratic liberalism of his Harvard colleague John Rawls. Against anarchism, Nozick argued that the minimal state is justified because it would arise in a state of nature through transactions that would not vio¬ late anyone’s natural rights (see natural law); against liberalism and ide¬ ologies farther left, he argued that no more than the minimal state is justified because any state with more extensive powers would violate the
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NPR ► nuclear magnetic resonance I 1385
natural rights of its citizens. Nozick emphasized that the minimal state as he envisioned it could encompass smaller communities in which the cen¬ tral public authority would have more than minimal powers. Because each such community would be free to realize its own idea of the good soci¬ ety, the minimal state, according to Nozick, constitutes a “framework for utopia.”
NPR See National Public Radio
NRA See National Recovery Administration, National Rifle Assn.
NSAIDs Ven-.sedz, 'en-,sadz\ or nonsteroidal anti-inflamma¬ tory drugs Drugs that reduce inflammation and are effective against pain (see analgesic) and fever. Most are available without prescription and are usually used for short periods for mild pain. Aspirin is technically an NSAID, but the term is generally applied to a newer class of drugs, including ibuprofen and similar drugs (e.g., naproxen, ketoprofen) that, like aspirin, inhibit prostaglandin synthesis. They act with fewer side effects, but aspirin-sensitive people should not use them.