Engelmann prickly pear (Opuntia sngelmannii)
3RANT HEILMAN PHOTOGRAPHY
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primary education ► Prince Albert National Park I 1547
port of the French Revolution, made him increasingly controversial in England, and he immigrated to the U.S. in 1794.
primary education See elementary education
primary election Electoral device for choosing a party’s candidates for public office. The formal primary system is peculiar to the U.S., where it came into widespread use in the early 20th century. Most U.S. states use it for elections to statewide offices and to the national presidency; in presi¬ dential elections, delegates are selected to attend a national convention, where they vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged. A closed-vote primary is restricted to party members; an open-vote primary is open to all voters in the district. Names can be placed on a ballot by an eligible citi¬ zen’s declaration of candidacy, by nomination at a pre-primary convention, or by a petition signed by a required number of voters. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries political parties in some countries (e.g., the United Kingdom and Israel) adopted similar procedures for the election of the national party leader. See also electoral system; party system.
primate Any of more than 300 species of the order Primates, including monkeys, apes, humans, and others. Primates are distinguished from other mammals by one or more of the following traits: unspecialized structure, specialized behaviour, a short muzzle, comparatively poor sense of smell, prehensile five-digit hands and feet possessing flat nails instead of claws, acute vision with depth perception due to forward-facing eyes, a large brain, and prolonged pre- and postnatal development. Most species bear a single young and live in troops headed by a male. The primates are one of the most diverse orders of mammals on Earth. They include the lemurs (more than 70 species in six families), the LORises (three or more species in one subfamily), the tarsiers (six or more species in one family), the New World monkeys (almost 100 species in five families), the Old World monkeys (more than 100 species in one family), and the apes and humans (about 20 species in two families). The oldest known fossil remains of primates are about 60 million years old.
Primaticcio V.pre-mo-'tet-choV, Francesco (b. April 30, 1504, Bolo¬ gna, Emilia—d. 1570, Paris, France) Italian-born French painter, sculp¬ tor, and architect. In 1532 Francis I invited him to help redecorate the Fontainebleau Palace, and Primaticcio became one of the principal artists in France; he remained there the rest of his life, making only brief trips to Italy. His decorative style in painting and stucco sculpture stressed the human figure; the exaggerated musculature and active, elongated forms of his figures greatly influenced 16th-century French art. One of the first artists in France to replace religious themes with those of Classical mythology, he brought a quiet French elegance to Italian Mannerism.
prime minister or premier \pri-'mir, pri-'mynA Head of the execu¬ tive branch of government in states with a parliamentary system (see par¬ liamentary democracy). The prime minister is the leader of the political party or coalition with a governing majority, and is formally appointed by the head of state. The office was developed in Britain by Robert Walpole; its powers were consolidated by William Pitt the Younger. The British prime ministry has served as a model for the heads of government in many Commonwealth countries, Europe, and Japan. The prime minister has appointive powers and is responsible for the government’s legislative program, budget, and other policies. His term of office lasts until the next scheduled election or until he loses legislative support. In France, which has both a president and a prime minister, the president wields greater power but the prime minister controls the domestic legislative agenda. See also chancellor.
prime number Any positive integer greater than 1 and exactly divis¬ ible only by 1 and itself. The sequence of prime numbers begins 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29... but follows no discernible pattern. The issues of the regularities and irregularities in the distribution of primes are among the most important questions in number theory. Primes have been recog¬ nized at least since Pythagoras. It has been known that there are infinitely many of them at least since Euclid. The prime-number factors of an inte¬ ger are the prime numbers whose product is that integer (see fundamental THEOREM OF ARITHMETIC).
Primo de Rivera Vpre-mo-tha-ri-'ver-oX, Jose Antonio (b. April 24, 1903, Madrid, Spain—d. Nov. 20, 1936, Alicante) Spanish politician. Son of the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera, he began a legal career in 1925. In 1933 he founded the Spanish fascist party, the Falange, and was elected to the Cortes (parliament). He expounded his views in his periodicals F.E. (1934) and Arriba (1935) and made speeches across Spain. After the left¬
ist Popular Front came to power (1936), he was arrested, given a sum¬ mary trial, and executed at age 33. He was treated as a martyr by Francisco Franco’s Nationalist movement.
Primo de Rivera, Miguel (b. Jan. 8, 1870, Cadiz, Spain—d. March 16, 1930, Paris, France) Spanish general and dictator of Spain (1923-30). A military officer from 1888, he served as military governor of Cadiz (1915-19), Valencia (1919-22), and Barcelona (1922-23), where he firmly suppressed disorder. Believing the parliamentary system to be cor¬ rupt, he took power in a coup in 1923, dissolved the Cortes (parliament), and suspended constitutional guarantees. He successfully ended the Moroccan War (1927), settled labour disputes, and undertook public works, but he failed to implement agrarian reforms. Increasing discontent with his repressive government and lack of support from the army forced him to resign in 1930. Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera was his son.
primogeniture \ l pri-mo- , je-n3-,chur\ Preference in inheritance that is given by law or custom to the eldest son and his issue. The motivation for such a practice has usually been to keep the estate of the deceased, or some part of it, whole and intact, and to acknowledge the importance of age-seniority within the social hierarchy. It is no longer a recognized principle of inheritance in most jurisdictions.
primrose Any flowering plant of the genus Primula, one of 28 genera of the family Primulaceae. Primula includes more than 500 species, which occur chiefly in the Northern Hemisphere in cool or mountainous regions. The plants are low-growing, usually perennial herbs; a few are biennials. Most species grow 25-50 cm (10-20 inches) tall, but some are as short as 5 cm and others as tall as 120 cm. Many species are cultivated for their attractive, five-petaled flowers, which may be red, pink, purple, blue, white, or yellow. Other plants in the primrose family include cyclamens and pimpernels. The evening primrose (family Onagraceae) is not a true primrose.
Primus Vpri-mosV Pearl (b. Nov. 29, 1919, Port of Spain, Trin.—d. Oct. 29, 1994, New Rochelle, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Her family moved to New York City when she was two years old. She made her dance debut as the first black member of the New Dance Group in 1943 and formed her own company the next year. Her anthropological research in Africa and the Caribbean led her to choreo¬ graph works such as African Ceremonial (1944) and The Wedding (1961), and she obtained a Ph.D. from Columbia University.