Pugwash Conferences Series of international meetings of eminent scientists to discuss problems of nuclear weapons and world security. The first meeting was held in 1957 at the estate of Cyrus Eaton in Pugwash, Nova Scotia. The Pugwash organization was established to convene sub¬ sequent conferences to discuss arms control and disarmament; these were held in the Soviet Union, Britain, India, and the U.S., among other coun¬ tries. The organization and its president and founding member, Joseph Rotblat (born 1908), received the 1995 Nobel Prize for Peace.
puja \'pii-ja\ In Hinduism, a form of ceremonial worship. It may range from brief daily rites in the home to an elaborate temple ritual. A typical puja offers the image of a deity the honours accorded to a royal guest. The god is gently roused from sleep, ritually bathed and dressed, served three meals during the day, and ceremonially put to bed. Rituals may also include a sacrifice and oblation to the sacred fire. Some pujas are per¬ formed by the worshiper alone; others require a ritually pure person. A puja may be performed for a specific purpose or simply as an act of devo¬ tion.
Pukaskwa \pu-'kas-kw3\ National Park National park, central Ontario, Canada. Established in 1971, it is Ontario’s largest national park, covering 725 sq mi (1,878 sq km). It includes areas of rugged Canadian Shield wilderness as well as 50 mi (80 km) of the shoreline of northeast¬ ern Lake Superior, with rocky islets and coves and spectacular cliffs. Excavations of prehistoric Indian remains have been made. Wildlife includes timber wolf, black bear, mink, lynx, white-tailed deer, moose, and woodland caribou. The park has vast forests of white and black spruce, jack pine, poplar, and birch.
Pulcher, Publius Clodius See Publius Clodius Pulcher
Pulitzer Vpii-lot-soA, Joseph (b. April 10, 1847, Mako, Hung.—d. Oct. 29, 1911, Charleston, S.C., U.S.) Hungarian-born U.S. newspaper editor and publisher. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1864 to serve in the American Civil War. After the war he became a reporter and then propri¬ etor at German-language newspapers in St. Louis and entered Missouri politics. In 1878 he merged the St. Louis Dispatch (founded 1864) and the Post (founded 1875) into the Post-Dispatch, which soon became the city’s dominant evening newspaper. Shifting his interests to New York City, he purchased the World (1883) and founded the Evening World (1887). He helped establish the pattern of the modern newspaper by com¬ bining exposes of political corruption and crusading investigative report¬ ing with publicity stunts, self-advertising, and sensationalism. In his will he endowed the Columbia University School of Journalism and estab¬ lished the Pulitzer Prizes.
Pulitzer Prize Vpu-lot-sor, 'pyii-bt-sorX Any of a series of annual prizes awarded by Columbia University for outstanding public service and achievement in American journalism, letters, and music. Fellowships are
Puffer [Arothron stellatus).
DOUGLAS FAULKNER
Common puffin (Fratercula arctica)
BEN GOLDSTEIN-ROOT RESOURCES
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SALLY ANNE THOMPSON/EB INC.
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pulley ► pumpkin I 1565
also awarded. The prizes, originally endowed with a gift of $500,000 from Joseph Pulitzer, are highly esteemed and have been awarded each May since 1917 on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board, composed of judges appointed by the university. The numbers and categories of prizes have varied over the years. Today they include 14 awards in jour¬ nalism, six in letters, one in music, and four fellowships.
pulley In mechanics, a wheel that carries a flexible rope, cord, cable, chain, or belt on its rim. Pulleys are used singly or in combination to transmit energy and motion. In belt drives, pulleys are attached to shafts at their axes, and power is transmitted between the shafts by means of end¬ less belts running over the pulleys. One or more independently rotating pulleys can be used to gain mechanical advantage, especially for lifting weights. The shafts around which the pulleys turn may attach them to frames or blocks, and a combination of pulleys, blocks, and rope is called a block and tackle. The pulley is considered one of the five simple machines.
Pullman, George M(ortimer) (b. March 3, 1831, Brocton, N.Y.,
U. S.—d. Oct. 19, 1897, Chicago, Ill.) U.S. industrialist. He moved to Chicago as a young man and worked as a cabinetmaker for his brother. In 1858 he remodeled two day coaches for a local railroad company into sleeping coaches; eventually he set up his own firm, and the first true Pullman sleeping car appeared in 1865. Becoming wealthy from his invention, in 1867 he founded the Pullman Palace Car Company; the next year he created the first dining car. In 1880 he built the town of Pullman (now incorporated into Chicago) for its workers; a much-discussed social experiment, the town was also the scene of the famous Pullman Strike of
Pullman Strike (May 11-c. July 20, 1894) Massive railroad strike in the U.S. After financial reversals caused the Pullman Palace Car Co. to cut wages by 25%, local union members called a strike. The company’s president, George Pullman, refused arbitration, and union president Eugene
V. Debs called for a nationwide boycott of Pullman cars. Sympathy strikes followed in 27 states. Violence broke out in Chicago, Ill., but Gov. John Peter Altgeld refused to intervene. The U.S. attorney general, Richard Olney, obtained an injunction against the strikers for impeding the mail service, and federal troops were called in. Debs’s conviction for conspir¬ ing against interstate commerce established that the Sherman Antitrust Act could be enforced against labour-unions.
pulmonary alveolus Vpul-mo-.ner-e-al-'ve-s-tasV Any of the 300 million or so small air spaces in the lungs where carbon dioxide leaves the blood and oxygen enters it. Alveoli form clusters (alveolar sacs) con¬ nected by alveolar ducts to the bronchioles. Their thin walls contain numerous capillaries, supported by a mesh of elastic and collagenous fibres; gas exchange between them occurs by diffusion. A film of fatty substances (surfactant) over the walls reduces surface tension, keeping the alveoli from collapsing and making it easier to expand the lungs. Alveolar macrophages (see leukocyte; lymphoid tissue) act as mobile scav¬ engers, engulfing foreign particles in the lungs.
pulmonary heart disease or cor pulmonale \,kor-pul-m3- 'nal-e\ Enlargement and eventual failure of the right ventricle of the heart due to disorders of the lungs or their blood vessels or chest wall abnor¬ malities. Chronic disease is most often caused by chronic bronchitis or emphysema. Symptoms include chronic cough, trouble in breathing after exertion, wheezing, weakness, leg edema, right upper abdominal pain, and neck vein distension. Pressure in the pulmonary artery rises and the right ventricle enlarges in response, leading, if uncorrected, to heart failure. Treatment includes a respirator, low-sodium diet, diuretics, digitalis, and antibiotics for respiratory infection. Acute disease due to pulmonary embo¬ lism is often treated by removal of the blockage.
pulsar in full pulsating radio star Any of a class of cosmic objects that appear to emit extremely regular pulses of radio waves. A few give off short rhythmic bursts of visible light, X rays, and gamma radiation as well. Thought to be rapidly spinning neutron stars, they were discovered by Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967 with a specially designed radio telescope. More than 550 have been detected since. All behave similarly, but the intervals between pulses (and thus their rotation periods) range from one-thousandth of a second to four seconds. Charged particles from the surface enter the star’s magnetic field, which acceler¬ ates them so that they give off radiation, released as intense beams from the magnetic poles. These do not coincide with the pulsar’s own axis of rotation, so as the star spins, the radiation beams swing around like light¬ house beams and are seen as pulses. Pulsars have been shown to be slow¬