Semmes \'semz\, Raphael (b. Sept. 27, 1809, Charles county, Md., U.S.—d. Aug. 30, 1877, Mobile, Ala.) U.S. naval officer. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1826, and in the Mexican War he commanded the naval landing at Veracruz. A resident of Alabama, he resigned his commission in 1861 and was appointed a commander in the Confederate navy. He captured 17 Union merchant ships before assuming command of the English-made Alabama in 1862. On numerous raids he captured, sank, or burned 82 Union ships, disrupting Union commerce. In 1864 he was defeated in a battle with the Union ship Kearsarge in the English Chan¬ nel, but he escaped capture. After the war he practiced law. See also Ala¬ bama CLAIMS.
Semon Vse-monX, Waldo Lonsbury (b. Sept. 10, 1898, Demopolis, Ala., U.S.—d. May 26, 1999, Hudson, Ohio) U.S. chemist. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Washington and subsequently worked for the B.F. Goodrich Co. He is known principally for his discovery of plasticized PVC, which, in combinations of up to 50% with plasticizer, is now familiar as floor tile, garden hose, imitation leather, shower curtains, and coatings. He also made pioneering contributions in polymer science, including new rubber antioxidants, and his technical leadership led to dis¬ covery of three major new polymer families: thermoplastic polyurethane, synthetic “natural” rubber, and oil-resistant synthetic rubbers.
Semyonov Xso-'myo-nofX, Nikolay (Nikolayevich) Semyonov
also spelled Semenov (b. April 15, 1896, Saratov, Russia—d. Sept. 25, 1986, Moscow, U.S.S.R.) Russian physical chemist. His specialty was the mechanisms of chain and branched-chain chemical reactions, which he showed were the norm in chemical transformations. He shared a 1956 Nobel Prize with Cyril Hinshelwood (1897-1967).
Sen, Amartya (b. Nov. 3, 1933, Santiniketan, India) Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work in welfare economics and social choice. Sen is best known for his work on the causes of famine, and his research led to the development of solu¬ tions for limiting the effects of food shortages. After attending Presidency College in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Sen studied at Trinity College, Uni¬ versity of Cambridge (B.A., 1955; M.A. and Ph.D., 1959). He taught eco¬ nomics at the Universities of Jadavpur (1956-58) and Delhi (1963-71), the London School of Economics, the University of London (1971-77), the University of Oxford (1977-88), and Harvard University (1988-98). In 1998 he was appointed master of Trinity College. His Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (1981) showed that declining wages, unemployment, rising food prices, and inefficient food distribution could lead to starvation. His views encouraged policy mak¬ ers to maintain stable prices for food.
Senate In ancient Rome, the governing and advisory council that was the most permanent element in the Roman constitution. Under the mon¬ archy it served as an advisory council, with undefined powers. During the republic it advised the consuls and supposedly stood second to them in power. Senators were appointed by the consuls, but since they served for life, by the late republic the Senate became independent of the consuls, with extensive powers. About 312 bc the selection of senators was trans¬ ferred from the consuls to the censors. In 81 bc Sulla made selection auto¬ matic, routinely admitting all former quaestors. It became the chief governing body and controlled the republic’s finances. Julius Caesar
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1720 I Sendak ► Senghor
increased the number of senators to 900. Augustus dropped the number to 300 and reduced the Senate’s power, while giving it new judicial and legislative functions. The number later increased to about 2,000; many were provincials, the most important being the great landowners. The Senate’s power faded until it disappeared from the historical record in the 6th century ad.
Sendak, Maurice (Bernard) (b. June 10, 1928, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. artist and writer. Sendak studied at the Art Students League. He illustrated more than 80 children’s books by other writers before writ¬ ing one himself. His Kenny’s Window (1956) was followed by the inno¬ vative trilogy Where the Wild Things Are (1963), In the Night Kitchen (1970), and Outside over There (1981). He collaborated with Carole King on the musical Really Rosie (1978) and designed stage productions of The Magic Flute (1980) and The Nutcracker (1983).
Sendero Luminoso See Shining Path
Seneca Vse-ni-k3\ North American Indian people living mainly in west¬ ern New York, U.S. Their language belongs to the Iroquoian linguistic group, and their traditional homeland is western New York and eastern Ohio. They were the largest nation of the Iroquois Confederacy and were known as the “Keepers of the Western Door.” They call themselves Onon- dowahgah, meaning “People of the Great Hill.” The Seneca have eight clans, and a person’s clan is the same as his mother’s. Historically, fami¬ lies linked by maternal kinship lived together in longhouses. Each com¬ munity had a council of adult males, which guided the village chief. In the autumn small parties would leave the villages for the annual hunt, returning about midwinter; spring was the fishing season. Seneca women cultivated corn and other vegetables. Warfare with other Indian nations was frequent. In the American Revolution the Seneca were British allies, resulting in the destruction of their villages by Gen. John Sullivan in 1779. In 1797 they secured land for 12 reservations in western New York, four of which still exist. Today the Seneca number about 5,500. See also Corn- planter; Ganioda'yo.
Seneca Vse-ni-koV Lucius Annaeus (b. c. 4 bc, Corduba, Spain—d. ad 65, Rome) Roman philosopher, statesman, and playwright. He was trained as an orator and began a career in politics and law in Rome c. ad 31. While banished to Corsica for adultery (41-49), he wrote the philo¬ sophical treatises Consolationes. He later became tutor to the future emperor Nero and from 54 to 62 was a leading intellectual figure in Rome.
An adherent of Stoicism, he wrote other philosophical works, including Moral Letters , a collection of essays on moral problems. He also left a series of verse tragedies marked by violence and bloodshed, including Thyestes, Hercules, and Medea. His plays influenced the development of Elizabethan drama during the Renaissance, notably William Shakes¬ peare’s Titus Andronicus (1593-94) and John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (c. 1613).
Seneca Falls Convention (July 19-20, 1848) Assembly held at Sen¬ eca Falls, N.Y., that launched the U.S. woman suffrage movement. Initi¬ ated by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (who lived in Seneca Falls) and Lucretia Mott, the meeting was attended by more than 200 people, including 40 men. The group passed the Declaration of Sentiments, a list of grievances and demands modeled on the Declaration of Independence that called on women to organize and petition for their rights. A controversial demand for the right to vote passed by a narrow margin.
Senegal \ l se-ni- , gol\ officially Republic of Senegal Country, west¬ ern Africa. Area: 75,955 sq mi (196,722 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 11,706,000. Capitaclass="underline" Dakar. There are seven major ethnic groups in Senegal—including the Wolof, Fulani, and Maunke, each speaking a sepa¬ rate language—and a number of smaller groups. Language: French (offi¬ cial). Religions: Islam; also traditional beliefs, Christianity. Currency: CFA franc. The climate varies from dry desert to moist tropics. Forests
Seneca, marble bust, 3rd century, after an original bust of the 1 st century; in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ger¬ many