Sony Corp. Major Japanese manufacturer of consumer electronics. Founded by Ibuka Masaru and Morita Akio in 1946 as Tokyo Telecom¬ munications Engineering Corp., it adopted its present name in 1958. It began by making voltmeters, sound generators, and similar devices. Its first major consumer item was an audio tape recorder, introduced in 1950. Since then it has pioneered new technology for consumer products mar¬ keted worldwide, including the first pocket-sized transistor radio (1957), a colour videocassette recorder (1969), and the Walkman portable tape player (1979). In 1994 Sony released the PlayStation video game con¬ sole. Its entertainment divisions include motion-picture firms Columbia TriStar and Sony Pictures and recording labels Epic and Columbia.
Soong Vsiir)\ family Influential 20th-century Chinese family. Charlie Soong (1866-1918) trained in the U.S. to become a missionary. In China he made his fortune as a publisher, initially of Bibles, and became a supporter of Sun Yat-sen, whose Nationalist Party he helped finance. His first daughter married a businessman who also provided financial support to the Nation¬ alists; his second daughter, Soong Ch’ing-ling (Song Qingling; 1893— 1981), married Sun Yat-sen; and his third daughter, Soong Mei-ling (1897- 2003), became Chiang Kai-shek’s second wife. A son, T.V. Soong (1894- 1971), established the Central Bank of China and acted as finance minister for the Nationalist government in the 1920s and foreign minister in the 1930s. The 1949 communist takeover divided the family: Ch’ing-ling, who had earlier denounced the Nationalists for betraying Sun Yat-sen’s ideals, remained on the mainland and was named honorary chairman of the Peo¬ ple’s Republic shortly before her death. Mei-ling accompanied Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan and publicized his cause in the West; as Madam Chiang, she became extremely popular in the U.S. T.V. Soong, once reputed to be the wealthiest man in the world, moved to the U.S.
sopher See sofer
Sophia Vso-fyoV Russian Sofya Alekseyevna (b. Sept. 27, 1657, Moscow, Russia—d. July 14, 1704, Moscow) Regent of Russia (1682— 89). Daughter of Tsai - Alexis, she objected to the succession of her half brother Peter I (the Great) as tsar (1682) and instigated an uprising by the streltsy (household troops). She arranged to have her brother Ivan V pro¬ claimed coruler with Peter and assumed the role of regent. With help from her chief adviser and lover, Vasily Golitsyn, she promoted the develop¬ ment of industry and concluded peace treaties with Poland (1686) and China (1689). After sponsoring two disastrous military campaigns against the Crimean Tatars (1687, 1689), she tried to regain her influence by inciting the streltsy to oust Peter and his advisers. She was instead over¬ thrown by Peter in 1689 and forced to enter a convent.
sophists Vsa-fists\ Group of itinerant professional teachers, lecturers, and writers prominent in Greece in the later 5th century bc. The sophis¬ tic movement arose at a time when there was much questioning of the absolute nature of familiar values and ways of life. An antithesis arose between nature and custom, tradition, or law, in which custom could be regarded either as artificial trammels on the freedom of the natural state or as beneficial and civilizing restraints on natural anarchy. Both views were represented among the sophists, though the former was the more common. Their first and most eminent representative was Protagoras; other notable sophists include Gorgias of Leontini, Prodicus, Hippias, Antiphon, Thrasymachus, and Critias. A later “second sophistic school” existed in the 2nd century ad.
Sophocles Vsa-fo-.klezV (b. c. 496, Colonus, near Athens—d. 406 bc, Athens) Greek playwright. With Aeschylus and Euripides, he was one of the three great tragic playwrights of Classical Athens. A distinguished public figure in Athens, he served successively in important posts as a treasurer, commander, and adviser. He competed in dramatic festivals, where he defeated Aeschylus to win his first victory in 468 bc. He went on to achieve unparalleled success, writing 123 dramas for dramatic competi¬ tions and achieving more than 20 victories. Only seven tragedies survive in their entirety: Antigone, Ajax, Electra, The Trachinian Women, Philoc- tetes, Oedipus at Colonus, and Oedipus the King, his best-known work. He increased the size of the chorus and was the first to introduce a third actor onstage. For their supple language, vivid characterization, and for¬ mal perfection, his works are regarded as the epitome of Greek drama.
soprano Highest vocal register, ranging from about middle C to the second A above it. Sopranos are normally female but may also include boy sopranos and (previously) castrati (see castrato). Soprano voices are traditionally classified as dramatic (rich and powerful), lyric (lighter), and coloratura (high and very agile). The mezzo-soprano range is about a third lower.
Sopwith, Sir Thomas (Octave Murdoch) (b. Jan. 18, 1888, Lon¬ don, Eng.—d. Jan. 27, 1989, Compton Manor, near Winchester, Hamp¬ shire) British aircraft designer. He taught himself to fly in 1910 and won a prize for the longest flight to the European continent. In 1912 he founded Sopwith Aviation Company, Ltd., which in World War I built such planes as the Camel, the Pup, and the Triplane. His Hawker Aircraft Company produced the Hurricane fighter of World War II and later the Harrier, a vertical-takeoff jet fighter. He was chairman of the Hawker Siddeley Group, successor to his earlier company, until 1963.
Soranus of Ephesus \s6- , ra-n3s... , e-f3-sos\ (fl. 2nd century ad, Alex¬ andria and Rome) Greek gynecologist, obstetrician, and pediatrician. A keen observer and unusually competent practitioner, he wrote works that influenced medical opinion for 1,500 years. His On Midwifery and the Diseases of Women describes contraceptive methods, obstetric techniques that were thought to be new in the 15th century, and what is now recog¬ nized as rickets. His suggested treatments for nervous disorders resemble aspects of modern psychotherapy. Soranus also wrote the first known biography of Hippocrates.
Sorb See Wend
Sorby, Henry Clifton (b. May 10, 1826, Woodbourne, near Sheffield, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. March 9, 1908, Sheffield) British amateur scientist. Convinced of the value of the microscope to geology, Sorby began in 1849 to prepare thin sections of rocks, about 0.001 in. (0.025 mm) thick, for microscopic study. He developed a new type of spectrum microscope for analyzing the light of organic pigments (1865). His research on meteors led to studies of iron and steel, and his later studies included the origin of layered rocks, weathering, and marine biology. He published works
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1786 I sorcery ► soul
dealing with the physical geography of geologic periods, rock breakdown and buildup, and the formation of river terraces. Sorby is considered the father of microscopical petrography and metallography.
sorcery See witchcraft and sorcery
Sorel \so-'rel\, Georges (-Eugene) (b. Nov. 2, 1847, Cherbourg, France—d. Aug. 30, 1922, Boulogne-sur-Seine) French author and revo¬ lutionary. Trained as a civil engineer, he was 40 before he became inter¬ ested in social issues. He discovered Marxism in 1893 but was disgusted by what he saw as the left’s exploitation of the Alfred Dreyfus affair. By 1902 he was an enthusiastic supporter of revolutionary syndicalism. Sorel’s thought is characterized by a moralistic hatred of social decadence and res¬ ignation. He held that human nature was not innately good; he therefore concluded that a satisfactory society was not likely to evolve but would have to be brought about by revolutionary action. After 1909 Sorel became disenchanted with syndicalism, and with some hesitation he joined the monarchist movement, which sought to reestablish a traditional morality. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Sorel declared him¬ self for the Bolsheviks, who he thought might be capable of precipitating the moral regeneration of mankind. His most important work, Reflections on Violence (1908), develops his notion of violence as the revolutionary denial of the existing social order. Sorel’s ideas were appropriated (and perverted) by Benito Mussolini, who used them in support of fascism.