bayou \'bl-ii\ Still or slow-moving section of marshy water, usually a creek, secondary watercourse, or minor river that is a tributary of another river or channel. It may occur in the form of an oxbow lake. Bayous are typical of Louisiana’s Mississippi River delta.
Bayreuth \bI-'roit\ City (pop., 2001 est.: 74,500), east-central Germany. It is situated northeast of Nurnberg. Founded in 1194 under Bishop Otto II of Bamberg, it came under the burgrave of Niirnberg in 1248-1398 and the margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach in 1603-1769. The margraves patronized the arts and commissioned many Baroque buildings that still exist. It was ceded to Prussia in 1791, captured by Napoleon in 1806, and passed to Bavaria in 1810. Composer Richard Wagner settled there in 1872 and designed the Festspielhaus, where Wagner festivals have been held since its opening in 1876. Manufactures include machinery, textiles, chemicals, pianos, porcelain, and glassware.
Bazin \ba-'za n \, Henri-Emile (b. Jan. 10, 1829, Nancy, France—d. Feb. 7, 1917, Dijon) French engineer. As an assistant to H.-P.-G. Darcy (1803-1858), he completed his program of tests on resistance to water flow in channels after Darcy’s death, producing the classic study of the subject. He later studied the problem of wave propagation (see wave) and the contraction of fluid flowing through an orifice. In 1854 he enlarged the Canal de Bourgogne and made it profitable for commercial naviga¬ tion. In 1867 he suggested the use of pumps for dredging rivers, leading to the construction of the first suction dredgers.
bazooka Shoulder-type rocket launcher adopted by the U.S. Army in World War II. It consisted of a smoothbore steel tube, originally about 5
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182 I BBC ► bean
ft (1.5 m) long, open at both ends and equipped with a hand grip, shoul¬ der rest, trigger mechanism, and sights. Officially named the M9A1 Rocket Launcher, it was called bazooka after the crude horn of that name used by a popular radio comedian. It was developed chiefly for attacking tanks and fortified positions at short range. The U.S. Army abandoned it during the Vietnam War in favour of lighter-weight antitank weapons.
BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broad¬ casting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. The BBC World Service began in 1932, and by the 1990s was broadcasting programs in 38 languages to 120 million people worldwide. BBC televi¬ sion service, which kept its monopoly on television service until a com¬ mercial channel began broadcasting in 1954, introduced regular color broadcasts in Europe in 1967. The BBC radio monopoly ended in 1972. The BBC today offers five radio networks and two national television channels.
BBS See bulletin-board system
BCS theory Comprehensive theory that explains the behaviour of super¬ conducting materials. It was developed in 1957 by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and J. Robert Schrieffer (b. 1931), whose surname initials pro¬ vide its name. Cooper discovered that electrons in a superconductor are grouped in pairs (Cooper pairs) and that the motions of all the pairs within a single superconductor constitute a system that functions as a single entity. An electric voltage applied to the superconductor causes all Coo¬ per pairs to move, forming an electric current. When the voltage is removed, the current continues to flow because the pairs encounter no opposition. See also superconductivity.
beach Sediments that accumulate along sea or lake shores. One type of beach occurs as a sediment strip bordering a rocky or cliffy coast. A sec¬ ond type is the outer margin of a marine plain. The third type consists of naiTOw sediment barriers stretching for dozens or even hundreds of miles parallel to the general direction of the coast. These barriers separate lagoons from the open sea and generally are dissected by tidal inlets. Certain sediment forelands, such as spits, points, and tombolos (which connect an island with a mainland), occasionally are called beaches.
Beach, Amy Marcy orig. Amy Marcy Cheney known as Mrs. H.H.A. Beach (b. Sept. 5, 1867, Henniker, N.H., U.S.—d. Dec. 27, 1944, New York, N.Y.) U.S. composer and pianist. A precociously bril¬ liant musician, she performed as soloist with major orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. As a composer she was devoted to German Romanticism rather than American themes or sources. Her best-loved works were her songs. Her Gaelic Symphony (1894) was the first symphony by an Ameri¬ can woman. Other works include a piano concerto (1899), the choral pieces The Chambered Nautilus (1907) and Canticle of the Sun (1928), the opera Cabildo (1932), and a piano quintet (1907).
Beach Boys U.S. rock group. The band was formed in California in 1961 by brothers Brian Wilson (b. 1942) on keyboards and bass, Dennis Wilson (1944-83) on drums, and Carl Wilson (1946-98) on guitar; their cousin Mike Love (b. 1941) on drums; and Alan Jardine (b. 1942) on gui¬ tar. Within a year they launched a string of surfing-oriented hits marked by close vocal harmony, including “Surfin’ Safari” and “California Girls.” By 1966 they had released more than 10 albums, including Pet Sounds (1966), considered their best. Despite Brian Wilson’s reclusiveness due to stress- and drug-related breakdowns, the band continued to make recordings into the 1980s and toured into the 1990s.
beach flea See sand flea
bead Small object, usually pierced for stringing. It may be made of vir¬ tually any material—wood, shell, bone, seed, nut, metal, stone, glass, or plastic—and is worn or affixed to another object for decorative or, in some cultures, magical purposes. The earliest Egyptian beads (c. 4000 bc) were made of stone, feldspar, lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise, hematite, or amethyst and were variously shaped (sphere, cone, shell, animal head). By 3000-2000 bc, gold beads in tubular shapes were in use. From the Middle Ages to the 18th century, trade in beads was enormous. Today the richness of beadwork varies with fashion.
Beadle, George Wells (b. Oct. 22, 1903, Wahoo, Neb., U.S.—d. June 9, 1989, Pomona, Calif.) U.S. geneticist. He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University. While studying Drosophila, he realized that genes must influence heredity chemically and designed a complex technique to
determine the nature of those effects, showing that something as appar¬ ently simple as eye colour results from a long series of chemical reac¬ tions, which are affected by genes. With Edward L. Tatum, he found that the total environment of a bread mold could be varied so that researchers could locate and identify mutations relatively easily, concluding that each gene determines the structure of a specific enzyme, which in turn allows a single chemical reaction to proceed. For the “one gene, one enzyme” concept, they shared a 1958 Nobel Prize with Joshua Lederberg. Beadle later served as president of the University of Chicago (1960-68).
beadwork Ornamental work in beads. In the Middle Ages beads were used to embellish embroidery work. In Renaissance and Elizabethan England, clothing, purses, fancy boxes, and small pictures were adorned with beads. In the 19th-20th century beadwork proliferated in dress deco¬ ration. Beads are used as ornamentation on a variety of objects (clothing, masks, weapons, dolls) in many cultures, including the Native American, African, and Oceanic.
beagle Breed of small hound, popular as both a pet and a hunter. It looks like a small foxhound, with large brown eyes, hanging ears, and a short coat that is usually a combina¬ tion of black, tan, and white. Beagles are solidly built and heavy for their height. Two sizes are recognized: those standing less than 13 in. (33 cm) and weighing about 18 lbs (8 kg), and those standing about 15 in.