steel drum Tuned gong made from the end, and part of the wall, of an oil barrel. The barrel’s end surface is hammered into a concave shape, and several areas are outlined by chiseled grooves. It is heated and tem¬ pered, and bosses or domes are hammered into the outlined areas; the depth, curvature, and size of each boss determines its pitch. Melodies, complex accompaniments, and counterpoint can be played with rubber- tipped mallets on a single drum. The steel drum originated in Trinidad in the 1940s. It is usually played in ensembles, called steel bands, of widely varying sizes.
Steele, Sir Richard (b. 1672, Dublin, Ire.—d. Sept. 1, 1729, Car¬ marthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales) English journalist, dramatist, essayist, and politician. He began his long friendship with Joseph Addison at school and attempted an army career before turning to writing. He launched and was the principal author (under the name Isaac Bicker staff) of the essay periodical The Tatler (April 1709-January 1711), in which he created the mixture of entertainment and instruction in manners and morals that he and Addison would perfect in The Spectator. His attractive, often casual writing style was a perfect foil for Addison’s more measured, erudite prose. He made many later ventures into journalism, some politically par¬ tisan, and held several government posts. In 1714 he became governor of Drury Lane Theatre, where he produced The Conscious Lovers (1723), one of the century’s most popular plays and perhaps the best example of English sentimental comedy.
Steen Vstan\, Jan (Havickszoon) (b. c. 1626, Leiden, Neth.—d. Feb. 3, 1679, Leiden) Dutch painter. A brewer’s son, he was enrolled at the University of Leiden in 1646 and in 1648 became a founding member of the Leiden painters’ guild. One of the greatest Dutch genre painters, he is known for his humour and ability to capture subtle facial expressions, especially of children. His figures, which became larger and more indi¬ vidually characterized in his later works, were often shown playing cards or skittles, or carousing in inns and taverns. His paintings show great technical skill, particularly with colour. His late paintings, which antici¬ pated the Rococo style, became increasingly elegant and somewhat less energetic.
steeplechase Either of two distinct sporting events: (1) a horse race over a closed course with obstacles, including hedges and walls; or (2) a footrace of 3,000 m over hurdles and a water jump. The name derives from impromptu races by fox hunters in 18th-century Ireland over natu¬ ral country in which church steeples served as course landmarks. Eques¬ trian steeplechase is popular in England, France, and Ireland, and to a lesser extent in the U.S. The most famous equestrian steeplechase is the Grand National. Track-and-field steeplechase dates back to a cross¬ country race at the University of Oxford in 1850. The course and distance were standardized at the 1920 Olympic Games.
Stefan Decansky \'ste-van-de-'kan-ske\ or Stefan Uros III (b.
1280—d. 1331) King of Serbia (1322-31). After rebelling against his father, Stefan Uros II (r. 1282-1321), he was blinded, so that he would be unfit to rule, and exiled (1314-20). He then showed he was not blind, claiming a miraculous cure, and was made king. He allied with the los¬ ing Andronicus II Palaeologus in the civil war with Andronicus III Palae- ologus (1327-28) and was deposed by his son, Stefan Dusan.
Stefan Dusan \'dii-shan\ or Stefan Uros IV (b. 1308—d. Dec. 20, 1355) King of Serbia (1331-46) and emperor of the Serbs and Greeks (1346-55). He deposed his father, Stefan Decansky, in 1331. The greatest ruler of medieval Serbia, he began a war of conquest against Byzantium in 1334, gaining control of Albania and Macedonia by 1346 and Epirus and Thessaly by 1348. Dusan reformed the Serbian administration on the Byzantine model and introduced a law code. His rule over former Byz¬ antine lands was threatened by John VI Cantacuzenus, and his empire broke apart soon after his death.
Stefan Nemanja or Stephen Nemanja \'ne-man-ya\ (d. 1200) Founder of the Serbian state. He was grand zupan (clan leader) under Byzantine rule in 1169. He allied himself with Venice and was defeated by the avenging Byzantines, though he was later pardoned. After expand¬ ing Serbian territory, he abdicated in 1196 and entered a monastery.
Steffens, (Joseph) Lincoln (b. April 6, 1866, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—d. Aug. 9, 1936, Carmel, Calif.) U.S. journalist and reformer. He
worked for New York City newspapers (1892-1901) and was managing editor of McClure’s Magazine (1901-06), where he began his famous muckraking articles—later published as The Shame of the Cities (1904)— exposing corruption in politics and big business. He lectured widely and aroused public interest in seeking solutions and taking action. He later supported revolutionary activities in Mexico and Russia and lived in Europe (1917-27). The success of his Autobiography (1931) returned him to the lecture circuit.
Stegner, Wallace (Earle) (b. Feb. 18, 1909, Lake Mills, Iowa, U.S.—d. April 13, 1993, Santa Fe, N.M.) U.S. writer. Stegner studied at the University of Iowa and later taught at several universities, notably Stanford. The Big Rock Candy Mountain (1943), a novel about a family traveling around the West seeking their fortune, was his first critical and popular success. His later novels include A Shooting Star (1961), Angle of Repose (1971, Pulitzer Prize), and The Spectator Bird (1976, National Book Award). His nonfiction includes two histories of the settlement of Utah, Mormon Country (1942) and The Gathering of Zion (1964), and Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (1954), a biography of John Wesley Pow¬ ell.
stegosaur Any of the plated dinosaur species, including Stegosaurus, of the Late Jurassic Epoch (159-144 million years ago). Stegosaurs were four-legged herbivores that reached a maximum length of about 30 ft (9 m). The skull and brain were very small. The forelimbs were much shorter than the hind limbs, the back was arched, and the feet were short and broad. Stegosaurs had double rows of large, triangular, bony plates along their backs and tail that may have been a temperature-regulating system. Pairs of long, pointed, bony spikes on the end of the tail were probably defensive weapons.
Steichen VstI-kon\, Edward (Jean) orig. Edouard Jean Stei- chen (b. March 27, 1879,
Luxembourg—d. March 25, 1973,
West Redding, Conn., U.S.)
Luxembourg-born U.S. photogra¬ pher. His family immigrated to the U.S. in 1881. His early photographs were influenced by his training as a painter. He frequently used chemi¬ cals to achieve prints that resembled soft, fuzzy mezzotints or wash draw¬ ings. In 1902 he joined Alfred Stieg- utz in forming the Photo-Secession, a group dedicated to promoting pho¬ tography as a fine art. His style evolved from painterly Impressionism to sharp realism after World War I.
His portraits of artists and celebrities from the 1920s and ’30s are remark¬ able evocations of character. At the outbreak of World War II, Steichen was commissioned by the U.S. Navy to organize a department to photograph the war at sea. In 1955 he orga¬ nized the Family of Man exhibition of 503 photographs (selected from over two million), which was seen by more than nine million people worldwide.
Steiermark Vshtl-or-.markX English Styria \'stir-e-9\ State (pop., 2001: 1,183,303), southeastern Austria. Inhabited since the Stone Age, the region came under Roman rule as part of the Celtic kingdom of Noricum. It was ruled by the Bavarians in the 8th century, belonged to the duchy of Carinthia after 976, and was made a frontier territory of the Frankish empire in the 11th century. The area became a duchy in 1180 and a Habs- burg crown land in 1282. After World War I, 2,329 sq mi (6,032 sq km) of southern Steiermark were ceded to Yugoslavia. Steiermark has been a state of Austria since that time, except for the years 1938—45, when most of it formed a Reichsgau (party district) under the Anschluss (incorpora¬ tion into Germany). Steiermark has an area of 6,327 sq mi (16,387 sq km), and its capital is Graz.