Stevin Vsta-vin\, Simon (b. 1548, Bruges, Flanders—d. 1620, The Hague, Holland) Flemish mathematician. In 1585 Stevin published a small pamphlet, La Thiende (“The Tenth”), in which he presented an account of decimal fractions and their daily use. Though he did not invent decimal fractions and his notation was clumsy, he established the use of decimals in day-to-day mathematics.
Stewart See House of Stuart
Stewart, Ellen (b. c. 1920, Alexandria, La., U.S.) U.S. theatre director. In the 1950s she moved to New York City to become a fashion designer. In 1961 she founded Cafe La Mama, an experimental theatre specializing in total integration of music, dance, and drama. There she gave a start to many young actors and playwrights, including Bette Midler and Sam Shepard. Stewart became known as the mother of Off-Off-Broadway theatre. A European tour in 1965 made La Mama a mecca for European avant-garde directors. Its frequently distinguished productions have made La Mama a venerated institution and have won more than 50 Obie Awards.
Stewart, Henry See Lord Darnley
Stewart, J(ohn) l(nnes) M(ackintosh) (b. Sept. 30, 1906, Edin¬ burgh, Scot.—d. Nov. 12, 1994, Coulsdon, Surrey, Eng.) Scottish-born English novelist, literary critic, and educator. Stewart began writing while working as a college professor. In his mystery novels, he created the char¬ acter of Inspector John Appleby, a British detective known for his suave humour and literary finesse. Among the best of these mysteries, all pub¬ lished under the pseudonym of Michael Innes, are Lament for a Maker (1938), The Journeying Boy (1949), and An Awkward Lie (1971). Stew¬ art wrote other works of fiction under his own name, as well as several works of literary criticism. His autobiography. Myself and Michael Innes, was published in 1987.
Stewart, James (Maitland) (b. May 20, 1908, Indiana, Pa., U.S.—d. July 2, 1997, Beverly Hills, Calif.) U.S. film actor. He made his
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1822 I Stewart ► Stigler
film debut in 1935, but at first, Stew¬ art’s slow, halting line delivery (per¬ haps his most readily identifiable trademark) and angular features made him difficult to cast. His engag¬ ing manner, however, led to quick acceptance by the movie-going pub¬ lic, and he played endearingly simple and idealistic characters in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Wash¬ ington (1939). He won an Academy Award for best actor for his perfor¬ mance in The Philadelphia Story (1940). After serving as a bomber pilot in World War II, he starred in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), which became a Christmas classic. He was known for his portrayals of diffident but morally resolute characters. His many movies include Destry Rides Again (1939), The Glenn Miller Story (1954), The Man from Laramie (1955), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1948), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1955), and Vertigo
(1958).
Stewart, Potter (b. Jan. 23, 1915, Jackson, Mich., U.S.—d. Dec. 7, 1985, Hanover, N.H.) U.S. jurist. He studied law at Yale University and was admitted to the bar in New York and Ohio in 1941. After settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, he served on the city council and as vice mayor before his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1954. In 1958 Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to the Supreme Court of the United States, where he served until 1981. A moderate, he wrote the majority opinion in the Shelton v. Tucker case, which held unconstitutional the requirement that teachers list all the associations to which they belong, and also wrote a memorable dissent in Miranda v. Arizona, in which he argued that the court’s decision provided too much protection to defen¬ dants and undermined the ability of the police to enforce the law. He is perhaps best remembered for summarizing the difficulty in defining obscenity, writing in a concurring opinion that “I know it when I see it.”
Stibitz, George Robert (b. April 20, 1904, York, Pa., U.S.—d. Jan. 31, 1995, Hanover, N.H.) U.S. mathematician and inventor. He received a Ph.D. from Cornell University. In 1940 he and Samuel Williams, a col¬ league at Bell Labs, built the Complex Number Calculator, considered a forerunner of the digital computer. He accomplished the first remote com¬ puter operation by inputting problems via Teletype, and he pioneered com¬ puter applications in biomedical areas, such as the movement of oxygen in the lungs, brain cell structure, diffusion of nutrients and drugs in the body, and capillary transport. The holder of 38 patents, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1983.
stibnite Antimony sulfide (Sb 2 S 3 ), the principal ore of antimony. This sulfide mineral has a brilliant metallic lustre, is lead or steel gray in colour, and fuses (melts) readily. Stibnite occurs in low-temperature hydrother¬ mal veins (see hydrothermal ore deposits) and in replacement deposits. Sig¬ nificant deposits have been found in China, Japan, and the U.S. (Idaho, California, and Nevada). Stibnite is used in making matches, fireworks, and percussion caps and was used by the ancients as a cosmetic (called kohl) to increase the apparent size of the eye.
Stick style Style of residential design popular in the U.S. in the 1860s and ’70s, a precursor to the Shingle style. The Stick style favoured an imi¬ tation half-timbered effect, with boards attached to the exterior walls in grids suggestive of the underlying frame construction. Other characteris¬ tic features included attached open stickwork verandas, projecting square bays, steeply pitched roofs, and overhanging eaves. Angular and vertical elements were emphasized. Though associated with Carpenter Gothic, the Stick style made less use of gingerbread. The style also marked the begin¬ ning of greater openness of the floor plan. Charles S. and Henry M. Greene succeeded admirably in reinterpreting the style in the early 20th century.
stickleback Any of about 12 species (family Gasterosteidae) of slen¬ der, scaleless fishes inhabiting temperate fresh and salt waters of the Northern Hemisphere. Sticklebacks grow to 6 in. (15 cm) long. They have a row of spines on the back, in front of a soft-rayed dorsal fin, and a sharp
James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life
(1946).
CULVER PICTURES
spine in each of the pelvic fins. They also have a slender tail base, a squared tail, and hard armour plates on their sides. The male builds a nest of plant materials and coaxes one or more females into it to lay eggs, fertilizes the eggs in the nest, and aggressively defends eggs and young.
Stickley, Gustav (b. March 9, 1858, Osceola, Wis., U.S.—d. April 21, 1942, Syracuse, N.Y.) U.S. furniture designer and maker. He learned to make furniture at a chair factory owned by an uncle. After taking over the factory, he moved it to New York state, first to Binghamton and then to Syracuse. Influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and by visits to old missions in the American Southwest, he introduced c. 1900 a highly origi¬ nal line of sturdy oak furniture. To spread his ideas and designs, he pub¬ lished the influential magazine The Craftsman (1901-16). In 1916 two younger brothers established a firm to produce furniture from his designs and gave the style the name Mission, by which name it is still popular today.
Stiegel Vste-g9l,\ German Vshte-goL, Henry William orig. Hein¬ rich Wilhelm Stiegel (b. May 13, 1729, near Cologne—d. Jan. 10, 1785, Charming Forge, Pa., U.S.) German-born U.S. ironmaster and glassmaker. After arriving in Philadelphia in 1750, he quickly became a prosperous ironmaster. In 1762 he bought a huge tract of land in Lan¬ caster County and built the town of Manheim, where he established American Flint Glassworks; there he imported Venetian, German, and English glassworkers to make utilitarian vessels and high-quality blue, purple, green, and clear tableware. He owned three mansions, where his comings and goings were announced by a cannon salute and band music, but his lavish style and adverse economic conditions eventually bank¬ rupted him.