thistle Weedy species of Cirsium, Carduus, Echinops, Sonchus, and other plant genera of the composite family. The term usually refers to prickly leaved species of Carduus and Cirsium, which have dense heads of small, usually pink or purple flowers. Because they have spiny stems and flower heads without ray flowers, Carduus species are called plumeless thistles. Canadian thistle ( Cirsium arvense) is an attractive but troublesome weed in agricultural areas of North America. The thistle is the national emblem of Scotland.
Thjorsa River Vthy6r-,sau\ River, Iceland. Carrying meltwater from several glaciers, it flows southwest for 143 mi (230 km) to discharge into the Atlantic Ocean. It is the country’s longest river; its lower third flows through an extensive farming region. It is Iceland’s main source of hydro¬ electric power.
Thocmectony See Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
Thomas, Clarence (b. June 23, 1948, Pinpoint, near Savannah, Ga., U.S.) U.S. jurist. He graduated from Yale Law School and served as assis¬ tant attorney general in Missouri (1974-77), lawyer for Monsanto Co. (1977-79), legislative assistant to Sen. John Danforth (1979-81), assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education (1981-82), and chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (1982-90). Pres. George Bush appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1990 and then to the Supreme Court of the United States; he thereby became the sec¬ ond African American justice on the court, after Thurgood Marshall. His 1991 confirmation hearings attracted enormous public interest and media attention, largely because of accusations of sexual harassment by Anita Hill, a law professor and former colleague of Thomas at the EEOC. Thomas denied the charges, and the Senate narrowly voted to confirm him. A quiet presence on the court, he generally follows a predictable pattern in his opinions—conservative, restrained, and suspicious of the reach of the fed¬ eral government into the realm of state and local politics.
Thomas, Dylan (Marlais) (b. Oct. 27, 1914, Swansea, Wales—d. Nov. 9, 1953, New York, N.Y., U.S.)
Welsh poet and prose writer. He left school at age 16 to work as a reporter. His early verse, as in The Map of Love (1939), with rich meta¬ phoric language and emotional intensity, made him famous. In the more accessible Deaths and Entrances (1946), with “Fern Hill,” he often adopts a bardic, oracular voice. In Country Sleep (1952), con¬ taining “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” and Collected Poems (1952) followed. Thomas’s prose includes the comic Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (1940); a play for voices, Under Milk Wood (1954); and the reminiscence A Child’s Christmas in Wales (1955). His sonorous recitations contributed greatly to his fame. Debt and heavy drinking began taking their toll in the late 1930s, and he died of an alcohol overdose while on tour.
Thomas, George H(enry) (b. July 31, 1816, Southampton county, Va., U.S.—d. March 28, 1870, San Francisco, Calif.) U.S. general. He was a graduate of West Point. When the American Civil War broke out, he remained loyal to the Union despite his Southern birth. He commanded an independent force in eastern Kentucky, where he won the first impor¬ tant Union victory in the west in 1862. At the Battle of Chickamauga he organized an unyielding defense, earning promotion to brigadier general and the nickname “the Rock of Chickamauga.” In 1864 he defeated the Confederate forces of Gen. John B. Hood (1831-79) in the Battle of Nashville, earning another promotion and the gratitude of Congress.
Thomas, Helen (b.Aug. 4,1920, Winchester, Ky., U.S.) U.S. journalist. Born to Lebanese immigrant parents, she grew up in Detroit and joined the UPI news agency in Washington, D.C., in 1943. A pioneer in overcoming the limitations on women in the news media, she became known for her bold and tireless pursuit of information. Assigned to the White House in 1961, she became UPI bureau chief there in 1974. She is best known as the reporter traditionally first recognized at presidential press conferences.
Thomas, Isiah (Lord), III (b. April 30, 1961, Chicago, Ill., U.S.) U.S. basketball player, coach, and executive. He led Indiana University to a national collegiate title in 1981. As a guard for the Detroit Pistons (1981— 94), he amassed 9,061 career assists and helped the team win two NBA championships (1989, 1990); he is regarded as one of the greatest point guards of all time. He subsequently worked as general manager for the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks and coached the Indiana Pacers.
Thomas, Lewis (b. Nov. 25, 1913, Flushing, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 3, 1993, New York City) U.S. physician and author. He attended medical school at Harvard and later taught at various universities. He was presi¬ dent of New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1973-83). He translated his passionate interest in and wonder at the intricate mys¬ teries of biology into lucid meditations and reflections on biology in award-winning essays. The best-known of his widely read books is The Lives of a Cell (1974, National Book Award).
Dylan Thomas, 1952.
ROLUE MCKENNA
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Thomas ► Thomson I 1901
Thomas, Lowell (Jackson) (b.
U.S.—d. Aug. 29, 1981, Pawling,
N.Y.) U.S. radio commentator, jour¬ nalist, and author. A war correspon¬ dent in Europe and the Middle East while in his 20s, Thomas helped make T.E. Lawrence famous with his exclusive coverage and later with the book With Lawrence in Arabia (1924). He was a preeminent broad¬ caster with CBS from 1930; his radio nightly news was an American insti¬ tution for nearly two generations, and he appeared on television from its earliest days. Out of his lifelong globetrotting came lectures, travel¬ ogues, and more than 50 books of adventure and comment, including Kabluk of the Eskimo (1932) and The Seven Wonders of the World (1956).
Thomas, Norman (Mattoon)
(b. Nov. 20, 1884, Marion, Ohio,
U.S.—d. Dec. 19, 1968, Huntington,
N.Y.) U.S. social reformer and politician. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister and became pastor of New York’s East Harlem Church. He joined the Socialist Party in 1918 and left his parish post to become secretary of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. He helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and served as codirector of the League for Industrial Democracy (1922-37). He was the Socialist Party’s candidate for gover¬ nor (1924), for mayor of New York (1925, 1929), and for U.S. president (1928—48), and he headed the party from 1926. After World War II, as chairman of the Postwar World Council, he campaigned for nuclear dis¬ armament.
Thomas, Saint (b. probably Galilee—d. c. ad 53, Madras, India; West¬ ern feast day December 21, feast day in Roman and Syrian Catholic churches July 3, in the Greek church October 6) One of the Twelve Apostles of Christ. He is best known for requiring physical proof of Jesus’ Resurrection before he could believe it, hence the phrase “doubting Tho¬ mas.” When Jesus reappeared and had Thomas touch his wounds, Tho¬ mas became the first person to explicitly acknowledge Jesus’ divinity, saying “My Lord and my God.” His subsequent history is uncertain; he is said to have evangelized Parthia (modern Khorasan) and even India.
Thomas a Becket See Saint Thomas Becket
Thomas a Kempis orig. Thomas Hemerken (b. 1379/80, Kempen, near Diisseldorf, Rhineland—d. Aug. 8, 1471, Agnietenberg, near Zwolle, Bishopric of Utrecht) Christian theologian and probable author of The Imitation of Christ. He went to Deventer, Neth., c. 1392 and joined the Brethren of the Common Life, a community devoted to the care and education of the poor. In 1387 he entered the Augustinian monastery of canons regular at Agnietenberg. He was ordained a priest in 1413 and devoted himself to copying manuscripts and directing novices. He is cred¬ ited with writing The Imitation of Christ, the most influential devotional work in Christian literature after the Bible. Noted for its simple language and style, it emphasizes spiritual over materialistic life and affirms the rewards of a life centred on Christ. The Imitation and his other treatises and sermons are the best representation of the devotio moderna, a new form of religious devotion that arose at the end of the 14th century.