Turmeric (Curcuma longa).
W.H. HODGE
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Turner ► Tuskegee Airmen I 1953
Turner, Frederick Jackson (b. Nov. 14, 1861, Portage, Wis., U.S.—d. March 14, 1932, San Marino, Calif.) U.S. historian. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and at Harvard University. Deeply influ¬ enced by his Wisconsin childhood, Turner rejected the doctrine that U.S. institutions could be traced mainly to European origins, and he demon¬ strated his theories in a series of essays. In “The Significance of the Fron¬ tier in American History” (1893) he asserted that the American character had been shaped by frontier life and the end of the frontier era. Later he focused on sectionalism as a force in U.S. development. His essays were collected in The Frontier in American History (1920) and Significance of Sections in American History (1932, Pulitzer Prize).
Turner, J(oseph) M(allord) W(illiam) (b. April 23, 1775, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 19, 1851, London)
British landscape painter. The son of a barber, he entered the Royal Acad¬ emy school in 1789. In 1802 he became a full academician and in 1807 was appointed professor of per¬ spective. His early work was con¬ cerned with accurate depictions of places, but he soon learned from Richard Wilson to take a more poetic and imaginative approach. The Ship¬ wreck (1805) shows his new empha¬ sis on luminosity, atmosphere, and Romantic, dramatic subjects. After a trip to Italy in 1819, his colour became purer and more prismatic, with a general heightening of key. In later paintings, such as Sunrise, with a Boat Between Headlands (1845), architectural and natural details are sacrificed to effects of colour and light, with only the barest indication of mass. His compositions became more fluid, suggesting movement and space. In breaking down conventional formulas of representation, he anticipated French Impressionism. His immense reputation in the 19th cen¬ tury was due largely to John Ruskin’s enthusiasm for his early works; 20th-century critics celebrated the abstract qualities of his late colour compositions.
Turner, Nat (b. Oct. 2, 1800, Southampton county, Va., U.S.—d. Nov. 11, 1831, Jerusalem, Va.) U.S. insurrectionist. Born into slavery, he became convinced of his mission to lead American slaves out of bond¬ age and developed a scheme to capture the armoury at Jerusalem, Va. He took an eclipse of the sun as a sign to act (1831) and began his insurrec¬ tion by killing his master’s family. He led 75 slaves as they killed about 60 whites on a two-day march to Jerusalem. About 3,000 state militia and local whites defeated the insurrectionists, who were captured or killed. Turner eluded arrest for six weeks but was found, tried, and hanged. Alarmed by the uprising. Southern states passed legislation forbidding the education, movement, or assembly of slaves.
Turner, Ted orig. Robert Edward Turner, III (b. Nov. 19, 1938, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) U.S. broadcasting entrepreneur. He took over his father’s Atlanta-based advertising firm after the latter’s 1963 suicide and restored it to profitability. In 1970 he bought the Atlanta television sta¬ tion WJRJ (later WTBS), which in 1975 became the superstation of the Turner Broadcasting System, broadcasting via satellite to cable systems nationwide. An avid sportsman, he purchased professional baseball and basketball franchises in Atlanta, and in 1977 he piloted his yacht. Cou¬ rageous, to victory in the America's Cup race. He expanded his broadcast¬ ing empire with the 1980 launch of the Cable News Network (CNN) and the 1986 purchase of MGM/UA Entertainment (MGM) and its library of more than 4,000 movies. He married Jane Fonda in 1991 (divorced 2001). In 1996 he merged his broadcasting system with Time Warner and became its vice-chairman (see AOL Time Warner). In 2003 he resigned as vice- chairman of AOL Time Warner.
Turner syndrome Chromosomal disorder (from the presence of only one sex chromosome, X, in all or some of the body’s cells) that causes abnormal sexual development in females. The syndrome may include absent or undeveloped ovaries, underdeveloped secondary sex character¬ istics, low hairline, webbed neck, shield-shaped chest with wide-spaced nipples, and kidney and heart malformations with coarctation (narrow¬
ing) of the aorta. It may not be recognized until a girl fails to undergo puberty at a normal age. Estrogen treatment results in puberty, adult appearance, and normal sex drive but not fertility. Surgery can correct malformations.
turnip Hardy biennial plant in the mustard family, cultivated for its fleshy roots and tender leaves. There are two species, the turnip proper (Bras- sica rapa) and the Swedish turnip, or RUTABAGA. The true turnip probably originated in middle and eastern Asia and spread by cultivation through¬ out the temperate zone. Both species are cool-season crops. Turnips develop rapidly enough to have an early-spring or late-summer seeding produce a crop before, respectively, extremes of summer or late-fall weather occur.
turpentine Any resinous exudate or extract from conifers, especially pines; now also commonly a term for its volatile fraction, oil (or spirits) of turpentine. Semifluid mixtures of organic compounds consisting of res¬ ins dissolved in a volatile oil, turpentines can be distilled (see distillation) into the volatile oil of turpentine and the nonvolatile rosin. The oil, a mix¬ ture of monoterpenes (see isoprenoid), chiefly pinene, is a colourless, odor¬ ous, flammable liquid that does not mix with water but is a good solvent for many substances. Oil of turpentine is favoured over petroleum solvents as an oil-paint thinner, varnish solvent, and brush cleaner. Its chief use is now as a raw material for resins, insecticides, oil additives, and synthetic pine oil and camphor and as a solvent.
turquoise Hydrated copper and aluminum phosphate mineral, CuA 1 6 (P0 4 ) 4 (OH) 8 4H 2 0, that is used extensively as a gemstone. The colour of turquoise ranges from blue through various shades of green to greenish and yellowish gray. A delicate sky-blue, which provides an attractive contrast with precious metals, is most valued for gem purposes. Numerous deposits of turquoise in the southwestern U.S. have been worked for centuries by American Indians. The mineral also occurs in Iran, northern Africa, Australia, and Siberia.
turtle Any of more than 250 species (order Chelonia) of reptiles having a bony shell overlaid with horny shields; found in most parts of the world. Turtles have existed for 200 million years, making them the oldest of all surviving reptiles. Most species are aquatic or semiaquatic; some are ter¬ restrial. Turtles eat plants, animals, or both. They are toothless, have a horny beak, and range from less than 4 in. (10 cm) to more than 7 ft (2 m) long. They have sturdy, sprawling limbs with short feet or paddlelike flippers (marine turtles). Some species bend the neck sideways, but most pull the head and neck backward into the shell. Almost half the known turtle species are rare, threatened, or endangered. See also box turtle, PAINTED TURTLE, SNAPPING TURTLE, SOFTSHELL TURTLE, TERRAPIN, TORTOISE.
turtledove Species ( Streptopelia turtur, family Columbidae) of migra¬ tory European pigeon that winters in northern Africa. It is about 11 in. (28 cm) long and has a reddish brown body, blue-gray head, and white-tipped tail. A ground feeder, it eats prodigious amounts of small seeds. The name is applied to other temperate and tropical Old World Streptopelia species of slim, fast-flying game birds. The ringed turtledove, or ringdove, has feral populations in California and Florida, U.S.; the laughing and spot¬ ted doves have also been introduced outside their native habitats.
Tuscany Italian Toscana Region (pop., 2001 prelim.: 3,460,835), west-central Italy. It covers 8,877 sq mi (22,992 sq km), and its capital is Florence. Originally settled by Etruscans c. 1000 bc, Tuscany came under Roman rule in the 3rd century bc. It was a Lombard duchy in the 6th century ad. It comprised several independent city-states in the 12th— 1 3th centuries, which were subsequently united under the Medici family of Flo¬ rence. Tuscany passed to the house of Lorraine in 1737 and to Sardinia and the Kingdom of Italy in the 1860s. The region suffered severe dam¬ age in World War II and extensive floods in 1966. Its mineral resources include the world-famous Carrara marble. Its agricultural products include olives, olive oil, wines, and livestock. Tourism is important at its histori¬ cal centres, including Florence and Pisa.