Waterton Lakes National Park Mountain recreational area, west¬ ern Canada. Located in southwestern Alberta, it became a national park in 1895. It covers 203 sq mi (525 sq km). It adjoins the U.S. border and Glacier National Park in the U.S.; the two parks together compose the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, dedicated in 1932.
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2036 I waterwheel ► Watts
waterwheel Machine for tapping the energy of running or falling water (hence a prime mover) by means of a set of paddles or buckets mounted around a wheel. The force of the moving water against the paddles, or the weight of water poured into the buckets, rotates the wheel. The resulting power is transmitted to machinery via the shaft of the wheel. The waterwheel was perhaps the earliest source of mechanical energy to replace that of humans and animals, and it was first used for such tasks as raising water and grinding grain. See also waterpower.
Watie \'wa-te\, Stand orig. De Gata Ga (b. Dec. 12, 1806, Rome, Ga., U.S.—d. Sept. 9, 1871) American Indian leader. He learned English at a mission school and helped publish the Cherokee Phoenix, a tribal newspaper. In 1835 he joined three other Cherokee chiefs to sign the Treaty of New Echota, which surrendered Cherokee lands in Georgia and forced the tribe to move to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. In the American Civil War he raised a mounted Cherokee rifle regiment and joined the Confederate army. He directed cavalry raids on the fields and other property of Indians who backed the Union. Promoted to brigadier general (1864), he remained loyal to the Confederacy even after the tribe ended its alliance. After the war, he went to Washington, D.C., as a rep¬ resentative of the southern Cherokee.
Watling Street Ancient Roman road in Britain. Extending from Lon¬ don to Wroxeter, it was one of the great arterial roads of Roman Britain. In the 9th century it divided Mercia. Later the name was applied to other main roads, including the London-Dover road that ran through Canter¬ bury.
Watson, Doc orig. Arthel Lane Watson (b. March 2, 1923, Stony Fork, near Deep Gap, N.C., U.S.) U.S. country music singer, banjoist, and guitarist. Blind from birth, Watson grew up on a farm and learned to play guitar, banjo, and harmonica as a child. Though he did not record profes¬ sionally until he was in his late 30s, he quickly rose to prominence with his renditions of traditional and popular tunes backed by his virtuoso flat¬ picking guitar style. He appeared at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival to great acclaim. He performed for many years with his son Merle (1949-
85).
Watson, James D(ewey) (b. April 6, 1928, Chicago, Ill., U.S.) U.S. geneticist and biophysicist. He earned his Ph.D. at Indiana University in 1950. Using X-ray diffraction techniques, he began work in Britain with Francis Crick on the problem of DNA structure. In 1952 he determined the structure of the protein coat surrounding the tobacco mosaic virus. In early 1953 he determined that the essential DNA components, four organic bases, must be linked in definite pairs, a discovery that enabled Watson and Crick to formulate a double-helix molecular model for DNA. In 1962 the two scientists and Maurice Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize. Watson’s The Double Helix (1968), a best-selling personal account of the DNA dis¬ covery, aroused controversy. He taught at Harvard University (1955-76) and served as director of the Carnegie Institute’s laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor (1968-94). See also Rosalind Franklin.
Watson, John B(roadus) (b. Jan. 9, 1878, Travelers Rest, near Greenville, S.C., U.S.—d. Sept. 25, 1958, New York, N.Y.) U.S. psy¬ chologist. Trained at the University of Chicago, Watson taught psychol¬ ogy at Johns Hopkins University (1908-20). He is remembered for codifying and publicizing behaviourism. In his epoch-making article, “Psychology as a Behaviorist Views It” (1913), he asserted that psychol¬ ogy should restrict itself to the objective, experimental study of the rela¬ tions between environmental events and human behaviour. In Behavior (1914) he argued for the use of animal subjects in studying reflexes and conditioned responses, and in Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behav¬ iorist (1919) he extended the principles and methods he employed in ani¬ mal experiments. In 1920 he left academia to enter the advertising business.
Watson, Thomas J(ohn), Sr. (b. Feb. 17, 1874, Campbell, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 19, 1956, New York, N.Y.) U.S. industrialist. He went to work for the National Cash Register Co. in 1899. In 1914 he became president of the company that in 1924 became International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), which he built into the world’s largest manufacturer of electric typewriters and data-processing equipment. Backing an aggressive research-and-development program, he assembled a highly motivated, well-trained, and well-paid staff, gave pep talks, enforced a strict dress code, and posted the now-famous “Think” sign in company offices. In the 1930s and ’40s he pursued international trade, extending IBM’s influence worldwide. Active in civic affairs, he was
noted for his efforts on behalf of the arts and world peace. His son Tho¬ mas John Watson, Jr. (1914-93), succeeded him as president (1952), chairman (1961), and CEO (1972).
Watson, Tom in full Thomas Sturges Watson (b. Sept. 4, 1949, Kansas City, Mo., U.S.) U.S. golfer. Watson attended Stanford University before becoming a professional golfer in 1971. He became one of the sport’s dominant figures in the 1970s and early ’80s, winning the British Open (1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983), the Masters (1977, 1981), and the U.S. Open (1982).
Watson-Watt, Sir Robert Alexander (b. April 13, 1892, Brechin, Scot.—d. Dec. 5, 1973, Inverness) Scottish physicist. He began as a meteorologist working on devices for locating thunderstorms. As head of the radio department of Britain’s National Physical Laboratory (1935), he worked on aircraft radio location and could locate planes at a distance of about 80 mi (110 km) by beaming radio waves at them, receiving reflec¬ tions of the waves, and calculating distance by elapsed time. This led to the design of the world’s first practical radar system, a vital element in the defense of Britain against German air raids during World War II. His other contributions include a cathode-ray direction finder used to study atmospheric phenomena, research in electromagnetic radiation, and inventions used for flight safety.
Watt, James (b. Jan. 19, 1736, Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scot.—d. Aug. 25, 1819, Heathfield Hall, near Birmingham, Warwick, Eng.) Scot¬ tish engineer and inventor. Though largely self-taught, he began work early as an instrument maker and later as an engineer on the Forth and Clyde Canal. Watt’s major improve¬ ment to Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine was the use of a separate con¬ denser (1769), which reduced the loss of latent heat and greatly increased its efficiency. With Mat¬ thew Boulton he began manufacture of his new engine in 1775. In 1781 he added rotary motion (a so-called sun-and-planet gear) to replace the up-and-down action of the original engine. In 1782 he patented the double-acting engine, in which the piston pushed as well as pulled. This engine required a new method of rig¬ idly connecting the piston to the beam, a problem he solved in 1784 with an arrangement of connected rods that guided the piston rod in a perpendicular motion. His application of the centrifugal governor for automatic control of the speed of the engine (1788) and his invention of a pressure gauge (1790) virtually completed the Watt engine, which had immense consequences for the Industrial Revo¬ lution. He introduced the concept of horsepower; the watt, a unit of power, is named for him.