Wiener Vwe-norN, Norbert (b. Nov. 26, 1894, Columbia, Mo., U.S.—d. March 18, 1964, Stock¬ holm, Swed.) U.S. mathematician.
He earned a Ph.D. from Harvard at 18. He joined the faculty of MIT in 1919. His work on generalized har¬ monic analysis and Tauberian theo¬ rems (which deduce the convergence of an infinite series) won the Ameri¬ can Mathematical Society’s Bocher Prize in 1933. The origin of cybernet¬ ics as an independent science is gen¬ erally dated from the 1948 publication of his Cybernetics. He made contributions to such areas as stochastic processes, quantum theory, and, during World War II, gunfire control. Crater Wiener on the Moon is named for him.
Wiener Werkstatte Vve-nor- 'verk-,shtet-3\ English Vienna Workshops Cooperative enter¬ prise for crafts and design founded in Vienna in 1903. Inspired by William Morris and the English Arts and Crafts Movement, it was founded by Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann with the goal of restoring the values of handcraftsmanship to an indus¬ trial society in which such crafts were dying. Its members had close ties to the artists of the Vienna Sezession and the Art Nouveau movement. The Wiener Werkstatte’s work in jewelry, furnishings, interior design, fash¬ ion, and other areas, which often celebrated the beauty of geometry, became widely known for elegance and innovation, and this “square style” influenced the work of the Bauhaus craftsmen in the 1920s as well as the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Wiesbaden Vves-.ba-donN City (pop., 2002 est.: 271,276), capital of Hesse, southern Germany. It is situated on the Rhine River. The Romans for¬ tified it in the 1st century ad; it has been noted since then for its hot saline springs. Made an imperial city in 1241, it passed to the counts of Nassau in 1255. It was capital of the duchy of Nassau from 1806 to 1866, when it passed to Prussia. After World War I it was the seat of the Rhineland Com¬ mission under French and British occupation (1918-29). In 1946 Wies¬ baden became the capital of the newly created state of Hesse. It was particularly noted for its spa in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was frequented by Johann W. von Goethe, Johannes Brahms, and Fyodor Dos¬ toyevsky. It continues to be a popular resort. It has printing firms, publishing houses, and film studios, and it is noted for its Sekt (sparkling wine).
Nov. 26, 1894, Columbia, Mo.,
Norbert Wiener.
COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Wiesel ► wild rice I 2057
Wiesel \ve-'zel\, Elie orig. Eliezer Wiesel (b. Sept. 30, 1928, Sighet, Rom.) Romanian-born U.S. novelist. Living in a small Hasidic commu¬ nity, Wiesel and his family were deported in 1944 to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald; his parents and sister were killed. All his works reflect his experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust and his attempt to resolve the ethical torment of why it happened and what it reveals about human nature. They include Night (1958), A Beggar in Jerusalem (1968), The Testament (1980), and The Forgotten (1989). A noted lecturer, he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace for his universal condemnation of violence, hatred, and oppression.
Wiesel Vve-solV Torsten (Nils) (b. June 3, 1924, Uppsala, Swed.) Swedish neurobiologist. After earning his medical degree in Sweden, he moved to the U.S., where he joined David Hubel in investigating brain func¬ tion. By analyzing the flow of nerve impulses from the eye in laboratory animals, they detected many structural and functional details of the visual cortex, in the occipital lobes of the cerebral cortex. Their studies of the effects of visual impairments in young animals lent strong support to the view that prompt surgery is crucial to correct certain eye defects in new¬ born children. The two shared a 1981 Nobel Prize with Roger Sperry.
wig Manufactured head covering of real or artificial hair worn in the theatre, as personal adornment, disguise, or symbol of office, or for reli¬ gious reasons. Ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans used wigs, often as protection from the sun. In the West the wig first became an acceptable form of adornment or corrective for nature’s defects in the 16th century, and men’s perukes, or periwigs, came into widespread use in the 17th century. Men’s wigs were common through¬ out the 18th century. Women wore wigs surreptitiously in the 18th-19th centuries; after the development of inexpensive synthetic wigs in the 20th century, women’s wigs increased in popularity. In East Asia wigs have been used rarely except in the Chinese and Japanese theatre.
Wigan \'wi-gon\ Town and metropolitan borough (pop., 2001: 301,417), northwestern Greater Manchester, historic county of Lancashire, England. It lies along the River Douglas and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Coal was mined from the 14th century, and textiles were produced in the area as early as the 16th century. Industrialization in the late 18th century was accelerated by the building of canals and railways. Textiles have declined in importance, and the last coal mine closed in 1993. New industries, including food processing, paper and packaging, and electrical engineer¬ ing, have broadened the economy. Tourism was spurred by George Orwell’s treatise The Road to Wigan Pier.
wigeon or widgeon Any of four species of dabbling ducks, popular game and food birds. The male European wigeon ( Anas penelope) has a reddish head, cream forehead, and gray back. The male American wigeon, or baldpate (A. americana), has a white crown, green eye stripe, and brown back. Baldpates often graze on young grasses. The Cape wigeon (A. capensis) of Africa is a nocturnal feeder.
Wiggin, Kate Douglas orig. Kate Douglas Smith (b. Sept. 28, 1856, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d. Aug. 24, 1923, Harrow, Middlesex, Eng.) U.S. novelist and a leader of the kindergarten movement in the U.S. After moving to San Francisco she headed the Silver Street Kindergarten (1878), the first free kindergarten on the U.S. West Coast, and helped establish the California Kindergarten Training School. To help support the school she began writing novels for both adults and children. She is best remembered for the children’s classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
(1903).
Wight, Isle of Island and unitary authority (pop., 2001: 132,719), part of the historic county of Hampshire, in the English Channel off the south¬ ern coast of England. Separated from mainland Hampshire by the Solent, the island has an area of 147 sq mi (381 sq km). Its main town is New¬ port. The backbone of the Isle of Wight is a chalk ridge that extends across its entire breadth, the thickest bed of chalk in the British Isles. The Needles are three detached masses of chalk that lie off the island’s westernmost point and rise to about 100 ft (30 m). Three rivers, the Eastern Yar, the Medina, and the Western Yar, flow northward into the Solent. A major British maximum security prison is located at Parkhurst. Boatbuilding, marine engineering, and the aerospace, plastics, and electronics industries are economically important. The island’s warm, sunny climate has made it a popular vacation spot.
Wightman, Hazel Hotchkiss orig. Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss
(b. Dec. 20, 1886, Healdsburg, Calif., U.S.—d. Dec. 5, 1974, Newton,
Mass.) U.S. tennis player. She was a dominant competitor in the pre- World War I years, winning nine national tennis titles in the years 1909-11 alone. She won a lifetime total of 45 U.S. titles, the last at age 68. She was instrumental in establishing an annual match between British and U.S. women’s teams; the Wightman Cup competition, first held in 1923, continued until 1989. She served as captain of the U.S. team from its inception until 1948.
Wigman, Mary orig. Marie Wiegmann (b. Nov. 13, 1886, Hanover, Ger.—d. Sept. 18, 1973, West Berlin, W.Ger.) Pioneering Ger¬ man dancer. Wigman studied with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Rudolf Laban and made her debut in 1914. Only a few years later she began a stellar career as an innovative choreographer. Her impact on dance throughout the West was immense. Her students included Hanya Holm, who exerted a major influence on the development of American modern dance, and thousands of other original choreographers.