Wimbledon Municipal center in the Greater London borough of Mer¬ ton, known as the site of the annual lawn-tennis All-England Champion¬ ships. Held in late June and early July, the tournament is the oldest (founded 1877) and most prestigious in the world. It is one of four tour¬ naments that make up the Grand Slam of tennis, and the only one still played on natural grass. Competition was opened to professionals in 1968.
Winchell, Walter orig. Walter Winchel (b. April 7, 1897, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Feb. 20, 1972, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. journalist and broadcaster. He entered vaudeville at age 13 and eventually began contributing tidbits to the Vaudeville News. Later, as a full-time gossip columnist, he moved to the New York Daily Mirror, where his widely syndicated column appeared until 1963. He had a weekly radio program from 1932 until the early 1950s. A prolific phrasemaker, he was noted for his slangy Broadway idiom. His opinionated news reports brought him a massive audience and great influence from the 1930s through the 1950s. He served as the unseen narrator of the television drama series The Untouchables (1959-63).
Winchester City and administrative district (pop., 2001: 107,213), cen¬ tral part of the administrative and historic county of Hampshire, England. Initially founded by Celtic peoples, it became important as Venta Belgarum under Roman rule. It was the capital of Wessex and a centre of learning under Alfred the Great; later it was the seat of the Danish king Canute’s government. It remained important under the Norman kings until the emer¬ gence of London as the sole capital of England late in the 12th century. Win¬ chester is known for its cathedral (11th—14th centuries), Britain’s longest (556 ft [169 m]), and for Winchester College, founded in 1382.
Winchester, Oliver (Fisher) (b. Nov. 30, 1810, Boston, Mass., U.S.—d. Dec. 11, 1880, New Haven, Conn.) U.S. manufacturer of guns and ammunition. He initially set up a factory to manufacture dress shirts, and his success enabled him to purchase the Volcanic Repeating Arms Co. (1857), which became the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. (1867). His chief gun designer, B.T. Henry, created the lever-action Henry repeat¬ ing rifle (patented 1860). Widely used in the American Civil War, it was the forerunner of a long line of Winchester guns, including the famous Model 73, a favourite weapon of settlers in the American West.
Winckelmann Vviq-kol-.manA English Vwiq-kol-monX, Johann (Joachim) (b. Dec. 9, 1717, Sten- dal, Prussia—d. June 8, 1768, Tri¬ este, Austria) German archaeologist and art historian. The son of a cob¬ bler, he studied theology and medi¬ cine before he discovered Greek art.
His essay Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks (1755) became a manifesto of the Greek ideal in education and art and was soon translated into several lan¬ guages. After converting to Roman Catholicism, he moved to Rome (1755) and held important posts in the Vatican. There he wrote History of the Art of Antiquity (1764), which inaugurated the study of art history as a discipline and of archaeology as a humane science. His writings
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reawakened the popular taste for Classical art and were instrumental in generating the Neoclassical movement in the arts.
wind Movement of air relative to the surface of the Earth. Wind is an important factor in determining and controlling climate and weather. It is also the generating force of most ocean and freshwater waves. Wind occurs because of horizontal and vertical differences in atmospheric pres¬ sure. The general pattern of winds over the Earth is known as the general circulation, and specific winds are named for the direction from which they originate (e.g., a wind blowing from west to east is a westerly). Wind speeds are often classified according to the Beaufort scale.
Beaufort Scale
Wind speed.
No.
Name
mph (kph)
Description
0
Calm
<i (<d
Calm; smoke rises vertically
1
Light air
1-3 (1-5)
Direction of wind shown by smoke but not by wind vanes
2
Light breeze
4-7 (6-11)
Wind felt on face; leaves rustle; wind vane moves
3
Gentle breeze
8-12 (12-19)
Leaves and small twigs in constant motion; wind extends light flag
4
Moderate
breeze
13-18 (20-28)
Wind raises dust and loose paper; small branches move
5
Fresh breeze
19-24 (29-38)
Small-leaved trees begin to sway; crested wavelets form on inland waters
6
Strong breeze
25-31 (39-49)
Large branches move; overhead wires whistle; umbrellas difficult to control
7
Moderate gale or near gale
32-38 (50-61)
Whole trees
sway; walking against wind is difficult
8
Fresh gale or gale
39-46 (62-74)
Twigs break off trees; moving cars veer
9
Strong gale
47-54(75-88)
Slight structural damage occurs; shingles may blow away
10
Whole gale
55-63 (89-102)
Trees uprooted; or storm considerable structural damage occurs
11
Storm or violent storm
64-72 (103-117)
Widespread damage occurs
12
Hurricane
72 (>117)
Widespread damage occurs
Wind Cave National Park National park, southwestern South Dakota, U.S. Established in 1903 to preserve limestone caverns and unspoiled prairie grassland in the Black Hills, it covers an area of 28,292 ac (11,449 ha). Its caves contain 83 mi (134 km) of explored passages and have beautiful rock formations called boxwork, formed by calcite deposition in unique patterns. The park is also a wildlife refuge.
wind chill Still-air temperature that would have the same cooling effect on exposed skin as a given combination of temperature and wind speed. As the wind speed increases, the wind chill equivalent temperature decreases; e.g., an air temperature of 30 °F (—1.1 °C) with a wind speed of 20 mph (32.2 kph) produces a wind chill of 17 °F (-8 °C). Wind chill is often included in weather reports to describe how cold it feels. See illustration on following page.
wind power Use of the energy in winds to produce power. Though wind is irregular and spread out, it contains tremendous amounts of energy. Sophisticated wind turbines have been developed to convert this energy to electric power. The use of wind-energy systems grew consid¬ erably in the 1980s and ’90s. Germany today produces more wind energy than any other country. Some 15,000 wind turbines are now in operation in California. See also windmill.
Wind River Range Mountain range, central Rocky Mountains, west- central Wyoming, U.S. The range extends for 100 mi (160 km) northwest- southeast to the Sweetwater River and is part of the Continental Divide. It contains many peaks above 12,000 ft (3,658 m); the highest is Gannett Peak at 13,804 ft (4,207 m). The Oregon Trail ran through the historic South Pass (7,743 ft, or 2,360 m). Parts of Bridger and Shoshone national forests and Wind River Indian Reservation are in the range. The Wind River flows from the eastern side into the Bighorn River; the Green River rises on its western slopes.
wind shear Rate of change of wind velocity with distance perpendicu¬ lar to the wind direction. A very narrow zone of abrupt velocity change is known as a shear line. Wind shear is observed near the ground and in jet streams, where it may be associated with clear-air turbulence. Vertical wind shear is closely associated with the vertical flux of momentum, heat, and water vapour.
wind tunnel Device for producing a controlled stream of air to study the effects on objects such as aircraft moving through air or the effects of moving air on models of stationary objects such as buildings. Applica¬ tions of wind-tunnel research range from testing of airframes (the struc¬ tures of aircraft and spacecraft) to research on the boundary layer, turbulence, drag, and lift. Measurements of air pressure and other charac¬ teristics at many points on the model yield information about how the total wind load is distributed. In addition to testing the effects of wind on aircraft and spacecraft, studies in wind tunnels have been used to solve design problems in automobiles, boats, trains, bridges, and buildings. See also AERODYNAMICS.