Berthoud \ber-'tu\, Ferdinand (b. March 19, 1727, Plancemont, Switz.—d. June 20, 1807, Groslay, France) Swiss-French clockmaker and writer on timekeeping. Working in Paris from 1748, his inventiveness and many publications soon made him influential. His interest in the problem of determining longitude at sea (see latitude and longitude) led to his major achievement, an improved, less expensive marine chronometer. Ber- thoud’s improvements were retained in modern instruments. See also John Harrison.
Bertoia Xbor-'toi-oV, Harry (b. March 10, 1915, San Lorenzo, Italy—d. Nov. 6, 1978, Barto, Pa., U.S.)
Italian-born U.S. sculptor and designer. He attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art and later taught there (1937^13). He worked in Cali¬ fornia with designer Charles Eames before joining Knoll Associates in New York City in 1950. His achieve¬ ments there included the Diamond Chair (commonly known as the Ber¬ toia chair), made of polished steel wire and covered with elastic Naugahyde upholstery. He also pro¬ duced “sound sculptures” that were activated by the wind and numerous works for corporations and public spaces.
Bertolucci \ 1 ber-t3-'lii-che\ / Ber¬ nardo (b. March 16, 1940, Parma,
Italy) Italian film director. After writing poetry and an award-winning book, he entered filmmaking as an assistant to Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1961. His first films as a director, The Grim Reaper (1962) and Before the Revo¬ lution (1964), were followed by the well-received The Conformist (1970). The erotic Last Tango in Paris (1972) made him an international and commercial sensation. He later directed such films as 1900 (1976), The Last Emperor (1987, Academy Awards for direction and best film), and Stealing Beauty (1996).
beryl \'ber-ol\ Mineral composed of beryllium aluminum silicate, Be 3 Al 2 (Si0 3 ) 6 , a commercial source of beryllium. Several varieties are valued as gemstones: aquamarine (pale blue-green); emerald (deep green); heliodor (golden yellow); and morganite (pink). Before 1925 beryl was used only as a gemstone, but since then many important uses have been found for beryllium (e.g., in nuclear reactors, space vehicles, and X-ray tubes). No large deposits have been found, and most production is a by-product of the mining of feldspar and mica. Brazil is a major producer; others include Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, and the U.S.
beryllium Vbo-'ril-e-omV Chemical element, lightest of the alkaline earth metals, chemical symbol Be, atomic number 4. It does not occur uncom¬ bined in nature but is found chiefly as the mineral beryl (of which emer¬ ald and aquamarine are gemstone varieties). Beryllium metal, particularly in alloys, has many structural and thermal applications; it is used in nuclear reactors. Beryllium has valence 2 in all its compounds, which are generally colourless and taste distinctly sweet. All soluble beryllium com¬ pounds are toxic. Beryllium oxide is used in specialized ceramics for nuclear devices, and beryllium chloride is a catalyst for organic reactions.
The Diamond chair designed by Harry Bertoia, 1952
COURTESY OF THE KNOLL GROUP
Berryman, John (b. Oct. 25, 1914, McAlester, Okla. 7, 1972, Minneapolis, Minn.) U.S. poet. Berryman attended Columbia University and the University of Cambridge and later taught at vari¬ ous universities. Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1956), one of his first experimental poems, assured his importance. His technical daring was also evident in 77 Dream Songs (1964, Pulitzer Prize), augmented to form a sequence of 385 “Dream Songs” in His Toy, His Dream, His Rest (1968). Later works include the deceptively offhand Love & Fame (1970) and Recovery (1973), an account of his struggle against alco¬ holism. He is noted for his confes¬ sional poetry laced with humour.
Subject to deep depression, he com¬ mitted suicide by jumping from a bridge.
U.S.-
, Jan.
Berryman
COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Berzelius ► Besson I 209
Berzelius Xber-'sa-le-osV, Jons Jacob, Baron (b. Aug. 20, 1779, near
Linkoping, Swed.—d. Aug. 7, 1848, Stockholm) Swedish chemist. As a professor in Stockholm (1807-32) he achieved an immensely important series of innovations and discover¬ ies. He is especially noted for his introduction of basic laboratory equipment that remains in use today; his determination of atomic weights; his creation of the modern system of chemical symbols; his theory of elec¬ trochemistry; his discovery of the ele¬ ments cerium, selenium, and thorium and his isolation of silicon, zirconium, and titanium; his contribution to the classical techniques of analysis; and his investigations of isomerism and catalysis, both of which he named. He published more than 250 original research papers. He is regarded as one of the founders of modem chem¬ istry.
Bes Minor Egyptian god with a gro¬ tesque appearance. His figure was intended to inspire joy or drive away pain and sorrow, and his ugliness was probably thought to frighten off evil spirits. He was associated with music and childbirth. The name Bes is now used to designate a group of deities of similar appearance with various ancient names.
Jons Jacob Berzelius, detail of an oil painting by Olof Johan Sodermark,
1843; in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm.
COURTESY OF SVENSKA PORTRATTARKIVET, STOCKHOLM
Besant \'be-s 3 nt\, Annie orig. Annie Wood (b. Oct. 1, 1847, London, Eng.—d. Sept. 20, 1933, Adyar, Madras) British social reformer. She was a prominent Fabian socialist in the 1880s before becoming an adherent of theosophy in 1889. She served as international president of the Theosophical Soci¬ ety from 1907 until her death, and her writings are still considered some of the best expositions of theo¬ sophical belief. After immigrating to India, she became an Indian indepen¬ dence leader and established the Indian Home Rule League in 1916.
Bes represented as a dwarf, statue; in the Louvre
GIRAUDON-ART RESOURCE
Bessarabia \,be-s9-'ra-be-9\ Region, eastern Europe. It is bounded by the Prut and Dniester rivers, the Black Sea, and the Danube River delta. Greek colonies were founded on its Black Sea coast in the 7th century bc, and it was probably part of Dacia in the 2nd century ad. It became part of Moldavia in the 15th century; the Turks later annexed the southern por¬ tion into the Ottoman empire. The remainder fell to them in the 16th cen¬ tury when Moldavia submitted to the Turks; Bessarabia remained under Turkish control until the 19th century. Russia acquired it and half of Mol¬ davia in 1812 and retained control until World War I. A nationalist move¬ ment developed, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917 Bessarabia declared its independence and voted to unite with Romania. The Soviet Union never recognized Romania’s right to the province and in 1940 demanded that it cede Bessarabia; when Romania complied, the U.S.S.R. set up the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (see Moldova), and incor¬ porated the northern region into the Ukrainian S.S.R. Bessarabia remained divided after Ukraine and Moldavia declared independence in 1991.
Bessel \'be-sol\, Friedrich Wilhelm (b. July 22, 1784, Minden, Brandenburg—d. March 17, 1846, Konigsberg, Prussia) German astrono¬ mer. He was the first to measure (by means of parallax) the distance to a star other than the Sun. One of his major discoveries was that the bright stars Sirius and Procyon make tiny motions explainable only by the exist¬ ence of invisible companions disturbing their motions. His observation of tiny irregularities in the orbit of Uranus, which he concluded were caused