Boulle Vbiil\, Andre-Charles or Andre-Charles Boule (b. Nov. 11, 1642, Paris, Fr.—d. Feb. 29, 1732, Paris) French cabinetmaker. After studying drawing, painting, and sculpture, he achieved fame as the most skillful furniture designer in Paris. In 1672 Louis XIV appointed him royal cabinetmaker at Versailles; his other patrons included Philip V of Spain and the duke of Bourbon. Boulle stretched the technique of marquetry to new heights, and his incorporation of elaborate brasswork and the inlaying of exotic woods (called boulle or buhl work, since his last name sometimes appeared as Buhl) was heavily imitated in the 18th—19th centuries.
Boullee \bii-'la\, Etienne-Louis (b. Feb. 12, 1728, Paris, Fr.—d. Feb. 6, 1799, Paris) French architect, theorist, and teacher. He studied archi¬ tecture and opened his own studio by age 19. Through his investigation of the properties of geometric forms, to which he attributed innate sym¬ bolic qualities, Boullee achieved a pure, modern Classicism. His greatest influence was as a teacher and theorist. In a series of theoretical plans for public monuments, culminating in the design (1784) for an immense sphere that would serve as a cenotaph honouring Isaac Newton, he gave imaginary form to his theories.
Boulogne, Jean See Giambologna
Boulsover Vbol-.zo-voA, Thomas (b. 1706, Elkington, Derbyshire, Eng.—d. September 1788, Sheffield) British inventor of fused plating (“old Sheffield plate"). As a craftsman of the Cutlers Co. in 1743, while repairing a copper-and-silver knife handle, he discovered that the two metals could be fused and that when the fused metals were rolled in a rolling mill they behaved like a single metal. His invention opened the way to economical production of a great variety of plated objects, from buttons and snuffboxes, which he himself made, to hollowware (e.g., tea sets) and utensils, which were soon manufactured in large quantity by other Sheffield workers.
Boulton \'bolt- 3 n\, Matthew (b. Sept. 3,1728, Birmingham, Warwick¬ shire, Eng.—d. Aug. 17, 1809, Birmingham) British manufacturer and engineer. With James Watt and William Murdock (1754-1839), he estab¬ lished the steam-engine industry by installing pumping engines to drain the Cornish tin mines. Foreseeing great industrial demand for steam power, he urged Watt to make various design improvements. Applying steam power to coining machinery, he made large quantities of coins for the British East India Co. and also supplied machinery to the Royal Mint. By 1 800, almost 500 steam engines had been installed in the British Isles and abroad.
Boumedienne \bu-mad-'yen\, Houari orig. Mohammed ben Brahim Boukharouba (b. Aug. 23, 1927, near Guelma, Alg.—d. Dec. 27, 1978, Algiers) Algerian political leader and president (1965-78). During Algeria’s fight for independence, he helped raise an Algerian army in the safety of Morocco and Tunisia. He deposed President Ahmed Ben Bella in 1965. His policies in the 1970s created tensions with Morocco and France, but he also negotiated important industrial contracts with Western nations and cultivated close relations with the Soviet bloc, becoming a leading figure in the nonaligned movement.
boundary layer In fluid mechanics, a thin layer of flowing gas or liq¬ uid in contact with a surface (e.g., of an airplane wing or the inside of a pipe). The fluid in the boundary layer is subjected to shear FORCES. A range of velocities is established across the boundary layer, from zero (provided the fluid is in contact with the surface) to maximum. Flow in boundary layers is more easily described mathematically than is flow in the free stream. Boundary layers are thinner at the leading edge of an aircraft wing and thicker toward the trailing edge; such boundary layers generally have laminar flow in the leading (upstream) portion and turbulent flow in the trailing (downstream) portion. See also drag.
Bounty, HMS British armed transport ship remembered for the mutiny of its crew on April 28, 1789. Commanded by Capt. William Bligh, it had sailed to Tahiti, taken on a cargo of breadfruit trees, and traveled as far as the Friendly Islands (Tonga) on the voyage to Jamaica when it was seized by the master’s mate, Fletcher Christian. The causes have been much debated; Bligh’s opponents charged him with tyranny, while Bligh argued that the mutineers had become attached to Tahiti and its women. Bligh and 18 loyal crew members were set adrift in a longboat; after a voyage of more than two months and some 3,600 mi (5,800 km), they reached Timor. Christian and eight others took the Bounty to Pitcairn Island, where the small colony they founded remained undiscovered until 1808 and where their descendants still live. Of the mutineers who later went to Tahiti, three were taken to Britain and hanged.
bourbon See whiskey
Bourbon, Charles-Ferdinand de See due de Berry
Bourbon \bur-'bo n ,\ English Vbur-bonV, House of One of the most important ruling houses of Europe. Its members were descended from Louis I, due de Bourbon from 1327 to 1342, grandson of the French king Louis IX. Bourbons subsequently ruled in France (1589-1792, 1814-48); in Spain (1700-1868, 1870-73, 1874-1931, and since 1975); and in Naples and Sicily (1735-1861). Among its prominent members were Henry IV, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, and Philip V.
Bourbon Restoration (1814-30) In France, the period that began when Napoleon abdicated and the Bourbon monarchs were restored to the throne. The First Restoration occurred when Napoleon fell from power and Louis XVIII became king. Louis’s reign was interrupted by Napoleon’s return to France (see Hundred Days), but Napoleon was forced to abdicate again, leading to the Second Restoration. The period was marked by a constitutional monarchy of moderate rule (1816-20), followed by a return of the ultras during the reign of Louis’s brother, Charles X (1824-30). Reactionary policies revived the opposition liberals and moderates and led to the July Revolution, Charles’s abdication, and the end of the Bour¬ bon Restoration.
Bourbonnais V.biir-bo-'neV Historical region, central France. In Roman times it was part of Celtic Gaul under Julius Caesar and later part of Aquitania under Augustus. It gradually began a separate existence in the 10th century under a lord of Bourbon. It eventually passed to Louis, cre¬ ated duke de Bourbon in 1327, the ancestor of the Bourbon dynasty. Bourbonnais became part of the royal domain in 1527.
Bourdieu \bur-'dyoe\, Pierre (b. Aug. 1, 1930, Denguin, France—d. Jan. 23, 2002, Paris) French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu introduced the concept of cultural capital, wealth based on social status and education, noting that success in school and society depends largely on the individual’s ability to absorb the cultural ethos, or what he termed habitus, of the dominant class. Influenced by structuralism, he suggested that habitus is similar to yet more fundamental than a language. His works include The Algerians (1962), Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977), Distinction (1984), and Acts of Resistance: Against the Tyranny of the Market (1998).
Bourgeois Vbiir-'zhwaV Leon (-Victor-Auguste) (b. May 21, 1851, Paris, France—d. Sept. 29, 1925, Chateau d’Oger, near Epernay) French politician. He entered the civil service in 1876 and was elected to the National Assembly in 1888. He served in several ministerial posts and was briefly premier (1895-96). He was a member of the Senate in 1905-23 and its president from 1920. An advocate of international coop¬ eration, he was appointed to the International Court of Justice in 1903. In 1919 he was France’s representative to the League of Nations, emerging as its champion. For this, in 1920 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
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260 I Bourgeois ► bow and arrow
Bourgeois Vbur-'zhwaV Louise (b. Dec. 25, 1911, Paris, Fr.) French- born U.S. sculptor. She studied briefly with Fernand Leger and initially worked as a painter and engraver. In the late 1940s, after moving to New York City with her American husband, she turned to sculpture. She achieved recognition in the 1950s with wooden constructions painted uniformly black or white. She also worked in marble, plaster, latex, and glass. Though her works are abstract, they are suggestive of the human figure and express themes of betrayal, anxiety, and loneliness.