bind. Focusing on formation and
Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum)
SIEGFRIED EIGSTLER-SHOSTAL
woolly, white leaves are arranged in the form of a star. Most varieties are ornamentals.
edema Vi-'de-moV Abnormal accumulation of watery fluid in the spaces between connective-tissue cells. Usually a symptom of diseases of the kid¬ neys, heart, veins, or lymphatic system, which affect water balance in the cells, tissues, and blood, edema can be pitting (retaining an imprint when compressed) or nonpitting. Edema may be local (e.g., hives from allergies) or generalized (also called dropsy), sometimes involving body cavities as well as tissues. Treatment must usually focus on the underlying cause.
Eden, (Robert) Anthony, 1st earl of Avon (b. June 12, 1897, Windlestone, Durham, Eng.—d. Jan.
14, 1977, Alvediston, Wiltshire)
British politician. After combat ser¬ vice in World War I, he was elected to the House of Commons in 1923.
He became foreign secretary in 1935 but resigned in 1938 to protest Nev¬ ille Chamberlain’s policy of appease¬ ment. He held the post again in 1940-45 and in 1951-55, and he helped to settle the Anglo-Iranian oil dispute and arranged an armistice in Indochina. Succeeding Winston Churchill as prime minister in 1955, he attempted to ease international tension by welcoming to Britain Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay A. Bul¬ ganin of the Soviet Union. His fall began when Egypt seized the Suez Canal and he supported an Anglo- French intervention in Egypt (see Suez Crisis). He resigned in 1957, citing ill health.
Eden, River River, northern England. It rises in the uplands that con¬ nect the Lake District with the highlands of the Pennines and flows in a meandering course 90 mi (145 km) northwest to its estuary in the Sol¬ way Firth, an Irish Sea inlet. It is not navigable.
Ederle \'ed-3r-le\, Gertrude (Caroline) (b. Oct. 23,1906, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Nov. 30, 2003, Wyckoff, N.J.) U.S. swimmer, the first woman to swim the English Channel. She set women’s world freestyle records in the early 1920s, and in 1924 she won a gold medal (400-m freestyle relay) and two bronze medals (100-m and 400-m freestyle) at the Olympic Games. In 1926 she swam the 35-mi (56-km) English Chan¬ nel in 14 hours 31 minutes, breaking the men’s record by 1 hour 59 min¬ utes.
Edessa \i-'de-s9\ Chief city (pop., 1991: 18,000), Macedonia, Greece. Located on a steep bluff above the valley of the Loudhias River, it is a prominent trading and agricultural centre. The assumption that it was Aigai, the first capital of ancient Macedonia, has been challenged by archaeological discoveries at Verghina. Fought over by the Bulgarians, Byzantines, and Serbs, Edessa was taken by the Turks in the 15th cen¬ tury. In 1912 it passed to Greece.
Edgar the Aetheling \'ath-3-liq\ (b. Hungary—d. c. 1125) Anglo- Saxon prince. He was proposed as king of England after the Battle of Hastings (1066) but instead served the Norman kings William I (the Con¬ queror) and William II. Rebellions in favour of the aetheling (prince) con¬ tinued in England until 1069. Edgar led the Norman force sent by William I to conquer Apulia in southern Italy (1086) but was deprived of his Nor¬ man lands by William II in 1091. In 1097, on William’s orders, he over¬ threw Donald Bane, a Scottish king hostile to the Normans. About 1102 he went on a Crusade to the Holy Land. He later unsuccessfully supported Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, against Henry I in the struggle for the English throne.
Edgerton, Harold E(ugene) (b. April 6, 1903, Fremont, Neb., U.S.—d. Jan. 4, 1990, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. electrical engineer and photographer. He was a graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology when in 1926 he developed a flash tube that could produce high-intensity bursts of light in as little as 1/1,000,000 of a second; it is the flash device still used in photography today. Since it can also emit repeated bursts of light at regular brief intervals, it is an ideal stroboscope. With the new flash Edgerton was able to photograph such things as drops
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Edgeworth ► education I 597
of milk falling into a saucer and bullets traveling at speeds of 15,000 mph (24,000 kph); the resulting images have been appreciated for their artis¬ tic beauty and their value to industry and science.
Edgeworth, Maria (b. Jan. 1, 1767, Blackbourton, Oxfordshire, Eng.—d. May 22, 1849, Edgeworthstown, Ire.) British-Irish writer. From age 15 she assisted her father in managing his estate, gaining a knowl¬ edge of rural economy and the Irish peasantry. Her early children’s sto¬ ries, published as The Parent’s Assistant (1796), feature the first convincing child characters since Shakespeare. Castle Rackrent (1800), her first novel, revealed her gift for social observation and authentic dia¬ logue. Other notable works are Belinda (1801); Tales of Fashionable Life (1809-12), a six-volume work including the novel The Absentee , which focused attention on abuses by absentee English landowners; Patronage (1814); and Ormond (1817).
Edgeworth-Kuiper belt See Kuiper belt
Edinburgh \'e-d 3 n-,b3r-3\ City and council area (pop., 2001: 448,624), capital of Scotland. The city and most of the council area, including the busy port of Leith on the Firth of Forth, lie within the historic county of Midlothian. Located in southeastern Scotland, the original burgh, now known as the Old Town, arose in the 11th century, around Edinburgh Castle, the royal residence of Malcolm III MacDuncan. In 1329 Robert the Bruce granted Edinburgh a town charter; it became the capital of the Scottish kingdom in 1437. The city was destroyed in 1544 in the border wars with England; its characteristic use of stone architecture began with this rebuilding. During the 18th century Scotland experienced a cultural and intellectual renaissance, and Edinburgh was home to such luminaries as David Hume, Adam Smith, Robert Burns, and Walter Scon. It was the birthplace of Encyclopaedia Britannica (1768) and the Edinburgh Review (1802). The city expanded in the late 18th century with the development of the Georgian-style New Town, separated from the Old Town by a val¬ ley. Edinburgh is the centre of Scottish culture and education and is home to the University of Edinburgh, the National Library, the National Gallery, and the Royal Scottish Museum. It is the site of the Scottish Parliament, which first convened in 1999.
Edinburgh, University of Private university in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded as a college under Presbyterian auspices in 1583 and achieved university status c. 1621 after a divinity school was added. Schools of medicine and law were added in the early 18th century, and faculties of music, science, arts, social sciences, and veterinary medicine were subsequently established. The university has produced a long line of eminent cultural figures, including Sir Walter Scott, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Carlyle, Charles Darwin, David Hume, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Alexander Graham Bell.
Edinburgh Festival International festival of the arts, with an empha¬ sis on music and drama. Founded in 1947 by Rudolf Bing, it is held for three weeks each summer. Its theatrical offerings include plays by major international theatrical companies; plays premiered at the festival include T.S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party (1949) and Thornton Wilder’s The Match¬ maker (1954). The adjunct Edinburgh Fringe attracts amateur theatre groups and has launched works such as Beyond the Fringe (1960) and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966). Musi¬ cally, the Festival offers concerts, recitals, and operas by international companies, orchestras, and soloists.
Edirne \a-'dir-n3. Treaty of or Treaty of Adrianople
X.a-dre-o-'no-polX (September 14, 1829) Pact concluding the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29. Signed at Edirne (ancient Adrianople), Turkey, the treaty opened the Turkish straits to Russian shipping and granted Russia some territorial concessions. It strengthened Russia’s position in Eastern Europe and weakened that of the Ottoman empire, and it foreshadowed the Otto¬ man empire’s dependence on the European balance of power and the dis¬ memberment of its Balkan possessions.