Evans, Maurice (Herbert) (b. June 3, 1901, Dorchester, Dorset, Eng.—d. March 12, 1989, Rottingdean, East Sussex) British-born U.S. actor. He made his professional stage debut in 1926 and achieved his first success in Journey’s End (1929). He moved to the U.S. in 1935 and tri¬ umphed in Shakespearean roles on Broadway. During World War II he entertained U.S. troops with a short version of Hamlet. He later starred in Broadway revivals of four George Bernard Shaw comedies, notably Man and Superman (1947). His greatest Broadway hit was Dial M for Murder (1952). He starred in a television production of Macbeth (1961, Emmy Award) and appeared in 17 films, including Rosemary’s Baby
(1968).
Evans, Oliver (b. Sept. 13, 1755, near Newport, Del.—d. April 15, 1819, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. inventor. Evans began early to apply himself to industrial problems. He invented an improved carding device for use in the newly mechanized production of textiles. In 1784 he built a flour mill, for which he created the first continuous production line in
any industry: all movement was automatic, power being supplied by waterwheels, and grain was passed by conveyors and chutes through the stages of milling and refining to emerge as finished flour. His high- pressure steam engine (patented 1790) deserves to share the credit for the invention often given solely to Richard Trevithick. His Amphibious Digger (1805), a steam-engine scow that could run on both land and water, was the first powered road vehicle to operate in the U.S. His Mars Iron Works (founded 1806) made more than 100 steam engines for use with screw presses for processing cotton, tobacco, and paper.
Evans, Walker (b. Nov. 3, 1903, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.—d. April 10, 1975, New Haven, Conn.) U.S. photographer. He was influenced early by the photographs of Eugene Atget. In 1934 his images of New England architecture were exhibited in the first one-man photographic show at the Museum of Modern Art. From 1935 he photographed rural victims of the Great Depression for the Farm Security Administration; these images were published in American Photographs (1938). He collaborated with James Agee to document the life of Alabama sharecroppers in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). Evans’s photographs appeared without titles or comment, in a section separate from Agee’s text, yet the whole con¬ stitutes one of the finest collaborations between a photographer and a writer. He was later an editor of Fortune magazine (1945-65) and a pro¬ fessor at Yale University (1965-74).
Evans-Pritchard, Sir E(dward) E(van) (b. Sept. 21, 1902, Crow- borough, Sussex, Eng.—d. Sept. 11, 1973, Oxford, Oxfordshire) British social anthropologist. The most influential British social anthropologist since Bronisiaw Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Pritchard succeeded the latter at Oxford University (1946), where he served as mentor to a generation of students. His studies of African systems of belief, witchcraft, religion, politics, and oral tradition remain foundational to the study of African societies and non-Western systems of thought. Among his major works are Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande (1937), The Nuer (1940), and (with Meyer Fortes) African Politi¬ cal Systems (1940).
Evansville City (pop., 2000: 121,582), southwestern Indiana, U.S. A port on the Ohio River, it was founded in 1812 and grew as the southern terminus of the Wabash and Erie Canal (1853), which connected Lake Erie with the Ohio River. Coal deposits and oil fields as well as fertile farmlands surround the city, and its location as a transportation hub has made it the metropolis of southwestern Indiana and adjacent states. Diver¬ sified manufactures include pharmaceuticals and refrigeration and air con¬ ditioning equipment. It is the seat of the University of Evansville (1854). Angel Mounds State Memorial, a large archaeological site, is nearby.
evaporation Change of a liquid into the gaseous state; in particular, the process by which liquid water enters the atmosphere as water vapour. Evaporation, mostly from the sea and from vegetation, replenishes the humidity of the air. It is an important part of the exchange of energy in the Earth-atmosphere system that produces atmospheric motion, and therefore weather and climate. The rate of evaporation depends on the temperature difference between the evaporating surface and the air, the relative humidity, and wind.
evaporator Industrial apparatus for converting liquid into gas or vapour. The single-effect evaporator consists of a container or surface and a heating unit; the multiple-effect evaporator uses the vapour produced in one unit to heat a succeeding unit. Double-, triple-, or quadruple-effect evaporators may be used in industrial and steam heating plants. Some evaporators are used to concentrate a solution by vaporizing and elimi¬ nating water (e.g., in a concentration plant for sugar and syrup). In puri¬ fication processes such as desalination, evaporators convert the water to vapour, leaving mineral residues behind; the vapour is then condensed into (desalinated) water. In a refrigeration system, the cooling is produced as the rapid evaporation of the liquid refrigerant absorbs heat.
evaporite \i-'va-p3-,rlt\ Any of a variety of minerals found in sedimen¬ tary deposits of soluble salts that result from the evaporation of water. Typically, evaporite deposits occur in closed marine basins where evapo¬ ration exceeds inflow. The most important such minerals include anhy¬ drite, halite, calcite, gypsum, polyhalite, and potassium and magnesium salts such as sylvite, carnallite, kainite, and kieserite.
evapotranspiration Loss of water from the soil both by evaporation from the soil surface and by transpiration from the leaves of the plants growing on it. Factors that affect the rate of evapotranspiration include
Dame Edith Evans as Mrs. Ross in The Whisperers, 1967.
COURTESY OF SEVEN PINES PRODUCTIONS LTD.; PHOTOGRAPH, PICTORIAL PARADE
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the amount of solar radiation, atmospheric vapor pressure, temperature, wind, and soil moisture. Evapotranspiration accounts for most of the water lost from the soil during the growth of a crop. Estimation of evapotrans¬ piration rates is thus important in planning irrigation schemes.
Evarts \'e-vorts\, William Maxwell (b. Feb. 6, 1818, Boston, Mass., U.S.—d. Feb. 28, 1901, New York, N.Y.) U.S. lawyer. He served as coun¬ sel for Pres. Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial (1868). After Johnson’s acquittal, he served as U.S. attorney general (1868-69), then represented the U.S. in the Alabama claims arbitration at Geneva (1872). He was Republican chief counsel in the election dispute between Ruth¬ erford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden in 1876. As Hayes’s secretary of state (1877-81), he asserted U.S. interests over a proposed canal in Panama. He later served in the U.S. Senate (1885-91).
Evelyn Vev-tan, 'ev-lonV, John (b. Oct. 31, 1620, Wotton, Surrey, Eng.—d. Feb. 27, 1706, Wotton) British writer. A country gentleman from a wealthy landowning family, he wrote some 30 books on the fine arts, forestry, and religious topics. His Diary (published 1818), which he kept from 1631 to 1706, is an invaluable source of information on 17th-century social, cultural, religious, and political life. His Life of Mrs. Godolphin (published 1847) is one of the most moving of 17th-century biographies.
evening grosbeak North American grosbeak ( Hesperiphona vesper- tina) that is brown, yellow, black, and white. Like all other grosbeaks, it has a large conical bill. It eats seeds and tends to form loose flocks in flight.