fossil Remnant, impression, or trace of an animal or plant of a past geo¬ logic age that has been preserved in the Earth’s CRUST. The data recorded in fossils, known as the fossil record, constitute the primary source of information about the history of life on the Earth. Only a small fraction of ancient organisms are preserved as fossils, and usually only organisms that have a solid skeleton or shell. A shell or bone that is buried quickly after deposition may retain organic tissue, though it becomes petrified (converted to a stony substance) over time. Unaltered hard parts, such as the shells of clams, are relatively common in sedimentary rocks. The soft parts of animals or plants are rarely preserved. The embedding of insects in amber and the preservation of mammoths in ice are rare but striking examples of the fossil preservation of soft tissues. Traces of organisms may also occur as tracks, trails, or even borings.
fossil fuel Any of a class of materials of biologic origin occurring within the Earth’s crust that can be used as a source of energy. Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. They all contain carbon and were formed as a result of geologic processes acting on the remains of (mostly) plants and animals that lived and died hundreds of millions of years ago. All fossil fuels can be burned to provide heat, which may be used directly, as in home heating, or to produce steam to drive a generator for the pro¬ duction of electricity. Fossil fuels supply nearly 90% of all the energy used by industrially developed nations.
Foster, Abigail Kelley orig. Abigail Kelley (b. Jan. 15, 1810, Pel¬ ham, Mass., U.S.—d. Jan. 14, 1887, Worcester, Mass.) U.S. abolitionist. She became active in a branch of the Female Anti-Slavery Society in the 1830s, and in 1838 she helped William Lloyd Garrison organize the New England Non-Resistance Society. Her long career as a political lecturer brought her national fame and notoriety, in part because she addressed mixed audiences (of both men and women). In 1845 she married Stephen S. Foster (1809-81), a prominent abolitionist who joined her lecture tour. In the 1850s she added temperance and women’s rights to her lecture top¬ ics.
Foster, Jodie orig. Alicia Christian Foster (b. Nov. 19, 1962, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.) U.S. film actress and director. A professional actress by age three, she continued to play child roles in family films while earn¬ ing praise as a teenage prostitute in Taxi Driver (1976) and a seductive speakeasy queen in an all-child cast in Bugsy Malone (1976). As an adult she won acclaim for her nuanced performances in films such as The Accused (1988, Academy Award), The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Acad¬ emy Award), Nell (1994), and Panic Room (2002). She turned to direct¬ ing with Little Man Tate (1991) and Home for the Holidays (1995).
Foster, Stephen (Collins) (b. July 4, 1826, Lawrenceville, Pa., U.S.—d. Jan. 13, 1864, New York, N.Y.) U.S. songwriter. He began writ¬ ing songs as a child, influenced in part by black church services he attended with the family’s servant and by songs sung by black labourers. In 1842 he published “Open Thy Lattice, Love,” and in 1848 he sold “Oh! Susanna” for $100; it quickly became an international hit. He later entered into a contract with the publisher Firth, Pond & Co. He was commissioned to write songs for Edwin P. Christy’s minstrel show; his “Old Folks at Home” became one of the most popular songs of the century. In 1857, drinking heavily and in financial difficulties, he sold all rights to his future songs to his publishers for about $1,900. In 1860 he moved to New York; he died penniless at age 37, leaving about 200 songs, including “Camp- town Races,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” and “Beautiful Dreamer,” and he is universally regarded as the greatest American songwriter of the 19th century.
Foster, William Z(ebulon) (b. Feb. 25, 1881, Taunton, Mass., U.S.—d. Sept. 1, 1961, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.) U.S. labour organizer and Communist Party leader. He joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1909 and became nationally prominent as a leader of the Ameri¬ can Federation of Labor in the bloody steel strike of 1919. In 1921 the Soviet communists chose him as chairman of the U.S. Communist Party,
Trajan's Forum, Rome, designed by Apollodorus of Damascus, early 2nd century ad; one of the semicircular col¬ onnaded exedrae
FOTOTECA UNIONE, ROME
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and he ran as its presidential candidate in 1924, 1928, and 1932 on a plat¬ form that envisioned the ultimate demise of capitalism and the establish¬ ment of a workers’ republic. Ill health forced his resignation in 1932. Soviet dissatisfaction with his successor, Earl Browder, brought him back as chairman (1945-56), but he fell from favour and was made chairman emeritus in 1957.
Foucault \fu-'ko\, Jean (-Bernard-Leon) (b. Sept. 18, 1819, Paris, France—d. Feb. 11, 1868, Paris) French physicist. Though educated in medicine, his interests lay in physics. In 1850 he measured the speed of light with extreme accuracy. He invented the Foucault pendulum and used it to provide experimental proof that Earth rotates on its axis. He also discovered the existence of eddy currents (Foucault currents) in a copper disk moving in a strong magnetic field and invented (1859) a simple but extremely accurate method of testing telescope mirrors for surface defects.
Foucault \fu-'koV Michel (Paul) (b. Oct. 15, 1926, Poitiers, France—d. June 25, 1984, Paris) French structuralist philosopher and his¬ torian. A professor at the College de France from 1970, he examined the codes and concepts by which societies operate, especially the “principles of exclusion” (such as the distinctions between the sane and the insane) by which a society defines itself. He theorized that, by surveying social attitudes in relation to institutions such as asylums, hospitals, and prisons, one can examine the development and omnipresence of power. His books—including Madness and Civilization (1961), The Order of Things (1966), The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969), Discipline and Punish (1975), and History of Sexuality, 3 vol. (1976-84)—made him one of the most influential intellectuals of his time. He was an outspoken homo¬ sexual, and he died of AIDS. See also structuralism.
Foucault pendulum \fii-'ko\ Large pendulum that is free to swing in any direction. As it swings back and forth, the earth rotates beneath it, so its perpendicular plane of swing rotates in relation to the earth’s surface. Devised by J.-B.-L. Foucault in 1851, it provided the first laboratory demonstration that the earth spins on its axis. A Foucault pendulum always rotates clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere (a consequence of the Coriolis force). The rate of rotation depends on the latitude, becoming slower as the pendulum is placed closer to the equator; at the equator, a Foucault pendulum does not rotate.
Fouche \fu-'sha\, Joseph, duke d'Otrante (b. May 21, 1758?, Le Pellerin, near Nantes, France—d. Dec. 25, 1820, Trieste) French police organizer. In the French Revolution he was elected to the National Con¬ vention and voted for Louis XVI’s death. He was sent on missions to the provinces to ensure their loyalty, and in Lyon he ordered the massacre of rebels. He became minister of police in 1799; he supported Napoleon’s Coup of 18-19 Brumaire and subsequently organized the secret police. Though Napoleon made him duke d’Otrante in 1809, he had intrigued against Napoleon from 1807. He was dismissed after ordering a levy of the national guard (1809) but was brought back several times to under¬ take missions for Napoleon. He was minister of police during the Hun¬ dred Days and later president of a provisional government, but he was ultimately exiled as a regicide in 1816.