Fulbright, J(ames) William (b.
April 9, 1905, Sumner, Mo.,
U.S.—d. Feb. 9, 1995, Washington,
D.C.) U.S. politician. After earning degrees from the Universities of Arkansas and Oxford, he taught law at Arkansas; he later served as its president (1939—41). In 1942 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where in 1943 he introduced a resolution supporting U.S. participation in what would become the UN. In the U.S. Senate (1945-75), he initiated the international exchange pro¬ gram known as the Fulbright scholarship. As chairman of the Senate For¬ eign Relations Committee (1959-74), he presided over televised hearings in 1966 on U.S. policy in the Vietnam War, from which he emerged as a leading advocate of ending the bombing of North Vietnam and opening peace talks. In 1974 he lost his bid for reelection.
Fulbright scholarship Educational grant under an international exchange program created to increase understanding between the U.S. and other countries. The program was conceived by U.S. Sen. J. William Ful¬ bright and instituted by the Fulbright Act of 1946. A complementary pro¬ gram for seminars abroad was established through the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961. Most Fulbright Program participants are graduate students, but teachers, advanced researchers, trainees, and observers may also qualify. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of State.
Fulda River River, central Germany. Rising in the Rhon Mountains, it flows north to unite with the Werra River at Miinden and form the Weser River. It is 135 mi (218 km) long. The river valley served as a trade route between northern and southern Germany during the Middle Ages. The Fulda basin has many recreational areas.
Fuller, J(ohn) F(rederick) C(harles) (b. Sept. 1, 1878, Chichester, Sussex, Eng.—d. Feb. 10, 1966, Falmouth, Cornwall) British military theoretician and historian. He served as chief of staff of the British tank corps in World War I. He planned the surprise attack of 381 tanks at the Battle of Cambrai (Nov. 20, 1917), the first massed tank assault in his¬ tory. After the war he launched a crusade for the mechanization and mod¬ ernization of the British army. His emphasis on the armoured offensive met with resistance among English military tacticians, but his teachings were largely vindicated in World War II. His works include Tanks in the Great War (1920), Machine Warfare (1942), and A Military History of the Western World (1954-56).
Fuller, Loie orig. Marie Louise Fuller (b. Jan. 15, 1862, Fullers- burg, Ill., U.S.—d. Jan. 1, 1928, Paris, Fr.) U.S. improvisational dance performer and pioneer of modern dance. She began acting at age four, appearing with stock companies and vaudeville shows. From 1892 in Paris she gained attention with her “serpentine dance,” in which she used yards of flowing silk illuminated by theatrical lighting. She added a “fire dance”
(dancing on an illuminated pane of glass) and other acts, attracting criti¬ cal and public adulation, especially in Europe.
Fuller, (Sarah) Margaret mar¬ ried name Marchesa Ossoli (b.
May 23, 1810, Cambridgeport,
Mass., U.S.—d. July 19, 1850, at sea off Fire Island, N.Y.) U.S. critic, teacher, and woman of letters. She became part of the Transcendentalist circle (see Transcendentalism), was a close friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and eventually became the founding editor of the Trancendentalist maga¬ zine The Dial (1840-42). Her Sum¬ mer on the Lakes, in 1843 (1844), a study of frontier life, was followed by Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), a demand for women’s political equality and a plea for women’s intellectual and spiritual fulfillment. She traveled to Europe in 1846 as a correspondent for the New York Tribune. In Italy she married a revolutionary marquis; forced into exile, they perished in a shipwreck while returning to the U.S.
Fuller, Melville (Weston) (b. Feb. 11, 1833, Augusta, Me., U.S.—d. July 4, 1910, Sorrento) U.S. jurist. After graduating from Bowdoin Col¬ lege and Harvard Law School, he built a major legal practice in Chicago (from 1856), where he became prominent in Democratic Party politics. Although unknown nationally, he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1888 by Pres. Grover Cleveland; he would remain on the Court until his death. His colleagues included Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and John Marshall Harlan. He wrote the Court’s opin¬ ion in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co., which declared a federal income tax unconstitutional. He also served on the Hague Court of Inter¬ national Arbitration (1900-10).
Fuller, R(ichard) Buckminster (b. July 12, 1895, Milton, Mass., U.S.—d. July 1, 1983, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. inventor, futurist, archi¬ tect, and author. The grandnephew of Melville Fuller, he was expelled twice from Harvard University and never completed his college education. Fail¬ ure in a prefab construction business led him to search for design patterns that would most efficiently use Earth’s resources for humanity’s greatest good. His innovations included the inexpensive, lightweight, factory- assembled Dymaxion House and the energy-efficient, omnidirectional Dymaxion Car. He developed a vectorial system of geometry that he called “Energetic-Synergetic geometry”; its basic unit is the tetrahedron, which, when combined with octahedrons, forms the most economic space¬ filling structures. This led Fuller to design the geodesic dome, the only large dome that can be set directly on the ground as a complete structure, and the only practical kind of building that has no limiting dimensions (i.e., beyond which the structural strength must be insufficient).
fullerene Any of a class of all-carbon molecules whose atoms are arranged in closed hollow shells. Allotropes of carbon first identified in 1985, they have varying (but even) numbers of atoms bonded into struc¬ tures having 12 pentagonal and 2 or more hexagonal faces. Fullerenes comprising dozens to hundreds of carbon atoms have been prepared. The best known and most stable fullerene, buckminsterfullerene (C 60 , nick¬ named buckyball), has 60 carbon atoms arranged in a pattern like that on a standard soccer ball. It is named for R. Buckminster Fuller, whose geo¬ desic dome designs its structure resembles. Chemists have made fullerene derivatives (e.g., with attached hydrogen or halogen atoms or organic groups; see functional group) and have prepared doped fullerenes (e.g., with alkali metal atoms such as potassium; see dopant) that show supercon¬ ductivity at relatively high temperatures. One or more metal or noble-gas atoms can be trapped in the molecule’s hollow interior, resulting in unique complexes called endohedral fullerenes.
Fullerton City (pop., 2000: 126,003), southern California, U.S. Laid out in 1887, it developed as a citrus centre after the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1888. Residential and industrial growth has been rapid since World War II. The city produces transportation equipment, aircraft parts, and oil.
Fulani chieftain riding up to salute the emir of Katsina at the end of the Mus¬ lim festival of Ramadan in northern Nigeria.
KEN HEYMAN—RAPHO/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
Loie Fuller.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
720 I fulling ► fundamental theorem
fulling Process that increases the thickness and compactness of woven or knitted wool by subjecting it to moisture, heat, friction, and pressure until shrinkage of 10-25% is achieved. Shrinkage occurs in both the warp and weft see weaving), producing a smooth, tightly finished fabric that is light, warm, and relatively weather proof. A common example is loden cloth, first produced in Austria in the 16th century. See also felting.
fulmar Vful-mor, 'ful-.marN Any of several species of gull-like oceanic birds in the family Procellariidae. The northern fulmar (Fulmaris glacia- lis) ranges from temperate to Arctic waters, and the southern fulmar ( F. glacialoides ) from temperate to Antarctic waters. The much larger giant fulmar, or giant petrel (.Macronectes giganteus), is 3 ft (90 cm) long and has a wingspan of more than 6.5 ft (200 cm). It nests around the Antarc¬ tic Circle. Fulmars eat almost anything; their natural foods are small fish, squid, and crustaceans, but they often take ships’ garbage and will come ashore for carrion. They fly low over the waves of the open ocean, thus resembling their narrower-winged relatives, the shearwaters, in flight.