Gibson, Eleanor J(ack) orig. Eleanor Jack (b. Dec. 7, 1910, Peo¬ ria, Ill., U.S.—d. Dec. 30, 2002, Columbia, S.C.) U.S. psychologist. She taught at Smith College (1931—49) and Cornell University (from 1949). In her major work, Principles of Perceptual Learning and Development (1969), she proposed that perceptual learning is a process of discovering how to transform previously overlooked potentials of sensory stimulation into effective information. In books such as The Psychology of Reading (1975), she also contributed to studies of the reading process. She received the National Medal of Science in 1992. James J. Gibson was her husband.
Gibson, James J(erome) (b. Jan. 27, 1904, McConnelsville, Ohio, U.S.—d. Dec. 11, 1979, Ithaca, N.Y.) U.S. psychologist and philosopher. He taught at Smith College (1928-49) and Cornell University (1949-72). He is best known for his adherence to realism and his extensive experi¬ mental studies of visual perception explicating that view. In his first major work, The Perception of the Visual World (1950), he proposed that per¬ ception is unmediated by associations or information processing but rather is direct. He argued for an examination of the organism’s dynamic world in search of the information that specified the state of that world. He
developed his position in The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems (1966) and The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (1979). His followers organized the International Society for Ecological Psychology. Eleanor J. Gibson was his wife.
Gibson, Josh in full Joshua Gibson (b. Dec. 21, 1911, Buena Vista, Ga., U.S.—d. Jan. 20, 1947, Pittsburgh, Pa.) U.S. baseball player. Gib¬ son played as a catcher in the Negro leagues for the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1927-29, 1932-36) and the Homestead (Pa.) Grays (1930-31, 1937-46). Though precise records do not exist, he is believed to have led the Negro leagues in home runs for 10 consecutive seasons and to have had a career batting average of .347. His catching ability was praised by major-league stars against whom he played in exhibition games. Often called “the black Babe Ruth,” he was one of the greatest players kept from the major leagues by the unwritten rule barring black ballplayers. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
Gibson, Mel (Columcille) (b. Jan. 3, 1956, Peekskill, N.Y, U.S.) U.S.-bom Australian film actor and director. He moved with his family to Australia at age 12. After his screen debut in 1977, he won a follow¬ ing in the futuristic action film Mad Max (1979), which was followed by the sequels Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). He won international acclaim for his roles in Gallipoli (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1983), and The Bounty (1984), played a tough cop in the violent Lethal Weapon (1987) and its sequels (1989, 1992, 1998), and directed and starred in The Man Without a Face (1993) and Braveheart (1995, Academy Awards for best picture and director).
Gibson, William (Ford) (b. March 17, 1948, Conway, S.C., U.S.) U.S.-bom Canadian science-fiction writer. He attended the University of British Columbia. With his first novel, Neuromancer (1984), he emerged as a leading exponent of cyberpunk, a school of science fiction whose works are characterized by countercultural antiheroes trapped in a dehu¬ manized, high-tech future. His concept of cyberspace (a term he coined), a computer-simulated reality, is a major contribution to the genre. His later books include Count Zero (1986), Burning Chrome (1986), Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988), The Difference Engine (1990; with Bruce Sterling), and Virtual Light (1993).
Gibson Desert Arid zone, Western Australia. Located south of the Great Sandy Desert, it constitutes Gibson Desert Nature Reserve and is home to many desert animals. Measuring about 250 mi (400 km) from north to south and 520 mi (840 km) from east to west, it was named for Alfred Gibson, an explorer who was lost there in the 1870s.
Gide Vzhed\, Andre (-Paul-Guillaume) (b. Nov. 22, 1869, Paris, France—d. Feb. 19, 1951, Paris)
French writer. The son of a law pro¬ fessor, Gide began writing at an early age. His early prose poem Fruits of the Earth (1897) reflects his increas¬ ing awareness of his homosexuality.
The novellas The Immoralist (1902) and Strait Is the Gate (1909) showed his mastery of classical construction, and Lafcadio ’s Adventures displayed his gift for mordant satire. In 1908 he cofounded La Nouvelle Revue Frangaise, the literary review that would unite progressive French writ¬ ers for 30 years. The autobiographi¬ cal If It Die... (1924) is among the great works of confessional litera¬ ture. Corydon (1924), a defense of homosexuality, was violently attacked. The Counterfeiters (1926) is his most complex novel. He become a champion of society’s vic¬ tims and outcasts and was for a time attracted to communism; with the outbreak of World War II he gained a greater appreciation for tradition. He received the Nobel Prize for Litera¬ ture in 1947.
Gideon Judge and hero of ancient Israel, whose deeds are described in the Old Testament Book of Judges. The book contains two versions of Gideon’s story. In one account, he led his tribe of Manasseh in a victo¬ rious campaign against the Midianites, then fashioned an idolatrous image
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from the booty and led Israel into immorality. In another version, he replaced worship of the local deity, Baal, with that of Yahweh (the God of Israel), and the power of Yahweh enabled his tribe to destroy the Mid- ianites.
Gielgud Vgil-.gud, 'gel-,gud\, Sir (Arthur) John (b. April 14, 1904, London, Eng.—d. May 21, 2000, near Aylesbury) British actor and direc¬ tor. He made his London debut in 1921 and joined the Old Vic company in 1929, becoming widely acclaimed for a series of Shakespearean per¬ formances, notably Hamlet and Richard II, and also excelling in plays such as The School for Scandal, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Seagull, and Tiny Alice. He directed several repertory seasons in the 1940s and toured the world with the solo recital Ages of Man (1958-59). He appeared in many films, including Arthur (1981, Academy Award) and Shine (1996).
Giers Vgyers\, Nikolay (Karlovich) (b. May 21, 1820, Radzivilov, Volhynia region, Russia—d. Jan. 26, 1895, St. Petersburg) Russian for¬ eign minister in the reign of Alexander III. Succeeding Aleksandr, Prince Gorchakov, as foreign minister in 1882, he tried to maintain the Three Emperors' League with Germany and Austria-Hungary, but, when it lapsed (1887), he negotiated the Reinsurance Treaty with Germany only. When that alliance was not renewed (1890), he concluded a formal Russo- French agreement (1894) that became the basis for the Russo-Franco- British alliance against the Central Powers in World War I.
GIF Vgif\ in full Graphics Interchange Format Standard computer file format for graphic images. GIF files use data compression to reduce the file size. The original version of the format was developed by Com¬ puServe in 1987. The current version supports animated GIFs (a graph¬ ics image that moves). GIF and JPEG are the most commonly used graphics formats on the Internet.
gift exchange Transfer of goods or services that, although regarded as voluntary by those involved, is part of expected social behaviour. First studied by Marcel Mauss, the gift-exchange cycle entails obligations to give, receive, and return, each phase being surrounded with sanctions and calculations involving prestige and the maintenance of social relations. Some sacrifices may be viewed as gifts to supernatural powers from which a return in the form of aid or approval is expected; and the transfer of women in marriage between kin groups usually involves social obligations similar to those found in gift exchange. See also potlatch.