The coat, with its strong elastic fibres, differs from wool primarily in its smoothness and lustre.
Angouleme \,a n -gu-'lam\ City (pop., 1999: 43,171), southwestern France, on the Charente River. Clovis captured the town from the Visigoths in 507, and from the 9th century it was the centre of a countship. Fought over by the French and English in the Hundred Years' War, it was ceded to England in 1360 but restored to France in 1373. It passed to the house of Orleans in 1394. The city is noted for papermaking and is the site of the 12th-century cathedral of Saint-Pierre.
Angry Young Men Group of mid-20th-century young British writers. Their works express the bitterness of the lower classes toward the estab¬ lished sociopolitical system and the mediocrity and hypocrisy of the middle and upper classes. The label came from a press agent’s description of John Osborne, whose play Look Back in Anger (1956) is the move¬ ment’s representative work. The group includes John Wain (1925-1994), Kingsley Amis, Alan Sillitoe, and Bernard Kops (b. 1926). A dominant lit¬ erary force in the 1950s, the movement had faded by the early 1960s.
Angstrom Vaq-strcemX, Anders Jonas (b. Aug. 13, 1814, Logdo, Swed.—d. June 21, 1874, Uppsala) Swedish physicist. From 1839 he taught at the University of Uppsala. He devised a method of measuring thermal conductivity, showing it to be proportional to electrical conduc¬ tivity, and deduced that an incandescent gas emits rays of the same refran- gibility as those it can absorb. A founder of spectroscopy, he discovered that hydrogen is present in the Sun’s atmosphere, published a map of the normal solar spectrum, and was the first to examine the spectrum of the aurora borealis and to detect and measure the characteristic bright line in its yellow-green region. The angstrom (1CT 10 m), a unit of length, was named in his honour.
Anguilla \aq-'gwi-b\ Island (pop., 2001: 11,300), Leeward Islands, West Indies. A dependent territory of the United Kingdom, it is the most north¬ erly of the Leeward Islands and covers about 35 sq mi (90 sq km). Its territory includes nearby Scrub, Seal, Dog, and Sombrero islands and Prickly Pear Cays. Most of its people are descendants of African slaves. The official language is English, and most of the population is Protestant. First colonized in 1650 by settlers from Saint Kitts, it was administered by the British. From 1825 it was closely associated with Saint Kitts, a situation Anguilla protested. It was united with Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1882. When a nation consisting of the three was formed in 1967, Anguilla proclaimed its independence. The British intervened, and Anguilla was separated in 1980; while retaining some autonomy, it consented to remain under British rule.
angular momentum Property that describes the rotary inertia of a system in motion about an axis. It is a VECTOR quantity, having both mag¬ nitude and direction. The magnitude of the angular momentum of an object is the product of its linear momentum (mass m x velocity v) and the perpendicular distance r from the centre of rotation, or mvr. The direc¬ tion is that of the axis of rotation. The angular momentum of an isolated system is constant. This means that a rigid spinning object continues to spin at a constant rate unless acted upon by an external torque. A spin¬ ning gyroscope in an airplane remains fixed in its orientation, independent of the airplane’s motion, because of the conservation of direction as well as magnitude.
Angus Breed of black, hornless beef cattle. Formerly known as Aber¬ deen Angus, it originated in northeastern Scotland, but its ancestry is obscure. Angus have a compact and low-set body. The fine quality of the flesh and the high dressing percentage make it a beef breed of the high¬ est rank. Introduced into the U.S. in 1873, its influence there and in other countries spread widely thereafter.
Anhalt \'an-,halt\ Former German state in what is now central Germany. The area around the upper Elbe River from which Anhalt was constituted was, in the 11th century, still part of the duchy of Saxony. It achieved separate territorial status in 1212. Subdivided and reunited frequently, it was finally reconstituted as the duchy of Anhalt by Leopold IV in 1863. It became part of the German Empire in 1871. Reconstituted after World War II as Saxony-Anhalt, it subsequently became part of East Germany and, in 1990, part of reunified Germany.
Anheuser Van-hoi-zorV -Busch Co., Inc. One of the largest produc¬ ers of beer in the world. Headquarters are in St. Louis, Mo., U.S. Its ori¬ gins can be traced to a small brewery founded in 1852 and bought in 1860 by soap manufacturer Eberhard Anheuser. In 1861 his daughter married
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
anhinga ► animals I 75
Adolphus Busch, a brewery supplier. Busch pioneered the use of refrig¬ erated railcars and of pasteurization in the brewing industry. In 1876 the company introduced a light-coloured beer called Budweiser; under August Anheuser Busch, Jr. (president 1946-75), and August A. Busch III (1975— 2002), it became the best-selling U.S. beer brand. The company also pro¬ duces the Michelob brand. Among its other holdings are beverage- container manufacturing and recycling plants, media and advertising groups, and amusement parks, including the SeaWorld theme parks and Busch Gardens (Tampa, Fla.).
anhinga or snakebird Any fish-eating bird of the family Anhingidae (order Pelecaniformes), sometimes considered a single species (Anhinga anhinga) with geographical variants. Anhingas are about 35 in. (90 cm) long, slender, and long-necked. They are mostly black, with silvery wing markings. Males, glossed with green, develop pale head plumes and a dark “mane” in breeding season. Anhingas live in small colonies along lakes and rivers in tropical to warm temperate regions except in Europe. They swim nearly submerged; the head and neck show above water, darting snakelike from side to side.
Anhui or An-hui conventional Anhwei \'an-'hwa\ Province (pop., 2002 est.: 63,380,000), east-central China. It is bounded by Jiangsu, Zhe¬ jiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Shandong, and Henan provinces. With an area of 54,000 sq mi (139,900 sq km), it is one of China’s smallest provinces; its capital is Hefei. Anhui was the first part of southern China to be settled by the Han dynasty, from c. 205 bc. Well-watered by the Huai and Yangtze (Chang) rivers, it was the empire’s major agricultural area for several centuries. Anhui was ruled by the Ming dynasty in the 14th-17th centu¬ ries. It was occupied by the Japanese in World War II; after the war the Nationalists held it briefly before the communists took over. It remains a notable agricultural producer.
anhydride \,an- , hl- l drid\ Any chemical compound obtained, either in practice or in principle, by eliminating water (H 2 0) from another com¬ pound. Examples of inorganic anhydrides are sulfur trioxide, S0 3 , which is derived from sulfuric acid, H 2 S0 4 , and calcium oxide, CaO, which is derived from calcium hydroxide Ca(OH) 2 . The most important organic anhydride is acetic anhydride, (CH 3 C0) 2 0, a raw material for making cellulose acetate (used for films, fibres, and plastic goods) and aspirin. It can be thought of as acetic acid minus water. Organic anhydrides are very important starting materials for organic synthesis, as they can give rise to carboxylic acids, esters, or amides under the proper conditions.
anhydrite Rock-forming mineral, anhydrous calcium sulfate (CaS0 4 ), which differs chemically from gypsum (to which it changes in humid conditions) by having no water of crystallization. Anhydrite occurs most often with salt deposits in association with gypsum, as in the cap rock of the Texas-Louisiana salt domes. Anhydrite is one of the major minerals in evaporite deposits; it is also present in dolomites and limestones, and in ore veins. It is used in plasters and cement as a drying agent.