Goodman, Benny orig. Benjamin David Goodman (b. May
30, 1909, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—d. June 13, 1986, New York, N.Y.) U.S. jazz clarinetist and leader of the most popular band of the swing era. Goodman formed a big band in 1934, using arrangements by Fletcher Henderson. The band’s sensational broadcast from Los Angeles’s Palo- mar Ballroom in 1935 is seen as the beginning of the swing era. Good¬ man’s band featured trumpeters Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman, and Harry James and drummer Gene Krupa, all of whom would establish big bands of their own. Goodman’s small group was among the first racially inte¬ grated ensembles known to a wide public. His virtuosity and immense popularity earned him the sobriquet “King of Swing.”
Goodpasture, E(rnest) W(illiam) (b. Oct. 17, 1886, Montgomery county, Tenn., U.S.—d. Sept. 20, 1960, Nashville, Tenn.) U.S. patholo¬ gist. He spent most of his career (1924-55) at Vanderbilt University. His method for cultivating viruses and rickettsias in fertile chicken eggs, developed in 1931, made possible the production of vaccines for such diseases as smallpox, influenza, yellow fever, typhus. Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and other illnesses caused by agents that propagate in liv¬ ing tissue.
Goodson, Mark (b. Jan. 24, 1915, Sacramento, Calif., U.S.—d. Dec. 18, 1992, New York, N.Y.) U.S. radio and television producer. He worked as a radio announcer from 1939. In the late 1940s he and Bill Todman developed hit radio shows such as Stop the Music (1947) and Hit the Jackpot (1948), and long-running television game shows including What’s My Line? (1950-67), I’ve Got a Secret (1952-67), To Tell the Truth (1956-67), and The Price Is Right (1957-64). He received an Emmy Award for lifetime achievement in 1990.
Goodyear, Charles (b. Dec. 29, 1800, New Haven, Conn., U.S.—d. July 1, 1860, New York, N.Y.) U.S. inventor of the vulcanization process that permitted the commercial use of rubber. Interested in treating rubber so that it would lose its adhesive quality and not melt, he discovered vul¬ canization in 1839 when he accidentally dropped a rubber-sulfur mixture onto a hot stove. The process would prove profoundly important for the future uses of rubber. He patented it in 1844 but had to fight numerous patent infringements in the U.S. and Europe. He never profited from his discovery, and he died in debt. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (founded 1898) honours his name.
gooney See albatross
goose Any of various large, heavy-bodied waterfowl (family Anatidae), especially those of the genera Anser (so-called gray geese) and Branta (so-called black geese), which are found only in the Northern Hemisphere. Intermediate in size and build between ducks and swans, geese are less fully aquatic than either, and their legs are farther forward, allowing them to walk readily. Geese have a specially modified bill for grasping sedges and grasses, their main diet. The sexes are alike in coloration; males (called ganders) are usually larger than females. Both sexes utter loud honking or gabbling cries while in flight or when danger appeal's. Geese pair for life. Flocks traveling in V-formations migrate between their north-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
780 i gooseberry ► Gordon
em breeding grounds and southern wintering grounds. See also barnacle goose; Canada goose; greylag; nene.
gooseberry Hardy fruit bush of th< in the genus Ribes with the currant (or alternatively assigned to the genus Grossularia as its sole mem¬ ber), in the family Saxifragaceae. The spiny bushes bear clusters of green¬ ish to greenish-pink flowers. The tart, oval berries may be prickly, hairy, or smooth. They are eaten ripe and often made into jellies, preserves, pies and other desserts, or wine. Because gooseberry is an alternate host for white-pine buster rust, growing it is illegal in some states where white pine is an important resource.
GOP See Republican Party
gopher or pocket gopher Any
of about 40 species (family Geomy- idae) of stocky rodents found in North and Central America. Gophers range in length from 5 to 18 in. (13 to 45 cm), including a short, sparsely haired tail. They have chisel-like front teeth; long, strong claws on their forefeet; and large fur-lined pouches that open externally on each side of the mouth. Coat colour varies from almost white to brown or black.
Gophers live alone in extensive, shallow underground burrows marked by a series of rounded earth mounds on the surface. They feed on the underground parts of plants, which they obtain as they tunnel along.
Gorbachev V.gor-bo-'chof, 'gor-bs-.chefX, Mikhail (Sergeyevich)
(b. March 2, 1931, Privolye,
Stavropol region, Russia, U.S.S.R.)
Soviet official and last president of the Soviet Union (1990-91). After earning a law degree from Moscow State University (1955), he rose through the ranks to become a full Politburo member (1980) and gen¬ eral secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1985-91). His extraordinary reform policies of glasnost and perestroika were resisted by party bureaucrats; to reduce their power, Gorbachev changed the Soviet constitution in 1988 to allow multicandidate elections and removed the monopoly power of the party in 1990. He cultivated warmer relations with the U.S., and in 1989-90 he supported the demo¬ cratically elected governments that replaced the communist regimes of eastern Europe. In 1990 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Russia’s economic and political problems led to a 1991 coup attempt by hard¬ liners. In alliance with president Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev quit the Com¬ munist Party, disbanded its Central Committee, and shifted political powers to the Soviet Union’s constituent republics. Events outpaced him, and the various republics formed the Commonwealth of Independent States under Yeltsin’s leadership. On Dec. 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned the presidency of the Soviet Union, which ceased to exist that same day.
Gorchakov X.gor-cho-'kofX, Aleksandr (Mikhailovich), Prince
(b. June 4, 1798, Khaapsalu, Estonia, Russian Empire—d. Feb. 27, 1883, Baden-Baden, Ger.) Russian politician and diplomat. A career diplomat, he became foreign minister in 1856, succeeding Karl, Count Nesselrode, and immediately began to establish cordial relations with France and
Prussia. He was named imperial chancellor in 1866. He renounced the ban on Russian warships on the Black Sea (1870) and allied Russia with Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Three Emperors' League (1873). His influence waned when he was unable to maintain the League. At the con¬ clusion of the Russo-Turkish War, he did little to shape the Treaty of San Stefano, which punished the defeated Turks, or its replacement at the Congress of Berlin, a settlement that was far less favourable to Russia.
gordian worm See horsehair worm
Gordimer, Nadine (b. Nov. 20,1923, Springs, Transvaal, S.Af.) South African writer. The daughter of Jewish immigrants, she published her first book, the story collection The Soft Voice of the Serpent, in 1952. Her later works include The Conservationist (1974, Booker Prize), Burger's Daugh¬ ter (1979), July's People (1981), A Sport of Nature (1987), My Son’s Story (1990), None to Accompany Me (1994), and The House Gun (1998). Writ¬ ten in a clear, controlled, unsentimental style, her works often concern exile and alienation. She was a strong opponent of her country’s apartheid policy, and concerns about black-white relations are frequently expressed in her fiction. She received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991.