Heaven's Gate U.S. religious group that committed mass suicide in 1997 and that had been founded on a belief in unidentified flying objects. Established by Marshall H.
Applewhite (1932-1997) and Bon¬ nie Nettles (1927-1985) in 1972, the group assumed a variety of names over the years, including Human Individual Metamorphosis. As prepara¬ tion for the “transition” to a new life on a spaceship, it advocated self- renunciation to the point of castration. Settling finally in the San Diego area in 1996, the group support itself by creating sites on the World Wide Web and quietly preparing for the end time. They believed that the comet Hale-Bopp was followed by a spaceship that would take them to a better place. On March 26, 1997, as the comet approached, the remaining 39 members of the group took poison and committed suicide in a carefully orchestrated manner.
Heaviside Vhe-ve-,sld\, Oliver (b. May 18, 1850, London, Eng.—d. Feb. 3, 1925, Torquay, Devon) English physicist. In 1902 he predicted the presence of the ionosphere. Since Arthur Kennelly (1861-1939) had made a similar prediction, the ionosphere was long known as the Kennelly- Heaviside layer. Heaviside’s work on telephone theory made long¬ distance service practical. In his Electromagnetic Theory (1893-1912) he postulated that an electric charge would increase in mass as its velocity increased, anticipating one aspect of Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity. He also developed the system of mathematical transforms known as Heaviside calculus.
heavy hydrogen See deuterium
heavy metal Type of rock music marked by highly amplified, distorted “power chords” on electric guitar, a hard beat, thumping bass, and often dark lyrics. It evolved in Britain and the U.S. in the late 1960s from the heavy, blues-oriented music of Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix, and others. In the 1970s the genre was defined by the music of bands such as Led Zep¬ pelin, Black Sabbath, Kiss, AC/DC, and Aerosmith. After a period of decline, a new generation of bands such as Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Motley Criie, and Van Halen revived heavy metal in the 1980s, along with the careers of many of its pioneers, including Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath.
heavy spar See barite
"The Angel Shows John the Heavenly Jerusalem/' from the Apocalypse of St. John, c. 1020; in the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, Germany (MS. 140).
COURTESY OF THE STAATSBIBLIOTHEK BAMBERG, GERMANY
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
854 I heavy water ► Hebrides
heavy water or deuterium \du-'tir-e-3m\ oxide Water composed of two atoms of deuterium (D; a heavy isotope of hydrogen) and one atom of oxygen (O), chemical formula D 2 0. Water from most natural sources contains about 0.015% deuterium oxide; this can be enriched or purified by distillation, electrolysis, or chemical processing. Heavy water is used as a moderator in nuclear power plants, slowing down the fast neutrons so that they can react with the fuel in the reactor. Heavy water is also used in research as an isotopic tracer for chemical reactions and biochemical pathways. Water with tritium (T 2 0) rather than deuterium may also be called heavy water.
Heb-Sed festival One of the oldest festivals of ancient Egypt, cel¬ ebrated by the king after 30 years of rule and repeated every three years thereafter. The event was probably a ritual reenactment of the unification of Egypt by Menes c. 3000 bc. After beginning the celebration by offer¬ ing a sacrifice to the gods, the king was crowned with the white crown of Upper Egypt, followed by the red crown of Lower Egypt. He then ran a ritual course four times, before being carried in procession to the chap¬ els of Horus and Seth.
Hebbel, (Christian) Friedrich (b. March 18, 1813, Wesselburn, Schleswig-Holstein—d. Dec. 13, 1863, Vienna, Austria) German poet and dramatist. After an early life marked by poverty, he became famous with the prose play Judith (1840), based on the biblical story. Among his later tragedies, Maria Magdalene (1843), portraying the lower middle class, and Gyges and His Ring (1856), probably his most mature and subtle work, are realistic psychological tragedies that make use of G.W.F. Hegel’s concepts of history and moral values. The mythological trilogy Die Nibelungen (1862) grandiosely depicts the clash between heathen and Christian.
Hebe Vhe-be\ Greek goddess of youth, daughter of Zeus and Hera. She served as cupbearer to the gods, and when Heracles ascended into heaven after his painful death, she became his bride. She was generally wor¬ shiped along with her mother.
Hebei Vh9-'ba\ or Ho-peh con¬ ventional Hopeh Vho-'ba \ formerly Chihli Vjo-'leV Province (pop., 2002 est.: 67,350,000), northern China. It is bordered by the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli), the provinces of Liaoning,
Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia; Beijing and Tianjin municipalities are enclaves within it.
It has an area of 78,200 sq mi (202,700 sq km). Its capital is Shijiazhuang. Historically a chief barrier to northern invasion, it con¬ tains part of the Great Wall of China.
From 1644 to 1912 it was ruled by the Qing dynasty. It was occupied by the Japanese in 1937 and taken by the Chinese communists in 1949.
The provincial capital was at Baod- ing until 1958, when it was trans¬ ferred to Tianjin, and in 1966 it returned to Baoding. In 1968 the pro¬ vincial capital was moved to Shijiaz¬ huang. Culturally and economically,
Hebei is the most advanced province in northern China. The North China Plain, covering southern Hebei, has been inhabited by humans for several millennia. The fossil remains of Homo erectus pekinensis were discovered there.
Hebert, Anne (b. Aug. 1, 1916, Sainte-Catherine-de-Fossambault, Que., Can.—d. Jan. 22, 2000, Montreal, Que.) Canadian novelist and poet. Daughter of a poet and critic, Hebert began her career by writing poetry. After the mid 1950s, however, she moved to Paris, where she produced a number of novels that are psychological examinations of violence, rebel¬ lion, and the quest for personal freedom. She was three times the recipi¬ ent of Canada’s highest literary award, the Governor General’s Award, once for her poetry in Poems (1960) and twice for her fiction ( Kamour- ska, 1970, and Burden of Dreams, 1992).
Hebert \a-'ber\, Jacques (-Rene) known as Pere Duchesne
Vper-diE-'shenX (b. Nov. 15, 1757, Alengon, France—d. March 24, 1794, Paris) French Revolutionary political journalist and chief spokesman for the extremist sansculottes. He wrote political satires under his pen name, and his newspaper, Le Pere Duchesne, was widely read. He became influ¬ ential in the Cordeliers Club and with his followers, called Hebertists, helped overthrow the monarchy in 1792. He strongly supported the con¬ version of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and 2,000 other churches to the worship of Reason. As spokesman for the sansculottes, he pressured the Jacobin regime to institute the Reign of Terror. By 1794 he was regarded as a dangerous extremist, and the Committee of Public Safety had him arrested and guillotined.
Hebraic law Law codes of ancient Israel found in the Jewish Scrip¬ ture (Old Testament). Three separate codes are usually distinguished: the Book of the Covenant, the Deuteronomic Code, and the Priestly Code. The Book of the Covenant is found in Exodus 20-23 and is similar to the much earlier Code of Hammurabi in Babylon. The Deuteronomic Code in Deuteronomy 12-26 is a revision of earlier Israelite laws and was used in the effort to purify the worship of Yahweh (God) from Canaanite and other influences (see Deuteronomic Reform). The Priestly Code, found in parts of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and much of Numbers, covers mostly ceremonial practices.