Hewish, Antony (b. May 11, 1924, Fowey, Cornwall, Eng.) British astrophysicist. In 1967 Hewish determined that the regularly patterned radio signals (pulses) that Jocelyn Bell Burnell had detected were not caused by earthly interference or, as some speculated, by intelligent life- forms trying to communicate with distant planets but were energy emis¬ sions from certain stars. For this work in identifying pulsars as a new class of stars, he shared a 1974 Nobel Prize with Martin Ryle.
Hewitt, Abram S(tevens) (b. July 31, 1822, Haverstraw, N.Y., U.S.—d. Jan. 18, 1903, Ringwood, N.J.) U.S. industrialist and politician. A graduate of Columbia College (now part of Columbia University) in 1842, he formed an iron-making business with Edward and Peter Cooper in New York City in 1845; he later helped establish the Cooper Union school (1859). During the American Civil War, he produced gun-barrel iron for the government without taking a profit. In 1870 he produced the first commercial-grade steel in the U.S. In 1871 he helped Samuel Tilden oust the “Tweed Ring” (see William Marcy Tweed) from control of the Tammany Hall Democratic organization and the municipal government of New York City. He later served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1875-79, 1881-86). As mayor of New York (1887-88), he initiated major reforms that broke Tammany Hall’s influence.
Hewlett-Packard Co. U.S. manufacturer of computers, computer printers, and measuring instruments. Founded in 1938 in Palo Alto, Calif., by William Hewlett (1913-2001) and David Packard (1912-96), the com¬ pany grew along with the electronics sector of the U.S. defense industry after World War II (1939-45). In 1966 it developed its first computer, and in 1968 one of the earliest desktop electronic calculators. Hewlett-Packard entered the personal-computer market in 1980, and its HP Laser Jet printer dominated the market for computer printers in the 1980s. By the 1990s the company was a leading maker of minicomputers used by businesses and institutions and a leader in the field of laser and inkjet printers. In 2002 the company bought rival Compaq Computer for $25 billion.
hexachord Greek "six strings" In music, a group of six tones in a specified pattern, specifically the interval pattern tone-tone-semitone-tone- tone (as in G-A-B-C-D-E). The hexachord was apparently conceived in the 11th century when theorist Guido d’Arezzo noticed that the scales of the church modes could be seen to overlap in their interval patterns. His system of solmization gave each hexachord the same syllables (ut-re-mi- fa-sol-la), and by means of overlapping hexachords the theorist could represent the complete “gamut” of pitches. Though counterintuitive to modern musicians, who think in terms of octaves, the concept of hexa¬ chords was fundamental to music theory throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Heydrich \'hl-drik\, Reinhard (Tristan Eugen) (b. March 7, 1904, Halle, Ger.—d. June 4, 1942, Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Mora¬ via) German Nazi official. He resigned from the navy in 1931 to join the
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SS, becoming SS chief for Berlin (1934), head of the Reich Security Cen¬ tral Office (1939), and Heinrich Himmler’s chief deputy. Noted for his ruth¬ lessness against “enemies of the state,” in the early years of World War II he organized mass executions in the German-occupied territories and became known as “the Hangman.” In 1942 he chaired the Wannsee Con¬ ference. Appointed deputy administrator of Bohemia and Moravia, he was assassinated by Czech patriots; in retaliation the Gestapo demolished the village of Lidice and executed its male population of about 200.
Heyerdahl Vha-or-.daL, Thor (b. Oct. 6, 1914, Larvik, Nor.—d. April 18, 2002, Colla Michari, Italy) Nor¬ wegian ethnologist and adventurer.
After a trip to Polynesia convinced him that Polynesian culture bore traces of South American cultures, he built a raft, the Kon-Tiki, and sailed it from South America to Polynesia in 1947 to demonstrate the possibility of such contact, a trip recounted in his best-selling Kon- Tiki (1950). In 1969 he sailed a reconstruction of an ancient Egyp¬ tian reed boat (the Ra ) from Morocco to the Caribbean to show that the Egyptians could have had contact with the early peoples of Central and South America. In 1977 he took the reed craft Tigris from the Tigris River in Iraq across the Arabian Sea to Pakistan and back to the Red Sea to demonstrate the possibility of two-way trading journeys that could have spread ancient Sumerian cul¬ ture eastward. Although he inspired many with his daring expeditions, his theories have not been generally accepted by anthropologists and his methods have been questioned.
Heyse Vhl-z3\, Paul (Johann Ludwig von) (b. March 15, 1830, Berlin, Prussia—d. April 2, 1914, Munich, Ger.) German writer. An inde¬ pendent scholar, he led a circle of writers in Munich who sought to pre¬ serve traditional artistic values from the encroachment of political radicalism, materialism, and realism. His admired short stories and novel¬ las were collected in numerous volumes; he also published novels, includ¬ ing Children of the World (1873) and Merlin (1892), and many unsuccessful plays. Among his best works are his translations of Giacomo Leopardi and other Italian and Spanish poets; many were set to music by Hugo Wolf. His popularity was already declining when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1910.
Heywood, John (b. 1497?, London, Eng.?—d. after 1575, Mechelen, Belg.) British playwright. His witty, satirical verse interludes (dialogues on a set subject) helped put English drama on the road to the fully devel¬ oped comedy of the Elizabethans. His interludes, which replace biblical allegory with representations of everyday life and manners, include The Play of the Wether, A Play of Love, and Wytty and Wytless (all printed 1533), and The Playe Called the Foure PP: A Palmer, a Pardoner, a Potycary, a Pedler (printed c. 1544). He also wrote epigrams, ballads, and a verse allegory. The Spider and the Flie (1556).
Hezbollah V.hiz-bul-'laV or Hizbullah or Hizb Allah Arabic "Party of God" Lebanese Shl'ite Islamist organization. Founded in southern Lebanon in 1982 as a response to Israel’s invasion there, its original goals were to drive Israeli troops out of Lebanon and form a Shl'ite Islamic republic similar to that created by the Iranian revolution of 1979. Its political stance, in the main, has been anti-Western, and its members have been implicated in many of the terrorist activities that were perpetrated in Lebanon during the 1980s, including kidnappings, car bombings, and airline hijackings, a number of which were directed at U.S. citizens. It has purportedly received strong material support from Syria and Iran and throughout the 1990s engaged in an intensive guerrilla cam¬ paign against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. At the same time, Hezbollah actively aided the long disfranchised Shl'ite community in Lebanon, providing social services not offered by the government. In the 1990s the party’s candidates won seats in Lebanon’s parliamentary elec¬ tions, and the group’s leaders have since sought to soften its earlier image. Despite a unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon in 2000,
the party continued sporadic attacks across the Lebanese-Israeli border. See also Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah.
Hezekiah \,he-z3-'kI-9\ (fl. late 8th and early 7th centuries bc) King of Judah at Jerusalem. The dates of his reign are uncertain but are often given as 715-686 bc. He was a reformer who tried to discourage foreign cults and assert the religious traditions of Israel during a time of AssYRiAn supremacy. The rebellion that broke out in Palestine c. 703 bc was prob¬ ably led by Hezekiah. Though he fortified Jerusalem, other cities of Judah fell, and the revolt was put down in 701 bc. The Assyrians demanded a heavy tribute of gold, but tradition holds that a plague devastated the Assyrian army and Jerusalem was spared.