Hopkins, Johns (b. May 19, 1795, Anne Arundel county, Md., U.S.—d. Dec. 24, 1873, Baltimore, Md.) U.S. merchant and financier. He worked with an uncle as a wholesale grocer before establishing Hopkins Brothers wholesalers with his brothers in 1819. The firm soon prospered in several states. It freely accepted payment for goods in whiskey, which it then sold as Hopkins’ Best. Hopkins retired in 1847 a wealthy man, though he continued investing in Baltimore real estate and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In his will he left $7 million to fund the establishment of Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital; he also endowed an orphanage for African American children.
Hopkins, Mark (b. Sept. 3, 1814, Richmond County, Va., U.S.—d. March 29, 1878, Yuma, Arizona Territory) U.S. businessman who helped build the Central Pacific (later the Southern Pacific) Railroad and for whom San Francisco’s Mark Hopkins Hotel atop Nob Hill was named. He was brought up in North Carolina. After an unprofitable attempt to mine gold in California in 1851, he began selling groceries and estab¬ lished one of the most prosperous mercantile houses in the state. With three other merchants he planned a transcontinental railroad, and in 1861 they organized the Central Pacific Railroad. In 1869 the main line was completed, meeting the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah.
Hopkins, Pauline (Elizabeth) (b. 1859, Portland, Maine, U.S.—d. Aug. 13, 1930, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. novelist and playwright. She per¬ formed with her family’s singing group before writing her first novel, Contending Forces (1900). Later novels include Hagar’s Daughter (1902), Winona (1902), Of One Blood (1903), and Topsy Templeton (1916). The novels reflect the influence of W.E.B. Du Bois and pioneer in using the traditional romance novel to explore racial and social themes.
Hopkins, Sarah Winnemucca or Sarah Hopkins Winne- mucca or Thocmectony (b. c. 1844, Humboldt Sink, Mex.—d. Oct. 16, 1891, Monida, Mont., U.S.) U.S. educator, lecturer, tribal leader, and writer. Born to a Northern Paiute family, she lived as a child with a white family and attended a convent school, and later she served as an army interpreter and scout. Her lecture tours in the East in the 1880s publicized the plight of her tribe and protested government policies. Her writings, of which Life Among the Piutes (1883) is the best known, are valuable for their description of Indian life and their insights into the impact of white settlement, and they are among the few contemporary Native American works.
Hopkinson, Francis (b. Oct. 2, 1737, Philadelphia, Pa.—d. May 9, 1791, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. political leader and writer. After a brief business career, he launched a successful legal practice in New Jersey. He was appointed to the governor’s council in 1774, and in 1776 he repre¬ sented New Jersey in the Continental Congress. He signed the Declara¬ tion of Independence, and he later wrote articles that helped win ratification of the U.S. Constitution. He served as judge of the admiralty court for Pennsylvania (1779-89) and as U.S. district judge (1789-91). An accom¬ plished harpsichordist and composer of religious and secular songs, he was also known for his poetry and literary essays and for his design of numerous governmental and organizational seals.
The Hope diamond; in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
LEE BOLTIN
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hoplite ► hornbill I 895
hoplite Vhop-.lhA Heavily armed foot soldier of ancient Greece whose function was to fight in close formation. They probably first appeared in the late 8th century bc. They were equipped with new and heavier armour, including a metal helmet, breastplate, and shield; each had a sword and a 6-ft (2-m) spear for thrusting rather than throwing. From then on, battles were won not by individual champions but through the weight of massed hoplite PHALANXes breaking through enemy ranks. Though the phalanx was unwieldy and the equipment cumbersome, Greek hoplites were the best fighters in the Mediterranean world.
Hoppe \'ha-pe\, Willie in full William Frederick Hoppe (b. Oct. 11, 1887, Comwall-on-the-Hudson, N.Y., U.S.—d. Feb. 1, 1959, Miami, Fla.) U.S. billiards player. Hoppe was taught billiards by his hotelkeeper father. A master of carom technique, he became one of the most durable of all sports champions, winning 51 world titles between 1906 and 1952. In the 1940 tournament in Chicago he was undefeated in 20 matches. He retired in 1952.
Hopper, Edward (b. July 22, 1882, Nyack, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 15, 1967, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. He was initially trained as an illus¬ trator but later studied painting with Robert Henri. In 1913 he exhibited in the Armory Show but spent much of his time on advertising art and illustrative etchings. In the mid 1920s he turned to watercolours and oil paintings of urban life. His House by the Railroad (1925) and Room in Brooklyn (1932) depict still, anonymous figures within geometric build¬ ing forms, producing the haunting sense of isolation that was to be his hallmark. He used light to isolate figures and objects, as in Early Sunday Morning (1930) and Night hawks (1942). His mature style was already formed in the 1920s; his later development showed constant refinement and an even greater mastery of light.
Hopper, Grace Murray orig. Grace Brewster Murray (b. Dec. 9, 1906, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Jan. 1, 1992, Arlington, Va.) U.S. mathematician and rear admiral. She received a Ph.D. from Yale Univer¬ sity in 1934 and taught at Vassar College in 1931—44. As a U.S. Navy officer (1943-86), she worked on Harvard’s Mark I (1944) and Mark II (1945) computers, and in 1949 she helped design an improved compiler for translating a programmer’s instructions into computer codes. She helped devise UNI VAC I, the first U.S. commercial electronic computer (1951), and wrote naval applications for COBOL. She received the National Medal of Technology in 1991.
Horace orig. Quintus Horatius Flaccus (b. December 65, Venusia—d. Nov. 27, 8 bc, Rome) Latin lyric poet and satirist. The son of a former slave, he was educated in Rome. He fought in Brutus’s army in the upheaval after Julius Caesar’s murder but gained the favour of Octavian (later Augustus) and achieved virtually the status of poet laure¬ ate. His early works include books of Satires and Epodes, but his fame rests chiefly on his books of lyrical Odes and verse Epistles, including the treatise Ars poetica, which sets down rules for the composition of poetry. The Odes and Epistles, frequently on themes of love, friendship, and phi¬ losophy, significantly influenced Western poetry from the Renaissance through the 19th century.
Horbat Qesari See Caesarea Horeb, Mount See Mount Sinai
horizon In pedology, a distinct layer of soil forming part of the vertical sequence in a soil profile. Each horizon differs from the one above or below it in colour, chemical composition, texture, and structure. The hori¬ zons become differentiated during soil development because conditions vary with depth. There are generally three major layers within any given soil profile, and they are designated, from surface downward, as A, B, and C horizons. The A horizon generally contains more organic matter than the others; it is also the most weathered and leached. The B horizon tends to be a zone of accumulation, since all or part of the mineral mat¬ ter removed from the A horizon in solution may be deposited in it. The C horizon consists chiefly of the materials from which the A and B layers were derived; called parent materials, these are only slightly altered, because they are in general not subjected to soil-forming processes.
horizontal bar Event in men’s gymnastics competition in which a steel bar fixed about 8 ft (2.4 m) above the floor is used for swinging exercises. Competitors generally wear hand protectors and perform rou¬ tines that last 15-30 seconds. Exercises include the giant swing and vari¬ ous vaults (such as the straddle vault). It has been an Olympic event since the first modem Olympic Games in 1896.