whooping cough, acute, highly communicable respiratory disease characterized in its typical form by paroxysms of coughing followed by a long-drawn inspiration, or “whoop.” The coughing ends with the expulsion of clear sticky mucus and often with vomiting. Whooping cough is caused by the bacterium

infectious disease: Pertussis vaccine: The number of cases of pertussis (whooping cough), a serious disease that is frequently fatal in infancy, can be dramatically reduced by the use of the pertussis vaccine. The pertussis immunizing agent is included in the DPT vaccine. Active immunity can be induced…

Monumenta Germaniae Historica: …scholarly capability and energy of Georg Heinrich Pertz (d. 1876), whom Stein enlisted as editor and put in charge of the work in 1823. Under Pertz’s half century of editorship and collaboration with leading German scholars, 20 volumes of sources were published; 100 more were to follow, the last of…

Peru, country in western South America. Except for the Lake Titicaca basin in the southeast, its borders lie in sparsely populated zones. The boundaries with Colombia to the northeast and Brazil to the east traverse lower ranges or tropical forests, whereas the borders with Bolivia to the

Peru, city, seat (1834) of Miami county, north-central Indiana, U.S. The city lies on the Wabash River near its juncture with the Mississinewa, midway between South Bend (70 miles [110 km] north) and Indianapolis. Founded in 1829 as Miamisport on the site of a Miami Indian village and renamed in

Easter Fracture Zone: The Peru Basin north of the lineament is about 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) deep, several thousand feet deeper than the seafloor to the south.

Peru Current, cold-water current of the southeast Pacific Ocean, with a width of about 900 km (550 miles). Relatively slow and shallow, it transports only 350,000,000–700,000,000 cubic feet (10,000,000–20,000,000 cubic metres) of water per second. It is an eastern boundary current similar to the

Dina Boluarte: Political career: …Surquillo), she joined the left-wing Free Peru (Perú Libre) party, and in 2018 she ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Surquillo, her home, a city in the southern Lima-Callao metropolitan area that is primarily a lower- and middle-income residential area. Despite the fact that she finished ninth in the contest, capturing…

Alejandro Toledo: …the presidency under the centrist Perú Posible (Peru Possible) party in the 1995 elections garnered him only 3 percent of the vote, and Alberto Fujimori took the office. Toledo led the same party in the 2000 presidential race. This time, the smear tactics used by the Fujimori camp against the…

Alejandro Toledo: …the presidency under the centrist Perú Posible (Peru Possible) party in the 1995 elections garnered him only 3 percent of the vote, and Alberto Fujimori took the office. Toledo led the same party in the 2000 presidential race. This time, the smear tactics used by the Fujimori camp against the…

vertically striped red-white-red national flag; when displayed by the government, it incorporates the national coat of arms in the centre. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of 2 to 3.The first national flag of Peru was created in 1820, when José de San Martín arrived with his Army of the Andes

history of Peru, a survey of the important events and people in the history of Peru from the time of the Inca empire. Located in western South America, Peru is essentially a tropical country, with its northern tip nearly touching the Equator. Its name is derived from a Quechua word implying land of

Lima: Cultural life: …San Marcos (1551), and the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (1917)—as well as numerous other schools. Nearly all of the major academies, learned societies, and research institutes are located in metropolitan Lima, as are the national cultural institutions.

Viceroyalty of Peru, the second of the four viceroyalties that Spain created to govern its domains in the Americas. Established in 1543, the viceroyalty initially included all of South America under Spanish control except for the coast of what is now Venezuela. It later lost jurisdiction (with the

Peru-Chile Trench, submarine trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of Peru and Chile. It reaches a maximum depth of 26,460 feet (8,065 meters) below sea level in Richards Deep and is approximately 3,666 miles (5,900 km) long; its mean width is 40 miles (64 km)

Peru: Media and publishing: Lima’s El Peruano, one of the oldest dailies in the Americas, was founded in 1825. Many of these papers and several Peruvian newsweeklies are now also available on the Internet.

Mona Lisa: History: …of a trunk belonging to Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant who had briefly worked at the Louvre fitting glass on a selection of paintings, including the Mona Lisa. He and possibly two other workers had hidden in a closet overnight, taken the portrait from the wall the morning of August…

Perugia, city, seat of an archbishopric and capital of Umbria region, in central Italy, north of Rome; it lies on an irregular cluster of hills overlooking the Umbrian and central Tiber valleys and Lake Trasimeno. Founded by the Umbrians, it became one of the 12 strongholds of the Etruscan

Lake Trasimeno, largest lake of the Italian peninsula in Umbria region, central Italy, 10 miles (16 km) west of Perugia. It has an area of 49 square miles (128 square km) and is shallow, its maximum depth being 20 feet (6 m). The lake it is fed by small streams and has an artificial subterranean

University of Perugia, coeducational state institution of higher learning at Perugia, Italy. The university was founded in 1200 by a group of students seceding from the University of Bologna. It was recognized by Pope Clement V in 1308 as a studium generale, a place of study accepting scholars from

University of Perugia, coeducational state institution of higher learning at Perugia, Italy. The university was founded in 1200 by a group of students seceding from the University of Bologna. It was recognized by Pope Clement V in 1308 as a studium generale, a place of study accepting scholars from

Perugino was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbria school and the teacher of Raphael. His work (e.g., Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter, 1481–82, a fresco in the Sistine Chapel in Rome) anticipated High Renaissance ideals in its compositional clarity, sense of spaciousness, and economy of

peruke, man’s wig, especially the type popular from the 17th to the early 19th century. It was made of long hair, often with curls on the sides, and was sometimes drawn back on the nape of the neck. Use of the word peruke probably became widespread in the 16th century, when the wearing of wigs

Perun, the thunder god of the ancient pagan Slavs, a fructifier, purifier, and overseer of right and order. His actions are perceived by the senses: seen in the thunderbolt, heard in the rattle of stones, the bellow of the bull, or the bleat of the he-goat (thunder), and felt in the touch of an ax

South Asian arts: Epics: …and including an incomplete narrative, Peruṅkatai (“The Great Story”), the Cīvakacintāmaṇi (“The Amulet of Cīvakaṉ”) by Tiruttakkatēvar, and Cūḷāmaṇĭ (“The Crest Jewel”) by Tōlāmoḻittēvar. The last three works depict Jaina kings and their ideals of the good life, nonviolence, and the attainment of salvation through self-sacrifice. They are also characterized…

Mark Antony: Civil war and triumvirate: …the rebellion, capturing and destroying Perusia (present-day Perugia). Antony had to return to Italy, leaving his general Ventidius to deal with a Parthian invasion of Asia Minor and Syria. After initial skirmishes, Antony and Octavian were reconciled at Brundisium (present-day Brindisi) and, since Fulvia had died in the meantime, Antony…

Max Ferdinand Perutz was an Austrian-born British biochemist, corecipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his X-ray diffraction analysis of the structure of hemoglobin, the protein that transports oxygen from the lungs to the tissues via blood cells. He shared the award with British

Andes Mountains: Physiography of the Central Andes: The Peruvian Andes traditionally have been described as three cordilleras, which come together at the Vilcanota, Pasco, and Loja (Ecuador) knots. The Pasco Knot is a large, high plateau. To the west it is bounded by the Cordillera Huarochirí, on the west slope of which the…

A.L. Kroeber: An important resulting work was Peruvian Archaeology in 1942 (1944). He also pioneered in dialect surveys of American Indians. His final work on California Indian languages, Yokuts Dialect Survey (1963), covered research ranging back as far as 1900.

Shining Path, Peruvian revolutionary organization that endorsed Maoism and employed guerrilla tactics and violent terrorism. The Shining Path was founded in 1970 in a multiple split in the Communist Party of Peru. It took its name from the maxim of the founder of Peru’s first communist party, José

Peru: Peru from 1884 to 1930: The Peruvian Corporation, representing the creditors, with headquarters in London, was to control the railroads for 66 years, to mine up to three million tons of guano, and to receive 33 annual payments of £80,000 each. The plan worked satisfactorily but was hated by the Peruvian…

diving petrel: …long; the largest is the Peruvian diving petrel (P. garnotii), about 25 cm long, restricted to the west coast of South America from about 6° to 37° S.

maca, (Lepidium meyenii), herbaceous plant of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), cultivated for its edible rootlike storage organ. The plant is native to the Andes Mountains of central Peru, where it grows at elevations roughly between 4,000 and 4,500 metres (13,000 and 14,800 feet). It is

pepper tree, (Schinus molle), ornamental tree of the cashew family (Anacardiaceae), native to dry South America and cultivated in warm regions. Its piquant fruits, often called “pink peppercorns,” are sometimes used in beverages and medicines because of their hot taste and aroma, though the plant

Laurales: Other families: …family Atherospermataceae, is known as Chile laurel or Peruvian nutmeg, and its seeds are ground up and used as a spice. Laurelia novae-zelandiae is used in New Zealand for boat building and furniture making. It yields a light, hard wood that is difficult to split and that dents rather than…

pepper tree, (Schinus molle), ornamental tree of the cashew family (Anacardiaceae), native to dry South America and cultivated in warm regions. Its piquant fruits, often called “pink peppercorns,” are sometimes used in beverages and medicines because of their hot taste and aroma, though the plant

torch cactus: The Peruvian torch cactus (E. peruviana) is native to the Peruvian Andes and features ribbed stems that can reach up to 6 metres (20 feet) in height.

Peruvian–Bolivian Confederation, transitory union of Peru and Bolivia (1836–39). Bolivia’s dictator, Andrés Santa Cruz, conquered Peru after helping to quell an army rebellion against Peruvian president Luís José de Orbegoso in 1835. Santa Cruz then divided Peru into a northern and a southern part,

Brihadishvara Temple, massive and majestic temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, located in the city of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, southeastern India. This architecturally significant temple was constructed under the patronage of the Chola emperor Rajaraja I between 1003 and 1010 ce and is among

Giotto: Santa Croce frescoes of Giotto: The Bardi and Peruzzi chapels contained cycles of St. Francis, St. John the Baptist, and St. John the Evangelist, but the frescoes were whitewashed and were not recovered until the mid-19th century, when they were damaged in the process of removing the whitewash and then heavily restored. Much…

Peruzzi Family, leading family of medieval Italian financiers whose bankruptcy in the 14th century contributed to the economic depression of the late Middle Ages. An old Florentine family belonging to the “popular” (democratic) party, the Peruzzi contributed 10 gonfaloniers (chief executives) and

Baldassarre Peruzzi was a Sienese architect and painter, one of the earliest artists to attempt illusionist architectural painting (quadratura), the extension of real architecture into imaginary space. Peruzzi was a contemporary of Raphael and Donato Bramante. He began his career as a painter of

vizier, originally the chief minister or representative of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs and later a high administrative officer in various Muslim countries, among Arabs, Persians, Turks, Mongols, and other eastern peoples. The office took shape during its tenure by the Barmakid (Barmecide) family in the

computer: Ubiquitous computing: The combination of the connectedness of the Internet with the ability of new microprocessors that can handle multiple tasks in parallel has inspired new ways of programming. Programmers are developing software to divide computational tasks into subtasks that a program can assign to…

pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), term historically used in reference to any of a group of conditions characterized by early-childhood onset and varying degrees of impairment of language acquisition, communication, social behavior, and motor function. In 2013 pervasive developmental disorders

pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), condition characterized by impairment in the ability to interact with others and by atypical communication or behavior patterns and interests. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (1994; DSM-IV),

Latin literature: Later writers: The anonymous Pervigilium Veneris (“Vigil of Venus”), of uncertain date, presages the Middle Ages in its vitality and touch of stressed metre. Ausonius, though in the pagan literary tradition, was a Christian and contemporary with a truly original Christian poet, the Spaniard Prudentius. Henceforward, Christian literature overlaps…

methamphetamine, potent and addictive synthetic stimulant drug that affects the central nervous system (the spinal cord and brain). Methamphetamine is prescribed for the treatment of certain medical conditions, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. In

Pervomaysk, city, southern Ukraine, at the confluence of the Synyukha (Sinyukha) and Southern Buh rivers. The city was established in 1919 by the merging of three settlements—Olviopil, Holta, and Bohopil—founded during the 15th–18th century by Lithuanians, Cossacks, and Poles, respectively. It is

Pervomaysk, mining town, eastern Ukraine, on the Donets Coal Basin. The town was established by 1765 and grew with the development of mining there after 1872. It was incorporated in 1938. Besides mining, Pervomaysk has been the site of electrical-engineering and light industries. Pop. (2001)

Pervomaysk, city, southern Ukraine, at the confluence of the Synyukha (Sinyukha) and Southern Buh rivers. The city was established in 1919 by the merging of three settlements—Olviopil, Holta, and Bohopil—founded during the 15th–18th century by Lithuanians, Cossacks, and Poles, respectively. It is

Pervomaysk, mining town, eastern Ukraine, on the Donets Coal Basin. The town was established by 1765 and grew with the development of mining there after 1872. It was incorporated in 1938. Besides mining, Pervomaysk has been the site of electrical-engineering and light industries. Pop. (2001)

Pervouralsk, city, Sverdlovsk oblast (region), western Russia, located on the upper Chusovaya River and on the railway from Yekaterinburg to Perm. Founded in 1732 as an ironworks, the modern city of Pervouralsk has several large steel-pipe factories. It also produces mining machinery, pipes,

Party of European Socialists (PES), transnational political group representing the interests of allied socialist and social democratic parties in Europe, particularly in the European Parliament and other organs of the European Union (EU). Although a socialist group fostered cooperation among

measurement system: Greeks and Romans: …the Roman standard foot (pes). This unit was divided into 16 digits or into 12 inches. In both cases its length was the same. Metrologists have come to differing conclusions concerning its exact length, but the currently accepted modern equivalents are 296 mm or 11.65 inches. Expressed in terms…

spectroscopy: Photoelectron spectroscopy: Photoelectron spectroscopy is an extension of the photoelectric effect (see radiation: The photoelectric effect), first explained by Einstein in 1905, to atoms and molecules in all energy states. The technique involves the bombardment of a sample

Passover, one of Judaism’s most significant holidays, which commemorates the Hebrews’ liberation from enslavement in Egypt and the “passing over” of God’s forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, on the eve of the Exodus. Passover begins with the 15th and ends with

Passover, one of Judaism’s most significant holidays, which commemorates the Hebrews’ liberation from enslavement in Egypt and the “passing over” of God’s forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, on the eve of the Exodus. Passover begins with the 15th and ends with

Pesaro, city, Marche regione, northern Italy. Pesaro is a seaport lying along the Adriatic Sea at the mouth of the Foglia (Pisaurum) River. Destroyed by Witigis the Ostrogoth in 536, the town was rebuilt and fortified by the Byzantine general Belisarius and was one of the five cities of the

Titian: Religious paintings: In the Pesaro Madonna (1519–26) Titian created a new type of composition, in which the Madonna and Saints with the male members of the Pesaro family are placed within a monumental columnar portico of a church. The picture is flooded with sunlight and shadows. This work established…

Venice: Palaces: …and grotesques, as in the Palazzo Pesaro (1659–1710, by Baldassare Longhena). The variety of styles along the larger canals, unified by the chiaroscuro of deep-set windows, decorative paneling, and building materials, provides much of the visual excitement of the Venetian landscape.

Joan Jett: The Runaways: …meeting, Fowley introduced Jett to Sandy West, a drummer. Eventually, three more musicians were recruited: guitarist Lita Ford, bassist Jackie Fox, and singer Cherie Currie. They named their new band the Runaways, and Fowley served as their manager and producer. Jett played rhythm and lead guitar and sang back-up vocals.…

Newark, city and port, Essex county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S. It lies on the west bank of the Passaic River and on Newark Bay, 8 miles (13 km) west of lower Manhattan Island, New York City. Newark was incorporated as a city in 1836. Pop. (2010) 277,140; Newark-Union Metro Division, 2,147,727;

P’eng-hu Islands, archipelago and hsien (county) of Taiwan. It consists of about 64 small islands that lie approximately 30 miles (50 km) west of the coast of mainland Taiwan, from which it is separated by the P’eng-hu Channel. Of volcanic origin, many of the islands consist of weathered basalt,

Pescara, city, Abruzzi regione, central Italy. Pescara lies along the Adriatic Sea at the mouth of the Pescara River, east-northeast of Rome. The Roman Aternum, the city was almost destroyed in the barbarian invasions and arose again in the early European Middle Ages as Piscaria (i.e., abounding

Pescara River, river, south-central Italy. Rising in the Apennines 4 miles (6 km) south of Amatrice, it flows southwest past Aquila and northeast past Popoli and after a course of about 90 miles (150 km) debouches into the Adriatic at the city of Pescara. The river receives the Sagittario, Orte,

Fernando Francesco de Avalos, marquis di Pescara was an Italian leader of the forces of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V against the French king Francis I. A pupil of the soldier of fortune Prospero Colonna, Pescara commanded Spanish forces in Italy in the struggles from 1512 to 1525 between the

pescatarianism, dietary practice based on the consumption of fish and shellfish to the exclusion of land-based meats. Fishing is an ancient pursuit, and many maritime and riverine cultures have developed culinary traditions relying on fish. Numerous long-lived religious traditions eschew the

Pescennius Niger was a rival Roman emperor from 193 to 194. An equestrian army officer from Italy, Niger was promoted to senatorial rank about 180. Most of his earlier service had been in the eastern provinces, but in 185–186 he commanded an expeditionary force against deserters who had seized

pescatarianism, dietary practice based on the consumption of fish and shellfish to the exclusion of land-based meats. Fishing is an ancient pursuit, and many maritime and riverine cultures have developed culinary traditions relying on fish. Numerous long-lived religious traditions eschew the

Ob River: Physiography: …first flows westward, receiving the Peschanaya, Anuy, and Charysh rivers from the left; in this reach, the river has low banks of alluvium, a bed studded with islands and shoals, and an average gradient of 1 foot per mile (20 cm per km). From the Charysh confluence the upper Ob…

Peschiera del Garda, port village, Verona provincia, Veneto regione, northern Italy. Situated on the southeast end of Garda Lake at the efflux of the Mincio River, Peschiera lies about 14 miles (23 km) west of Verona. It is a rail junction. The village also has a fish hatchery. During Austrian

Peschiera del Garda, port village, Verona provincia, Veneto regione, northern Italy. Situated on the southeast end of Garda Lake at the efflux of the Mincio River, Peschiera lies about 14 miles (23 km) west of Verona. It is a rail junction. The village also has a fish hatchery. During Austrian

Peschiera del Garda, port village, Verona provincia, Veneto regione, northern Italy. Situated on the southeast end of Garda Lake at the efflux of the Mincio River, Peschiera lies about 14 miles (23 km) west of Verona. It is a rail junction. The village also has a fish hatchery. During Austrian

Mike Nichols was an American motion-picture, television, and stage director whose productions focus on the absurdities and horrors of modern life as revealed in personal relationships. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) At age seven, Nichols emigrated with his family

Joe Pesci is an American character actor who is equally adept at comic roles and at playing menacing characters. Pesci grew up in a blue-collar family and took acting, dancing, and music classes from an early age. He became a child actor and appeared onstage from the time he was five years old. At

Joe Pesci is an American character actor who is equally adept at comic roles and at playing menacing characters. Pesci grew up in a blue-collar family and took acting, dancing, and music classes from an early age. He became a child actor and appeared onstage from the time he was five years old. At

Pescia, town, Toscana (Tuscany) regione, central Italy, at the base of the Etruscan Apennines and at the western end of the Nievole River. Its cathedral is notable for an ancient tower, and in the 14th-century Church of St. Francis is a picture of St. Francis of Assisi, painted in 1235 by

Pesellino was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance who excelled in the execution of small-scale paintings. Pesellino was raised by his grandfather, the painter Giuliano il Pesello, and worked as his assistant until Giuliano’s death. He then became associated with Filippo Lippi. In 1453 he

peseta, former monetary unit of Spain. The peseta ceased to be legal tender in 2002, when the euro, the monetary unit of the European Union, was adopted as the country’s sole monetary unit. In 1868 the peseta replaced the peso, which had been adopted in the 15th century and which was known in full

biblical literature: Pesharim: An important source of knowledge about the history of the Dead Sea sect is the pesharim (“commentaries”; singular pesher). The sectarian authors commented on the books of Old Testament prophets and the book of Psalms and in the commentaries explained the biblical text as…

peshaṭ, (Hebrew: “spread out”), in Jewish hermeneutics, the simple, obvious, literal meaning of a biblical text. In the interpretation of the Halakha (the “Proper Way”; i.e., the Oral Law that was essentially an interpretation of the Written Law), peshaṭ was preferred. Other interpretive

Peshawar, city, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, northern Pakistan. The city lies just west of the Bara River, a tributary of the Kabul River, near the Khyber Pass. The Shahji-ki Dheri mounds, situated to the east, cover ruins of the largest Buddhist stupa in the subcontinent (2nd century

museum: Asia: …opened in 1891; and the Peshawar Museum, in Pakistan, opened in 1907.

Peshawar school massacre, terrorist attack in which seven heavily armed Taliban fighters stormed an army-run primary and secondary school in Peshawar, Pakistan, on December 16, 2014, killing 150 people, of whom at least 134 were students. At the time of the incident, the Army Public School held

Abbottabad: …several colleges affiliated with the University of Peshawar, and a forest research centre. The Pakistan Military Academy is at Kakul, 5 miles (8 km) northeast. Major iron-ore deposits are nearby. With its lush scenery and proximity to the Himalayas and the Karakoram Range, the city is a popular summer resort.…

Peshawar: …an agricultural college, and the University of Peshawar (founded 1950), with several constituent and affiliated colleges.

Peshitta, Syriac version of the Bible, the accepted Bible of Syrian Christian churches from the end of the 3rd century ce. The name “Peshitta” was first employed by Moses bar Kepha in the 9th century to suggest (as does the name of the Latin Vulgate) that the text was in common use. The name also

Maxim Gorky was a Russian short-story writer and novelist who first attracted attention with his naturalistic and sympathetic stories of tramps and social outcasts and later wrote other stories, novels, and plays, including his famous The Lower Depths. Gorky’s earliest years were spent in

Peshtigo, city, Marinette county, northeastern Wisconsin, U.S. It is situated on the Peshtigo River, about 45 miles (70 km) northeast of Green Bay. The site was first settled about 1838. On October 8, 1871, the date when the more famous but less deadly Chicago fire began, winds whipped up the

Peshtigo: …several days and created a firestorm that destroyed hundreds of square miles of forest and farmland. In a few hours Peshtigo was burned to the ground, with about 800 people killed; with the surrounding areas included, the total number of deaths may be as high as 1,200–2,400. The Peshtigo Fire…

Peshtigo: …Peshtigo Fire Cemetery, and a museum houses exhibits on the subject.

peshwa, the office of chief minister among the Maratha people of India. The peshwa, also known as the mukhya pradhan, originally headed the advisory council of the raja Shivaji (reigned c. 1659–80). After Shivaji’s death the council broke up and the office lost its primacy, but it was revived when

Yakov Sinai: …be widely applicable; Russian mathematician Yakov Pesin later demonstrated that when the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy is greater than zero, the dynamical system will display chaos; that is, a slight difference in the initial conditions will produce vastly different trajectories.

Antoine Pesne was a French-born Rococo painter of historical subjects and portraits who was the most important artist in Prussia in the first half of the 18th century. His father, the painter Thomas Pesne, and his maternal great-uncle, Charles de La Fosse, were probably his first teachers. While

Modest Mussorgsky: Life and career: …Pesni i plyaski smerti (Songs and Dances of Death). At that time Mussorgsky was haunted by the spectre of death—he himself had only seven more years to live. The death of another friend, the painter Victor Hartmann, inspired Mussorgsky to write the piano suite Kartinki s vystavki (Pictures from…

peso, the monetary unit of several Latin American countries and the Philippines; it is divided into 100 centavos. The peso was introduced into Spain by the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, who reformed the Spanish coinage system in 1497; it did not come into common use, though, until the time of

bristlehead, (species Psittrichas fulgidus), parrot of the forested slopes of northern New Guinea, the sole species constituting the subfamily Psittrichasinae (order Psittaciformes). A short-tailed, crow-sized parrot, nearly 50 cm (20 inches) in length, it is black with red underparts and gray

Eduardo Kac: …an artwork that French astronaut Thomas Pesquet made following Kac’s instructions. At the International Space Station (ISS), Pesquet used only paper and scissors to create a sculpture that resembled the letters that spell moi, French for “me.” The piece Adsum (2019), a glass cube engraved with a typeface of Kac’s…

Pessac, town, southwestern suburb of Bordeaux, Gironde département, Nouvelle-Aquitaine région, southwestern France. It was the site of a Gallo-Roman villa of the patrician Pesus. Located in the Graves vineyard region, it is noted for its red wines (Haut-Brion and Pape Clément). The 17th-century