women's movement Diverse social movement, largely based in the U.S., seeking equal rights and opportunities for women in their economic activities, personal lives, and politics. It is recognized as the “second wave” of the larger feminist movement. While first-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on women’s legal rights, such as the right to vote, the second-wave feminism of the “women’s movement” peaked in the 1960s and ’70s and touched on every area of women’s experience—including family, sexuality, and work. A variety of U.S. women’s groups, including the National Organization for Women, sought to overturn laws that enforced discrimination in matters such as contract and property rights and employment and pay. The movement also sought to broaden women’s self-awareness and challenge traditional stereotypes of women as passive, dependent, or irrational. An effort in the 1970s to pass the Equal Rights Amendment failed, but its aims had been largely achieved by other means by the end of the 20th century.
Wonder, Stevie orig. Steveland Judkins later Steveland Morris (b. May 13, 1950, Saginaw, Mich., U.S.) U.S. soul-music singer, songwriter, and musician. Blind virtually from birth, he was a skillful per¬ former on the piano and other instruments by age eight. The family moved to Detroit, and at 10 he signed with the fledgling Motown label. His first hit, “Fingertips, Part 2” (1963), was followed by many top-selling singles, including “Up-Tight” and “I Was Made to Love Her.” After studying composition at USC, he continued to enjoy enormous success in the 1970s and ’80s with such albums as Talking Book (1972) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976) and such hits as “Superstition,” “Ebony and Ivory,” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” He has spoken out against nuclear war, worked to end apartheid in South Africa, and raised funds for his eye- disease facility, Wonderland.
Wonders of the World, Seven See Seven Wonders of the World
Wonhyd Daisa Vwon-'hyo-'da-.saV (b. 617, Korea—d. 686, Korea) Korean Buddhist priest. He was the first to systematize Korean Buddhism, bringing the various Buddhist doctrines into a unity that served both phi¬ losophers and laypeople. He advocated maintaining harmony between the real and the ideal in life in order to pursue spiritual goals. His works, mainly in the form of commentaries on Mahayana sutras, had profound influence on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Buddhists. He is considered the greatest of the ancient Korean religious teachers and one of the 10 sages of the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla.
wood Hard, fibrous material formed by the accumulation of secondary xylem produced by the vascular cambium. It is the principal strengthening tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and shrubs. Wood forms around a central core (pith) in a series of concentric layers called growth rings. A cross section of wood shows the distinction between heartwood and sapwood. Heartwood, the central portion, is darker and composed of xylem cells that are no longer active in the life processes of the tree. Sap- wood, the lighter area surrounding the heartwood, contains actively con¬ ducting xylem cells. Wood is one of the most abundant and versatile natural materials on earth, and unlike coal, ores, and petroleum, is renew¬ able with proper care. The most widely used woods come from two groups of trees: the conifers, or softwoods (e.g., pine, spruce, fir), and the broad- leaves, or hardwoods (e.g., oak, walnut, maple). Trees classified as hard¬ woods are not necessarily harder than softwoods (e.g., balsa, a hardwood, is one of the softest woods). Density and moisture content affect the strength of wood; in addition to load-bearing strength, other variable fac¬ tors often tested include elasticity and toughness. Wood is insulating to heat and electricity and has desirable acoustical properties. Some identi¬ fying physical characteristics of wood include colour, odour, texture, and grain (the direction of the wood fibres). Some 10,000 different wood products are commercially available, ranging from lumber and plywood to paper, from fine furniture to toothpicks. Chemically derived products from wood and wood residues include cellophane, charcoal, dyestuffs, explosives, lacquers, and turpentine. Wood is also used for fuel in many parts of the world.
Cross section of a tree trunk. Wood is secondary xylem produced by growth of the vascular cambium tissue. Sapwood is xylem that conveys water and dissolved min¬ erals from the roots to the rest of the tree. The darker heartwood is older xylem that has been infiltrated by gums and resins and has lost its ability to conduct water. Each growth layer is distinguished by earlywood (springwood), composed of large thin-walled cells produced during the spring when water is usually abundant, and the denser latewood (summerwood), composed of small cells with thick walls. Growth rings vary in width as a result of differing climatic conditions; in temperate climates, a ring is equivalent to one year's growth. Certain conducting cells form rays that carry water and dissolved substances radially across the xylem. Bark com¬ prises the tissues outside the vascular cambium, including secondary phloem (which transports food made in the leaves to the rest of the tree), cork-producing cells (cork cambium), and cork cells. The outer bark, composed of dead tissue, protects the inner region from injury, disease, and desiccation.
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Wood, Grant (b. Feb. 13, 1892, near Anamosa, Iowa, U.S.—d. Feb. 12, 1942, Iowa City, Iowa) U.S. painter. He was trained as a craftsman and designer as well as a painter. On a visit to Germany in 1928, he was strongly influenced by the sharp detail of 15th-century German and Flem¬ ish paintings, and he soon abandoned his Impressionist manner for the detailed, realistic manner for which he is known. His American Gothic caused a sensation when exhibited in 1930. A telling portrait of the sober, hardworking Midwestern farmer, it has become one of the best-known icons of U.S. art, though it is often misinterpreted: the woman is not the man’s wife but rather the unmarried daughter designated to stay on the farm to assist her widowed father.
Common wombat (Vombatus ursinus).
WARREN GARST-TOM STACK AND ASSOCIATES
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Wood ► Woodhull I 2073
Wood, Leonard (b. Oct. 9, 1860, Winchester, N.H., U.S.—d. Aug. 7, 1927, Boston, Mass.) U.S. army officer. He studied medicine and became a contract surgeon with the U.S. Army. In the Spanish-American War he and his friend Theodore Roosevelt recruited and commanded the volunteer Rough Riders. Promoted to brigadier general, Wood served as military governor of Cuba (1899-1902) and organized a modern civil government. After service in the Philippines, he was chief of staff of the U.S. Army (1910-14). Though he had advocated preparedness for war, as a Repub¬ lican he was passed over for a command post in World War I by the Democratic administration. He later served as governor general of the Philippines (1921-27).
Wood, Natalie orig. Natasha Gurdin (b. July 20, 1938, San Fran¬ cisco, Calif.—d. Nov. 29, 1981, off Catalina Island, Calif.) U.S. film actress. She began appearing in movies at age five, and she won acclaim for her role in Miracle on 34th Street when she was only nine. A dark¬ haired beauty of Russian-French extraction, she moved easily into teen¬ age and adult leading roles in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Splendor in the Grass (1961), West Side Story (1961), Love with the Proper Stranger (1963), Inside Daisy Clover (1966), and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). She drowned in a boating accident.