Wren, Sir Christopher (b. Oct. 20, 1632, East Knoyle, Wiltshire, Eng.—d. Feb. 25, 1723, London) British architect, astronomer, and geo¬ metrician. He taught astronomy at Gresham College, London (1657-61) and Oxford (1661-73), and did not turn to architecture until 1662, when
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he was engaged to design the Shel- donian Theatre at Oxford. Though Classical in form, the theatre was roofed with novel wood trusses that were the product of Wren’s scholarly and empirical approach. As King’s Surveyor of Works (1669-1718), he had a hand in the rebuilding of more than 50 churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London. Meanwhile, he was evolving designs for Saint Paul's Cathedral, a work that occupied him until its completion in 1710. Other works, generally in the English Baroque style, include the classical Trinity College library, Cambridge (1676-84), additions to Hampton Court (begun 1689), and Greenwich Hospital (begun 1696). Wren was buried in Saint Paul’s; nearby is the famous inscription: “Reader, if you seek a monument, look around.”
wrench or spanner Tool, usu¬ ally operated by hand, for tightening bolts and nuts. A wrench basically consists of a lever with a notch at one or both ends for gripping the bolt or nut so that it can be twisted by a pull at right angles to the axes of the lever and the bolt or nut. Open-end wrenches have ends with straight¬ sided slots that fit over the part being tightened; box-end wrenches have ends that enclose the nut and have six, eight, 12, or 16 points inside the head. A socket wrench is essentially a short pipe with a square or hex¬ agonal hole and either a permanent or a removable handle.
wrestling Sport in which two competitors grapple with and strive to trip or throw each other down or off-balance. It is practiced in various styles, including freestyle wrestling, in which contestants can use holds above and below the waist, and Greco-Roman wrestling, which allows only holds above the waist. Sambo is a style of Russian origin employ¬ ing judo techniques. Sumo wrestling is a specialized Japanese variety. U.S. professional wrestling is today among the most popular of all spectator sports, though it principally involves wildly flamboyant showmanship, including such nonclassical moves as kicks to the head that would be lethal if they were not actually pulled.
Wright, Sir Almroth Edward (b. Aug. 10, 1861, Middleton Tyas, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. April 30, 1947, Farnham Common, Buckingham¬ shire) British bacteriologist and immunologist. While teaching at the Army Medical School in Netley (from 1892), he developed a typhoid immunization that used killed typhoid bacilli. It made Britain the only country with troops immunized against typhoid at the start of World War I, the first war in which fewer British soldiers died of infection than from trauma. He also developed vaccines against enteric tuberculosis and pneu¬ monia. He was well known for advancing autogenous vaccines (vaccines prepared from a patient’s own bacteria).
Wright, Frances known as Fanny Wright (b. Sept. 6, 1795, Dundee, Angus, Scot.—d. Dec. 13, 1852, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) Scottish-bom American social reformer. After travels in the U.S., she published Views of Society and Manners in America (1821), which was widely read and praised. Returning to the U.S. in 1824, she bought and freed slaves and settled them at Nashoba, a socialist, interracial commu¬ nity she established in Tennessee (1825-28). She worked with Robert Dale Owen in New York (1829) and defied convention by lecturing widely, attacking slavery, religion, traditional marriage, and the unequal treatment of women. She was a co-leader of the Workingmen's Party. After marry¬ ing and living in France (1831-35), she returned to the U.S. and became a supporter of Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party.
Wright, Frank Lloyd (b. June 8, 1867, Richland Center, Wis., U.S.—d. April 9, 1959, Phoenix, Ariz.) U.S. architect. After studying engineering briefly at the University of Wisconsin, he worked for the firm of Dankmar Adler (1844-1900) and Louis Sullivan in Chicago before open¬ ing his own practice there in 1893. Wright became the chief practitioner of the Prairie school, building about 50 Prairie houses from 1900 to 1910.
Early nonresidential buildings include the forward-looking Larkin Build¬ ing in Buffalo, N.Y. (1904; destroyed 1950), and Unity Temple in Oak Park, Ill. (1906). In 1911 he began work on his own house, Taliesin, near Spring Green, Wis. The lavish Imperial Hotel in Tokyo (1915-22, dis¬ mantled 1967) was significant for its revolutionary floating cantilever construction, which made it one of the only large buildings to withstand the earthquake of 1923. In the 1930s he designed his low-cost Usonian houses, but his most admired house, Fallingwater, in Bear Run, Pa. (1936), is an extravagant country retreat cantilevered over a waterfall. His Johnson Wax Building (1936-39), an example of humane workplace design, touched off an avalanche of major commissions. Of particular note is the Guggenheim Museum (1956-59), which has no separate floor levels but instead uses a spiral ramp, realizing Wright’s ideal of a continuous space. Throughout his career he retained the use of ornamental detail, earthy colours, and rich textural effects. His sensitive use of materials helped to control and perfect his dynamic expression of space, which opened a new era in American architecture. Often considered the great¬ est U.S. architect of all time, his greatest legacy is “organic architecture,” or the idea that buildings harmonize both with their inhabitants and with their environment.
Wright, Mickey orig. Mary Kathryn Wright (b. Feb. 14, 1935, San Diego, Calif., U.S.) U.S. golfer. Noted for her classic swing, her long drives, and her superior iron play, she won a record number of LPGA tournaments (82), including an unmatched 13 in one season (1963), and remains the only four-time winner of the LPGA Championship (1958, 1960, 1961, 1963). Twice named Woman Athlete of the Year by the Asso¬ ciated Press (1963, 1964), she has been called the greatest woman golfer of all time.
Wright, Richard (b. Sept. 4, 1908, near Natchez, Miss., U.S.—d. Nov. 28, 1960, Paris, France) U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Wright, whose grandparents had been slaves, grew up in poverty. After migrating north he joined the Federal Writers’ Project in Chicago, then moved to New York City in 1937. He was a member of the Communist Party in the years 1932-44. He first came to wide attention with a volume of novel¬ las, Uncle Tom’s Children (1938). His novel Native Son (1940), though considered shocking and violent, became a best-seller. The fictionalized autobiography Black Boy (1945) vividly describes his often harsh child¬ hood and youth. After World War II he settled in Paris. He is remembered as one of the first African American writers to protest white treatment of blacks.
Wright, Sewall (b. Dec. 21, 1889, Melrose, Mass., U.S.—d. March 3, 1988, Madison, Wis.) U.S. geneticist. He earned his doctorate at Harvard University. His earliest studies included investigation of the effects of inbreeding and crossbreeding on guinea pigs, animals he later used in studying the effects of gene action on coat and eye colour. With J.B.S. Haldane and R.A. Fisher, he developed a mathematical basis for modem evolutionary theory using statistical techniques. He originated a theory that could guide the use of inbreeding and crossbreeding in livestock improvement. He is perhaps best known for his concept of genetic drift.
Wright, Wilbur; and Wright, Orville (respectively b. April 16, 1867, near Millville, Ind., U.S.—d. May 30, 1912, Dayton, Ohio; b. Aug. 19, 1871, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.—d. Jan. 30, 1948, Dayton) U.S. inventors who achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight. The brothers first worked in printing-machinery design and later in bicycle manufacturing, which financed their early experiments in airplane design. To test flight control, essential to successful powered flight, they built and flew three biplane gliders (1900-02). Propeller and engine innovations led to their first powered airplane, which Orville flew successfully for 12 seconds and Wilbur later flew for 59 seconds at Kill Devil Hills, N.C. (near the village of Kitty Hawk), on Dec. 17, 1903. Their flyer of 1905 could turn, bank, circle, and remain airborne for over 35 minutes. They demonstrated their planes in Europe and the U.S.; in 1908 Wilbur gave over 100 exhibition flights in France, setting a duration record of 2 hours and 20 minutes. They established an aircraft company and produced planes for the U.S. Army. After Wilbur’s death from typhoid, Orville sold his interest in the company, which later merged with the company of Glenn H. Curtiss.