When Vesto Slipher was born, it was commonly accepted that the universe was composed of a single galaxy. Everything that was visible, whether a star or a mysterious, wispy nebula, was a part of the Milky Way. This opinion had not altered i...

Veterinarians are doctors who diagnose and treat the diseases and injuries of animals. Their duties vary depending on the specific type of practice or specialization. In North America, 80 percent of veterinarians are in private practice. T...

The probability of zygotes (i.e., cells formed by the fusion of the egg cell (in human, the ovum) and the spermatozoid) or seeds to survive and develop into an adult organism is known as viability. Mutations in gametes (i.e., germ cells, e...

On July 2, 2000 the world's attention was fixed on Mexico when Vicente Fox (born 1942) pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of winning the country's presidency and toppling the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after more than 70...

Versatile television personality Vicki Lawrence won her show business break at age 18 thanks to her resemblance to comedienne Carol Burnett. Burnett was looking for a young comedy actress to play her kid sister in sketches for The Carol Bu...

Victor A. McKusick has been called the "father of medical genetics" due his major contributions to the field that have spanned the second half of the twentieth century. From cardiologist, to geneticist, to educator, administrator, and auth...

The French educator and philosopher Victor Cousin (1792-1867) helped to reorganize the French primary school system. He also established the study of philosophy as a major intellectual pursuit of the French secondary and higher schools. Vi...

François Auguste Victor Grignard was born in Cherbourg, France, on May 6, 1871. His mother was Marie Hébert Grignard; his father, Théophile Henri Grignard, was a sailmaker and foreman at the local marine arsenal. Durin...

TURNER, VICTOR (1920–1983). Scottish-born American anthropologist and comparative religionist. On the basis of fieldwork in central Africa, Victor Witter Turner produced the richest ethnographic achievement of the period after World...

During World War I (1914–18), when food was in short supply on the American home front, people planted vegetable gardens for their own personal use; these gardens were called "victory gardens." When the United States e...

By late 1987, over one-half of American households owned a videocassette recorder (VCR). With unprecedented speed, the small device had entered the home and taken up its place alongside the television as the premiere electronic consumer it...

Video devices are peripherals added to a computer to allow it to work with video. A video capture card provides a way to input video to the computer from conventional sources such as a camera, a VCR, or a TV cable or antenna. A video outpu...

Video technology research began almost as soon as television was invented, as it offered distinct advantages over standard film. However, technical problems slowed development until the 1950s when video machines revolutionized television ...

Ratings are labeling systems that index media content (e.g., films, television programs, interactive games, recorded music, websites) primarily to control young people's access to particular kinds of portrayals. The underlying assum...

Most Vietnamese men now wear Western clothing but most Vietnamese women wear the ao dai, a front opening, knee-length, coat-like garment with a stand collar and splits from hem to waist level at each side. The ao dai is tailor-made from pl...

Approximately 3.14 million American men and 7,200 American women served in the Vietnam War. It is important to distinguish between popular myths about Vietnam veterans and their actual experiences, both short-term and long-term, after leav...

At the peak of the Vietnam War, America had over five hundred thousand troops fighting against an estimated ten thousand Viet Cong guerillas. By all odds they should have easily overpowered their opposition and achieved their objective of k...

The Vietnam War had a major impact on American society, as reflected in four decades of Vietnam war films. In the 1940s the theme of triumph ran throughout World War II movies. But the frustrations of the Korean War sowed the seeds of nati...

With a population of more than 79.9 million (2001 est.), Vietnam ranks as the fourteenth most populous country in the world. In Vietnam's 1999 census, the population was found to be 23.5 percent urban and 76.5 percent rural. Many pe...

Vijayanagara, the "City of Victory," the greatest of all medieval Hindu capitals, was founded in 1336 CE by Hukka and Bukka, two princes of a local family, the Sangama. This dynasty rapidly extended its control over the whole...

The Vikings were a strange mixture, both savage and civilized. They were the skilled craftsmen that made the warships, people feared during 790 - 1100 CE. Although many people are usually reminded of their barbaric ways, they also had great...

1933-1971 Soviet engineer and cosmonaut who was test engineer of the first crew to live aboard a space station. Patsayev joined the Korolev spacecraft design bureau as an engineer in 1957. He worked extensively on the design of Salyut 1, t...

The Italian sociologist, political theorist, and economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) is chiefly known for his influential theory of ruling elites and for his equally influential theory that political behavior is essentially irrational. V...

The Canadian-American Arctic explorer, scientist, and author Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) discovered new lands and became an authority on Eskimo life and language. Vilhjalmur Stefansson was born near Arnes, Manitoba, on Nov. 3, 1879, ...

One of sports broadcasting's most recognizable voices, Vin Scully is known primarily as the long-time play-by-play announcer for baseball's Dodgers. But his work on national telecasts, including NBC's Game of the Week ...