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Kabbala
Jewish mysticism as it developed in the 12th cent. and after. Essentially an oral tradition, it laid claim to secret wisdom of the unwritten Torah communicated by God to Adam and Moses. It provided Jews with a direct approach to God, a notion regarded as heretical and pantheistic by Orthodox Judaism. A major text was the 12th-cent. Book of Brightness, which introduced the doctrine of transmigration of souls to Judaism and provided Kabbala with extensive mythical symbolism. In 13th-cent. Spain the tradition included the Book of the Image, which asserted that each cycle of history had its own Torah, and the Book of Splendor, which dealt with the mystery of creation. In the 16th cent. the center of Kabbala was Safed, Galilee, where it was based on the esoteric teachings of the greatest of all Kabbalists, I. ben S. Luria. The doctrines of Lurianic Kabbala, which called for Jews to achieve a cosmic restoration (tiqqun) through an intense mystical life and an unceasing struggle against evil, were influential in the development of modern Hasidism.
Babbage
British mathematician and inventor. Educated at Cambridge Univ., he devoted himself from c.1812 to devising machines capable of calculating mathematical tables. His first small calculator could perform certain computations to eight decimals. In 1823 he obtained government support for the design of a projected machine with a 20-decimal capacity. In the 1830s he developed plans for the so-called analytical engine, capable of performing any arithmetical operation on the basis of instructions from punched cards, a memory unit in which to store numbers, sequential control, and most of the other basic elements of the present-day computer. The forerunner of the modern digital computer, the analytical engine was never completed. In 1991 British scientists built Difference Engine No. 2 (accurate to 31 digits) to Babbage's specifications. His other contributions included establishing the modern postal system in England, compiling the first reliable actuarial tables, and inventing the locomotive cowcatcher.
Bubka
Ukrainian pole vaulter. Born in Voroshilovgrad (now Luhansk), he began vaulting at 9. He first cleared 6 m (19 ft 8 in.), long considered impossible, in Paris in 1985. In 1991 he cleared 6.1 m (20 ft), and remains the only pole vaulter to have done so. He won an Olympic gold medal in 1988, but failed to place at the 1992 Olympic Games. In 1994, at Sestriere, Italy, he vaulted a record 6.14 m (20 ft 13 / 4in.) for his 17th outdoor record and his 35th overall.
Burbage
British actor. A popular actor by age 20, he was a member of the Earl of Leicester's company and the Chamberlain's (later King's) Men. Closely associated with W. Shakespeare, he was the first to play such roles as Richard III, Romeo, Henry V, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear. He also performed in plays by T. Kyd, B. Jonson, and J. Webster. He was a ...
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