Paul Iii

The Farnese cardinal's diplomatic skills made him an invaluable aid to the five pontiffs in whose election he participated—Pius III, Julius II, Leo X, Adrian VI, and Clement VII—before he himself emerged as the Roman pontiff on Oct. 13, 1534. At the age of 67, Pope Paul, though apparently frail, was a man of great charm and determination. He was described in diplomatic reports as shrewd

Rüsselsheim

City, Hesse Land (state), in west-central Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Main River between Mainz and Frankfurt am Main. Founded by the Frankish prince Ruzilo as Rusilesheim (“Ruzilo's home”), it belonged to the counts of Katzenelnbogen from 1300, was chartered in 1437, passed to the landgraves of Hesse in 1479, and fell to the Hesse-Darmstadt line in 1567. The town hall dates from

F-117

Also called  Nighthawk,  single-seat, twin-engine jet fighter-bomber built by the Lockheed Corporation (now part of the Lockheed Martin Corporation) for the U.S. Air Force. It was the first stealth aircraft—i.e., an aircraft designed entirely around the concept of evading detection by radar and other sensors. After a difficult development period, during which several prototypes crashed during

Chia-ch'ing

He was proclaimed emperor and assumed the reign title of Chia-ch'ing in 1796, after the abdication of his father, the Ch'ien-lung emperor (reigned 1735–96). Power, however, remained in the hands of

Bac Lieu

Town, Ca Mau Peninsula, southern Vietnam. It has a hospital and a commercial airport and is linked by highway to Ho Chi Minh City, 120 mi (195 km) to the northeast. In addition to rice growing, there is mat making, and, on the coast, salt is obtained by evaporation. There is also a fishing industry. The government has moved people into the area from Ho Chi Minh City-Cho Lon. Pop. (1971 est.) 65,678.

Biogeochemical Cycle

Any of the natural circulation pathways of the essential elements of living matter. These elements in various forms flow from the nonliving (abiotic) to the living (biotic) components of the biosphere and back to the nonliving again. In order for the living components of a major ecosystem (e.g., a lake or forest) to survive, all the chemical elements that make up living cells