Capital of Kenya, situated in the south-central part of the country. The
city was founded in the late 1890s as a colonial railway settlement, taking
its name from a water hole known to the Masai people as Enkare Nairobi
("cold water"). It became the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate
in 1905, and remained the national capital when Kenya achieved its
independence.
(Friday)
Nashville, Tennessee
Capital of Tennessee and seat of Davidson county, in the north-central
part of the state on the Cumberland River. Richard Henderson of North Carolina
purchased most of middle Tennessee and Kentucky from the Cherokee Indians in
1775; a surveying party established a settlement. The area was incorporated as
the town of Nashville in 1784. In April 1963 the city of Nashville and
Davidson county were consolidated. They are officially known as
Nashville-Davidson city.
(The Day After Tomorrow)
National Rare Blood Club
Organization created by the Associated Health Foundation to maintain a
list of blood donors to contact when hospitals need donations of rare blood
types.
(I Will Fear No Evil)
Nature of the Physical World
Book by Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (18821944), published in 1929 by
Macmillan (New York) and University Press (Cambridge, England). [Library of
Congress call number Q175.E3]
(Rocket Ship Galileo)
Nautilus
The name of the submarine commanded by Captain Nemo in Jules Verne's novel
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It is named for a genus of mollusk that
features a chambered shell.
(Between Planets)
neap tide
Tide of minimum range (least difference between high and low tides), which
occurs at the first and third quarters of the moon. Because of the moon's
position relative to the sun, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun tend
to counteract each other, reducing the effect on the movement of the water.
(Between Planets)
Neckar River
A tributary of the Rhine River in southwestern Germany. It rises in the
Black Forest near Schwenningen am Neckar, flows north and northeast past
Swabian Jura, through Stuttgart, and follows a winding path to Heidelberg and
then to Mannheim, where it enters the Rhine.
(The Number of the Beast)
Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson
(17581805) British naval commander in the wars with France, particularly
against Napoleon Bonaparte. He won crucial victories in the Battle of the Nile
(1798) and the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). He was killed by enemy fire at
Trafalgar.
(Friday)
Nepal
Landlocked, mountainous country of southern Asia, bordered by Chinese
Tibet and the Himalayas (north) and by India (east, south, and west). The
capital is Kathmandu.
(Friday)
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
(3768; original name Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Claudius
Drusus Germanicus) The fifth Roman emperor (5468), stepson and heir of the
emperor Claudius. He became infamous for his personal debaucheries and
extravagances. When much of Rome burned in 64 CE, Nero was widely suspected of
having caused the fire in order to clear the land for the vast palace he built
soon afterward.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
New Delhi
India's capital since 1912, situated in the north-central part of the
country. It is adjacent to the older city of Delhi.
(Starship Troopers)
New Jersey
One of the original 13 states of the United States of America, on the
coast in the Middle Atlantic region. It is surrounded by New York state
(north); the Atlantic Ocean (east); the Hudson River (northeast); and Delaware
River and Bay (west), which form the border with Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The first European settlements were fortified Dutch and Swedish trading posts
along the Hudson and Delaware rivers. When the English took control of the
region from the Dutch in 1664, they divided the region into East Jersey and
West Jersey in 1676, reuniting them as a royal colony in 1702 under the
governor of New York and then as a separate colony with its own governor as
1738. After the American War for Independence, New Jersey was the third state
to ratify the United States Constitution, in 1787.
("The Roads Must Roll")
New York City
Largest city in the United States, on the Atlantic coast at the mouths of
the Hudson and East River. Its boroughs encompass Manhattan and Staten
Islands, the western portion of Long Island, and a small part of the New York
(state) mainland. With its large and ethnically diverse population, role in
world finance and trade, cultural institutions, and history as an entry point
for immigrants to the U.S., New York is one of the most important cities in
the world.
(Farmer in the Sky, "The Green Hills of Earth", "Space Jockey",
Tunnel in the Sky)
New York Yankees
Baseball team whose home stadium is Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx, New York
City. The team was established in 1903 when Frank Farrell and Bill Devery
purchased the Baltimore franchise of the American League moved the team to
Manhattan.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
New Yorker
Weekly magazine founded in 1925 by Harold Ross, who was its editor until
his death in 1951. The magazine is famous for its famous for its varied
literary fare and humor: short fiction, essays, foreign affairs, biography,
comic drawings, and detailed reviews of cinema, books, theater, and other
arts.
(Stranger in a Strange Land)
New Ways of War
Book by Thomas Henry Wintringham (18981949), published in 1940 by Penguin
Books (New York) and Harmondsworth (Middlesex, England). [Library of Congress
call number U167.W5]
(Farnham's Freehold)
New York Times
Daily newspaper founded in 1851 in New York City. Largely because of its
international circulation and the amount of national and world news it carries
relative to other newspapers, it is frequently cited as the "newspaper of
record".
(Have Space Suit Will Travel, "It's Great to Be Back!", "The Long
Watch", The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Time Enough for Love)
New Zealand
Nation in the south Pacific Ocean southeast of Australia. Its territory
consists of two main islands the North and South, separated by the Cook
Strait and a number of small islands. The capital is Wellington. First
settled by Polynesians, New Zealand was discovered by the Dutch explorer Abel
Tasman in 1642. It was considered part of Polynesia until it was annexed by
Great Britain in 1840. It became an independent nation in 1947 and is part of
the Commonwealth. The Maori name for the island group is Aotearoa.
(Friday)
Simon Newcomb
(18351909) Canadian-born American astronomer and mathematician whose work
on the orbital motion of the planets provided the basis for nautical and
astronomical almanacs (ephemerides).
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
Sir Isaac Newton
(16421727) English physicist and mathematician who devised revolutionary
theories in optics, mechanics, and mathematics. His three laws of motion are
the basis for modern physics. After retiring as a fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge, Sir Isaac served as warden of the Royal Mint from 1696, and was
president of the Royal Society [of scientists] from 1703 until his death. He
was knighted in 1705, becoming the first person to receive this honor for
scientific achievements.
(Between Planets, Friday, The Number of the Beast)
Friedrich Nietzsche
(18441900) German philosopher who was an impassioned critic of the
predominant beliefs of his time, especially of Christianity, nationalism, and
conformism. His analysis of the consequences of the Enlightenment led him to
his famous (or infamous) pronouncement, "God is dead." His writings include
Thus Spake Zarathustra (first three parts published 188384) and
Beyond Good and Evil (1886).
(Farnham's Freehold, Stranger in a Strange Land)
Florence Nightingale
(18201910) Founder of professional nursing. She became famous during the
Crimean War (18541856) for reforming the military field hospitals, developing
standards for sanitation and nursing care. She established the Nightingale
School for Nurses in 1860 in London, England, and used her fame as an
authority on nursing and hospital care to campaign for reforms in public
health and improvement of professional standards in nursing.
(Farmer in the Sky)
Alfred Bernhard Nobel
(18331896) Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist who invented
dynamite and other explosives. A pacifist, he hoped that the destructive power
of his inventions would cause the world to see the ultimate dangers of war and
thus put an end to war. He bequeathed the bulk of his fortune to a trust that
funds the Nobel prizes for science, medicine, literature and peace.
(Space Cadet)
Nod
In the Biblical book of Genesis (4:16), after Cain murdered Abel, he went
into exile to the "land of Nod, east of Eden". Nod means "wandering".
("If This Goes On")
Nogales, Arizona
Seat of Santa Cruz County in southern Arizona on the border with Mexico.
It was originally called Issaactown, for Jacob Issaacson, who built an inn at
Nogales Pass before the Southern Pacific Railroad reached the area in 1882.
The town was renamed Nogales for its walnut (Spanish, nogal) trees. The
Mexican city of Nogales (Sonora state) is directly across the border.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
Philip Nolan
Protagonist of "The Man Without a Country", written in 1863 by Edward
Everett Hale. Nolan is a Navy lieutenant who becomes involved in Aaron Burr's
conspiracy. During his trial for treason, he incautiously says that he wishes
he may never hear of the United States again. The judge, shocked by this
outburst, sentences him to live his life on Naval vessels, forbidden to have
any news of the United States or even pictures or maps. Nolan dies in 1863,
bitterly regretting the loss of his homeland.
("Space Jockey")
Nome, Alaska
Seaport in western Alaska, on the south Seward Peninsula shore of the
Bering Sea. The site was first settled as a miners' camp, called Anvil City,
during the Gold Rush, and was later renamed for Cape Nome.
(The Door Into Summer)
Norfolk
County in eastern England, bounded by Suffolk (south), Cambridgeshire and
Lincolnshire (west), and the North Sea (north and east).
(The Number of the Beast)
Normandy
Province in northern France along the coast of the English channel. The
Allied invasion of western Europe, which ultimately drove the Germans out of
the territories they'd conquered, began on the beaches of Normandy on June 6,
1944.
(Starship Troopers)
"No sparrow shall fall"
In the Gospels of Matthew (10:29) and Luke (12:6), Jesus assures his
disciples that God will provide all their needs by asserting that even so
insignificant a creature as a sparrow could not fall to the ground without God
being aware of it.
("If This Goes On")
Nu Pegasi
Orange star of magnitude 4.9, in the northern constellation Pegasus.
numerology
Belief system based on the Pythagorean idea that numbers have mystic
significance and all things can be expressed in numeric values. In the modern
system, the letters in a name or phrase are assigned numeric values, and the
combination of values interpreted according to their occult meanings.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
nuncio
A representative of the Vatican, accredited as an ambassador to a civil
government that maintains official diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Besides fulfilling diplomatic responsibilities, he reports to the Pope on the
Roman Catholic church in the region.
The Heinlein
Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, science
fiction author Robert Anson Heinlein, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."