In 1893, William Waldorf Astor built the luxurious Waldorf Hotel at Fifth
Avenue and 34th Street in New York City. After Jacob Astor IV built the
Astoria next door in 1897, the hotels were operated jointly until 1929, when
they were razed to make way for the Empire State Building. A new
Waldorf-Astoria was built in the block defined by Park Avenue, Lexington
Avenue, and 49th and 50th Streets, opening in 1931. The hotel still sets a
standard for luxury and service.
(Time Enough for Love)
Wales
Country within the United Kingdom (with England, Scotland, and Northern
Ireland). It occupies a peninsula jutting westward from England into the Irish
Sea, bounded by Liverpool Bay and the estuary of the River Dee (north), the
Irish Sea and St. George's Channel (west), Bristol Channel and the estuary of
the River Severn (south), and England (east). After years of battles with
England to maintain Welsh independence, Wales was officially linked with
England by the Act of Union in 1536. In spite of domination by England, Wales
has preserved its traditional Celtic culture and language.
(Friday)
Wall Street Journal
Business-oriented daily newspaper published in New York City and in four
regional editions. The newspaper was founded in 1889 by Charles H. Dow of Dow
Jones & Company to cover business and financial news. In the 1930s it
began to carry feature articles on other subjects, and its editorial and
opinion pages address political issues.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
wallaby
Middle-sized marsupial belonging to the kangaroo family, found chiefly in
Australia. The 11 species of wallabies (genus Macropus, subgenus
Protemnodon) resemble the bigger kangaroos but their teeth are
somewhat different. [Australian aboriginal, walaba]
(Methuselah's Children)
Wandering Jew
In medieval Christian legends, a man doomed to live until the end of the
world because he taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion. A reference in
John 18:20–22 to an officer who struck Jesus at his arraignment before the
High Priest is sometimes cited as the basis for the legend.
(Time Enough for Love)
Washington, D.C.
Capital of the United States of America, situated on the Potomac River
between the states of Maryland and Virginia. The District of Columbia was
created in 1790 specifically to provide territory, not claimed by any state,
in which to build the capital city. The city was built based on a design by
the French engineer Pierre-Charles L'Enfant.
(The Day After Tomorrow, "Gulf", The Puppet Masters,
Stranger in a Strange Land)
Booker T. Washington
(1856–1915) First president of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
(now Tuskegee University), and an influential crusader for educational
opportunities for African Americans. Washington believed that education in
crafts and industrial skills was the best road to economic security for
African Americans, and ultimately to full social equality, and he promoted
this philosophy through his work in education and his influence with leading
political figures. Among his dozen books is his autobiography, Up from
Slavery (1901), which was translated into many languages.
(The Puppet Masters, Stranger in a Strange Land)
Waterloo
Village in Belgium 9 miles (14.5 km) south of Brussels, the site of the
final defeat of Napoleon
Bonaparte in 1815. The name has become a byword for a devastating and
decisive defeat (particularly one that is widely regarded as well-deserved).
(Starship Troopers)
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
(1769–1852) British army commander during the Napoleonic Wars and later
prime minister of Great Britain (1828–30). He rose to military prominence in
India; won acclaim with victories in the Peninsular War in Spain (1808–14);
and shared in the victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). As
reward for his military achievements, he rose steadily through the ranks of
nobility, (knight, baron, viscount, earl, and marquess) until he was named
Duke of Wellington.
(The Rolling Stones)
Herbert George Wells
(1866–1946) English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian best
known for his science fiction novels, including The Time Machine
(1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man
(1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898), The First Men in the
Moon (1901), and The Food of the Gods (1904). Behind his
inventiveness was a concern for social reform; he was an active Socialist, and
joined the Fabian Society in 1903.
Men Like Gods
Novel by H.G. Wells published by Macmillan in 1923. [Library of Congress
call number PZ3.W465Men]
(Job: A Comedy of Justice, Rocket Ship Galileo)
whistle stop
A train station at which the train stops only when signalled; or the
community, usually a small rural town, associated with such a station.
(Time for the Stars)
Wichita, Kansas
Seat of Sedgwick County in south central Kansas, on the Arkansas River
near the mouth of the Little Arkansas. It was founded in 1864 as a trading
post at the site of a village of the Wichita Indians; and became a
transportation center as first the cattle drives to Abilene, Kansas, and then
the railroad passed through the area.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
Norbert Wiener
(1894–1964) U.S. mathematician who founded the science of cybernetics. He
graduated from Tufts College at age 14, did graduate work at Harvard and
Cornell, read philosophy at Cambridge University under Bertrand Russell, and
taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During World War II, he
worked on developing high-speed electronic computer radar.
(Citizen of the Galaxy)
Wiesbaden
Capital (since 1946) of the state of Hessen in southern Germany. The city
has been a spa since Roman times (Aquae Mattiacae); it became famous in the
18th and 19th centuries, when it was frequented by such notables as J.W. von
Goethe, Johannes Brahms, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, as well as various royal
families. The name Wisibada ("Meadow Spring") was first recorded in 829.
(Glory Road)
Kaiser Wilhelm
1. Wilhelm von Hohenzollern (1797–1888)
became Regent of Prussia in 1857 and king (Wilhelm I) in 1861 upon the
death of his brother Friedrich Wilhem V. After leading Prussia and the North
German Confederation to victory over Napoleon III in 1870, he was declared
Kaiser (emperor) of the Second German Empire in 1871.
2. Wilhelm II (1859–1941), grandson of
Wilhem I, was Kaiser of the German Empire and king of Prussia from 1888
through the end of World War II in 1918. After his abdication, he lived in
exile in the Netherlands until his death.
[German kaiser, "emperor", from Latin caesar]
(Job: A Comedy of Justice, The Rolling Stones)
John Wilkes Booth
(1838–1865) Member of a distinguished U.S. acting family, who assassinated
President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He was himself killed by U.S. soldiers when
he resisted arrest.
("The Man Who Sold the Moon")
williwaw
A sudden gust of cold wind, common on mountainous coasts in high
latitudes.
(The Door Into Summer)
Woodrow Wilson
(1856–1924) 28th president of the United States (1913–21), who led the
U.S. into World War I but also championed the League of Nations. His support
for the League earned him the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. A professor of history
before he entered politics, he wrote a five-volume History of the American
People (1902) and other books on U.S. history and government.
A History of the American
People
Five-volume opus by Woodrow Wilson (history professor and President of
the United States, 1913–1920), published by Harper & Brothers in 1902
(Library of Congress call number E178.W76). An expanded version, with
additional sources, was published in a limited edition (400 copies) in 1918
[Library of Congress call number E178.W782].
(Methuselah's Children, Time Enough for Love, To Sail
Beyond the Sunset)
Walter Winchell
(1897–1972) U.S. journalist whose newspaper columns and radio broadcasts
of news and gossip gave him a vast audience and great influence in the United
States in the 1930s, through the 1950s.
(Stranger in a Strange Land)
Windsor
The surname adopted by the British royal family in 1917. Formerly the
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the family name was changed to downplay their
German connection because Great Britain was at war with Germany. The name was
taken from Windsor Castle, a royal residence since the time of William the
Conqueror, situated in the town of Windsor in Berkshire, west of London.
(The Number of the Beast)
Winged Victory
Common name for a statue of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, by the
Thracian sculptor Paeonius (flourished 450–400 BCE). The statue was excavated
in Olympia, Greece, in 1875, and is displayed in that city's archeological
museum.
(The Number of the Beast, Space Cadet)
Winnipeg
Capital of the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is situated at the
confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, 40 miles (65 km) south-southwest
of Lake Winnipeg. The original 18th-century settlement was a trading post,
which later merged with a settlement of Scots immigrants to form the
beginnings of the new city. [Cree win nipee, "muddy water"]
(Friday)
Winslow, Arizona
City in Navajo County, east-central Arizona in the valley of the Little
Colorado River. It was founded in 1882 as a terminal of the Santa Fe Railway,
and named for railroad official Edward F. Winslow.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
Witwatersrand
(The Rand) Ridge of gold-bearing rock located mostly in Gauteng province,
South Africa, between the Vaal and Limpopo rivers. The discovery of its gold
deposits in 1886 sparked a gold rush and the development of the city of
Johannesburg nearby. [Afrikaans, "ridge of white water"]
(Tunnel in the Sky)
The Wizard of Oz
Children's book by L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) about a young girl from
Kansas, Dorothy Gale, who is carried by a tornado into the magical land of Oz.
With the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion as her companions, she seeks
out the Wizard to petition him to send her back home, and to give her
companions what they most desire: a brain for the Scarecrow, a heart for the
Tin Man, and courage for the Cowardly Lion. To earn these rewards, they must
destroy the Wicked Witch of the West, whose sister, the Wicked Witch of the
East, was killed when Dorothy's house fell out of the sky and landed on her.
Baum wrote 13 more Oz books, some of them recounting the further adventures of
the characters in The Wizard of Oz, and some introducing new characters
and new marvels in the Land of Oz. The following characters make appearances
or are mentioned in The Number of the Beast:
Betsy [Bobbin]: A little girl from Oklahoma who ends up in Oz
when she is washed overboard in a storm at sea. (Tik-tok of Oz)
Cap'n Bill: An ex-sailor who has been Trot's companion from birth
as he was her mother's star boarder. (The Scarecrow of Oz)
Eureka: Dorothy's white kitten, who becomes the Pink Kitten when
Dorothy becomes a permanent resident of Oz. (Dorothy and the Wizard in
Oz)
Glinda the Good: The Good Witch of the South, who aids Dorothy in
her quest to return home from Oz in the first story, and appears in later
stories. (The Wizard of Oz)
Hungry Tiger: A tiger whose conscience will not let him eat other
animals. (Ozma of Oz)
King of the Flying Monkeys: The chief of the Flying Monkeys (or
Winged Monkeys), who leads his troop into action when called by the wearer
of the Magic Cap. (The Wizard of Oz)
Jack Pumpkinhead: A very agreeable but rather simple-minded
person made by Tip, with a wooden body and a head carved from a pumpkin. was
brought to life by Mombi when she sprinkled the Powder of Life on him.
(The Marvelous Land of Oz)
The Sawhorse: A wooden sawhorse brought to life by Tip by
applying the Powder of Life. He became one of the regulars in the royal
retinue of the Land of Oz. (The Marvelous Land of Oz)
Scarecrow: A man made of straw who travels with Dorothy to see
the Wizard of Oz to ask for a brain. He later becomes the Emperor of the
Winkies. (The Wizard of Oz)
Tik-Tok: A copper mechanical man who has a wind-up mechanism for
thinking, speaking, walking, and other movements. Dorothy found him in the
rock chamber where he had been hidden. He became an honored member of Ozma's
retinue. (Ozma of Oz)
The Tin Woodman: A wood chopper made of tin. The Wicked Witch of
the East caused him to have accidents with his ax, cutting off parts of his
body, which he replaced with tin parts. He traveled with Dorothy to the
Wizard of Oz to ask for a heart. (The Wizard of Oz)
Toto: Dorothy's faithful dog who travels with her in the many
adventures in the Land of Oz. (The Wizard of Oz)
Trot: A little girl whose real name is Mayre Griffiths. She and
Cap'n Bill were swept by a whirlpool from the California coast to the Land
of Oz. (The Scarecrow of Oz)
Professor H. M. Wogglebug: A Highly Magnified Wogglebug who has
been Thoroughly Educated thanks to Professor Nowitall. (The Marvelous
Land of Oz)
The Woozy: A creature about the size of a goat that appears to be
made from building-block shaped parts covered with a smooth, tough dark blue
skin with only three hairs on the very tip of its tail. (The Patchwork
Girl of Oz)
(The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The Number of the Beast,
To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
General Leonard Wood
(1860–1927) Medical officer who became chief of staff of the U.S. Army
(1910–1914). During the Spanish-American War, he commanded the 1st U.S.
Volunteer Cavalry (the famous "Rough Riders"), and was subsequently promoted
to brigadier general. He was largely responsible for establishing a camp at
Plattsburg, New York, to give civilians officer training. He served as
governor general of the Philippine Islands from 1921 until 1927. Fort Leonard
Wood in Missouri is named for him.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Wotan
(Also Odin or Wodan) In Norse myth, the leader of the Aesir (gods). A god
of war, he presided over Valhalla, the dwelling place of slain warriors. He
was the great magician among the gods and was associated with runes. Odin was
described as an old man with a flowing beard, usually wearing a cloak and a
wide-brimmed hat, and a patch over the eye he sacrified to gain wisdom. The
wolf and the raven were sacred to him.
(Rocket Ship Galileo)
Wright Field
Original name of an area of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton,
Ohio. It contained laboratories for researching and developing aircraft,
aircraft accessories, and specialized flight equipment. It was named for
Wilbur and Orville Wright, who achieved the first successful airplane flight.
(Have Space Suit — Will Travel)
Wyoming
Constituent state of the United States of America. Situated in the
northern Great Plains, it is bordered by South Dakota and Nebraska (east),
Colorado (south), Utah (southwest), Idaho (west), and Montana (northwest and
north). The capital is Cheyenne. Wyoming became the 44th state in 1890. Its
name is derived from a Delaware Indian word meaning "land of vast plains".
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."