P – Opus

Philip Thicknesse

Philip Thicknesse was a British author and eccentric. In 1742 he eloped with Maria Lanove, a wealthy heiress, after he abducted her from a street in Southampton and took up residence in Bath with her, taking full advantage of the social whirl of life. In his will he stipulated that his right hand be cut off, and that it should be delivered to his son, George, who was inattentive. The will stated that the reason was "to remind him of his duty to God after having so long abandoned the duty he owed to a father, who once so affectionately loved him."

Pitch Lake

The Pitch Lake is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world, located Trinidad.

Phrenology

Phrenology was a science of character divination, faculty psychology, theory of brain and what the 19th-century phrenologists called "the only true science of mind." It was believed that by examining the shape and unevenness of a head or skull, one could discover the development of the particular cerebral "organs" responsible for different intellectual aptitudes and character traits. For example, a prominent protuberance in the forehead at the position attributed to the organ of Benevolence was meant to indicate that the individual had a "well developed" organ of Benevolence and would therefore be expected to exhibit benevolent behaviour.

Paul Valery

Paul Valery was a writer who thought a lot about thinking about thinking.

Puffer fish

The puffer fish is a poisonous vertebrate that is yet considered a delicacy.

Paolo Venini

Paolo Venini emerged as one of the leading figures in the production of Murano glass and an important contributor to 20th-century design.

Palacio Barolo

The Palacio Barolo was designed in accordance with the cosmology of Dante's Divine Comedy, motivated by the architect's admiration for Alighieri. There are 22 floors, divided into three sections. The basement and ground floor represent hell, floors 1-14 are the purgatory, and 15-22 represent heaven. The building is 100 meters tall, one meter for each canto of the Divine Comedy. The lighthouse at the top of the building can be seen all the way in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Paul Otlet

Paul Otlet was an author, entrepreneur, visionary, lawyer and peace activist. He is one of several people who has been considered the father of information science, a field he called "documentation".

Palmyra

Palmyra was an ancient Arab city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria.

Pykrete

Pykrete is a composite material made of approximately 14 percent sawdust or some other form of wood pulp and 86 percent ice by weight. Its use was proposed during World War II by Geoffrey Pyke to the British Royal Navy as a candidate material for making a huge, unsinkable aircraft carriers.

Opus

Encyclopædia of the sublime

Papa