(Encyclopedia) smart card, small device that resembles a credit card but contains an embedded microprocessor to store and process information. Magnetic-stripe cards, which store a very small amount…
(Encyclopedia) country music, American popular music form originating in the Southern and Western United States. Country music is directly descended from the folk songs, ballads, and popular songs of…
(Encyclopedia) Abdul-Jabbar, KareemAbdul-Jabbar, Kareemkərēmˈ ăbˈd&oobreve;l jəbärˈ [key], 1947–, American basketball player, b. New York City as Ferdinand Lewis (Lew) Alcindor. At 7 ft 2 in. (…
(Encyclopedia) Chapin, Schuyler GarrisonChapin, Schuyler Garrisonskīˈlər, chāˈpĭn [key], 1923–2009, American operatic manager and cultural impresario, b. New York City. The scion of an old and…
(Encyclopedia) Gehrig, Lou (Louis Gehrig)Gehrig, Lougârˈĭg [key], 1903–41, American baseball player, b. New York City. He studied and played baseball at Columbia, where he was spotted by a scout for…
(Encyclopedia) NabonidusNabonidusnăbənīˈdəs [key], d. 538? b.c., last king of the Chaldaean dynasty of Babylonia. He was not of Nebuchadnezzar's family, and it is possible that he usurped the throne…
(Encyclopedia) Morita, AkioMorita, Akioäkˈēō môrˈētä [key], 1921–99, Japanese business executive, b. Nagoya, Japan. The eldest son of a successful sake brewer, Morita joined Masaru Ibuka to found…
(Encyclopedia) McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold, 1819–1907, British arctic explorer. As a lieutenant in the navy he was assigned to his first arctic service in 1848, when Sir James Clark Ross went in…
(Encyclopedia) Rodgers, Jimmie (James Charles Rodgers), 1897–1933, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter often called “the father of country music…
(Encyclopedia) Barton, Clara, 1821–1912, American humanitarian, organizer of the American Red Cross, b. North Oxford (now Oxford), Mass. She taught school (1839–54) and clerked in the U.S. Patent…
