(Encyclopedia) Picard, EdmondPicard, EdmondĕdmôNˈ pēkärˈ [key], 1836–1924, Belgian jurist and author. A brilliant lawyer, he was at various times president of the Belgian bar association and a member…
(Encyclopedia) Unification Church, church founded (1954) in South Korea by Sun Myung Moon; officially the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification for World Christianity. Moon moved to the United…
(Encyclopedia) Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832–1913, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Fort Monroe, Va.; eldest son of Robert E. Lee. He served in the Corps of Engineers until May…
(Encyclopedia) Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, S central Idaho; est. 1924. The monument (53,438 acres/21,625 hectares) lies at the north end of the much larger preserve (698,940…
(Encyclopedia) nutation, in astronomy, a slight wobbling motion of the earth's axis. The causes of nutation are similar to those of the precession of the equinoxes, involving the varying attraction…
(Encyclopedia) tide, alternate and regular rise and fall of sea level in oceans and other large bodies of water. These changes are caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon and, to a lesser…
(Encyclopedia) Juan de Fuca StraitJuan de Fuca Straitwän də fy&oomacr;ˈkə [key], inlet of the Pacific Ocean, 100 mi (161 km) long and 11 to 17 mi (18–27 km) wide, between Vancouver Island,…
(Encyclopedia) Selkirk, AlexanderSelkirk, Alexandersĕlˈkərk [key], 1676–1721, Scottish sailor whose adventures suggested to Daniel Defoe the story of Robinson Crusoe (1719). In 1704, as a sailing…