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McClure, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier

(Encyclopedia)McClure, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier, 1807–73, British arctic explorer. He entered the navy and in 1848 accompanied Sir James Clark Ross to the arctic. As a naval captain he was given command (1850)...

Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner

(Encyclopedia)Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner, 1822–88, English jurist and historian, educated at Cambridge. A pioneer in the historical and comparative study of institutions, he viewed the history of laws as the m...

Johnson, James Weldon

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, James Weldon, 1871–1938, American author, b. Jacksonville, Fla., educated at Atlanta Univ. (B.A., 1894) and at Columbia. Johnson was the first African American to be admitted to the Florida...

King William Island

(Encyclopedia)King William Island, part of the Arctic Archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean, Nunavut Territory, Canada, between Boothia Peninsula and Victoria Island. The northern coast of the island was explored (1831)...

Murnane, Gerald

(Encyclopedia)Murnane, Gerald, 1939–, Australian writer, B.A. Univ. of Melbourne, 1969. His first two novels, Tamarisk Row (1974) and A Lifetime on Clouds (1976), are semiautobiographical recollections of his ear...

Hamilton, Sir William Rowan

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Sir William Rowan, 1805–65, Irish mathematician and astronomer, b. Dublin. A child prodigy, he had mastered 13 languages by the age of 13 and was still an undergraduate when he became prof...

Harold III

(Encyclopedia)Harold III or Harold Hardrada härdräˈdə [key], Norse Harald Harðráði [Harold stern council], d. 1066, king of Norway (1046–66), half-brother of Olaf II. After Olaf's defeat (1030), Harold wen...

Fort Donelson

(Encyclopedia)Fort Donelson dŏnˈəlsən [key], Confederate fortification in the Civil War, on the Cumberland River at Dover, Tenn., commanding the river approach to Nashville, Tenn. After capturing Fort Henry, on...

epiphyte

(Encyclopedia)epiphyte ĕpˈəfītˌ [key] or air plant, any plant that does not normally root in the soil but grows upon another living plant while remaining independent of it except for support (thus differing fr...

Esar-Haddon

(Encyclopedia)Esar-Haddon ēˌsär-hădˈən [key], king of ancient Assyria (681–668 b.c.), son of Sennacherib. Immediately upon ascending the throne he had to put down serious revolts and defeat the Chaldaeans. ...