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executive

(Encyclopedia)executive, one who carries out the will or plan of another person or of a group. In government, the term refers not only to the chief administrative officer but to all others who execute the laws and ...

bismuth

(Encyclopedia)bismuth bĭzˈməth [key] [Ger. Weisse Masse=white mass], metallic chemical element; symbol Bi; at. no. 83; at. wt. 208.98040; m.p. 271.3℃; b.p. about 1,560℃; sp. gr. 9.75 at 20℃; valence +3 or ...

Edinburgh

(Encyclopedia)Edinburgh ĕdˈĭnbərə [key], city (2021 pop. 542,599) and council area, royal burgh, capital of ...

coal

(Encyclopedia)coal, fuel substance of plant origin, largely or almost entirely composed of carbon with varying amounts of mineral matter. Coal is found in beds or seams interstratified with shales, clays, sands...

Laurel and Hardy

(Encyclopedia)Laurel and Hardy, American film comedy team. The duo consisted of Stan Laurel, 1890–1965, b. Ulverson, England, whose real name was Arthur Stanley Jefferson; and Oliver Hardy, 1892–1957, b. Atlant...

Lee, William

(Encyclopedia)Lee, William, 1739–95, American Revolutionary diplomat, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, and Richard H. Lee. He opened a business house in London in 1768 and later wa...

Mansfield, William Murray, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Mansfield, William Murray, 1st earl of, 1705–93, English jurist. As solicitor general (1742–54) he prosecuted the Scottish rebel lords, Balmerino (Arthur Elphinstone), Kilmarnock, and Lovat. In 17...

Mourou, Gérard Albert

(Encyclopedia)Mourou, Gérard Albert, 1944–, French physicist, Ph.D. Pierre and Marie Curie Univ. (now part of Sorbonne Univ.), 1973. Mourou was a professor at the Univ. of Rochester, New York, from 1977 to 1988,...

Wood, Robert Williams

(Encyclopedia)Wood, Robert Williams, 1868–1955, American physicist, b. Concord, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1891). After studying abroad he became associated with Johns Hopkins as professor of experimental physic...

Cary, Joyce

(Encyclopedia)Cary, Joyce (Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary), 1888–1957, English author. From 1910 to 1920 he served as an administrator and soldier in Nigeria. Several of his early works, including Mister Johnson (1939),...