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Bannister, Sir Roger Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)Bannister, Sir Roger Gilbert, 1929–2018, British athlete and neurologist. On May 6, 1954, at Oxford's Iffley Road track, Bannister, a medical student, became the first man to run the mile in less th...

Laptev Sea

(Encyclopedia)Laptev Sea läpˈtyĭf [key], section of the Arctic Ocean, c.250,900 sq mi (649,800 sq km), N Siberian Russia, between the Taymyr Peninsula and the New Siberian Islands. It is shallow sea and is froze...

Pleven, René

(Encyclopedia)Pleven, René rənāˈ plĕväNˈ [key], 1901–93, French political leader. He held various diplomatic and financial posts in the Free French government during World War II and served (1944–46) as ...

abstract expressionism

(Encyclopedia)abstract expressionism, movement of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the mid-1940s and attained singular prominence in American art in the following decade; also called action pa...

Lane, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Lane, Sir Ralph, c.1530–1603, leader of the first attempted English settlement in America, on Roanoke Island, N.C. Sent by Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition of over 100 colonists left England in Ap...

Samsonov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Samsonov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich əlyĭksänˈdər vəsēˈlyəvĭch səmsôˈnəf [key], 1859–1914, Russian general. Early in World War I, when his army advanced into East Prussia (see Masuria) in o...

Orkhon

(Encyclopedia)Orkhon ôrˈkŏn, ôr-khŏnˈ [key], river, c.300 mi (480 km) long, rising in the Khangai Mts., N central Republic of Mongolia, and flowing east, then north, past the site of ancient Karakorum, and th...

eisteddfod

(Encyclopedia)eisteddfod īstĕᵺˈvəd, –vôd [key] [Welsh,=session], Welsh competitive festival. Contests traditionally are held in all the arts and crafts, with special emphasis on music and poetry. The Natio...

Mahgoub, Muhammad Ahmad

(Encyclopedia)Mahgoub, Muhammad Ahmad mo͞ohämˈmäd äkhmädˈ mäˈgo͞o [key], 1908–76, Sudanese political leader. After twice serving as Sudan's minister of foreign affairs (1956–58, 1964–65), he was ele...

Pérez, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Pérez, Juan hwän pāˈrāth [key], d. 1774, Spanish colonial naval officer, explorer on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. In 1774 he commanded a fleet sent by the Spanish viceroy to investigate Ru...