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Caldera Rodríguez, Rafael Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Caldera Rodríguez, Rafael Antonio räfäĕlˈ käldāˈrä rôᵺrēˈgās [key], 1916–2009, president of Venezuela (1969–74, 1994–99). A lawyer and professor of sociology, he was first elected...

Dick, Philip K.

(Encyclopedia)Dick, Philip K. (Philip Kindred Dick), 1928–82, American science-fiction writer, b. Chicago. Dick often wrote of the psychological states of individuals caught in altered realities where the everyda...

Maduro Moros, Nicolás

(Encyclopedia)Maduro Moros, Nicolás nēkōläsˈ mädo͞oˈrō mōˈrōs [key], 1962–, Venezuelan trade union and political leader. He was trained as a union organizer in Cuba, and later became a leader in an un...

subduction zone

(Encyclopedia)subduction zone, large-scaled narrow region in the earth's crust where, according to plate tectonics, masses of the spreading oceanic lithosphere bend downward into the earth along the leading edges o...

Selden, John

(Encyclopedia)Selden, John, 1584–1654, English jurist and scholar. He studied at Oxford, was called to the bar in 1612, and was elected to Parliament in 1623. He had already assisted in preparing the protestation...

Chabrol, Claude

(Encyclopedia)Chabrol, Claude klōd shäbrōlˈ [key], 1930–2010, French filmmaker, b. Paris, attended Univ. of Paris. One of the creators of the French “new wave” cinema of the 1950s and 60s, he and such oth...

Jackson, Robert Houghwout

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Robert Houghwout houˈət [key], 1892–1954, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1941–54), b. Spring Creek, Pa. Despite the fact that he did not have a law degree, he was admitted...

Pufendorf, Samuel, Baron von

(Encyclopedia)Pufendorf, Samuel, Baron von zäˈmo͞oĕl bärônˈ fən po͞oˈfəndôrf [key], 1632–94, German jurist and historian. He is especially noted as an early theorist of international law. Educated in ...

Wilson, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Edmund, 1895–1972, American critic and author, b. Red Bank, N.J. grad. Princeton, 1916. He is considered one of the most important American literary and social critics of the 20th cent. From...

Goliardic songs

(Encyclopedia)Goliardic songs gōlēärˈdĭk [key], Late Latin poetry of the “wandering scholars,” or Goliards. The Goliards included university students who went from one European university to another, schol...