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Quay, Matthew Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Quay, Matthew Stanley kwā [key], 1833–1904, American political leader, b. Dillsburg, Pa. He studied law in Pittsburgh and was admitted (1854) to the bar. He fought in the Civil War, and after the w...

Berlin Philharmonic

(Encyclopedia)Berlin Philharmonic, orchestra, Berlin, Germany, founded 1882 by musicans who had left an ensemble led by Benjamin Bilse. The orchestra performs in the modernist Philharmonie concert hall (1963). Amon...

Bancroft, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Bancroft, Edward, 1744–1821, spy in the American Revolution, b. Westfield, Mass. He studied medicine and natural history, producing a book (1769) on Guiana's flora and fauna, a defense of the coloni...

Rittenhouse, David

(Encyclopedia)Rittenhouse, David, 1732–96, American astronomer and instrument maker, b. near Germantown, Pa., self-educated. A clockmaker by trade, he developed great skill in the making of mathematical instrumen...

fetal alcohol syndrome

(Encyclopedia)fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), pattern of physical, developmental, and psychological abnormalities seen in babies born to mothers who consumed alcohol during pregnancy. The abnormalities include low bi...

Jerome of Prague

(Encyclopedia)Jerome of Prague, c.1370–1416, Bohemian religious reformer. During his studies at Prague and at Oxford, Jerome was influenced by the doctrinal views of John Wyclif. He continued to study and travel ...

substance

(Encyclopedia)substance, in philosophy, term used to denote the changeless substratum presumed in some philosophies to be present in all being. Aristotle defined substance as that which possesses attributes but is ...

surface tension

(Encyclopedia)surface tension, tendency of liquids to reduce their exposed surface to the smallest possible area. A drop of water, for example, tends to assume the shape of a sphere. The phenomenon is attributed to...

Raeburn, Sir Henry

(Encyclopedia)Raeburn, Sir Henry rāˈbərn [key], 1756–1823, Scottish portrait painter, b. near Edinburgh. He was apprenticed to a goldsmith at 15 and he showed considerable talent. In 1784 he went to London and...

Scully, Vincent Joseph, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Scully, Vincent Joseph, Jr., 1920–2018, American architectural historian, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Yale (B.A., 1940; Ph.D., 1949). As a professor of art history at Yale (1947–91, though he taugh...