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Bergius, Friedrich Karl Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Bergius, Friedrich Karl Rudolf, 1884–1949, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Leipzig, 1907. In 1910, Bergius set up a laboratory to carry out his research and in 1914 transferred the operation to the E...

consular service

(Encyclopedia)consular service, organized body of public officers maintained by a government in the important ports and trade centers of foreign countries to protect the persons and interests of its nationals and t...

Henry, Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Henry, Patrick, 1736–99, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Hanover co., Va. Largely self-educated, he became a prominent trial lawyer. Henry bitterly denounced (1765) the Stamp Act and...

Baum, L. Frank

(Encyclopedia)Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank Baum) bôm [key], 1856–1919, American journalist, playwright, and author of children's stories, b. Chittenango, N.Y. He and his family moved to South Dakota in 1888, wher...

Chern, Shiing-Shen

(Encyclopedia)Chern, Shiing-Shen, 1911–2004, Chinese-American mathematician, b. Kashing (now Jiaxing), China, D.Sc. Hamburg, 1936. While undertaking graduate studies in China (1932–34), Chern developed what bec...

Shklovsky, Iosif Samuilovich

(Encyclopedia)Shklovsky, Iosif Samuilovich yôsˈĭf səmo͞oēlˈəvĭch shklŏfˈskē [key], 1916–85, Soviet astronomer. He was head of the department of radio-astronomy at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute,...

Hanks, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Hanks, Tom, 1956–, American film actor, b. Concord, Calif., as Thomas Jeffrey Hanks. In 1980 he acted in his first film, and in 1980–82 he co-starred in a television sitcom. Hanks subsequently app...

Bleuler, Eugen

(Encyclopedia)Bleuler, Eugen oiˈgən bloiˈ lər [key], 1857–1939, Swiss psychiatrist. He taught (1898–1927) at the Univ. of Zürich, serving concurrently as director of Zürich's Burghölzi Asylum. Bleuler is...

taxidermy

(Encyclopedia)taxidermy tăkˈsĭdûrˌmē [key], process of skinning, preserving, and mounting vertebrate animals so that they still appear lifelike. The fur or feathers are cleaned, and the skin, treated with a c...

Simms, William Gilmore

(Encyclopedia)Simms, William Gilmore, 1806–70, American novelist, b. Charleston, S.C. He wrote prolifically, both prose and poetry, but it is for his historical romances about his own state that he is remembered ...