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Wilbur, Ray Lyman

(Encyclopedia)Wilbur, Ray Lyman, 1875–1949, American public official and educator, b. Boonesboro, Iowa, grad. Stanford (B.A., 1896; M.A., 1897) and Cooper Medical College, San Francisco, 1899. After studying medi...

Jackson

(Encyclopedia)Jackson. 1 City (1990 pop. 37,446), seat of Jackson co., S Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1857. It is an industrial and commercial center in a farm region. The city's chief manufactures are machinery...

alphanumeric

(Encyclopedia)alphanumeric ălˌfəmĕrˈĭk [key], the set of letters and numbers. When used in reference to computer input and output, the set usually is expanded to include the upper- and lower-case alphabetic c...

algorithm

(Encyclopedia)algorithm –rĭzˌəm [key] [for Al-Khowarizmi], a clearly defined procedure for obtaining the solution to a general type of problem, often numerical. Much of ordinary arithmetic as traditionally tau...

devaluation

(Encyclopedia)devaluation, decreasing the value of one nation's currency relative to gold or the currencies of other nations. It is usually undertaken as a means of correcting a deficit in the balance of payments. ...

excommunication

(Encyclopedia)excommunication, formal expulsion from a religious body, the most grave of all ecclesiastical censures. Where religious and social communities are nearly identical it is attended by social ostracism, ...

imitation

(Encyclopedia)imitation, in music, a device of counterpoint wherein a phrase or motive is employed successively in more than one voice. The imitation may be exact, the same intervals being repeated at the same or d...

Hauptmann, Bruno Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hauptmann, Bruno Richard, 1899–1936, convicted kidnapper and murderer, b. Germany. The infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was abducted (Mar. 1, 1932) at Hopewell, N.J., and a ransom of ...

Gideon v. Wainwright

(Encyclopedia)Gideon v. Wainwright, case decided in 1963 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Clarence Earl Gideon was convicted of a felony in a Florida court. He had defended himself after being denied a request for free c...

Funes, Mauricio

(Encyclopedia)Funes, Mauricio (Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena), 1959–, Salvadoran journalist and politician, president of El Salvador (2009–14). A television reporter, he became known for his news reporting an...