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Conrad IV, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire

(Encyclopedia)Conrad IV, 1228–54, German king (1237–54), king of Sicily and of Jerusalem (1250–54), son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. He was elected (1237) king of the Romans at his father's instigation...

Pei, I. M.

(Encyclopedia)Pei, I. M. (Ieoh Ming Pei) pā [key], 1917–2019, Chinese-American architect, b. Guangzhou, China. Pei immigrated to the United States in 1935 and studied at the Univ. of Pennsylvania, the Massachuse...

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

(Encyclopedia)Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 1723–92, English portrait painter, b. Devonshire. Long considered historically the most important of England's painters, by his learned example he raised the artist to a positi...

Wessex

(Encyclopedia)Wessex wĕsˈĭks [key], one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England. It may have been settled as early as 495 by Saxons under Cerdic, who is reputed to have landed in Hampshire. Cerdic's grandson, Cea...

land-grant colleges and universities

(Encyclopedia)land-grant colleges and universities, U.S. institutions benefiting from the provisions of the Morrill Act (1862), which gave to the states federal lands for the establishment of colleges offering prog...

McCullers, Carson

(Encyclopedia)McCullers, Carson, 1917–67, American novelist, b. Columbus, Ga. as Lula Carson Smith, studied at Columbia. The central theme of her novels is the spiritual isolation that underlies the human conditi...

John, three epistles of the New Testament

(Encyclopedia)John, three letters of the New Testament. Traditionally, they are ascribed to John son of Zebedee, the disciple of Jesus. All three letters probably date to the end of the 1st cent. a.d., and may have...

Friedan, Betty Naomi

(Encyclopedia)Friedan, Betty Naomi frēdănˈ [key], 1921–2006, American social reformer and feminist, b. Peoria, Ill. as Bettye Goldstein, educated at Smith College (B.A., 1942) and the Univ. of California at Be...

Sikh Wars

(Encyclopedia)Sikh Wars (1845–49), two conflicts preceding the British annexation of the Punjab. By a treaty with the British in 1809, the Sikh ruler of the Punjab, Ranjit Singh, had accepted the Sutlej River as ...

Piltdown man

(Encyclopedia)Piltdown man, name given to human remains found during excavations (1908–15) at Piltdown, Sussex, England, by Charles Dawson. The find led to much speculation and argument. Since they were found wit...