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Gombrowicz, Witold

(Encyclopedia)Gombrowicz, Witold vēˈtōld gŏmbrōˈvĭch [key], 1904–69, Polish writer. Gombrowicz is recognized as an original satirist, an existential innovator who mingled the real with the unreal to convey...

Thurmond, Strom

(Encyclopedia)Thurmond, Strom (James Strom Thurmond) thûrˈmənd [key], 1902–2003, U.S. senator from South Carolina (1954–2003), b. Edgefield, S.C. He read law while teaching school (1923–29) and was admitte...

Toombs, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Toombs, Robert, 1810–85, American statesman, Confederate leader, b. Wilkes co., Ga. A successful lawyer in Georgia, he entered politics as a Whig, serving in the state legislature and in Congress (1...

Reclamation, United States Bureau of

(Encyclopedia)Reclamation, United States Bureau of, agency set up in the Dept. of the Interior under the Reclamation Act of 1902. It is charged with promoting regional economies by developing water and related land...

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

(Encyclopedia)Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientific research centers run by the Univ. of California, located in Berkeley, Calif., and Livermore, Calif., respec...

Moseley, Henry Gwyn Jeffreys

(Encyclopedia)Moseley, Henry Gwyn Jeffreys mōzˈlē [key], 1887–1915, English physicist, grad. Trinity College, Oxford, 1910. He began his research under Ernest Rutherford while serving as lecturer at the Univ. ...

George V, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert), 1865–1936, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1910–36), second son and successor of Edward VII. At the age of 12 he commenced a naval career, but this en...

Taine, Hippolyte Adolphe

(Encyclopedia)Taine, Hippolyte Adolphe tān, Fr. ēpôlētˈ ädôlfˈ tĕn [key], 1828–93, French critic and historian. A brilliant student, he gained recognition with the publication of his doctoral thesis, Ess...

biography

(Encyclopedia)biography, reconstruction in print or on film, of the lives of real men and women. Together with autobiography—an individual's interpretation of his own life—it shares a venerable tradition, meeti...

folktale

(Encyclopedia)folktale, general term for any of numerous varieties of traditional narrative. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to pre-industrial, ancient, and more modern and develop...