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Gorgias

(Encyclopedia)Gorgias gôrˈjēəs [key], c.485–c.380 b.c., Greek Sophist. From his native city, Leontini, Sicily, he was sent as an ambassador to Athens, where he settled to teach and practice rhetoric. Gorgias ...

American Library Association

(Encyclopedia)American Library Association, founded 1876, organization whose purpose is to increase the usefulness of books through the improvement and extension of library services. As the major professional assoc...

Monk, Thelonius

(Encyclopedia)Monk, Thelonius (Thelonius Sphere Monk), 1917–82, American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, b. Rocky Mount, N.C. Monk is considered one of the most important, and eccentric, figures in modern j...

norm

(Encyclopedia)norm, authoritative rule or standard by which something is judged and on that basis approved or disapproved. Examples of norms include standards of right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, and truth and ...

open enrollment

(Encyclopedia)open enrollment, a policy of admitting to college all high-school graduates in an effort to provide a higher education for all who desire it. To critics it means an inevitable lowering of standards as...

Wineland, David Jeffrey

(Encyclopedia)Wineland, David Jeffrey, 1944–, American physicist, b. Milwaukee, Wis., Ph.D. Harvard, 1970. Wineland has been a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Univ. of Col...

Boyd, Alan Stephenson

(Encyclopedia)Boyd, Alan Stephenson, 1922–2020, U.S. government official, first secretary of transportation (1967–69), b. Jacksonville, Fla. After serving in the Army Air Forces in World War II, he graduated fr...

Troyes

(Encyclopedia)Troyes trwä [key], city (1990 pop. 60,755), capital of Aube dept., NE France, on the Seine River. It is an industrial town. Hosiery is the main product. Troyes became an episcopal see in the 4th cent...

Selfridge, Harry Gordon

(Encyclopedia)Selfridge, Harry Gordon, 1858–1947, American-British retail merchant, b. Ripon, Wis. He moved to Chicago in 1876, where he started a successful 25-year career at Marshall Field & Co., developing...

Rotary International

(Encyclopedia)Rotary International, organization of business and professional people, founded (1905) by Paul Percy Harris, a Chicago lawyer. Beginning with one club in Chicago, it spread to other cities, and in 191...