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Christopher, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Christopher, Saint krĭsˈtəfər [key] [Gr.,=Christ bearer], 3d cent.?, martyr of Asia Minor. His characteristic legend is that one day when he was carrying a little child over a river, he felt the c...

Numbers

(Encyclopedia)Numbers, book of the Bible, fourth of the five books of the Law (the Pentateuch or Torah) ascribed by tradition to Moses. Numbers begins at Sinai and ends in Moab on the eve of the Hebrews' entry into...

Bridget of Sweden, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Bridget of Sweden, Saint, c.1300–1373, Swedish nun, one of the great saints of Scandinavia. She was a noblewoman at court and the mother of eight children. After her husband's death she founded (134...

James, Saint (St. James the Greater)

(Encyclopedia)James, Saint, d. c.a.d. 43, in the Bible, one of the Twelve Apostles, called St. James the Greater. He was the son of Zebedee and the brother of St. John; these brothers were the Boanerges, or Sons of...

Fréron, Louis Marie Stanislas

(Encyclopedia)Fréron, Louis Marie Stanislas frārôNˈ [key], 1754–1802, French revolutionary; son of Élie Fréron. After the outbreak (1789) of the French Revolution, he founded a radical journal, Orateur du ...

Sovetsk

(Encyclopedia)Sovetsk tĭlˈzĭt [key], town (1989 pop. 41,900), NW European Russia, on the Neman River at the mouth of the Tilse. It is a rail junction, a river port, and an industrial and commercial center in an ...

Jyväskylä

(Encyclopedia)Jyväskylä yüˈvăsküˌlă [key], city (1998 pop. 76,948), Western Finland prov., S central Finland. Situated on Lake Päijänne, it is an important port. Paper and wood products, metals, wool, and...

Shafter, William Rufus

(Encyclopedia)Shafter, William Rufus, 1835–1906, American general, b. Galesburg, Mich. He served in the Union army during the Civil War and in 1867 joined the regular army, rising to become brigadier general (189...

Barthélemy, Auguste Marseille

(Encyclopedia)Barthélemy, Auguste Marseille ōgüstˈ märsāˈyə bärtālmēˈ [key], 1796–1867, French poet. With his friend Joseph Méry he wrote several brilliant and popular political satires, including La...

luminosity

(Encyclopedia)luminosity, in astronomy, the rate at which energy of all types is radiated by an object in all directions. A star's luminosity depends on its size and its temperature, varying as the square of the ra...