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lightning rod

(Encyclopedia)lightning rod, a rod made of materials, especially metals, that are good conductors of electricity, which is mounted on top of a building or other structure and attached to the ground by a cable. By v...

deists

(Encyclopedia)deists dēˈĭsts [key], term commonly applied to those thinkers in the 17th and 18th cent. who held that the course of nature sufficiently demonstrates the existence of God. For them formal religion ...

Charles, Jacques Alexandre César

(Encyclopedia)Charles, Jacques Alexandre César zhäk älĕksäNˈdrə sāzärˈ shärl [key], 1746–1823, French physicist. He confirmed Benjamin Franklin's electrical experiments, became interested in aeronautic...

Franklin, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Franklin. 1 City (2020 pop. 26,414), seat of Johnson co., S central Ind., inc. 1823. It is a farm trade center. Manufactures include auto parts, ...

Franklin and Marshall College

(Encyclopedia)Franklin and Marshall College, at Lancaster, Pa.; United Church of Christ (Evangelical-Reformed); coeducational; est. 1787 as Franklin College, reorganized 1853 when it merged with Marshall College (c...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

(Encyclopedia)Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake

(Encyclopedia)Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake: see under Grand Coulee Dam. ...

Atherton, Gertrude Franklin (Horn)

(Encyclopedia)Atherton, Gertrude Franklin (Horn) ăthˈərtən [key], 1857–1948, American writer, b. San Francisco. She wrote a series of historical novels about California, which include The Californians (1898),...

Powell, Lewis Franklin, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Powell, Lewis Franklin, Jr., 1907–98, American lawyer, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1971–87), b. Suffolk, Va. He studied law at Washington and Lee Univ. and was admitted to the Vir...

Albany Congress

(Encyclopedia)Albany Congress, 1754, meeting at Albany, N.Y., of commissioners representing seven British colonies in North America to treat with the Iroquois, chiefly because war with France impended. A treaty was...