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social security

(Encyclopedia)social security, government program designed to provide for the basic economic security and welfare of individuals and their dependents. The programs classified under the term social security differ f...

Dease, Peter Warren

(Encyclopedia)Dease, Peter Warren dēs [key], 1788–1863, Canadian explorer. He was in the North West Company before its merger with the Hudson's Bay Company and later was a Hudson's Bay Company trader. He was a m...

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...

Hale, Edward Everett

(Encyclopedia)Hale, Edward Everett, 1822–1909, American author and Unitarian clergyman, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1839. He was the nephew of Edward Everett. The pastor of a church in Worcester, Mass. (1842–56),...

Ford, Paul Leicester

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Paul Leicester lĕsˈtər [key], 1865–1902, American historian and novelist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. His father, Gordon L. Ford, then possessed probably the best library of Americana in the country;...

Nevin, John Williamson

(Encyclopedia)Nevin, John Williamson, 1803–86, American theologian and educator, b. near Strasburg, Pa., grad. Union College, 1821, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1826. He was professor of biblical literatur...

Colby, Bainbridge

(Encyclopedia)Colby, Bainbridge, 1869–1950, U.S. lawyer and public official, b. St. Louis. Upon graduation (1891) from Columbia law school, he began law practice in New York City and became active in Republican p...

Erving, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Erving, Julius ûrˈvĭng [key], 1950–, American basketball player, b. Roosevelt, N.J., known as “Dr. J.” An excellent shooter, rebounder, and ball-handler, he played for the American Basketball...