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Renart, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Renart, Jean zhäN rənärˈ [key], fl. 1212, French poet. He is believed to be the author of two charming romans courtois, or metrical romances—Guillaume de Dole and L'Escoufle [the hawk] as well a...

Ramanujan, Srinivasa

(Encyclopedia)Ramanujan, Srinivasa shrēˌnĭväˈsə rämäˈno͝ojən [key], 1889–1920, Indian mathematician. He was a self-taught genius in pure mathematics who made original contributions to function theory, ...

Rankin, Jeannette

(Encyclopedia)Rankin, Jeannette, 1880–1973, American pacifist, b. Missoula, Mont. She was active in social work and campaigned for woman suffrage. A Republican, she was the first woman in the United States to ser...

Baldwin, Simeon Eben

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin, Simeon Eben, 1840–1927, American jurist and politician, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Yale, 1861. He taught at Yale from 1869 to 1919, serving as a professor of law after 1872. His teaching an...

Richardson, Dorothy M.

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Dorothy M., 1882–1957, English novelist. Her important work is Pilgrimage (12 vol., 1915–38; omnibus ed. 1938), a novel that records in great detail the inner experience of one woman. ...

Carpenter, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Carpenter, Edward, 1844–1929, English author. Although ordained a minister in 1869, he became a Fabian socialist in 1874 and renounced religion. Among his works on social reform are Towards Democrac...

Bayliss, Sir William Maddock

(Encyclopedia)Bayliss, Sir William Maddock bāˈlĭs [key], 1860–1924, English physiologist. At University College, London, he investigated the mechanism of heart action, circulation, and digestion. With E. H. St...

Spencer, Anna Garlin

(Encyclopedia)Spencer, Anna Garlin, 1851–1931, American educator, feminist, and Unitarian minister, b. Attleboro, Mass. She married the Rev. William H. Spencer in 1878. She was a leader in the woman-suffrage and ...

Byrd, William, English composer

(Encyclopedia)Byrd, William, 1543–1623, English composer, organist at Lincoln Cathedral and, jointly with Tallis, at the Chapel Royal. Although Roman Catholic, he composed anthems and services for the English Chu...

Zeeman, Pieter

(Encyclopedia)Zeeman, Pieter pēˈtər zāˈmän [key], 1865–1943, Dutch physicist. He was professor of physics at the Univ. of Amsterdam from 1900 and director of the Physical Institute, Amsterdam, from 1908. In...