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Cavendish, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Cavendish, Henry, 1731–1810, English physicist and chemist, b. Nice. He was the son of Lord Charles Cavendish and grandson of the 2d duke of Devonshire. He was a recluse, and most of his writings we...

Ormonde, Thomas Butler, 10th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Ormonde, Thomas Butler, 10th earl of, 1532–1614, Irish nobleman. Brought up at the English court, he was the first of his family to embrace Protestantism. He succeeded to the earldom of Ormonde in 1...

Dura, ancient city, Syria

(Encyclopedia)Dura yo͝orōˈpəs [key], ancient city of Syria, E of Palmyra on a plateau above the Euphrates River. It is also called Dura-Europos or Dura-Europus. Founded (c.300 b.c.) by a general of Seleucus I, ...

Edward V

(Encyclopedia)Edward V, 1470–83?, king of England (1483), elder son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. His father's death (1483) left the boy king the pawn of the conflicting ambitions of his paternal uncle, t...

divination

(Encyclopedia)divination, practice of foreseeing future events or obtaining secret knowledge through communication with divine sources and through omens, oracles, signs, and portents. It is based on the belief in r...

Douglas, Archibald, 4th earl of Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Archibald, 4th earl of Douglas, 1369–1424, Scottish nobleman, called Tyneman [loser]; 2d son of Archibald Douglas, 3d earl of Douglas. In 1390 he married Margaret Stuart, daughter of Robert...

Chambers, Whittaker

(Encyclopedia)Chambers, Whittaker, 1901–61, U.S. journalist and spy, b. Philadelphia. He joined the U.S. Communist party in 1925 and wrote for its newspaper before engaging (1935–38) in espionage for the USSR. ...

Gilbert, Grove Karl

(Encyclopedia)Gilbert, Grove Karl, 1843–1918, American geologist, b. Rochester, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Rochester, 1862. When the U.S. Geological Survey was created in the Dept. of the Interior in 1879 (to replace f...

Namier, Sir Lewis Bernstein

(Encyclopedia)Namier, Sir Lewis Bernstein nāmˈyər [key], 1888–1960, English historian, b. Poland. He attended the London School of Economics and Oxford and became professor at the Univ. of Manchester in 1931, ...

Morisot, Berthe

(Encyclopedia)Morisot, Berthe bĕrt môrēzōˈ [key], 1841–95, French impressionist painter. She studied with many gifted painters, including Corot. She formed a close friendship with Manet, who became her broth...