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Aumann, Robert John

(Encyclopedia)Aumann, Robert John, American-Israeli mathematician, b. Frankfurt, Germany, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1955. He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1938, and moved to ...

Bar Kokba, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Bar Kokba, Simon, or Simon Bar Cochba kōkˈbə [key] [Heb.,=son of the star], d. a.d. 135, Hebrew hero and leader of a major revolt against Rome under Hadrian (132–135). He may have claimed to be a...

Baal-peor

(Encyclopedia)Baal-peor bāˈəl-pēˈôr [key], in the Bible, local divinity (the Baal) of Peor. According to the Book of Numbers, the Hebrews stayed at Shittim during the wilderness wanderings. While there, Hebre...

Sodom

(Encyclopedia)Sodom sŏdˈōmə [key], in the Bible, the principal of the Cities of the Plain (the others being Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar, which was spared) destroyed by fire from heaven because of their w...

Whitney, William Dwight

(Encyclopedia)Whitney, William Dwight, 1827–94, American Sanskrit scholar and lexicographer, b. Northampton, Mass. After studying in Germany, Whitney became professor of Sanskrit and of comparative philology at Y...

Lithuanian

(Encyclopedia)Lithuanian lĭthˌo͞oāˈnēən [key], a language belonging to the Baltic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Baltic languages). The official language of Lithuania since 1918, Lit...

Backus, John Warner

(Encyclopedia)Backus, John Warner, 1924–2007, American computer scientist, b. Philadelphia, grad. Columbia (M.A. 1950). Trained as a mathematician, he was hired (1950) by IBM Corp. as a computer programmer. From ...

Quechua

(Encyclopedia)Quechua, Kechua kēchˈwä [key], linguistic family belonging to the Andean branch of the Andean-Equatorial stock of Native American languages (mainly in South America). Encompassing far more native ...

Occitan

(Encyclopedia)Occitan prôväNsälˈ [key], member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The language label Provençal is often restricted in...

Molech

(Encyclopedia)Molech mōˈlŏk [key], Canaanite god of fire to whom children were offered in sacrifice; he is also known as an Assyrian god. He is attested as early as the 3d millennium b.c., although most known re...