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Franklin, John Hope

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, John Hope, 1915–2009, the dean of 20th-century African-American historians, b. Rentiesville, Okla., grad. Fisk Univ. (A.B., 1935), Harvard (M.A., 1936; Ph.D., 1941). Franklin served on the...

Forster, E. M.

(Encyclopedia)Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan Forster), 1879–1970, English author, one of the most important British novelists of the 20th cent. After graduating from Cambridge, Forster lived in Italy and Greece. D...

new towns

(Encyclopedia)new towns, planned urban communities in Great Britain, developed by long-term loans from the central government and first authorized by the New Towns Act of 1946. The chief purpose of the act was to r...

Cabot, Sebastian

(Encyclopedia)Cabot, Sebastian, b. 1483–86?, d. 1557, explorer in English and Spanish service; son of John Cabot. He may well have accompanied his father on the 1497 and 1498 voyages, and he was for many years gi...

Goliardic songs

(Encyclopedia)Goliardic songs gōlēärˈdĭk [key], Late Latin poetry of the “wandering scholars,” or Goliards. The Goliards included university students who went from one European university to another, schol...

Mahler, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Mahler, Gustav go͝osˈtäf mäˈlər [key], 1860–1911, composer and conductor, born in Austrian Bohemia of Jewish parentage. Mahler studied at the Univ. of Vienna and the Vienna Conservatory. He wa...

McMurtry, Larry

(Encyclopedia)McMurtry, Larry Jeff, 1936–2021, American novelist, b. Wichita Falls, Tx., grad. North Texas State Univ. (B.A., 1958), Rice Un...

Vehmgericht

(Encyclopedia)Vehmgericht fāˈmĭk [key], in medieval Germany, a type of criminal tribunal. The inability of the Holy Roman emperors to exercise effective central control over their lands and the extensive feudal ...

Tyler, Wat

(Encyclopedia)Tyler, Wat, d. 1381, English rebel. His given name appears in full as Walter; his surname signifies the trade of a roof tiler. He came into prominence as the leader of the rebellion of 1381, known as ...

stellar populations

(Encyclopedia)stellar populations, two broadly contrasting distributions of star types that are characteristic of different parts of a galaxy. Population I stars are young, recently formed stars, whereas population...