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Chateaubriand, François René, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Chateaubriand, François René, vicomte de fräNswäˈ rənāˈ vēkôNtˈ də shätōbrēäNˈ [key], 1768–1848, French writer. Chateaubriand was a founder of romanticism in French literature. Of n...

photoelectric effect

(Encyclopedia)photoelectric effect, emission of electrons by substances, especially metals, when light falls on their surfaces. The effect was discovered by H. R. Hertz in 1887. The failure of the classical theory ...

Banville, John

(Encyclopedia)Banville, John, 1945–, Irish novelist. His novels, which stress language over plot and narrative, are written in a dense, elaborate, and highly original blend of poetry and prose. They are allusive,...

Trenton , cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Trenton. 1 City (1990 pop. 20,586), Wayne co., SE Mich., on the Detroit River opposite Grosse Ile, in a farm area; settled 1816, inc. as a city 1957. An early river port, it has plants that make metal...

Persian language

(Encyclopedia)Persian language, member of the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-Iranian languages). The official language of Iran, it has about 38 millio...

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady

(Encyclopedia)Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 1815–1902, American reformer, a leader of the woman-suffrage movement, b. Johnstown, N.Y. She was educated at the Troy Female Seminary (now Emma Willard School) in Troy, N.Y...

Victoria, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Victoria, Lake, or Victoria Nyanza nēănˈzə, nī– [key], largest lake of Africa and the world's second largest freshwater lake, c.26,830 sq mi (69,490 sq km), E central Africa, on the Uganda-Tanz...

potato

(Encyclopedia)potato or white potato, common name for a perennial plant (Solanum tuberosum) of the family Solanaceae (nightshade family) and for its swollen underground stem, a tuber, which is one of the most widel...

Lumet, Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Lumet, Sidney lo͞o-mĕtˈ [key], 1924–2011, one of the great American film directors of the 20th cent., b. Philadelphia. A child actor in New York's Yiddish radio and theater and (1935–41) on Bro...

foot, in anatomy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Foot foot, in anatomy, terminal part of the land vertebrate leg. The term is also applied to any invertebrate appendage used either for locomotion or attachment, e.g., the legs of insects and ...