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Kay, John

(Encyclopedia)Kay, John, 1704–64, English inventor. He patented (1733) the fly shuttle, operated by pulling a cord that drove the shuttle to either side, freeing one hand of the weaver to press home the weft. Wor...

Martens, Feodor

(Encyclopedia)Martens, Feodor fyôˈdər märˈtyĭns [key], 1845–1909, Russian diplomat and authority on international law. He became an official in the foreign ministry in 1868 and was professor of internationa...

Löfven, Stefan

(Encyclopedia)Löfven, Stefan (Kjell Stefan Löfven), 1957–, Swedish union leader and politian, b. Stockholm. He worked as a welder and became a union representative. He was deputy chairman (2002–5) of the Swed...

biological warfare

(Encyclopedia)biological warfare, employment in war of microorganisms to injure or destroy people, animals, or crops; also called germ or bacteriological warfare. Limited attempts have been made in the past to spre...

endangered species

(Encyclopedia)endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. Endangered Spe...

Maldives

(Encyclopedia)Maldives mălˈdēvz, –dīvz [key], Dhivehi Dhivehi Raajje, officially Republic of Maldives, republic (2015 est. pop. 418,000), 115 sq mi (298 sq km), off the coast of S Asia in the N Indian Ocean. ...

Mill Springs

(Encyclopedia)Mill Springs, village, on the Cumberland River, S of Frankfort, SE Ky.; site of the opening battle of the Kentucky-Tennessee campaign of the Civil War and the first important Union victory in the West...

Cushman, Pauline

(Encyclopedia)Cushman, Pauline, 1835–93, Union spy in the Civil War, b. New Orleans. She became an actress at 18 in New York City. In 1863 she was banished to Confederate lines as a supposed Southern sympathizer,...

Shotwell, James Thomson

(Encyclopedia)Shotwell, James Thomson, 1874–1965, Canadian-American historian, b. Strathroy, Ont. A teacher of history at Columbia from 1900 and professor from 1908 to 1942, Shotwell also worked tirelessly to pro...

Group of Seven

(Encyclopedia)Group of Seven (G7), international organization officially established in 1985 to facilitate economic and commercial cooperation among the world's largest industrial nations, including efforts to aid ...