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Lowell, Josephine Shaw

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, Josephine Shaw, 1843–1905, American political reformer, b. Roxbury, Mass. Lowell, brother of Robert Gould Shaw and widow of Colonel Charle...

Ford, Gerald Rudolph

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Gerald Rudolph, 1913–2006, 38th president of the United States (1974–77), b. Omaha, Nebr. He was originally named Leslie Lynch King, Jr., but his parents were divorced when he was two, and w...

Hume, David

(Encyclopedia)Hume, David hyo͞om [key], 1711–76, Scottish philosopher and historian. Educated at Edinburgh, he lived (1734–37) in France, where he finished his first philosophical work, A Treatise of Human Nat...

Locke, Alain LeRoy

(Encyclopedia)Locke, Alain LeRoy, 1885–1954, American writer, educator, philosopher, and cultural critic, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (A.B., 1907; Ph.D., 1918), first African-American Rhodes Scholar at Oxford ...

Mahathir bin Mohamad

(Encyclopedia)Mahathir bin Mohamad mähäˈtĭr bĭn mōhämˈäd [key], 1925–, Malaysian political leader. A doctor by training, he first entered parliament in 1964 and rose in the United Malays National Organiz...

Rainey, Gertrude "Ma"

(Encyclopedia)Rainey, Gertrude "Ma," 1886–1939, African-American blues singer and songwriter, b. Columbus, Ga., as Gertrude Melissa Nix Pridgett. Rainey's place and...

Formula One

(Encyclopedia)Formula One (F1), type of racecar used in Grand Prix automobile racing. Capable of speeds exceeding 230 mph (370 kph), the technologically sophisticated F1 cars are low-slung, open-wheeled, single-sea...

Stuart, James Francis Edward

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, James Francis Edward, 1688–1766, claimant to the British throne, son of James II and Mary of Modena; called the Old Pretender. His birth, falsely rumored by Whigs at the time to b...

Sargent, John Singer

(Encyclopedia)Sargent, John Singer, 1856–1925, American painter, b. Florence, Italy, of American parents, educated in Italy, France, and Germany. In 1874 he went to Paris, where he studied under Carolus-Duran. He...

Bacon, Francis, English philosopher and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b. London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Qu...