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Van Druten, John William

(Encyclopedia)Van Druten, John William văn dro͞oˈtən [key], 1901–57, English dramatist. His best-known plays, primarily light comedies, include Old Acquaintance (1940), The Voice of the Turtle (1943), I Remem...

Bell, Derrick Albert, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Bell, Derrick Albert, Jr., 1930–2011, American lawyer, legal scholar, and educator, b. Pittsburgh, Pa., grad. Duquesne Univ. (A.B., 1952), Univ. of Pittsburgh Law School (LL.B., 1957). Known for his...

Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian

(Encyclopedia)Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian lōˈᵺēən [key], 1868–1926, British traveler, author, and government official, one of the builders of the modern state of Iraq, grad. Oxford, 1887. From 1899 on ...

Bell, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Bell, city (2020 pop. 35,339), Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1927. It is chiefly residential, with printing, metal fabrication, and the manufacture of...

Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell

(Encyclopedia)Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell, 1862–1931, African-American civil-rights advocate and feminist, b. Holly Springs, Miss. Born a slave, she attended a freedman's school and was orphaned at 16. She moved (188...

Hersey, John Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hersey, John Richard hûrˈsē [key], 1914–93, American author, b. China, grad. Yale, 1936, where he later taught writing (1965–84); studied Cambridge. Reflecting his experiences as a war correspo...

McDowell, Ephraim

(Encyclopedia)McDowell, Ephraim məkdoulˈ, –douˈəl [key], 1771–1830, American pioneer surgeon, b. Virginia. He studied with the Scottish surgeon John Bell in Edinburgh and practiced in Danville, Ky. He was n...

Porcupine, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Porcupine pôrˈkyəpīnˌ [key], river, 448 mi (721 km) long, rising in the Ogilvie Mts., NW Yukon, Canada. It flows in a great arc NE through the Eagle Plain, then W into Alaska and to the Yukon Riv...

Mathews, Max Vernon

(Encyclopedia)Mathews, Max Vernon, 1926–2011, American engineer known as the father of computer music, b. Columbus, Nebr., grad. California Institute of Technology (B.S., 1950), Massachusetts Institute of Technol...

Williams, Robert R., Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Robert R., Jr., 1886–1965, American chemist, b. India, grad. Univ. of Chicago (B.S., 1907); brother of Roger John Williams. Research undertaken in 1910, while he was chemist (1908–15) at...