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Hamilton, James, 1st earl of Arran

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, James, 1st earl of Arran ărˈən [key], 1477?–1529, Scottish nobleman; son of the 1st Baron Hamilton and Mary, daughter of James II of Scotland. He was privy councilor to James IV, by who...

Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley, 1882–1944, British astronomer and physicist. He was chief assistant (1906–13) at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and was from 1913 Plumian professor of astronomy a...

Tsien, Roger Yonchien

(Encyclopedia)Tsien, Roger Yonchien, 1952–2016, American biochemist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1977. Tsien was a researcher at Cambridge (1977–81) and a professor at the Univ. of California, Berkeley (...

Randolph, Thomas, English diplomat

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Thomas, 1523–90, English diplomat. He was graduated from Oxford (1545) and served as principal of Broadgates Hall (later Pembroke College), Oxford, until forced because of his Protestant s...

taboo

(Encyclopedia)taboo or tabu both: tăbo͞oˈ, tə– [key], prohibition of an act or the use of an object or word under pain of punishment. Originally a Polynesian word, taboo can apply to the sacred or consecrated...

Carter, Angela

(Encyclopedia)Carter, Angela, 1940–92, English writer. She was a newspaper reporter before studying at the Univ. of Bristol (B.A., 1965), where she explored medieval literature, Freud, surrealism, and feminism, a...

Logan, John Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Logan, John Alexander, 1826–86, American politician, Union general in the Civil War, b. Murphysboro, Ill. He fought in the Mexican War and practiced law in Illinois. A Democrat who supported Stephen...

Magsaysay, Ramón

(Encyclopedia)Magsaysay, Ramón rämōnˈ mägsīˈsī [key], 1907–57, president of the Philippines (1953–57). When the Japanese invaded the Philippines (1941), he joined the army and was commissioned a captain...

fir

(Encyclopedia)fir, any tree of the genus Abies of the family Pinaceae (pine family), tall pyramidal evergreen conifers characterized by short, flat, stemless needles and erect cylindrical cones that shed their scal...

Stegner, Wallace

(Encyclopedia)Stegner, Wallace (Wallace Earle Stegner), 1909–93, American writer, b. Lake Mills, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Utah (1930). He wrote perceptively of the American West in short stories, e.g., The Woman on t...