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Underground Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Underground Railroad, in U.S. history, loosely organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada or to areas of safety in free states. It was run by local groups of Northern abolitionists,...

Veronese, Paolo

(Encyclopedia)Veronese, Paolo päˈōlō vārōnāˈzā [key], 1528–88, Italian painter of the Venetian school. Named Paolo Caliari, he was called Il Veronese from his birthplace, Verona. Trained under a variety ...

More, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)More, Sir Thomas (Saint Thomas More), 1478–1535, English statesman and author of Utopia, celebrated as a martyr in the Roman Catholic Church. He received a Latin education in the household of Cardin...

anesthesia

(Encyclopedia)anesthesia ănĭsthēˈzhə [key] [Gr.,=insensibility], loss of sensation, especially that of pain, induced by drugs, especially as a means of facilitating safe surgical procedures. Early modern medic...

pragmatism

(Encyclopedia)pragmatism prăgˈmətĭzəm [key], method of philosophy in which the truth of a proposition is measured by its correspondence with experimental results and by its practical outcome. Thought is consid...

Ai Weiwei

(Encyclopedia)Ai Weiwei īˈ wāwā [key], 1957–, Chinese artist, architect, filmmaker, and political activist. He is the son of poet Ai Ch'ing, who was internally exiled (1958–76) to work camps with his family...

transcendentalism , American literary and philosophical movement

(Encyclopedia)transcendentalism trănˌsĕndĕnˈtəlĭzəm [key] [Lat.,=overpassing], in literature, philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to 1860. It originated among ...

Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron tĕnˈĭsən [key], 1809–92, English poet. The most famous poet of the Victorian age, he was a profound spokesman for the ideas and values of his times. Tenny...

Camus, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Camus, Albert älbĕrˈ kämüˈ [key], 1913–60, French writer, b. Mondovi (now Dréan). Camus was one of the most important authors and thinkers of the 20th cent. While a philosophy student at the ...

photosynthesis

(Encyclopedia)photosynthesis fōˌtōsĭnˈthəsĭs [key], process in which green plants, algae, and cyanobacteria utilize the energy of sunlight to manufacture carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water in the pr...