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Brittan, Sir Leon

(Encyclopedia)Brittan, Sir Leon brĭtˈən [key], 1939–, British politician. Educated at Cambridge, he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 1974. Under Margaret Thatcher he served as home secretary (198...

Peters, Vera

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Vera (Mildred Vera Peters), 1911–93, Canadian radiation oncologist and clinical investigator, b. Rexdale, Ont., M.D. Univ. of Toronto, 1934. Beginning in 1935, she studied the treatment of H...

fiat money

(Encyclopedia)fiat money fīˈət, fīˈăt [key], inconvertible money that is made legal tender by the decree, or fiat, of the government but that is not covered by a specie reserve. It is commonly understood to b...

National Symphony Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), Washington, D.C., founded in 1931 by Hans Kindler, who conducted the orchestra until 1949. Its first home was Constitution Hall; since 1986 it has been affiliated wi...

Rivlin, Alice M.

(Encyclopedia)Rivlin, Alice M., 1931–2019, American economist, b. Philadelphia as Georgianna Alice Mitchell, Ph.D. Harvard, 1958. Rivlin was affiliated with the Brookings Institution at various times from 1957 un...

Tudor

(Encyclopedia)Tudor, royal family that ruled England from 1485 to 1603. Its founder was Owen Tudor, of a Welsh family of great antiquity, who was a squire at the court of Henry V and who married that king's widow, ...

Douglas, William, 6th earl of Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, William, 6th earl of Douglas, 1423?–1440, Scottish nobleman, eldest son of Archibald Douglas, 5th earl of Douglas. In answer to an invitation from the young James II, who was at that time c...

Gattinara, Mercurino Arborio, marchese di

(Encyclopedia)Gattinara, Mercurino Arborio, marchese di mĕrco͞orēˈnō ärbôˈrēō märkĕˈza dē gätˌtēnäˈrä [key], 1465–1530, Italian statesman and jurist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Aft...

Jeanne d'Albret

(Encyclopedia)Jeanne d'Albret zhän dälbrāˈ [key], 1528–72, queen of Navarre (1555–72), daughter of Henri d'Albret and Margaret of Navarre, and mother of King Henry IV of France (Henry III of Navarre). She b...

Smith, Stevie

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Stevie (Margaret Florence Smith), 1902–71, English poet and novelist, b. Hull, Yorkshire. At first unnoticed as a poet, she worked in a London publisher's office until 1953. Steadily gaining ...