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Merv

(Encyclopedia)Merv myĕrf [key], ancient city, in Turkmenistan, in a large oasis of the Kara Kum desert, on the Murgab River. The city, known in antiquity as Margiana, or Antiochia Margiana, was founded in the 3d c...

Napolitano, Janet Ann

(Encyclopedia)Napolitano, Janet Ann,, 1957 - , American politican and university administrator, b. New York, N.Y., Santa Clara (Ca.) Univ. (B.A., 1979); ...

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da

(Encyclopedia)Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da jōvänˈnē pyārlo͞oēˈjē päˌlāstrēˈnä [key], c.1525–1594, Italian composer whose family name was Pierluigi; b. Palestrina, from which he took his name. ...

O'Connor, Flannery

(Encyclopedia)O'Connor, Flannery (Mary Flannery O'Connor), 1925–64, American author, b. Savannah, Ga., grad. Women's College of Georgia (A.B., 1945), Iowa State Univ. (M.F.A., 1947). As a writer, O'Connor is high...

Paul, Les

(Encyclopedia)Paul, Les, 1915–2009, American guitarist and inventor, b. Waukesha, Wis., as Lester William Polsfuss (later Polfuss). He began playing country music a...

Lynch, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Lynch, Jack (John Mary Lynch), 1917–99, Irish statesman. Before he embarked on his political career, he gained nationwide fame as an athlete, captaining several winning hurling teams in the 1930s an...

Laban, Rudolf von

(Encyclopedia)Laban, Rudolf von fôn läbˈän [key], 1879–1958, Slovakian dancer, choreographer, and dance theorist. After studying in Paris and performing in N Africa, Germany, and Austria, he founded (1910) a ...

Cambridge, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Cambridge, city and district, Cambridgeshire, E central England, on the River Cam. The city, set in flat country, is most famous as the site of the Univ...

Cantor, Eric Ivan

(Encyclopedia)Cantor, Eric Ivan, 1963–, U.S. politician, b. Richmond, Va., grad. George Washington Univ. (B.A., 1985), William and Mary (J.D., 1988), Columbia (M.S., 1989). A conservative Republican, he worked as...

Walter, Hubert

(Encyclopedia)Walter, Hubert, d. 1205, English archbishop and statesman. He was clerk to his uncle, Ranulf de Glanvill, and in 1186 he was made dean of York. In 1189 he was appointed bishop of Salisbury, and he acc...