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João Pessoa

(Encyclopedia)João Pessoa zhwouN pəsôˈə [key], city (1991 pop. 497,600), capital of Paraíba state, NE Brazil, at the confluence of the Sanhauá and Paraíba do Norte rivers. Cotton, sugar, and minerals are ex...

monazite

(Encyclopedia)monazite mŏnˈəzīt [key], yellow to reddish-brown natural phosphate of the rare earths, mainly the cerium and lanthanum metals, usually with some thorium. Yttrium, calcium, iron, and silica are fre...

açaí

(Encyclopedia)açaí äˌsäēˈ [key], tree, Euterpe oleracea, of the family Arecaceae (palm family) and its fruit, grown chiefly in Pará state in the Amazon region of Brazil. The tre...

Lorenz, Edward Norton

(Encyclopedia)Lorenz, Edward Norton, 1917–2008, American meteorologist and pioneer of chaos theory, b. West Hartford, Conn., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1948. Lorenz became interested in meteorol...

Herskovits, Melville Jean

(Encyclopedia)Herskovits, Melville Jean hûrsˈkəvĭts [key], 1895–1963, American anthropologist, b. Bellefontaine, Ohio; educated at the Univ. of Chicago (Ph.B., 1920) and Columbia (Ph.D., 1923). After teaching...

gesneria

(Encyclopedia)gesneria gĕsnĭrˈēə [key], common name for some members of the Gesneriaceae, a family of chiefly tropical and subtropical perennial herbs and shrubs with showy blossoms. The best-known members of ...

ipecac

(Encyclopedia)ipecac ĭpˈĭkăk [key], drug obtained from the dried roots of a creeping shrub, Cephaelis (or Psychotria) ipecacuanha, native to Brazil but cultivated in other tropical climates. There are three var...

emerald

(Encyclopedia)emerald, the green variety of beryl, of which aquamarine is the blue variety. Chemically, it is a beryllium-aluminum silicate whose color is due to small quantities of chromium compounds. The emerald ...

Bidault, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Bidault, Georges zhôrzh bēdōˈ [key], 1899–1983, French political leader. An influential columnist (1932–39), he was imprisoned (1940–41) in World War II and then joined the French undergroun...

da Silva, Luiz Inácio

(Encyclopedia)da Silva, Luiz Inácio lo͞oēshˈ ēnäsˈyo͞o dä sēlˈvə [key], 1945–, Brazilian labor leader and politician, known as Lula, b. Vargem Grande (now Caetés), Pernambuco. Born into a poor family...