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Burbank, Luther

(Encyclopedia)Burbank, Luther bûrˈbănk [key], 1849–1926, American plant breeder, b. Lancaster, Mass. He experimented with thousands of plant varieties and developed many new ones, including new varieties of pr...

Büchner, Georg

(Encyclopedia)Büchner, Georg gāˈôrk bükhˈnər [key], 1813–37, German dramatist. He was a student of medicine and a political agitator. He died at the age of 24, leaving a powerful drama, Danton's Death (183...

Kandinsky, Wassily

(Encyclopedia)Kandinsky, Wassily or Vasily kăndĭnˈskē, Rus. vəsēˈlyē kəndyēnˈskē [key], 1866–1944, Russian abstract painter and theorist. Usually regarded as the originator of abstract art, Kandinsky ...

Stamp Act

(Encyclopedia)Stamp Act, 1765, revenue law passed by the British Parliament during the ministry of George Grenville. The first direct tax to be levied on the American colonies, it required that all newspapers, pamp...

Maury, Matthew Fontaine

(Encyclopedia)Maury, Matthew Fontaine fŏntānˈ môrˈē [key], 1806–73, American hydrographer and naval officer, b. near Fredericksburg, Va. Appointed a midshipman in 1825, he saw varied sea duty until a stagec...

Mayakovsky, Vladimir Vladimirovich

(Encyclopedia)Mayakovsky, Vladimir Vladimirovich vlədyēˈmĭr vlədyēˈmĭrəvĭch mīˌəkôfˈskē [key], 1893–1930, Russian poet and dramatist. Mayakovsky was a leader of the futurist school in 1912, and he...

Medici, Ippolito de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Ippolito de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1511–35, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church; an illegitimate son of Giuliano de' Medici, duke of Nemours. Pope Clement VII, head ...

Martineau, Harriet

(Encyclopedia)Martineau, Harriet märˈtĭnō [key], 1802–76, English author. A journalist rather than a writer of literature, she was an enormously popular author. Her success is the more remarkable since she wa...

Marvell, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Marvell, Andrew märˈvəl [key], 1621–78, one of the English metaphysical poets. Educated at Cambridge, he worked as a clerk, traveled abroad, and returned to serve as tutor to Lord Fairfax's daugh...

Hindi

(Encyclopedia)Hindi hĭnˈdē [key], language belonging to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The official language of India, Hindi is the written or literary va...