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Gregoras, Nicephorus

(Encyclopedia)Gregoras, Nicephorus nīsĕfˈərəs grĕgˈərəs [key], c.1295–c.1359, Byzantine historian and theologian, one of the most learned men of his time. Among his scientific and philosophical works is ...

Fukuyama, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Fukuyama, Francis, 1952–, American political scientist, b. Chicago, grad. Cornell (B.A., 1974), Harvard (Ph.D., 1981). He has been a political scientist at the RAND Corporation (1979–80, 1983–89...

Matthew of Paris

(Encyclopedia)Matthew of Paris or Matthew Paris, d. 1259, English historian, a monk of St. Albans. He became the historiographer of the convent after the death (c.1236) of Roger of Wendover. The first part of his C...

Nye, Edgar Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Nye, Edgar Wilson nī [key], known as Bill Nye, 1850–96, American humorist and journalist, b. Shirley Mills, Maine. He lived in Wisconsin from 1852 to 1876, when he went to Wyoming. There he was adm...

Peace Corps

(Encyclopedia)Peace Corps, agency of the U.S. government, whose purpose is to assist underdeveloped countries in meeting their needs for trained manpower. The Peace Corps was established in 1961 by executive order ...

Lowie, Robert Harry

(Encyclopedia)Lowie, Robert Harry, or Robert Heinrich Lowie lōˈē [key], 1883–1957, American anthropologist, b. Vienna, grad. College of the City of New York, 1901, Ph.D. Columbia, 1908. He was on the staff of ...

Lang, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Lang, Andrew, 1844–1912, English scholar and man of letters, b. Scotland. His poetry, much of it written in the forms of ballades, triolets, and rondeaux, appeared in such volumes as his Ballads in ...

Burns, Ken

(Encyclopedia)Burns, Ken (Kenneth Lauren Burns), 1953–, American documentary filmmaker, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Hampshire College (1975). Acting as producer, director, and cinematographer, Burns typically explor...

Wilson, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Henry, 1812–75, American politician, Vice President of the United States (1873–75), b. Farmington, N.H. At 21 he legally changed his name from Jeremiah Jones Colbath, and as Henry Wilson h...

Updike, Daniel Berkeley

(Encyclopedia)Updike, Daniel Berkeley ŭpˈdīkˌ [key], 1860–1941, American printer and historian of typography, b. Providence, R.I. At the Merrymount Press, which he founded in 1893 in Boston, his stated purpos...