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business cycles

(Encyclopedia)business cycles, fluctuations in economic activity characterized by periods of rising and falling fiscal health. During a business cycle, an economy grows, reaches a peak, and then begins a downturn f...

Bose, Subhas Chandra

(Encyclopedia)Bose, Subhas Chandra sho͝obhäshˈ chŭnˈdrə bōs [key], 1897–1945?, Indian nationalist also known as Netaji. He began his political career in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and soon became the leader of...

Cassirer, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Cassirer, Ernst ĕrnst käsērˈər [key], 1874–1945, German philosopher. He was a professor at the Univ. of Hamburg from 1919 until 1933, when he went to Oxford; he later taught at Yale and Columbi...

Mason, George

(Encyclopedia)Mason, George, 1725–92, American political leader, b. Fairfax co., Va. He was one of the most affluent of the colonial Virginia planters. In his triple capacity as trustee of Alexandria (1754–79),...

Cromer, Evelyn Baring, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Cromer, Evelyn Baring, 1st earl of ēvˈlĭn bârˈĭng krōˈmər [key], 1841–1917, British administrator in Egypt. Appointed (1877) first British commissioner of the Egyptian public debt office, h...

Hemings, Sally

(Encyclopedia)Hemings, Sally, 1773–1835, African-American slave owned by Thomas Jefferson, b. Charles City co., Va.; her original name was probably Sarah. Her father was John Wayles, Jefferson's father-in-law; he...

Goodyear, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Goodyear, Charles, 1800–1860, American inventor, b. New Haven, Conn., originator of vulcanized rubber. He failed in his earlier business ventures and was in jail for debt when he began his experimen...

Noyce, Robert Norton

(Encyclopedia)Noyce, Robert Norton nois [key], 1927–90, American engineer, inventor, and entrepeneur, b. Burlington, Iowa.; grad. Grinnell College (B.A., 1949), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1953)...

Levi, Primo

(Encyclopedia)Levi, Primo prēˈmō lāˈvē [key], 1919–87, Italian writer. A chemist of Jewish descent, Levi was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz during World War II. His first memoir, If This Is a M...

Lewis, Jerry

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, Jerry, 1926–2017, extremely popular and influential American comedian, b. Newark, N.J. as Jerome Levitch. The son of vaudevillians, he entered show business early and entertained in the “bo...