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Hoffmann, Jules Alphonse

(Encyclopedia)Hoffmann, Jules Alphonse, 1941–, French biologist, Ph.D. Univ. of Strasbourg, 1969. Hoffmann was a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, Strasbourg, from 1974 to 2009. In...

French, Daniel Chester

(Encyclopedia)French, Daniel Chester, 1850–1931, American sculptor, b. Exeter, N.H., studied in Florence and in Boston with William Rimmer. After executing his first large work, The Minute Man (1875), he received...

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

(Encyclopedia)Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), civil-rights organization founded in 1957 by Martin Luther King, Jr., and headed by him until his assassination in 1968. Composed largely of African-Am...

Bewick, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bewick, Thomas byo͞oˈĭk [key], 1753–1828, English wood engraver. Bewick pioneered in the revival of original wood engraving. Among his famous early works are his illustrations for John Gay's Fabl...

Schreiner, Olive

(Encyclopedia)Schreiner, Olive shrīˈnər [key], pseud. Ralph Iron, 1855–1920, South African author and feminist, b. Wittebergen Reserve, Cape Colony. After several years as a governess, she went to England in 1...

Sturges, Preston

(Encyclopedia)Sturges, Preston stûrˈjĭs [key], 1898–1959, American film director, screenwriter, and producer, b. Chicago as Edmond Preston Biden. Educated in the United States and Europe, he turned to playwrit...

black humor

(Encyclopedia)black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...

Mikita, Stan

(Encyclopedia)Mikita, Stan, 1940–2018, Canadian hockey player, b. Sokolče, Czechoslovakia (a former village whose site is now in Slovakia), as Stanislav Gvoth [key]. Adopted by relatives in Ontario, Canada, Mik...

Pratt, Parley Parker

(Encyclopedia)Pratt, Parley Parker, 1807–57, Mormon apostle, b. Otsego co., N.Y.; brother of Orson Pratt. He joined (1830) the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was made an apostle in 1835. In 1838,...

Tanganyika, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Tanganyika, Lake, second largest lake of Africa, c.12,700 sq mi (32,890 sq km), E central Africa on the borders of Tanzania, Congo (Kinshasa), Zambia, and Burundi. It is c.420 mi (680 km) long and up ...