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Peary Land

(Encyclopedia)Peary Land, peninsula, N Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It terminates in Cape Bridgman in the northeast and Cape Morris Jesup in the north, the most northerly point of land yet discovered...

Widener, Harry Elkins

(Encyclopedia)Widener, Harry Elkins wīdˈnər [key], 1885–1912, American bibliophile, b. Philadelphia. He had the greatest Robert Louis Stevenson collection in existence. Widener died at the age of 27 on the Tit...

Vanderbilt University

(Encyclopedia)Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn.; coeducational; chartered 1872 as Central Univ. of Methodist Episcopal Church, founded and renamed 1873, opened 1875 through a gift from Cornelius Vanderbilt...

Brookings Institution

(Encyclopedia)Brookings Institution, at Washington, D.C.; chartered 1927 as a consolidation of the Institute for Government Research (est. 1916), the Institute of Economics (est. 1922), and the Robert S. Brookings ...

self-fulfilling prophecy

(Encyclopedia)self-fulfilling prophecy, a concept developed by Robert K. Merton to explain how a belief or expectation, whether correct or not, affects the outcome of a situation or the way a person (or group) will...

Colonial Heights

(Encyclopedia)Colonial Heights, city (2020 pop. 18,170), in, but independent of, Chesterfield co., SE Va.; inc. as a city 1948. Chemicals, metal products, and whiskey...

Munday, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Munday, Anthony, 1553–1633, English author, b. London. After spending his early years as an actor, he turned to writing. His literary output includes a number of plays (many written in collaboration...

atomism

(Encyclopedia)atomism, philosophic concept of the nature of the universe, holding that the universe is composed of invisible, indestructible material particles. The theory was first advanced in the 5th cent. b.c. b...

Nasmyth, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Nasmyth, Alexander nāˈsmĭth [key], 1758–1840, Scottish landscape and portrait painter. His Stirling Castle (National Gall., London) is a good example of his simple, picturesque Scottish scenes. H...

Orr, Bobby

(Encyclopedia)Orr, Bobby (Robert Orr), 1948–, Canadian hockey player. He began skating at the age of 4 and was discovered by the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League at age 12. He began playing with the Br...