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lightning rod

(Encyclopedia)lightning rod, a rod made of materials, especially metals, that are good conductors of electricity, which is mounted on top of a building or other structure and attached to the ground by a cable. By v...

bridge, card game

(Encyclopedia)bridge, card game derived from whist, played with 52 cards by four players in two partnerships. Bridge probably originated in the Middle East in the 19th cent. Auction bridge, one form of the game, ...

Gilbert, William

(Encyclopedia)Gilbert, William, 1544–1603, English scientist and physician. He studied medicine at Cambridge (M.D., 1569), where he was elected a Fellow of St. John's College, and set up practice in London, becom...

Nitze, Paul Henry

(Encyclopedia)Nitze, Paul Henry nĭtˈsə [key], 1907–2004, American public official, b. Amherst, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1927. After working in investment banking, he entered government service in 1940 and served ...

Douglas, William, 6th earl of Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, William, 6th earl of Douglas, 1423?–1440, Scottish nobleman, eldest son of Archibald Douglas, 5th earl of Douglas. In answer to an invitation from the young James II, who was at that time c...

Ferdinand I, king of Aragón and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand I, 1379?–1416, king of Aragón and Sicily and count of Barcelona (1412–16), second son of John I of Castile; nephew and successor of Martin of Aragón. In 1406, Ferdinand became regent o...

Goren, Charles Henry

(Encyclopedia)Goren, Charles Henry gôrˈən [key], 1901–91, American expert on bridge, b. Philadelphia, grad. McGill Univ., 1922. Goren played bridge as a law student and by 1931 was competing in major tournamen...

Arakcheyev, Aleksey Andreyevich

(Encyclopedia)Arakcheyev, Aleksey Andreyevich əlĭksyāˈ əndrāˈyəvĭch äräkchāˈyĕf [key], 1769–1834, Russian general, adviser to Czar Alexander I. An exacting officer, he helped organize the bodyguard ...

Benedetti, Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Benedetti, Vincent bānādĕtˈtē [key], 1817–1900, French diplomat, b. Corsica, made a count by Napoleon III. He was ambassador to Prussia from 1864 to 1870. In an interview (1870) at Ems with Ki...

Sophia Dorothea

(Encyclopedia)Sophia Dorothea sōfīˈə dŏrəthēˈə [key], 1666–1726, electress of Hanover, wife of Elector George Louis (later King George I of England); sometimes called Sophia Dorothea of Celle. Married to...