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Oppenheimer, J. Robert

(Encyclopedia)Oppenheimer, J. Robert ŏpˈənhīˌmər [key], 1904–67, American physicist, b. New York City, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1925), Ph.D. Univ. of Göttingen, 1927. He taught at the Univ. of California and t...

Du Pont, Pierre Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Du Pont, Pierre Samuel, 1870–1954, American industrialist, b. Wilmington, Del., grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1890. Du Pont worked as a chemist with the family's company, helping to d...

Duvalier, Jean-Claude

(Encyclopedia)Duvalier, Jean-Claude düvälyāˈ [key], 1951–2014, president of Haiti (1971–86). At age 19, he was proclaimed “president for life” upon the death of his father, Francois Duvalier. Under gre...

easement

(Encyclopedia)easement, in law, the right to use the land of another for a specified purpose, as distinguished from the right to possess that land. If the easement benefits the holder personally and is not associat...

defibrillator

(Encyclopedia)defibrillator, device that delivers an electrical shock to the heart in order to stop certain forms of rapid heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). The shock changes a fibrillation to an organized r...

Humala Tasso, Ollanta Moisés

(Encyclopedia)Humala Tasso, Ollanta Moisés, 1962–, Peruvian army officer and political leader, b. Lima. The son of a labor lawyer, Humala joined the Peruvian army in 1982, became an officer, and during the 1990s...

Herndon, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Herndon, William Henry, 1818–91, friend, law partner, and biographer of Abraham Lincoln, b. Greensburg, Ky. In 1844 he became the junior member of the Springfield, Ill., law firm of Lincoln and Hern...

Grisham, John

(Encyclopedia)Grisham, John, 1955–, American novelist and lawyer, b. Jonesboro, Ark., B.S. Mississippi State Univ., 1977, J.D. Univ. of Mississippi School of Law, 1981. He practiced law for nearly a decade and se...

Anderson, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Jack (Jackson Northman Anderson), 1922–2005, American newspaper columnist, b. Long Beach, Calif. After serving as a Mormon missionary (1941–44) and a term as a war correspondent during 1...

Gilman, Alfred Goodman

(Encyclopedia)Gilman, Alfred Goodman, 1941–2015, American biochemist, b. New Haven, Conn., M.D., Ph.D. Case Western Reserve Univ., 1969. He taught at the Univ. of Virginia (1971–1981) before becoming a professo...