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Everest, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Everest, Sir George ēvˈrəst [key], 1790–1866, British surveyor, b. Breconshire, Wales. He worked on the trigonometrical survey of India from 1806 to 1843. He became superintendent of the survey i...

O'Meara, Barry Edward

(Encyclopedia)O'Meara, Barry Edward ōmäˈrə [key], 1786–1836, Irish physician. A surgeon in the British navy, he attended the exiled French emperor Napoleon I on St. Helena and became involved in a feud with N...

Wolcott, Oliver, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

(Encyclopedia)Wolcott, Oliver, 1760–1833, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1795–1800), b. Litchfield, Conn; son of Oliver Wolcott. Admitted to the bar in 1781, he served as Connecticut comptroller (1788–89), a...

Halsted, William Stewart

(Encyclopedia)Halsted, William Stewart hôlˈstĭd [key], 1852–1922, American surgeon, b. New York City, M.D. College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1877. He practiced in New York and in 1886 became the first profes...

Plumb, Sir John Harold

(Encyclopedia)Plumb, Sir John Harold, 1911–2001, British historian. Educated at the universities of Leicester (B.A., 1933) and Cambridge (Ph.D., 1936), he remained at Cambridge as a research fellow from 1938 and ...

Marlborough, John Churchill, 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Marlborough, John Churchill, 1st duke of märlˈbərə, môlˈ– [key], 1650–1722, English general and statesman, one of the greatest military commanders of history. A great strategist and a shrewd...

Coningham, Sir Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Coningham, Sir Arthur kŭnˈĭng-əm [key], 1895–1948, British air marshal, b. Australia. During World War I, he served first in the New Zealand army and then joined (1916) the Royal Flying Corps, a...

English art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)English art and architecture, the distinctive national art and architecture that art may be said to have evolved in the 12th cent. with the Norman style. Building before that time was in what is commo...

Holmes, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Holmes, William Henry, 1846–1933, American geologist, anthropologist, and museum director, b. Harrison co., Ohio. He was internationally recognized for his work in museum science. In 1872 he became ...

Gawain, Sir

(Encyclopedia)Gawain, Sir gäˈwān, –wĭn [key], one of the most popular heroes of Arthurian legend; nephew of King Arthur. He was regarded, particularly in the early romances, as the model of chivalry—pure, b...