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Erlanger, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Erlanger, Joseph ûrˈlăng-ər [key], 1874–1965, American scientist, b. San Francisco, grad. Univ. of California (B.S., 1895), M.D. Johns Hopkins, 1899. For his contributions to physiology, especia...

Moody, William Vaughn

(Encyclopedia)Moody, William Vaughn, 1869–1910, American poet and dramatist, b. Spencer, Ind., grad. Harvard, 1893. After writing several verse dramas, Moody achieved wide success with the prose play The Great Di...

Camisards

(Encyclopedia)Camisards kămˈĭsärdz, Fr. kämēsärˈ [key], Protestant peasants of the Cévennes region of France who in 1702 rebelled against the persecutions that followed the revocation (1685) of the Edict o...

agnosticism

(Encyclopedia)agnosticism ăgnŏsˈtĭsĭzəm [key], form of skepticism that holds that the existence of God cannot be logically proved or disproved. Among prominent agnostics have been Auguste Comte, Herbert Spenc...

Choctaw

(Encyclopedia)Choctaw chŏkˈtô [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They formerly occupied central and...

sandpiper

(Encyclopedia)sandpiper, common name for some members of the large family Scolopacidae, small shore birds, including the snipe and the curlew. Sandpipers are wading birds with relatively long legs and long, slender...

Bakst, Lev Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Bakst, Lev Nikolayevich lyĕf nyĭkəlīˈəvyĭch bäkst [key], 1868–1924, Russian scene designer and painter. His original, imaginative style and brilliant color exerted a wide influence on costum...

Tate, Nahum

(Encyclopedia)Tate, Nahum nāˈhəm [key], 1652–1715, English poet and dramatist, b. Dublin. He wrote several popular adaptations of Shakespeare, the most famous being his King Lear (1681), in which he omitted th...

fraternity and sorority

(Encyclopedia)fraternity and sorority, in American colleges, a student society formed for social purposes, into which members are initiated by invitation and occasionally by a period of trial known as hazing. Frate...

Cremin, Lawrence Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Cremin, Lawrence Arthur krĕmˈĭn [key], 1925–91, American educator and historian, b. New York City. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1949 and began teaching at Teachers College, Columbia. He...