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police power

(Encyclopedia)police power, in law, right of a government to make laws necessary for the health, morals, and welfare of the populace. The term has greatest currency in the United States, where it has been defined b...

Kircher, Athanasius

(Encyclopedia)Kircher, Athanasius ätänäˈzēo͝os kĭrkhˈər [key], 1601?–1680, German Jesuit archaeologist, mathematician, biologist, philologist, astronomer, musicologist, and physicist. One of the world's ...

Lysippos

(Encyclopedia)Lysippos līsĭpˈəs [key], fl. late 4th cent. b.c., Greek sculptor, head of the Sicyon school. Hellenistic sculpture was based largely on the style he introduced. In treating the human figure, he mo...

Willet, Marinus

(Encyclopedia)Willet, Marinus mərēˈnəs wĭlˈĭt [key], 1740–1830, American Revolutionary soldier, b. Jamaica, N.Y. In the French and Indian War he was (1758) a member of the expeditions against Fort Ticonder...

Radio Free Europe

(Encyclopedia)Radio Free Europe (RFE), broadcasting organization established in 1950 with the stated mission of promoting democratic values and institutions. Its original purpose was to broadcast news to countries ...

Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus

(Encyclopedia)Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus fĭlĭpˈəs ôrēōˈləs părəsĕlˈsəs [key], 1493?–1541, Swiss physician and alchemist. His original name Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. He traveled widel...

Randolph, John

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, John, 1773–1833, American legislator, known as John Randolph of Roanoke, b. Prince George co., Va. He briefly studied law under his cousin Edmund Randolph. He served in the U.S. House of R...

Henry, Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Henry, Patrick, 1736–99, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Hanover co., Va. Largely self-educated, he became a prominent trial lawyer. Henry bitterly denounced (1765) the Stamp Act and...

Caligula

(Encyclopedia)Caligula kəlĭgˈyo͝olə [key], a.d. 12–a.d. 41, Roman emperor (a.d. 37–a.d. 41); son of Germanicus Caesar and Agrippina the Elder. His real name was Caius Caesar Germanicus. As a small child, h...

Gettysburg Address

(Encyclopedia)Gettysburg Address, speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln on Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of the national cemetery on the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg, Pa. It is one of the most famous and mo...