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Benson, Ezra Taft

(Encyclopedia)Benson, Ezra Taft, 1899–1994, U.S. secretary of agriculture (1953–61), b. Whitney, Idaho. An extension economist and marketing specialist at the Univ. of Idaho (1930–38) and executive secretary ...

logarithm

(Encyclopedia)logarithm lŏgˈərĭᵺəm [key] [Gr.,=relation number], number associated with a positive number, being the power to which a third number, called the base, must be raised in order to obtain the give...

Ssu-ma Ch'ien

(Encyclopedia)Ssu-ma Ch'ien so͝oˈmä chyĕn [key], 145?–90? b.c., Chinese historian; sometimes called the Father of Chinese History. He succeeded his father, Ssu-ma T'an, as grand historian (an office then deal...

Blok, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Blok, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich əlyĭksänˈdər əlyĭksänˈdrəvĭch blôk [key], 1880–1921, Russian poet, considered the greatest of the Russian symbolists. As the leading disciple of Vladimir S...

Phyfe, Duncan

(Encyclopedia)Phyfe, Duncan fīf [key], c.1768–1854, American cabinetmaker, b. Scotland. He emigrated to America c.1783, settling at Albany, N.Y., where he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker. In the early 1790s he...

Chinook, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Chinook shĭno͝okˈ, chĭ– [key], Native American tribe of the Penutian linguistic stock. Altogether twelve main tribes spoke Chinook languages; all were in the Columbia River valley. The Chinook t...

Alfonso X, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso X (Alfonso the Wise), 1221–84, Spanish king of Castile and León (1252–84); son and successor of Ferdinand III, whose conquests of the Moors he continued, notably by taking Cádiz (1262). ...

Empire style

(Encyclopedia)Empire style, manner of French interior decoration and costume which evolved from the Directoire style. Designated Empire because of its identification with the reign of Napoleon I, it was largely ins...

Martin, Frank

(Encyclopedia)Martin, Frank fräNk märtăNˈ [key], 1890–1974, Swiss composer, b. Geneva. He studied mathematics and physics at the Univ. of Geneva and studied composition and music with Joseph Lauber and Jaques...

John, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John, Saint, one of the Twelve Apostles, traditional author of the fourth Gospel, three letters, and the Book of Revelation (see John, Gospel according to Saint; John, letters; Revelation); it is high...