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Mukherjee, Pranab Kumar

(Encyclopedia)Mukherjee, Pranab Kumar, 1935–2020, Indian political leader. He was a lawyer, college teacher, and journalist before entering politics, and from 1972 (except for 1986–88) was a member of the Congr...

Prix de Rome, Grand

(Encyclopedia)Prix de Rome, Grand gräN prē də rôm [key], prize awarded annually by the French government, through competitive examination, to students of the fine arts. It entitles them to four years' study at ...

Decazes, Élie

(Encyclopedia)Decazes, Élie ālēˈ dəkäzˈ [key], 1780–1860, French statesman, a favorite of King Louis XVIII, who made him a duke in 1820. A lawyer and judge, Decazes was made minister of police in 1815 and ...

W and Z particles

(Encyclopedia)W and Z particles, elementary particles that mediate, or carry, the fundamental force associated with weak interactions. The discovery of the W and Z particles at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, in the...

Notre Dame Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Notre Dame Mountains, section of the Appalachian system, extending c.500 mi (800 km) from the Green Mts. of Vermont into the Gaspé Peninsula, Canada. Worn low by erosion, the ancient mountains have a...

Gérando, Joseph Marie de

(Encyclopedia)Gérando, Joseph Marie de zhôzĕfˈ märēˈ də zhāräNdōˈ [key], 1772–1842, French philosopher and political figure. Joining the insurrection in Lyons against the French Revolutionary governme...

Winston-Salem

(Encyclopedia)Winston-Salem, city (1990 pop. 143,485), seat of Forsyth co., central N.C., in the Piedmont; inc. 1913. It is one of North Carolina's largest cities and foremost industrial centers. Historically a maj...

Maryland, University System of

(Encyclopedia)Maryland, University System of, state-supported system of higher education in Maryland, est. 1988 as the University of Maryland System, renamed 1997. It includes all but two of the publicly supported ...

Mineta, Norman Yoshio

(Encyclopedia)Mineta, Norman Yoshio, 1931–2022, American government official, the first Asian American to be appointed to a cabinet post, b. San Jose, Calif. Of Jap...

Dupleix, Joseph François

(Encyclopedia)Dupleix, Joseph François zhôzĕfˈ fräNswäˈ düplĕksˈ [key], 1697–1763, French colonial administrator in India. He went to India in 1721 as an officer of the French East India Company. In 173...