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Hill, Geoffrey

(Encyclopedia)Hill, Geoffrey (Sir Geoffrey William Hill), 1932–2016, English poet, b. Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, grad. Oxford. Widely hailed as one of the finest poets of his generation, he wrote complex, densel...

Mussolini, Benito

(Encyclopedia)Mussolini, Benito bānēˈtō mo͞os-sōlēˈnē [key], 1883–1945, Italian dictator and leader of the Fascist movement. Mussolini was at first cool to Adolf Hitler and opposed his designs on Aus...

Samoa, country, SW Pacific Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Samoa, formerly Western Samoa, officially Independent State of Samoa, constitutional monarchy (2015 est. pop. 194,000), South Pacific, comprising the western half of the Samoa island chain. There are ...

eclecticism, in philosophy

(Encyclopedia)eclecticism ĭklĕkˈtĭsĭzˌəm [key] [Gr. eklektikos=to choose], in philosophy, the selection of elements from different systems of thought, without regard to possible contradictions between the sy...

Barthou, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Barthou, Louis lwē bärto͞oˈ [key], 1862–1934, French cabinet minister and man of letters. He held portfolios in numerous cabinets after 1894 and was briefly premier in July–Aug., 1913. His gov...

Iohannis, Klaus Werner

(Encyclopedia)Iohannis, Klaus Werner, 1959–, Romanian political leader, b. Sibiu, grad. Babeş-Bolyai Univ., 1983. An ethnic German and a physics teacher and public school official, he was elected mayor of Sibiu ...

Guimard, Hector

(Encyclopedia)Guimard, Hector ĕktôrˈ gēmärˈ [key], 1867–1942, French architect and furniture designer. Influenced by Victor Horta, he became the first and foremost French architect of art nouveau. The most ...

Maurois, André

(Encyclopedia)Maurois, André äNdrāˈ mōrwäˈ [key], 1885–1967, French biographer, novelist, and essayist. His name was originally Émile Herzog. His first work, The Silence of Colonel Bramble (1918, tr. 1920...

Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore

(Encyclopedia)Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore zhôzĕfˈ nēsāfôrˈ nyĕps [key], 1765–1833, French chemist who originated a process of photography (see photography, still). In 1826 he produced the first known photo...

Macdonald, Jacques Étienne Joseph Alexandre

(Encyclopedia)Macdonald, Jacques Étienne Joseph Alexandre zhäk ātyĕnˈzhôzĕfˈ älĕksäNˈdrə mäkdônälˈ [key], 1765–1840, marshal of France, of Scottish descent. He distinguished himself in the French...