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Lamb, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lamb, Charles, 1775–1834, English essayist, b. London. He went to school at Christ's Hospital, where his lifelong friendship with Coleridge began. Lamb was a clerk at the India House from 1792 to 18...

nylon

(Encyclopedia)nylon, synthetic thermoplastic material characterized by strength, elasticity, resistance to abrasion and chemicals, low moisture absorbency, and capacity to be permanently set by heat. After 10 years...

Oakley, Annie

(Encyclopedia)Oakley, Annie, 1860–1926, American theatrical performer, b. Darke co., Ohio. Her original name was Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee. From childhood on she was a “dead shot” with a rifle. She defeated in...

Crane, Hart

(Encyclopedia)Crane, Hart (Harold Hart Crane), 1899–1932, American poet, b. Garrettsville, Ohio. He published only two volumes of poetry during his lifetime, but those works established Crane as one of the most o...

Reconstruction

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...

Porter, Cole

(Encyclopedia)Porter, Cole, 1891–1964, American composer and lyricist, b. Peru, Ind., grad. Yale, 1913. Porter's witty, sophisticated lyrics and his affecting melodies place him high in the ranks of American comp...

Rougemont, Denis de

(Encyclopedia)Rougemont, Denis de dənēˈ də ro͞ozhmôNˈ [key], 1906–85, French philosopher and critic, b. Switzerland. He moved to Paris in 1936 and published numerous articles on existentialism, some of whi...

Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (table)

(Encyclopedia)Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ...

Schiff, Jacob Henry

(Encyclopedia)Schiff, Jacob Henry, 1847–1920, American banker and philanthropist, b. Frankfurt, Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1865 and became a partner in a brokerage house in New York City. At th...

Powell, John Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Powell, John Wesley, 1834–1902, American geologist and ethnologist, b. Mt. Morris (now part of New York City). The family moved to Illinois, where Powell joined the Natural History Society, making c...