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Wollstonecraft, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Wollstonecraft, Mary wo͝olˈstənkräft, –krăft [key], 1759–97, English author and feminist, b. London. She was an early proponent of educational equality between men and women, expressing this ...

Blair, Francis Preston, 1791–1876, American journalist and politician

(Encyclopedia)Blair, Francis Preston, 1791–1876, American journalist and politician, b. Abingdon, Va. Through the Frankfort, Ky., journal Argus of Western America, which he edited with Amos Kendall, Blair was an ...

Bourdonnais, Louis de la

(Encyclopedia)Bourdonnais, Louis de la (Louis-Charles Mahé de la Bourdonnais), 1795–1840, French chess player, b. La Réunion. A pupil of Alexandre Deschappelles, he defeated his mentor in 1821 and from then unt...

Commager, Henry Steele

(Encyclopedia)Commager, Henry Steele kŏmˈĭjər [key], 1902–98, American historian, b. Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Chicago in 1928 and taught history at New York Univ. (1926–38), C...

Scripps, Edward Wyllis

(Encyclopedia)Scripps, Edward Wyllis, 1854–1926, American newspaper publisher, b. Rushville, Ill. He began (1873) his career on the staff of the Detroit Evening News, a paper founded and edited by his half-brothe...

Baker, Ray Stannard

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Ray Stannard, pseud. David Grayson, 1870–1946, American author, b. Lansing, Mich., grad. Michigan State College (now Michigan State Univ.), 1889. At first a Chicago newspaper reporter, he joi...

Beuys, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Beuys, Joseph yōˈzĕf bois [key], 1921–86, German artist, b. Krefeld; one of the most influential of postmodern artists. Drafted into the Luftwaffe during World War II, he was wounded several time...

Gibbon, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Gibbon, Edward, 1737–94, English historian, author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. His childhood was sickly, and he had little formal education but read enormously and om...

von Braun, Wernher

(Encyclopedia)von Braun, Wernher vôn broun [key], 1912–77, German-American rocket scientist and astronautics engineer, b. Germany, grad. Berlin Technological Institute (B.S., 1932), Univ. of Berlin (Ph.D., 1934)...

Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques zhäN zhäk bo͝orlämäkēˈ [key], 1694–1748, Swiss jurist. His chief works are Principes du droit naturel [principles of natural law] (1747) and Principes du droit politi...