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Cartwright, Alexander Joy

(Encyclopedia)Cartwright, Alexander Joy, 1820–92, American baseball player, b. New York City. He worked as a bank teller and a bookseller, and was a volunteer firefighter with the Knickerbocker Fire Engine Compan...

Castrén, Matthias Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Castrén, Matthias Alexander mätēˈäs älĕksänˈdər kästrānˈ [key], 1813–52, Finnish philologist, one of the first scholars to study the Finno-Ugric languages. Castrén was long a professor...

Ovechkin, Alexander Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Ovechkin, Alexander Mikhailovich, 1985–, Russian hockey player. He joined Dynamo Moscow, a professional team, at 16, and led Russia to a junior championship. A Washington Capitals first-round pick i...

Douglas, William, 6th earl of Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, William, 6th earl of Douglas, 1423?–1440, Scottish nobleman, eldest son of Archibald Douglas, 5th earl of Douglas. In answer to an invitation from the young James II, who was at that time c...

Shakespeare, William

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616, English dramatist and poet, b. Stratford-upon-Avon. He is widely considered the greatest playwright who ever lived. For about 150 years after his death ...

Barrow, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Barrow, Isaac, 1630–77, English mathematician and theologian. His method of finding tangents prefigured the differential calculus developed by Isaac Newton. He was professor of mathematics at Cambri...

Stigand

(Encyclopedia)Stigand stĭgˈənd [key], d. 1072, English prelate. He held simultaneously the sees of Winchester and Canterbury from 1052 though official recognition of this did not come until 1058 from Benedict X,...

Long Island, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Long Island, battle of, Aug. 27, 1776, American defeat in the American Revolution. To protect New York City and the lower Hudson valley from the British forces massed on Staten Island, George Washingt...

Alexander, king of Greece

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, 1893–1920, king of the Hellenes (1917–20), second son of Constantine I. After his father's forced abdication, he succeeded to the Greek throne with the support of the Allies, who distru...

Alexander, king of Serbia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander (Alexander Obrenović) ōbrĕˈnəvĭch [key], 1876–1903, king of Serbia (1889–1903), son of King Milan. He succeeded on his father's abdication. Proclaiming himself of age in 1893, he t...