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Baade, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Baade, Walter välˈtər bäˈdə [key], 1893–1960, German-born American astronomer. From 1919 to 1931 he was on the staff of the Hamburg observatory; from 1931 to 1958, at the Mt. Wilson observator...

Malevich, Casimir

(Encyclopedia)Malevich, Casimir or Kasimir both: käˈsĭmēr mälyāˈvĭch [key], 1878–1935, Russian painter. Moving to Moscow in 1906, he became involved in avant-garde artistic circles. He worked first in a s...

Lewis, Wyndham

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, Wyndham (Percy Wyndham Lewis) wĭnˈdəm [key], 1886–1957, English author and painter, born on a ship on the Bay of Fundy. With Ezra Pound, he was cofounder and editor of Blast (1914–15), a...

serial music

(Encyclopedia)serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—t...

election

(Encyclopedia)election, choosing a candidate for office in an organization by the vote of those enfranchised to cast a ballot. In the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, and many other nations, usuall...

Commagene

(Encyclopedia)Commagene kŏməjēˈnē [key], ancient district of N Syria, on the Euphrates River and S of the Taurus range, now in SE Asian Turkey. Its metropolis, Samosata, was founded by Samos, the king of Comma...

city-state

(Encyclopedia)city-state, in ancient Greece, Italy, and Medieval Europe, an independent political unit consisting of a city and surrounding countryside. The first city-states were in Sumer, but they reached their p...

Christophe, Henri

(Encyclopedia)Christophe, Henri äNrēˈ krēstôfˈ [key], 1767–1820, Haitian revolutionary leader. A freed black slave, he aided Toussaint Louverture in the liberation of Haiti and was army chief under Dessalin...

Fahrenheit temperature scale

(Encyclopedia)Fahrenheit temperature scale fârˈənhītˌ [key], temperature scale in which the temperature difference between two reference temperatures, the melting and boiling points of water, is divided into 1...

Henry II, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Henry II, 1519–59, king of France (1547–59), son of King Francis I. His robust physique contrasted with his weak and pliant disposition. Throughout his reign he was governed by Anne de Montmorency...