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oasis

(Encyclopedia)oasis ōāˈsĭs [key], an area within a desert where the water table reaches the surface, with enough moisture to permit the growth of vegetation. The water may come up to the surface in springs, or ...

Castelo Branco, Humberto

(Encyclopedia)Castelo Branco, Humberto o͞ombĕrˈto͝o kəshtĕˈlo͝o brängˈko͝o [key], 1900–1967, president of Brazil (1964–67). An army officer, he served as chief of staff of the Brazilian army before p...

Taishō

(Encyclopedia)Taishō tīˈshō [key], 1879–1926, reign name of emperor of Japan (1912–26). His given name was Yoshihito. The son of Mutsuhito, the Meiji emperor, he succeeded to the throne in 1912, but because...

Britton, Nathaniel Lord

(Encyclopedia)Britton, Nathaniel Lord, 1859–1934, American botanist, grad. Columbia School of Mines, 1879. He taught geology and botany at Columbia, 1879–96. He was the New York Botanical Garden's first directo...

Amman

(Encyclopedia)Amman ämänˈ [key], city (1997 est. pop. 1,415,000), capital of Jordan, N central Jordan, on the Jabbok (Wadi Zerka) River. Jordan's largest city and industrial and commercial heart, it is also a tr...

life

(Encyclopedia)life, although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and ...

monetarism

(Encyclopedia)monetarism, economic theory that monetary policy, or control of the money supply, is the primary if not sole determinant of a nation's economy. Monetarists believe that management of the money supply ...

Lucas, Robert Emerson, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Lucas, Robert Emerson, Jr., 1937–2023, American economist, b. Yakima, Wash., Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1964. Lucas taught at Carnegie Mellon Univ. (1963...

Koffka, Kurt

(Encyclopedia)Koffka, Kurt kŏfˈkə, Ger. ko͝ort kôfˈkä [key], 1886–1941, American psychologist, b. Germany, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1908. Before settling permanently in the United States in 1928 as a profess...

Klein, Ralph Phillip

(Encyclopedia)Klein, Ralph Phillip, 1942–2013, Canadian politician, b. Calgary. He served in the Canadian air force and worked in public relations and as a weathercaster and reporter in radio and television befor...