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Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757–1844, British statesman. He entered Parliament in 1784 and in 1789, through the sponsorship of William Pitt, became speaker of the House of Commons. He subs...

Roscoe, Sir Henry Enfield

(Encyclopedia)Roscoe, Sir Henry Enfield rŏsˈkō [key], 1833–1915, English chemist. He was professor (1857–87) at Owens College, Manchester. He is known for his work, with R. W. Bunsen, in photochemistry and f...

Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry

(Encyclopedia)Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 1836–1908, British statesman. Entering Parliament (1868) as a Liberal, he served as secretary to the admiralty (1882–84), secretary of state for Ireland (1884), and ...

Baker, Howard Henry, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Howard Henry, Jr., 1925–2014, U.S. politician and public official, b. Huntsville, Tenn., grad. Univ. of Tennessee Law College 1949. The son of Howard Henry Baker, 1902–64, a lawyer, newspap...

Perkin, Sir William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Perkin, Sir William Henry, 1838–1907, English chemist. In 1856 he discovered the first aniline dye (aniline purple, known as mauve and mauveine); by founding a factory to make it, Perkin established...

Dias, Bartolomeu

(Encyclopedia)Dias, Bartolomeu bärˌto͝olo͝omāˈo͝o dēˈəsh [key], d. 1500, Portuguese navigator. He was the first European to round (1488) the Cape of Good Hope, which he called Cabo Tormentoso [cape of sto...

D'Entrecasteaux Islands

(Encyclopedia)D'Entrecasteaux Islands däNtrəkästōˈ [key], volcanic group, SW Pacific, SE of New Guinea, part of Papua New Guinea. Comprising the Fergusson, Goodenough, and Normanby islands, the group, with a t...

Queiros, Pedro Fernandes de

(Encyclopedia)Queiros, Pedro Fernandes de pĕˈdro͝o fərnəNˈdəsh dĭ kārôshˈ [key], c.1560–1614, Portuguese navigator. In Spanish service, he sailed (1595) as second in command of the expedition of Alvaro...

Society Islands

(Encyclopedia)Society Islands, island group (2002 pop. 214,445), South Pacific, a part of French Polynesia. The group comprises the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands (total land area c.650 sq mi/1,680 sq km)...

direction finder

(Encyclopedia)direction finder, electronic device used to determine the position of a ship or aircraft. In a simple direction finder a radio receiver is equipped with a revolving directional antenna. The antenna re...

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