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prairie schooner

(Encyclopedia)prairie schooner, wagon covered with white canvas, made famous by its almost universal use in the migration across the Western prairies and plains, and so called in allusion to the white-topped schoon...

photosphere

(Encyclopedia)photosphere, luminous, apparently opaque layer of gases that forms the visible surface of the sun or any other star. The photosphere lies between the dense interior gases and the more attenuated gases...

Voronin, Vladimir

(Encyclopedia)Voronin, Vladimir vlädēˈmēr vōrōnˈyĭn [key], 1941–, Moldovan political leader. Voronin rose through the ranks of the Communist party in what was then the USSR's Moldavian SSR to become the r...

Sturt, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Sturt, Charles stûrt [key], 1795–1869, English explorer and administrator in Australia, b. India. In 1827 he arrived in Sydney with a detachment of the British army. While in command of an expediti...

Walter, Thomas Ustick

(Encyclopedia)Walter, Thomas Ustick, 1804–87, American architect, b. Philadelphia. In 1819 he entered the office of William Strickland in Philadelphia as a student. In 1830 he began practice, the county prison (1...

Sall, Macky

(Encyclopedia)Sall, Macky, Senegalese political leader. Trained as a geologist, he graduated from Dakar's Cheikh Anta Diop Univ. and also studied in France. A protégé of President Abdoulaye Wade and a member of t...

Shehu, Mehmet

(Encyclopedia)Shehu, Mehmet mĕmĕtˈ shĕˈho͞o [key], 1913–81, Albanian political leader, premier (1954–81). A member of the Communist party, he was active in the anti-Fascist resistance in Albania during Wo...

coal

(Encyclopedia)coal, fuel substance of plant origin, largely or almost entirely composed of carbon with varying amounts of mineral matter. Coal is found in beds or seams interstratified with shales, clays, sands...

Carboniferous period

(Encyclopedia)Carboniferous period kärbənĭfˈərəs [key], fifth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 350 to 290 million years ago. The pl...

Mantegna, Andrea

(Encyclopedia)Mantegna, Andrea ändrĕˈä mäntĕˈnyä [key], 1431–1506, Italian painter of the Paduan school. He was adopted by Squarcione, whose apprentice he remained until 1456, when he procured his release...