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Espy, James Pollard

(Encyclopedia)Espy, James Pollard ĕsˈpē [key], 1785–1860, American meteorologist. He developed a convection theory of storms, explaining it in 1836 before the American Philosophical Society and in 1840 before ...

Rogers, William Barton

(Encyclopedia)Rogers, William Barton, 1804–82, American geologist and educator, b. Philadelphia, grad. William and Mary, 1822. He was professor of geology at William and Mary (1828–35) and at the Univ. of Virgi...

Santo Tomás, University of

(Encyclopedia)Santo Tomás, University of sänˈtō tōmäsˈ [key], at Manila, the Philippines; Roman Catholic, coeducational; founded 1611 by Dominican priests. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in ...

San Marcos, University of

(Encyclopedia)San Marcos, University of, at Lima, Peru; the first university in South America; founded 1551 by the Spanish king Charles I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) and recognized by papal bull in 1571; closed ...

pessimism

(Encyclopedia)pessimism, philosophical opinion or doctrine that evil predominates over good; the opposite of optimism. Systematic forms of pessimism may be found in philosophy and religion. In religion Buddhism and...

Olcott, Henry Steel

(Encyclopedia)Olcott, Henry Steel, 1832–1907, American religious leader and author, cofounder of Theosophist movement, b. Orange, N.J. After working as an agricultural scientist and a lawyer, he and Helena Blavat...

Walton, Ernest Thompson Sinton

(Encyclopedia)Walton, Ernest Thompson Sinton, 1903–95, Irish physicist, educated at Methodist College (Belfast), Trinity College (Dublin), and Cambridge. He became a fellow of Trinity College in 1934 and professo...

Abbo of Fleury

(Encyclopedia)Abbo of Fleury äbōˈ, flörēˈ [key], Fr. Abbon de Fleury, 945?–1004, French monk at the abbey of Fleury (at present-day Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, France). Head of the monastery school, he later t...

Bridgman, Percy Williams

(Encyclopedia)Bridgman, Percy Williams, 1882–1961, American physicist, b. Cambridge, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1904; Ph.D., 1908). From 1910 he taught at Harvard, as professor from 1919. He won the 1946 Nobel P...

Jespersen, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Jespersen, Otto ŏˈtō yĕsˈpərsən [key], 1860–1943, Danish philologist. Professor of English language and literature at the Univ. of Copenhagen and later rector there, Jespersen first earned a ...