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rationing

(Encyclopedia)rationing, allotment of scarce supplies, usually by governmental decree, to provide equitable distribution. It may be employed also to conserve economic resources and to reinforce price and production...

feminism

(Encyclopedia)feminism, movement for the political, social, and educational equality of women with men; the movement has occurred mainly in Europe and the United States. It has its roots in the humanism of the 18th...

conjoined twins

(Encyclopedia)conjoined twins, congenitally united organisms that are complete or nearly complete individuals, historically known as Siamese twins. They develop from a single fertilized ovum that has divided imperf...

crossing over

(Encyclopedia)crossing over, process in genetics by which the two chromosomes of a homologous pair exchange equal segments with each other. Crossing over occurs in the first division of meiosis. At that stage each ...

Monroe, Marilyn

(Encyclopedia)Monroe, Marilyn, 1926–62, American movie actress, b. Los Angeles as Norma Jean Baker or Norma Jeane Mortenson. Raised in orphanages after 1935 and first married at 14, Monroe, who began her career a...

Mead, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Mead, Margaret, 1901–78, American anthropologist, b. Philadelphia, grad. Barnard, 1923, Ph.D. Columbia, 1929. In 1926 she became assistant curator, in 1942 associate curator, and from 1964 to 1969 s...

Kony, Joseph Rao

(Encyclopedia)Kony, Joseph Rao, 1964?–, Ugandan rebel and war criminal. His cousin, Alice Lakwena, led the Holy Spirit Movement against (1986–87) Uganda's President Museveni, and when she was defeated, Kony for...

Wolf, Markus Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Wolf, Markus Johannes vôlf [key], 1923–2006, East German spymaster. A legendary cold-war espionage chief, he was called “the man without a face” because until 1978 there was no known photograp...

adolescence

(Encyclopedia)adolescence, time of life from onset of puberty to full adulthood. The exact period of adolescence, which varies from person to person, falls approximately between the ages 12 and 20 and encompasses b...

Title IX

(Encyclopedia)Title IX, clause of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that reads: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be sub...