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Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich bərēsˈ nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch yĕltˈsĭn [key], 1931–2007, Soviet and Russian politician, president of Russia (1991–99). Born in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) and ed...

Geneva Conference

(Encyclopedia)Geneva Conference, any of various international meetings held at Geneva, Switzerland. Some of the more important ones are discussed here. 1 International conference held Apr.–July, 1954, to restore ...

Kabalevsky, Dmitri

(Encyclopedia)Kabalevsky, Dmitri dəmēˈtrē käˌbəlĕfˈskē [key], 1904–87, Soviet composer. His large output includes the opera Colas Breugnon (1938); The Commedians suite (1940); a Requiem (1963); concerto...

Voinovich, Vladimir Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Voinovich, Vladimir Nikolayevich, 1932–2018, Russian satirist and political dissident. His father was dissident journalist who was jailed for his activities. Voinovich served in the army (1951–55)...

Vavilov, Nikolai Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Vavilov, Nikolai Ivanovich nyĭkəlīˈ ēväˈnəvĭch vəvēˈləf [key], 1887–1943?, Russian botanist and geneticist. He is reported to have died in a Soviet concentration camp after losing polit...

Čáslavská, Věra

(Encyclopedia)Čáslavská, Věra, 1942–2016, Czechoslovak gymnast, b. Prague. Čáslavská revolutionized a formerly dance-based sport with her athleticism and panache, winning 22 international titles (seven Oly...

Brzezinski, Zbigniew Kazimierz

(Encyclopedia)Brzezinski, Zbigniew Kazimierz zbĭgˈnyĕv käzēmˈyĕsh brəzhĭnˈskē ...

Blunt, Anthony Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Blunt, Anthony Frederick, 1907–83, English art historian and Soviet spy, grad. Cambridge. Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art after 1947 and professor of the history of art at the Univ. of Lo...

Ishimbay

(Encyclopedia)Ishimbay ēshēmbīˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 70,000), Bashkortostan, E European Russia, on the Belaya River. Founded in 1932, Ishimbay developed around the first major oil field of the Volga-Ural regi...

telepathy

(Encyclopedia)telepathy, supposed communication between two persons without recourse to the senses. The word was formulated in 1882 by Frederic William Henry Myers, English poet, essayist, and a leading founder of ...