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Lang, Fritz

(Encyclopedia)Lang, Fritz läng [key], 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the futu...

Markham, Sir Clements Robert

(Encyclopedia)Markham, Sir Clements Robert märˈkəm [key], 1830–1916, English geographer and writer. While in the navy he served on a British expedition (1850–51) to the Arctic to search for the explorer Sir ...

Sierra Club

(Encyclopedia)Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by...

Rae, John

(Encyclopedia)Rae, John, 1813–93, Scottish arctic explorer, b. Orkney Islands. A physician in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company in N Canada, Rae made (1846–47) a journey of exploration from Fort Churchill ...

Bonneville, Benjamin Louis Eulalie de

(Encyclopedia)Bonneville, Benjamin Louis Eulalie de bŏnˈvĭl [key], 1796–1878, American army officer and trader who blazed portions of the Oregon Trail, b. France, grad. West Point, 1815. Acquainted with the fu...

Brisbane, Sir Thomas Makdougall

(Encyclopedia)Brisbane, Sir Thomas Makdougall brĭzˈbən, –bān [key], 1773–1860, British soldier, astronomer, and colonial administrator in Australia, b. Scotland. From 1793 to 1814 he served in the army in F...

Aegean civilization

(Encyclopedia)Aegean civilization ējēˈən [key], term for the Bronze Age cultures of pre-Hellenic Greece. The complexity of those early civilizations was not suspected before the excavations of archaeologists in...

Joint Chiefs of Staff

(Encyclopedia)Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. statutory agency, created in 1949 within the Dept. of Defense. The chairman is the principal military adviser to the President, the National Security Council, and the Secre...

Chaos

(Encyclopedia)Chaos kāˈōs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, vacant, unfathomable space. From it arose all things, earthly and divine. There are various legends explaining it. In one version, Eurynome rose ...

Plücker, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Plücker, Julius yo͞oˈlyo͝os plüˈkər [key], 1801–68, German mathematician and physicist. He became professor of mathematics (1836) and of physics (1847) at the Univ. of Bonn. He is known for h...