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Dworkin, Ronald Myles

(Encyclopedia)Dworkin, Ronald Myles, 1931–2013, American legal philosopher. b. Worcester, Mass. A professor at Yale (1962–75), Oxford (1969–98), New York Univ. (1975–2013), and University College London (19...

Driesch, Hans Adolf Eduard

(Encyclopedia)Driesch, Hans Adolf Eduard häns äˈdôlf āˈdo͞oärt drēsh [key], 1867–1941, German philosopher, b. Bad Kreuznach, grad. (zoology) Univ. of Jena, 1889. His early interest in biology was gradual...

Chuang-tzu

(Encyclopedia)Chuang-tzu or Chuang-tze both: jwäng-dzŭ [key], c.369–c.286 b.c., Chinese Taoist writer. Little is known about his life. He was a native of the state of Meng, on the border of present-day Shandong...

Empedocles

(Encyclopedia)Empedocles ĕmpĕdˈəklēz [key], c.495–c.435 b.c., Greek philosopher, b. Acragas (present Agrigento), Sicily. Leader of the democratic faction in his native city, he was offered the crown, which h...

poison hemlock

(Encyclopedia)poison hemlock, lethally poisonous herbaceous plant (Conium maculatum) of the family Umbelliferae (parsley family). It has rank, finely divided foliage, flat-topped clusters of small white flowers, an...

Stone, Lucy

(Encyclopedia)Stone, Lucy, 1818–93, reformer and leader in the women's rights movement, b. near West Brookfield, Mass., grad. Oberlin, 1847. In 1847 she gave her first lecture on women's rights, and the following...

Bauer, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Bauer, Otto bouˈər [key], 1882–1938, Austrian politician. His Die Nationalitätenfrage und die Sozialdemokratie (1907) advocated creating nation-states to solve the Austro-Hungarian nationalities ...

Whorf, Benjamin Lee

(Encyclopedia)Whorf, Benjamin Lee hwôrf [key], 1897–1941, American linguist and anthropologist, b. Winthrop, Mass. Although he was trained in chemical engineering and worked for an insurance company, Whorf made ...

Bessemer, Sir Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bessemer, Sir Henry bĕsˈəmər [key], English engineer and inventor, b. Charleton, Hertfordshire. He made experiments to obtain stronger material for gun manufacture and discovered the basic princip...

bearing

(Encyclopedia)bearing, machine part designed to reduce friction between moving parts or to support moving loads. There are two main kinds of bearings: the antifriction type, such as the roller bearing and the ball ...