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Descartes, René

(Encyclopedia)Descartes, René rənāˈ dākärtˈ [key], Lat. Renatus Cartesius, 1596–1650, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, b. La Haye. Descartes' methodology was a major influence in the trans...

Doolittle, Hilda

(Encyclopedia)Doolittle, Hilda, pseud. H. D., 1886–1961, American poet, b. Bethlehem, Pa., educated at Bryn Mawr. After 1911 she lived abroad, marrying Richard Aldington in 1913. In England, under the influence o...

de Kooning, Willem

(Encyclopedia)de Kooning, Willem də ko͞oˈnĭng [key], 1904–97, American painter, b. Netherlands; studied Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts and Techniques. De Kooning immigrated to the United States, arriving as a...

De Niro, Robert Anthony Jr.

(Encyclopedia) De Niro, Robert Anthony, Jr., 1943-, American film actor and director, b. New York, N.Y. Both of De Niro’s parents were painters; De Niro was raised...

Chernobyl

(Encyclopedia)Chernobyl chĭrnōˈbyēl [key], Ukr. Chornobyl, abandoned city, N Ukraine, near the Belarus border, on the Pripyat River. Ten miles (16 km) to the north, in the town of Pripyat, is the Chernobyl nucl...

Heine, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Heine, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh hīˈnə [key], 1797–1856, German poet, b. Düsseldorf, of a Jewish family. One of the greatest of German lyric poets, he had a varied career. After failing in business h...

Minoan civilization

(Encyclopedia)Minoan civilization mĭnōˈən [key], ancient Cretan culture representing a stage in the development of the Aegean civilization. It was named for the legendary King Minos of Crete by Sir Arthur Evans...

type

(Encyclopedia)type, for printing, was invented in China (c.1040), using woodblocks. Related devices, such as seals and stamps for making impressions in clay, had been used in ancient times in Babylon and elsewhere....

progressivism

(Encyclopedia)progressivism, in U.S. history, a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th cent. In the decades following the Civil War rapid industrialization transformed the United St...

Communist party, in Russia and the Soviet Union

(Encyclopedia)See L. Schapiro, The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (2d ed. 1971); S. F. Cohen, Rethinking the Soviet Experience (1985); M. Geller, Utopia in Power (1986); S. Carter, Russian Nationalism (1990); ...