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Neher, Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Neher, Edwin, 1944–, German biophysicist, Ph.D. Technical Univ. of Munich, 1970. He has been a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, since 1972. Nehe...

Ademar

(Encyclopedia)Ademar or Adhémar both: ădˈəmär [key], d. 1098, French prelate, bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay. At the Council of Clermont (1095), he energetically promoted the First Crusade (see Crusades) and was de...

Fossett, Steve

(Encyclopedia)Fossett, Steve (James Stephen Fossett), 1944–2007, American investment banker and adventurer, b. California. After becoming a multimillionaire as a stockbroker and investment consultant, he began a ...

Allen, Paul Gardner

(Encyclopedia)Allen, Paul Gardner, 1953–2018, American business executive and philanthropist, b. Seattle. He dropped out of Washington State Univ. (1974) and with his friend Bill Gates co-founded (1975) Microsoft...

harpoon

(Encyclopedia)harpoon härpo͞onˈ [key], weapon used for spearing whales and large fish. The early type was a flat triangular piece of metal with barbed edges and a socket for attaching a wooden handle, to the end...

Henson, Jim

(Encyclopedia)Henson, Jim (James Maury Henson), 1936–90, American puppeteer, creator of the Muppets, b. Greenville, Miss., grad. Univ. of Maryland (A.B., 1960). In 1954 he got his first job as a local television ...

Grail, Holy

(Encyclopedia)Grail, Holy, a feature of medieval legend and literature. It appears variously as a chalice, a cup, or a dish and sometimes as a stone or a caldron into which a bleeding lance drips. It was identified...

Zimmermann, Bernd Alois

(Encyclopedia)Zimmermann, Bernd Alois, 1918–1970, German modernist composer, b. Bliesheim. He began studying music at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne in 1938, was drafted into the military (1939–42), then ...

Sousa, John Philip

(Encyclopedia)Sousa, John Philip so͞oˈzə, –sə [key], 1854–1932, American bandmaster and composer, b. Washington, D.C. He studied violin and harmony in his native city and learned band instruments as an appr...

spear

(Encyclopedia)spear, primitive weapon consisting of a wooden shaft tipped with a sharp point, usually 8 to 9 ft (2.4–2.7 m) in length. The point may be carved from the shaft and hardened in a fire, or made from a...

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