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Byron, John

(Encyclopedia)Byron, John, 1723–86, British vice admiral and explorer. Sailing in 1740 with Admiral George Anson on a voyage around the world, he was shipwrecked off Chile. His Narrative of Great Distresses on th...

Aberdeen, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Aberdeen, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th earl of ăbˌədēnˈ [key], 1784–1860, British statesman. He served (1813) as ambassador extraordinary at Vienna and helped arrange (1814) the peace terms at P...

Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron

(Encyclopedia)Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron bīˈrən [key], 1788–1824, English poet and satirist. Ranked with Shelley and Keats as one of the great Romantic poets, Byron became famous throughout E...

Arecibo Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Arecibo Observatory, radio-astronomy facility located near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center. Conceived by, designed by, and built under the supervision of Wil...

Swinnerton, Frank

(Encyclopedia)Swinnerton, Frank, 1884–1982, English novelist and critic, b. Wood Green, Middlesex. In addition to serving variously as an editor and a drama critic he wrote over 30 novels. For half a century, Swi...

Fleet Prison

(Encyclopedia)Fleet Prison, former jail in London, England. Rebuilt after it was destroyed in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, again after the great fire of 1666, and once more after the Gordon riots of 1780, it was f...

Wilson, John

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, John, pseud. Christopher North, 1785–1854, Scottish author. Among the first contributors to Blackwood's Magazine, he joined the staff in 1817 and quickly became one of its chief critical wri...

Wollstonecraft, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Wollstonecraft, Mary wo͝olˈstənkräft, –krăft [key], 1759–97, English author and feminist, b. London. She was an early proponent of educational equality between men and women, expressing this ...

Galt, John

(Encyclopedia)Galt, John, 1779–1839, Scottish novelist. He went to Canada as secretary for the Canada Company, founding there in 1827 the town of Guelph and encouraging Canadian immigration. He wrote poems, blank...

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