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Bhaskara

(Encyclopedia)Bhaskara əchärˈyə [key] [Skt.,=learned], b. 1114, Indian mathematician and astronomer. According to the custom, he put his learned treatises into verse, adding, however, explanations in prose. His...

Black Monday

(Encyclopedia)Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, in U.S. history, day of financial panic. The Dow Jones Average fell 508.32 points, a drop of 22.6%, the largest since 1914. The point decline as well as the volume, 604.33...

Zephaniah, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Zephaniah zĕfˌənīˈə [key], prophetic book of the Bible. The prophet, who lived in the reign (c.640–609 b.c.) of King Josiah of Judah, traces his genealogy to King Hezekiah. Zephaniah denounces...

skimmer

(Encyclopedia)skimmer, common name for certain sea birds resembling the related tern. Skimmers (genus Rhynchops) have long, laterally compressed bills of which the lower mandible is one fourth longer than the movab...

Rasles, Sébastien

(Encyclopedia)Rasles, Sébastien sābästyăNˈ räl [key], 1657?–1724, French Jesuit missionary in North America. Arriving in present-day Maine in 1689, he spent two years with the Abnaki in Acadia. He then beca...

Suzuki, Kantaro

(Encyclopedia)Suzuki, Kantaro so͞ozo͞oˈkē [key], 1867–1948, Japanese admiral. He served briefly as prime minister from Apr., 1945, until Aug. 15, the day after the announcement of Japan's surrender in the la...

Staudinger, Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Staudinger, Hermann, 1881–1965, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Halle, 1903. Staudinger held faculty positions at the Univ. of Strasbourg (1903–7), the Technical Univ. of Karlsruhe (1907–12), and...

Tropic of Cancer

(Encyclopedia)Tropic of Cancer, parallel of latitude at 23°30′ north of the equator; it is the northern boundary of the tropics. This parallel marks the farthest point north at which the sun can be seen directly...

Troyes

(Encyclopedia)Troyes trwä [key], city (1990 pop. 60,755), capital of Aube dept., NE France, on the Seine River. It is an industrial town. Hosiery is the main product. Troyes became an episcopal see in the 4th cent...

Beckford, William

(Encyclopedia)Beckford, William, 1760–1844, English author. A wealthy dilettante, Beckford had a great desire to ascend to the nobility. Unfortunately his erratic and strange behavior often worked against his amb...