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John Paul II, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John Paul II, Saint 1920–2005, pope (1978–2005), a Pole (b. Wadowice) named Karol Józef Wojtyła; successor of John Paul I. He was the first non-Italian pope elected since the Dutch Adrian VI (15...

Popper, Sir Karl Raimund

(Encyclopedia)Popper, Sir Karl Raimund, 1902–94, Anglo-Austrian philosopher, b. Vienna. He became familiar with the Vienna circle of logical positivists (see logical positivism) while a student at the Univ. of Vi...

Hutterian Brethren

(Encyclopedia)Hutterian Brethren hətērˈēən [key], a body of Christians practicing strict communism based on religious principles. The Brethren are descendants of those Moravian Anabaptists who were followers o...

Göncz, Árpád

(Encyclopedia)Göncz, Árpád ärpäd gŭnts [key], 1922–2015, Hungarian writer, translator, and political leader, first democratically elected president of Hungary (1990–2000). A lawyer, he was conscripted (19...

Caetano, Marcello

(Encyclopedia)Caetano, Marcello mərsĕˈlo͝o käətäˈno͝o [key], 1906–80, Portuguese lawyer and statesman. He received a doctorate in law (1931) from the Univ. of Lisbon, where he taught after 1932, serving ...

Iskander, Fazil Abdulovich

(Encyclopedia)Iskander, Fazil Abdulovich, 1929–2016, Russian writer, grad. Moscow Library Institute, 1954. Iskander's novels and stories, mainly set in his native Abkhazia, are charmingly satirical portraits of v...

Oneida, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Oneida ōnīˈdə [key], city (1990 pop. 10,850), Madison co., central N.Y.; inc. 1901. Tableware was long the best-known product, and some is still manufactured in neighboring Sherrill, N.Y. Machine ...

Kołakowski, Leszek

(Encyclopedia)Kołakowski, Leszek lĕshˈĕk kôˌwəkôfˈskē [key], 1927–2009, Polish philosopher, b. Radom, Ph.D Univ. of Warsaw, 1953. A Marxist revisionist and a critic of the Eastern European Communism he ...

Pilnyak, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Pilnyak, Boris əndrāˈyəvĭch vôˈgou [key], 1894–1937?, Russian novelist and short-story writer. Pilnyak first attracted wide attention with his novel The Naked Year (1921, tr. 1928), a loosely...

Basescu, Traian

(Encyclopedia)Basescu, Traian trīänˈ bäsĕsˈko͞o [key], 1951–, Romanian political leader, president of Romania (2004–14). An officer in the Romanian merchant marine from 1976, he rose to become an oil-tan...