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Satyarthi, Kailash

(Encyclopedia)Satyarthi, Kailash, 1954–, Indian children's rights activist, b. Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, as Kailash Sharma. Trained as an electrical engineer, he taught college until 1980 when he began devoting hi...

Duflo, Esther

(Encyclopedia)Duflo, Esther, 1972–, French-American economist, b. Paris, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999. She has been a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since...

geopark

(Encyclopedia)geopark, area identified by UNESCO as encompassing one or more sites of geological as well as archaeological, ecological, or cultural importance. The Global Network of National Geoparks was officially...

coral reefs

(Encyclopedia)coral reefs, limestone formations produced by living organisms, found in shallow, tropical marine waters. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an...

frog

(Encyclopedia)frog, common name for an amphibian of the order Anura. Frogs are found all over the world, except in Antarctica. They require moisture and usually live in quiet freshwater or in the woods. Some frogs ...

Indiana University

(Encyclopedia)Indiana University, main campus at Bloomington; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1820 as a seminary, opened 1824. It became a college in 1828 and a university in 1838. The medical center (run...

Farmer, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Farmer, Paul (Paul Edward Farmer), 1959–2022; American infectious disease doctor and medical anthropologist, b. North Adams, Mass., M.D. and Ph.D. Har...

Banerjee, Abhijit Vanayak

(Encyclopedia)Banerjee, Abhijit Vanayak, 1961–, Indian-American economist, b. Mumbai, Ph.D. Harvard, 1988. He taught economics at Princeton (1988–92) and Harvard (1992–93) before moving to the Massachusetts I...

navigation satellite

(Encyclopedia)navigation satellite, artificial satellite designed expressly to aid the navigation of sea and air traffic. Early navigation satellites, from the Transit series launched in 1960 to the U.S. navy's Nav...

coral

(Encyclopedia)coral, small, sedentary marine animal, related to the sea anemone but characterized by a skeleton of horny or calcareous material. The skeleton itself is also called coral. Although most corals form c...

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