(Encyclopedia) Fox, George, 1624–91, English religious leader, founder of the Society of Friends, b. Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire. As a boy he was apprenticed to a shoemaker and wool dealer. By…
(Encyclopedia) chansons de gestechansons de gesteshäNsôNˈ də zhĕst [key] [Fr.,=songs of deeds], a group of epic poems of medieval France written from the 11th through the 13th cent. Varying in length…
(Encyclopedia) chaos theory, in mathematics, physics, and other fields, a set of ideas that attempts to reveal structure in aperiodic, unpredictable dynamic systems such as cloud formation or the…
(Encyclopedia) robot or automatonrobotôtämˈətänˌ [key] mechanical device designed to perform the work generally done by a human being. The Czech dramatist Karel Čapek popularized the expression […
(Encyclopedia) Parry, Sir William EdwardParry, Sir William Edwardpăˈrē [key], 1790–1855, British arctic explorer and rear admiral. He entered the navy at 13 and made his first voyage to the Arctic…
(Encyclopedia) North Pole, northern end of the earth's axis, by convention at lat. 90°N. Because the earth's rotational axis wobbles slightly over time, the location where the northern end of the…
(Encyclopedia) gold rush, influx of prospectors, merchants, adventurers, and others to newly discovered gold fields. One of the most famous of these stampedes in pursuit of riches was the California…
(Encyclopedia) Schwarzenegger, Arnold Alois, 1947–, Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder, and politician, b. Thal, Austria. He began competing in bodybuilding contests in his teens, and won his first…
(Encyclopedia) Rao, RajaRao, Rajaräˈjə [key]Rao, Raja rou [key], 1909–2006, Indian novelist, b. Hassan, Mysore (now Karnataka), as Raja. Rao took his surname as an adult, and was educated in India…
