(Encyclopedia) Audubon, John JamesAudubon, John Jamesôˈdəbŏn [key], 1785–1851, American ornithologist, b. Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (now Haiti). The illegitimate son of a French sea captain and…
(Encyclopedia) Updike, John, 1932–2009, American author, one of the nation's most distinguished 20th-century men of letters, b. Shillington, Pa., grad. Harvard, 1954. In his many novels and stories,…
(Encyclopedia) Stoppard, Tom, 1937–, English playwright, b. Zlín, Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic), as Tomas Straussler. During his childhood he and his family moved to Singapore, later (…
(Encyclopedia) Mies van der Rohe, LudwigMies van der Rohe, Ludwigl&oomacr;tˈvĭkh mēˈĕs vän dĕr rōˈə [key], 1886–1969, German-American architect. A pioneer of modern architecture and one of its…
(Encyclopedia) Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938–, American author, b. Lockport, N.Y., B.A. Syracuse Univ., 1960, M.A. Univ. of Wisconsin, 1961. She taught English at the Univ. of Detroit and the Univ. of…
(Encyclopedia) Orwell, George, pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair, 1903–50, British novelist and essayist, b. Bengal, India. He is best remembered for his scathingly satirical and frighteningly political…
(Encyclopedia) Commager, Henry SteeleCommager, Henry Steelekŏmˈĭjər [key], 1902–98, American historian, b. Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Chicago in 1928 and taught history…
(Encyclopedia) Gray, Asa, 1810–88, one of America's leading botanists and taxonomists, b. Oneida co., N.Y. As professor of natural history at Harvard from 1842, he was the teacher of many eminent…
(Encyclopedia) Millikan, Robert AndrewsMillikan, Robert Andrewsmĭlˈĭkən [key], 1868–1953, American physicist and educator, b. Morrison, Ill., grad. Oberlin College, 1891, Ph.D. Columbia, 1895,…
(Encyclopedia) O'Connor, Flannery (Mary Flannery O'Connor), 1925–64, American author, b. Savannah, Ga., grad. Women's College of Georgia (A.B., 1945), Iowa State Univ. (M.F.A., 1947). As a writer, O'…