(Encyclopedia) Xerxes I (Xerxes the Great)Xerxes Izûrkˈsēz [key], d. 465 b.c., king of ancient Persia (486–465 b.c.). His name in Old Persian is Khshayarsha, in the Bible Ahasuerus. He was the son of…
(Encyclopedia) BithyniaBithyniabĭthĭnˈēə [key], ancient country of NW Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. The original inhabitants were Thracians who established themselves as independent and were…
(Encyclopedia) Vavilov, Nikolai IvanovichVavilov, Nikolai Ivanovichnyĭkəlīˈ ēväˈnəvĭch vəvēˈləf [key], 1887–1943?, Russian botanist and geneticist. He is reported to have died in a Soviet…
(Encyclopedia) Kamen, Martin DavidKamen, Martin Davidkāˈmən [key], 1913–2002, American biochemist, b. Toronto, Canada, grad. Univ. of Chicago (B.S., Ph.D. 1937). He discovered carbon-14, the…
(Encyclopedia) Chronicles, two books of the Bible, originally a single work in the Hebrew canon (the final book of that canon), called First and Second Chronicles in the Authorized Version, and…
(Encyclopedia) pontoon, one of a number of floats used chiefly to support a bridge, to raise a sunken ship, or to float a hydroplane or a floating dock. Pontoons have been built of wood, of hides…
(Encyclopedia) medical jurisprudence or forensic medicine, the application of medical science to legal problems. It is typically involved in cases concerning blood relationship, mental illness,…
(Encyclopedia) Natchez, city (1990 pop. 19,460), seat of Adams co., SW Miss., on bluffs above the Mississippi River; settled 1716, inc. 1803. It is the trade, shipping, and processing center for a…
(Encyclopedia) animal-rights movement, diverse individuals and groups concerned with protecting animals from perceived abuse or misuse. Supporters are specifically concerned with the use of animals…
by Borgna Brunner When I started working on women's history about thirty years ago, the field did not exist. People didn't think that women had a history worth knowing. —Gerda Lerner,…