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Carter Family

(Encyclopedia)Carter Family, group of singers that specialized in traditional music of the Southern Appalachian Mountains; it consisted of A(lvin) P(leasant) Carter, 1891–1960, b. Maces Spring, Va.; his wife, Sar...

Cartier, Sir Georges Étienne

(Encyclopedia)Cartier, Sir Georges Étienne zhôrzh ātyĕnˈ kärtyāˈ [key], 1814–73, Canadian statesman, b. Quebec prov. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada (Quebec) in 1835. He took part in the rebellio...

Tarnovsky, Andrei

(Encyclopedia)Tarnovsky, Andrei, 1932–86, Soviet film director, grad. State Institute of Cinematography (1960), where he made several notable short films. The son of poet Arseni Tarkovsky, he is perhaps the fines...

spoils system

(Encyclopedia)spoils system, in U.S. history, the practice of giving appointive offices to loyal members of the party in power. The name supposedly derived from a speech by Senator William Learned Marcy in which he...

space-time

(Encyclopedia)space-time, central concept in the theory of relativity that replaces the earlier concepts of space and time as separate absolute entities. In relativity one cannot uniquely distinguish space and time...

Brunelleschi, Filippo

(Encyclopedia)Brunelleschi, Filippo fēlēpˈpō bro͞onĕl-lĕsˈkē [key], 1377–1446, first great architect of the Italian Renaissance, a Florentine by birth. Trained as sculptor and goldsmith, he designed a tr...

Buffett, Warren Edward

(Encyclopedia)Buffett, Warren Edward bŭfˈət [key], 1930–, American financial executive, b. Omaha, Nebr., ...

labor, in economics

(Encyclopedia)labor, term used both for the effort of performing a task and for the workers engaged in the activity. In ancient times much of the work was done by slaves (see slavery). In the feudal period agricult...

Gothic revival

(Encyclopedia)Gothic revival, term designating a return to the building styles of the Middle Ages. Although the Gothic revival was practiced throughout Europe, it attained its greatest importance in the United Stat...

nonlinear dynamics

(Encyclopedia)nonlinear dynamics, study of systems governed by equations in which a small change in one variable can induce a large systematic change; the discipline is more popularly known as chaos (see chaos theo...