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Ketterle, Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Ketterle, Wolfgang, 1957–, German physicist, Ph.D. Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany, 1986. He has been a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1990. Kett...

Kramer, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Kramer, Jack (John Albert Kramer), 1921–2009, American tennis player, b. Las Vegas, Nev. He excelled at tennis while still in high school. Kramer and Frederick (Ted) Schroeder won the U.S. national ...

Kasai, former province, Congo

(Encyclopedia)Kasai käsīˈ [key], former province, c.124,000 sq mi (321,160 sq km), S central Congo (Kinshasa). Luluabourg (present Kananga) was the capital. Between the Kasai and the Sankuru rivers the Kuba king...

Rossellino, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Rossellino, Antonio äntôˈnyō rōs-sĕl-lēˈnō [key], 1427–c.1478, Florentine sculptor, whose name was Antonio di Matteo di Domenico Gambarelli. He was the youngest and most celebrated of four ...

Fouquier-Tinville, Antoine Quentin

(Encyclopedia)Fouquier-Tinville, Antoine Quentin äNtwänˈ käNtăNˈ fo͞okyāˈ-tăNvēlˈ [key], 1746–95, French revolutionary. A lawyer, he was public prosecutor (Mar., 1793–July, 1794) of the Revolutionar...

Atlas, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Atlas ătˈləs [key], in Greek mythology, a Titan; son of Iapetus and Clymene and the brother of Prometheus. When the Titans were defeated, Atlas was condemned to hold the sky on his shoulders for al...

Whitty, Dame May

(Encyclopedia)Whitty, Dame May, 1865–1948, English actress. She made her London debut in 1881. In 1892 she married Ben Webster, an actor, and in 1895 she first appeared in the United States, becoming a favorite o...

Benedetti, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Benedetti, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä bānādĕtˈtē [key], 1530–90, Italian mathematician and physicist. An important forerunner of Galileo, Benedetti had diverse interests, inc...

Aeneas, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Aeneas ĭnēˈəs [key], in Greek mythology, a Trojan, son of Anchises and Aphrodite. After the fall of Troy he escaped, bearing his aged father on his back. He stayed at Carthage with Queen Dido, the...

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