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stabile

(Encyclopedia)stabile stāˈbēl [key], an abstract construction that is completely stationary. The form was pioneered by Alexander Calder, and examples were termed stabiles to distinguish them from mobiles, their ...

Siwah

(Encyclopedia)Siwah or Siwa both: sēˈwä [key], oasis, c.35 sq mi (90 sq km), NW Egypt, in the Libyan (Western) Desert. Dates and tea are grown in the oasis, parts of which are c.200 ft (60 m) below sea level. Em...

Barbour, John

(Encyclopedia)Barbour, John bärˈbər [key], c.1316?–1395, Scottish poet. He was archdeacon of Aberdeen from 1355 until his death. His romance, The Bruce (1375), celebrating Scotland's emancipation from England,...

Peipus, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Peipus, Lake pīˈpəs [key], Estonian Peipsi Järv, Rus. Chudskoye Ozero, c.1,390 sq mi (3,600 sq km), dividing Estonia from the W Pskov region, Russia. Its southern section is known as Lake Pskov. L...

Agis

(Encyclopedia)Agis āˈjĭs [key], name of four Spartan kings. Agis I, fl. late 10th cent. b.c., was the traditional founder of the Agiad dynasty, one of the two ruling dynasties of Sparta, which had a dual kingshi...

Strathcona and Mount Royal, Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Strathcona and Mount Royal, Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron străthkōˈnə [key], 1820–1914, Canadian fur trader, financier, and railroad builder, b. Scotland. Coming to Canada in 1838, he was hi...

Ustinov, Sir Peter

(Encyclopedia)Ustinov, Sir Peter (Alexander) yo͞osˈtənôf [key], 1921–2004, English writer, director, and actor, b. London. A witty, charming, and cosmopolitan man, he debuted on the London stage at 18 and sub...

Philip II, king of Macedon

(Encyclopedia)Philip II, 382–336 b.c., king of Macedon (359–336 b.c.), son of Amyntas II. While a hostage in Thebes (367–364), he gained much knowledge of Greece and its people. He was appointed regent for Am...

Chain, Ernst Boris

(Encyclopedia)Chain, Ernst Boris, 1906–79, English biochemist, b. Berlin, Germany. In 1933 he left Germany and went to England, where he conducted research at Cambridge from 1933 to 1935 and at Oxford from 1935; ...

Maclay, William

(Encyclopedia)Maclay, William məklāˈ [key], 1734–1804, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1789–91), b. Chester co., Pa. A lawyer and a provincial and state official before serving as Senator, he kept a journal,...