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Curtiss, Glenn Hammond

(Encyclopedia)Curtiss, Glenn Hammond, 1878–1930, American inventor and aviation pioneer, b. Hammondsport, N.Y. He was a member of Alexander Graham Bell's Aerial Experiment Association (1907–9). In 1908 he made ...

Essex Junto

(Encyclopedia)Essex Junto, group of New England merchants and lawyers, so called because many of them came from Essex co., Mass. They opposed the radicals in Massachusetts in the American Revolution and supported t...

Hodge, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878, American Calvinist theologian, b. Philadelphia. He was associated with Princeton Theological Seminary, where, after graduation, he taught first Oriental and biblical liter...

Florey, Howard Walter Florey, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Florey, Howard Walter Florey, Baron, 1898–1968, British pathologist, b. Australia. He was educated at Adelaide Univ. and at Cambridge and Oxford and returned to Oxford as professor of pathology in 1...

Novotný, Antonín

(Encyclopedia)Novotný, Antonín änˈtônyēn nôˈvôtnē [key], 1904–75, Czechoslovakian Communist leader. A founding member (1921) of the Communist party, he participated (1948) in the Communist seizure of po...

McComb, John

(Encyclopedia)McComb, John, 1763–1853, American architect, b. New York City. He was chiefly known for the New York City Hall (1803–12), one of the finest American buildings of the postcolonial period, designed ...

Kirkland, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Kirkland, Samuel, 1741–1808, American missionary, b. Norwich, Conn. He visited the Oneida tribe in 1764 and in 1766 began living with them according to their customs, preaching to them, and becoming...

Pharos

(Encyclopedia)Pharos fârˈŏs [key], peninsula, extending into the Mediterranean Sea, N Egypt, NE Africa, forming two harbors at Alexandria. Originally an island, it was joined to the mainland by a mole, construct...

Taylor, Robert Love

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Robert Love, 1850–1912, U.S. politician, governor of Tennessee (1887–91, 1897–99), b. Carter co., Tenn. A lawyer, he was a Democrat in Congress (1879–81) and in 1886 defeated his broth...

Wrangell Island

(Encyclopedia)Wrangell Island răngˈgəl [key], 30 mi (48 km) long and 5 to 14 mi (8.1–22.5 km) wide, off SE Alaska in the Alexander Archipelago, south of the mouth of the Stikine River. It was occupied in 1834 ...

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