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Waltari, Mika

(Encyclopedia)Waltari, Mika mēˈkə välˈtärē [key], 1908–79, Finnish author. Waltari wrote plays, detective stories, and travelogues, but is best known for his novels. After completing his university educati...

boomerang

(Encyclopedia)boomerang bo͞oˈmərăngˌ [key], special form of throwing stick, used mainly by the aborigines of Australia. Other forms of throwing sticks were used by the peoples of ancient Egypt, Ethiopia, and I...

Bormann, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Bormann, Martin bôrˈmän [key], 1900–1945, German National Socialist (Nazi) leader. He met Adolf Hitler in 1924 and soon became an important figure in the Nazi party hierarchy. He succeeded Rudolf...

Archimedes

(Encyclopedia)Archimedes ärkĭmēˈdēz [key], 287–212 b.c., Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor. He is famous for his work in geometry (on the circle, sphere, cylinder, and parabola), physics, mechanic...

Lichfield

(Encyclopedia)Lichfield, town (1991 pop. 25,408) and district, Staffordshire, W central England. Lichfield is a market town with light industries, famous for its three-spired cathedral and its close associations wi...

Royal Shakespeare Company

(Encyclopedia)Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), a British repertory theater. The company, established in 1960, was based on the earlier Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. It is a national theater s...

Giorgio, Francesco di

(Encyclopedia)Giorgio, Francesco di (Francesco di Giorgio Martini) fränchāsˈkō dē jôrˈjō [key], 1439–1502, also called Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Italian engineer, architect, painter, and sculptor, b. ...

Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich, 1743–1819, German philosopher. Although educated for commerce, he early gave up business and became in 1770 a member of the council for the duchies of Berg and Jülich. A...

Hall, Donald

(Encyclopedia)Hall, Donald (Donald Andrew Hall, Jr.), 1928–2018, American poet, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1951), Oxford (1953). He published more than 50 books, ranging from poetry, short stories,...

Smithson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Smithson, Robert, 1938–73, American sculptor, b. Passaic, N.J. After first making modular, serial sculpture, Smithson began to design large-scale earthworks (see land art) in the 1960s. Smithson res...