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altitude

(Encyclopedia)altitude, vertical distance of an object above some datum plane, such as mean sea level or a reference point on the earth's surface. It is usually measured by the reduction in atmospheric pressure wit...

Neurath, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Neurath, Otto, 1882–1945, Austrian philosopher, social scientist, and design theorist, b. Vienna. During the 1920s and 30s he was both a Marxist and a member of the Vienna Circle, an exponent of log...

Baal-Shem-Tov

(Encyclopedia)Baal-Shem-Tov bäl-shĕm-tôv [key], c.1698–1760, Jewish founder of modern Hasidism, b. Ukraine. His life is the subject of many tales that circulated even before his death. Originally named Israel ...

Krasnoyarsk Territory

(Encyclopedia)Krasnoyarsk Territory, administrative division (1989 pop. 3,595,000), c.928,000 sq mi (2,403,520 sq km), central Siberian Russia, extending from the Sayan Mts. and the Minusinsk basin in the south acr...

Price, Reynolds

(Encyclopedia)Price, Reynolds (Edward Reynolds Price), 1933–2011, American writer, b. Macon, N.C., grad. Duke Univ. (A.B., 1955), Oxford (B.Litt., 1958). He began teaching at Duke in 1958 and remained there for m...

Burney, Fanny

(Encyclopedia)Burney, Fanny, later Madame D'Arblay därblāˈ [key], 1752–1840, English novelist, daughter of Charles Burney, the composer, organist, and music scholar. Although she received no formal education, ...

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...

Catulus

(Encyclopedia)Catulus kăchˈo͝oləs [key], family of ancient Rome, of the Lutatian gens. Caius Lutatius Catulus was consul in 242 b.c. He won the great Roman naval victory over Carthage off the Aegates (modern Ae...

Terkel, Studs

(Encyclopedia)Terkel, Studs, 1912–2008, American writer, social historian, and radio and television personality, b. the Bronx, N.Y., as Louis Terkel, grad. Univ. of Chicago (Ph.B. 1932, J.D. 1934). Terkel, who mo...

Piccard, Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Piccard, Auguste ōgüstˈ pēkärˈ [key], 1884–1962, Swiss physicist, b. Basel. He became a professor at the Univ. of Brussels in 1922. He and his twin brother Jean Felix (d. 1963) are known for t...