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Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba

(Encyclopedia)Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba dālmĕˈdēgō [key], c.1460–1497, Jewish philosopher and Talmudist, b. Crete, known also as Elijah Cretensis. He emigrated to Italy as a young man. He studied the ...

Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi

(Encyclopedia)Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi säˈdēä, äl-fīyo͞oˈmē [key], 882–942, Jewish scholar, b. Egypt. He was known as Saadia Gaon. He was the head of the great Jewish Academy at Sura, Babylonia, which...

Ben Ali, Zine el-Abidine

(Encyclopedia)Ben Ali, Zine el-Abidine zēˈnĕl abĭdēn bĕn älēˈ [key], 1936–2019, president of Tunisia (1987–2011). Educated in France and the United States, he entered the army and became ambassador to ...

Berekhiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan

(Encyclopedia)Berekhiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan bĕrəkīˈə bĕn nätrōnīˈ hä-näkˈdän [key], fl. 12th or 13th cent., French Jewish fabulist, biblical commentator, philosopher, grammarian, and translator. Hi...

epitaph

(Encyclopedia)epitaph, strictly, an inscription on a tomb; by extension, a statement, usually in verse, commemorating the dead. The earliest such inscriptions are those found on Egyptian sarcophagi. In England epit...

Geithner, Timothy Franz

(Encyclopedia)Geithner, Timothy Franz gītˈnər [key], 1961–, U.S. government official, b. New York City, grad. Dartmouth (B.A. 1983), Johns Hopkins (M.A. 1985). In 1988 he began working at the Treasury Dept., w...

Day, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Day, Benjamin, 1838–1916, American printer; son of Benjamin Henry Day. While working in New York City, Day invented a process, utilizing celluloid sheets, for shading plates in the color printing of...

Randolph, Thomas, English poet and dramatist

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Thomas, 1605–35, English poet and dramatist. After graduating from Cambridge in 1632, he went to London where he became a disciple of Ben Jonson. His best-known poems are “A Gratulatory ...

Boumedienne, Houari

(Encyclopedia)Boumedienne, Houari ho͞oärˈē bo͞omĕdēĕnˈ [key], 1932?–78, president and prime minister of Algeria (1965–78). While studying in Cairo during the early 1950s he joined a group of expatriate...

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