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Spock, Benjamin McLane

(Encyclopedia)Spock, Benjamin McLane, 1903–98, American author and pediatrician, b. New Haven, Conn., educ. Yale (B.A., 1925) and Columbia Univ. College of Physicians and Surgeons (M.D., 1929). In 1946, Dr. Spock...

Barton, Benjamin Smith

(Encyclopedia)Barton, Benjamin Smith, 1766–1815, American physician and botanist, b. Lancaster, Pa., studied at the College of Philadelphia, at Edinburgh, and at Göttingen (M.D., 1789). He taught at the College ...

Roberts, Benjamin Titus

(Encyclopedia)Roberts, Benjamin Titus, 1823–93, American clergyman, one of the founders of the Free Methodist Church, b. Gowanda, N.Y. In 1858 he was expelled from the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopa...

lightning rod

(Encyclopedia)lightning rod, a rod made of materials, especially metals, that are good conductors of electricity, which is mounted on top of a building or other structure and attached to the ground by a cable. By v...

deists

(Encyclopedia)deists dēˈĭsts [key], term commonly applied to those thinkers in the 17th and 18th cent. who held that the course of nature sufficiently demonstrates the existence of God. For them formal religion ...

Charles, Jacques Alexandre César

(Encyclopedia)Charles, Jacques Alexandre César zhäk älĕksäNˈdrə sāzärˈ shärl [key], 1746–1823, French physicist. He confirmed Benjamin Franklin's electrical experiments, became interested in aeronautic...

Muhammad, prophet of Islam

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad məhămˈəd [key] [Arab.,=praised], 570?–632, the name of the Prophet of Islam, one of the great figures of history, b. Mecca. The traditions concerning Muhammad's life, deeds, and sa...

Muhammad I, Ottoman sultan

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad I or Mehmet I mĕmĕtˈ [key] (Muhammad the Restorer), 1389?–1421, Ottoman sultan (1413–21), son of Beyazid I. By defeating his brothers he reunited most of his father's empire. He consol...

Muhammad II, Ottoman sultan

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad II or Mehmet II (Muhammad the Conqueror), 1429–81, Ottoman sultan (1451–81), son and successor of Murad II. He is considered the true founder of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). He completed ...

Muhammad III, Ottoman sultan

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad III or Mehmet III, 1567–1603, Ottoman sultan (1595–1603), son and successor of Murad III to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). Muhammad, who was a provisional governor under his f...