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Fire, Andrew Zachary

(Encyclopedia)Fire, Andrew Zachary, 1959–, American geneticist, b. Palo Alto, Calif., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983. After a long association with the Carnegie Institution of Washington (1986â...

Baird, Spencer Fullerton

(Encyclopedia)Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823–87, American zoologist, b. Reading, Pa., grad. Dickinson College, 1840. He was professor of natural history at Dickinson from 1846 to 1850. While at the Smithsonian In...

probation

(Encyclopedia)probation, method by which the punishment of a convicted offender is conditionally suspended. The offender must remain in the community and under the supervision of a probation officer, who is usually...

Tyndall, John

(Encyclopedia)Tyndall, John tĭnˈdəl [key], 1820–93, British physicist, b. Ireland. He became (1853) professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution and in 1867 succeeded Michael Faraday, his friend an...

Redfield, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Redfield, Robert, 1897–1958, American anthropologist and sociologist, b. Chicago, grad. Univ. of Chicago (B.A., 1920; Ph.D., 1928). He began teaching at the Univ. of Chicago in 1928, later becoming ...

Ben Yehudah, Eliezer

(Encyclopedia)Ben Yehudah, Eliezer ĕlĭĕˈzər bĕn yĕho͞oˈdă [key], 1858–1922, Jewish scholar and leader, b. Lithuania. He settled in Palestine as early as 1881, where he dedicated himself to the revival o...

Wistar, Caspar

(Encyclopedia)Wistar, Caspar wĭsˈtər [key], 1761–1818, American physician, b. Philadelphia, M.D. Univ. of Edinburgh, 1786; grandson of Caspar Wistar (1696–1752), early Pennsylvania glassmaker. He taught (178...

Spoleto Festival

(Encyclopedia)Spoleto Festival, also called Festival of the Two Worlds, annual summer arts festival held in Spoleto, Italy. Founded by the composer Gian-Carlo Menotti and the conductor Thomas Schippers, the festiva...

Stockdale, James Bond

(Encyclopedia)Stockdale, James Bond, 1923–2005, U.S. naval officer, b. Abingdon, Ill.; grad. U.S. Naval Academy, 1947. A fighter pilot and highly decorated career naval officer (1946–79), he was the highest ran...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(Encyclopedia)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge; coeducational; chartered 1861, opened 1865 in Boston, moved 1916. It has long been recognized as an outstanding technological institute and its Slo...