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Marshall, Thomas Riley

(Encyclopedia)Marshall, Thomas Riley, 1854–1925, U.S. Vice President (1913–21), b. North Manchester, Ind. A lawyer in Columbia City, Ind., he was Democratic governor of the state (1909–13) and sponsored much ...

Florence, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Florence. 1 City (2020 pop. 40,184), seat of Lauderdale co., NW Ala., on the Tennessee River near Muscle Shoals and adjacent to Wilson ...

sociobiology

(Encyclopedia)sociobiology, controversial field that studies how natural selection, previously used only to explain the evolution of physical characteristics, shapes behavior in animals and humans. The theory has c...

Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice dĭrăkˈ [key], 1902–84, English physicist. He was educated at the Univ. of Bristol and St. John's College, Cambridge, and became professor of mathematics at Cambridge in...

Alamein, El

(Encyclopedia)Alamein, El äl älămānˈ [key], town, N Egypt, on the Mediterranean Sea. It was the site of a decisive British victory in World War II (see North Africa, campaigns in). In preparation for an attack...

art history

(Encyclopedia)art history, the study of works of art and architecture. In the mid-19th cent., art history was raised to the status of an academic discipline by the Swiss Jacob Burckhardt, who related art to its cul...

Meredith, Edwin Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Meredith, Edwin Thomas, 1876–1928, American publisher and U.S. secretary of agriculture (1920–21), b. Avoca, Iowa. After 1896 he owned and edited the Farmers' Tribune, founded (1902) Successful Fa...

De Coster, Charles Théodore Henri

(Encyclopedia)De Coster, Charles Théodore Henri də kŏsˈtər, Fr. shärl tāōdôrˈ äNrēˈ də kôstĕrˈ [key], 1827–79, Belgian author, b. Munich. His collected legends from Flemish folklore (1857), writt...

Croissy, Charles Colbert, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Croissy, Charles Colbert, marquis de shärl kôlbĕrˈ märkē də krwäsēˈ [key], c.1625–96, French diplomat, brother of Jean Baptiste Colbert. He entered the service of Cardinal Mazarin and fill...

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