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Thoth

(Encyclopedia)Thoth thŏth, tōt [key], in Egyptian religion, god of wisdom and magic. A patron of learning and of the arts, he was credited with many inventions, including writing, geometry, and astronomy. Perhaps...

Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de

(Encyclopedia)Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de bärtōlōmāˈ ᵺā tôˈrās nä-äˈrō [key], fl. 1531, Spanish dramatist and lyric poet, b. Extremadura. As a young man he went to Italy and became a priest. Greatl...

Richberg, Donald Randall

(Encyclopedia)Richberg, Donald Randall, 1881–1960, American public official, b. Knoxville, Tenn. He practiced law in Chicago, served as attorney for the city and for Illinois, and became nationally known after sp...

Robinson, Edward G.

(Encyclopedia)Robinson, Edward G., 1893–1973, American movie actor, b. Bucharest, Romania, as Emmanuel Goldberg. He made his stage debut in New York City in 1915. A short, tough-looking man, Robinson played both ...

Selznick, David O.

(Encyclopedia)Selznick, David O., 1902–65, American film producer, b. Pittsburgh. He worked for studios in Hollywood before founding Selznick International Pictures in 1936. Selznick's most famous movie is Gone w...

Constantine, Learie

(Encyclopedia)Constantine, Learie kŏnˈstăntīnˌ [key], 1902–71, West Indian cricket player and the first black man to sit in the British House of Lords, b. Trinidad. The son of a sugar plantation foreman, he ...

Crompton, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Crompton, Samuel, 1753–1827, English inventor of the mule spinner, or muslin wheel, an important step in the development of fine cotton spinning. Working as a young man in a spinning mill, he knew t...

Cudworth, Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Cudworth, Ralph, 1617–88, English theologian and philosopher. He was a noted representative of the Cambridge Platonists. Cudworth's most ambitious work, The True Intellectual System of the Universe,...

Giannotti, Donato

(Encyclopedia)Giannotti, Donato dōnäˈtō jän-nôtˈtē [key], 1492–1573, Italian political theorist, b. Florence. He studied at Pisa and in 1527 became secretary of the supreme council of the Florentine repub...

Behan, Brendan

(Encyclopedia)Behan, Brendan bēˈhăn [key], 1923–64, Irish dramatist. A notoriously outspoken and uninhibited man, he joined the Irish Republican Army in 1937 and was twice imprisoned for political offenses. Hi...