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Williams, John, English missionary

(Encyclopedia)Williams, John, 1796–1839, English missionary, called the Apostle of Polynesia. Under the London Missionary Society he went (1817) to the Society Islands. He discovered Rarotonga in 1823 and founded...

Benz, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Benz, Karl bĕnts [key], 1844–1929, German engineer, credited with building the first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine. The car, driven in Mannheim in 1885 and patented in 1886, h...

Carpenter, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Carpenter, Mary, 1807–77, English educator. She devoted her life to the establishment of schools and institutions and the promotion of educational reforms. In 1835 she organized the Working and Visi...

Bishop, John Michael

(Encyclopedia)Bishop, John Michael, 1936–, American biologist, b. York, Penn., M.D. Harvard, 1962. He worked (1964–68) as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., before joining the f...

Borden, Lizzie Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Borden, Lizzie Andrew, 1860–1927, American woman accused of killing her father and her step-mother, b. Fall River, Mass. The elder Bordens were hacked to death with an ax on Aug. 4, 1892. Although L...

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich

(Encyclopedia)Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich ĭlyēchˈ chīkôfˈskē [key], 1840–93, Russian composer, b. Kamsko-Votkinsk. Variant transliterations of his name include Tschaikovsky and Chaikovsky. He is a towering f...

Rodin, Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Rodin, Auguste ōgüstˈ rōdăNˈ [key], 1840–1917, French sculptor, b. Paris. He began his art study at 14 in the Petite École and in the school of Antoine Barye, earning his living by working fo...

Fox, Charles James

(Encyclopedia)Fox, Charles James, 1749–1806, British statesman and orator, for many years the outstanding parliamentary proponent of liberal reform. He entered Parliament in 1768 and served as lord of the admiral...

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

(Encyclopedia)International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) (IBRD), independent specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Washington, D.C.; one of five closely associated develop...

Wordsworth, William

(Encyclopedia)Wordsworth, William, 1770–1850, English poet, b. Cockermouth, Cumberland. One of the great English poets, he was a leader of the romantic movement in England. Wordsworth's personality and poetry ...