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Elgar, Sir Edward William

(Encyclopedia)Elgar, Sir Edward William ĕlˈgär [key], 1857–1934, English composer. He received his training from his father, who was an organist, music seller, and amateur violinist. In 1885 he succeeded his f...

Haggard, Merle Ronald

(Encyclopedia)Haggard, Merle Ronald, 1937–2016, popular and influential American country singer-songwriter, b. Oildale, Calif. The outlaw poet of country music, he grew up in poverty and turned to petty crime as ...

Sorokin, Pitirim Alexandrovitch

(Encyclopedia)Sorokin, Pitirim Alexandrovitch pĭtĭrēmˈ ălˌĭgzănˈdrəvĭch sōrōˈkĭn [key], 1889–1968, Russian-American sociologist. Supporting himself as artisan and clerk, he was able to study at the...

Cassirer, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Cassirer, Ernst ĕrnst käsērˈər [key], 1874–1945, German philosopher. He was a professor at the Univ. of Hamburg from 1919 until 1933, when he went to Oxford; he later taught at Yale and Columbi...

Clairaut, Alexis Claude

(Encyclopedia)Clairaut, Alexis Claude älĕksĕsˈ klōd klĕrōˈ [key], 1713–65, French mathematician. He assisted P. L. M. de Maupertuis in measuring (1736) a degree of an arc of a meridian in Lapland. He is n...

Ingram, Arthur Foley Winnington

(Encyclopedia)Ingram, Arthur Foley Winnington ĭngˈgrəm [key], 1858–1946, English prelate, bishop of London (1901–39). He was a lifelong leader in social work in London's East End. His many books include What...

Dusek, Jan Ladislav

(Encyclopedia)Dusek, Jan Ladislav yän läˈdēsläf do͞oˈshĕk [key], 1760–1812, Czech pianist and composer; pupil of C. P. E. Bach. One of the earliest piano virtuosi, he was famous for his lyrical touch in s...

Arch, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Arch, Joseph, 1826–1919, English labor leader, a Primitive Methodist preacher. He founded the National Agricultural Labourers Union in 1872 and became its president. In 1873, Arch visited Canada and...

Mossi

(Encyclopedia)Mossi mŏsˈē [key], African people, numbering about 2.5 million, mostly in Burkina Faso. From c.a.d. 1000 the Mossi were organized into several kingdoms, one of which has continued to the present da...

Fergusson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Fergusson, Robert, 1750–74, Scottish poet, b. Edinburgh. He was a precursor of Robert Burns, who proclaimed his debt to Fergusson's Poems (1773). After careers in the clergy and in medicine, he work...