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Benbow, John

(Encyclopedia)Benbow, John bĕnˈbō [key], 1653–1702, English admiral. Some of the stories of his exploits seem to be legendary, but he did command the fleet and successfully fight the French at La Hogue (1692),...

Britton, Nathaniel Lord

(Encyclopedia)Britton, Nathaniel Lord, 1859–1934, American botanist, grad. Columbia School of Mines, 1879. He taught geology and botany at Columbia, 1879–96. He was the New York Botanical Garden's first directo...

Tatian

(Encyclopedia)Tatian tāˈshən [key], 2d cent., Christian apologist. Probably born in Syria, he was a pupil of Justin Martyr. After his master's death, he left Christianity, becoming an Encratitic Gnostic—i.e., ...

Pontefract

(Encyclopedia)Pontefract pŏnˈtĭfrăkt, pŭmˈfrĭt [key], town (1991 pop. 28,621), Wakefield metropolitan district, N England. It is an industrial city; furniture, iron products, and textiles are made. Pomfret c...

Pacher, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Pacher, Michael mĭkhˈäĕl päˈkhər [key], c.1435–1498, German religious painter and probably a wood carver, a native of the Tyrol. He painted figures reminiscent of the art of Mantegna, whose w...

Perrine, Charles Dillon

(Encyclopedia)Perrine, Charles Dillon pərīnˈ [key], 1867–1951, American astronomer, b. Steubenville, Ohio. He was on the staff of Lick Observatory (1893–1909) and was (1909–36) director of the Argentine Na...

Auster, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Auster, Paul ôˈstər [key], 1947–, American writer, b. Newark, N.J. After publishing four volumes of poetry, he wrote his first novel, Squeeze Play (1982). A compelling storyteller, Auster became ...

mite

(Encyclopedia)mite, small, often microscopic arachnid that belongs to several orders in the subclass Acari (or Acarina), to which the tick also belongs; mites and ticks are related to the spiders. The unsegmented m...

Bullins, Ed

(Encyclopedia)Bullins, Ed, 1935-2021, American playwright, b. Philadelphia, Pa., as Edward Artie Bullins, Antioch Univ. of San Fransico (B.A., 1989), San Francisco S...

Taj Mahal

(Encyclopedia)Taj Mahal täzh məhälˈ, täj məhŭlˈ [key], mausoleum, Agra, Uttar Pradesh state, N India, on the Yamuna River. It is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and the finest ex...