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Birney, James Gillespie

(Encyclopedia)Birney, James Gillespie bûrˈnē [key], 1792–1857, American abolitionist, b. Danville, Ky. He practiced law at Danville from 1814 to 1818, before he moved to Alabama, where he served one term in th...

Longford, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Longford, Elizabeth lôngˈfərd [key], 1906–2002, British author. Born Elizabeth Harman, she married (1931) Frank Pakenham, later (1961) earl of Longford. She was educated at Oxford, lectured for t...

Shadwell, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Shadwell, Thomas, 1642?–1692, English dramatist and poet. His plays, written in the tradition of Jonson's comedy of humours, are distinguished for their realistic pictures of London life and for the...

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

(Encyclopedia)Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), officially the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, independent U.S. government agency responsible for most of the federal oversight and enforcement of...

Forrestal, James Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Forrestal, James Vincent fôrˈĭstôlˌ, fŏrˈ– [key], 1892–1949, U.S. secretary of the navy (1944–47) and secretary of defense (1947–49), b. Beacon, N.Y. He was a naval aviator in World War...

Franck, César Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Franck, César Auguste sāzärˈ ōgüstˈ fräNk [key], 1822–90, Belgian-French composer and organist. He studied at the conservatories of Liège and Paris, taking prizes in piano, composition, and...

Henderson, Richard, Scottish molecular biologist

(Encyclopedia)Henderson, Richard, 1945–, Scottish molecular biologist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1969. Henderson has been a researcher at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge since 1973. In 2017 he was awarded...

Neutral Nation

(Encyclopedia)Neutral Nation, group of Native North American tribes of the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 17th cent. they occupied the territory ...

Mitchell, Maria

(Encyclopedia)Mitchell, Maria, 1818–89, American astronomer and educator, b. Nantucket, Mass. Mitchell taught school in Nantucket, and later became a librarian. On Oct. 1, 1847, Mitchell discovered a comet (1847 ...

Hunkers

(Encyclopedia)Hunkers, conservative faction of the Democratic party in New York state in the 1840s, so named because they were supposed to “hanker” or “hunker” after office. In opposition to them stood the ...