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Schenck, Robert Cumming

(Encyclopedia)Schenck, Robert Cumming skĕngk [key], 1809–90, American politician and diplomat, Union general in the Civil War, b. Franklin, Ohio. He studied law and practiced in Dayton. Schenck was a Whig in Con...

harmonica

(Encyclopedia)harmonica. 1 The simplest of the musical instruments employing free reeds, known also as the mouth organ or French harp. It was probably invented in 1829 by Friedrich Buschmann of Berlin, who called h...

clipper

(Encyclopedia)clipper, type of sailing ship, designed for speed. Long and narrow, the clipper had the greatest beam aft of the center; the bow cleaved the waves; and the ship carried, besides topgallant and royal s...

Knussen, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)Knussen, Oliver (Stuart Oliver Knussen), 1952–2018, British composer, conductor, and teacher, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A musical prodigy, he began to compose at age 6 and studied with, among others, Gu...

Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi

(Encyclopedia)Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi äkhˈtēsärrē [key], 1937–, Finnish diplomat, political leader, and international mediator; grad. Univ. of Oulu (1959). Joining (1965) the foreign affairs ministry, ...

Dease, Peter Warren

(Encyclopedia)Dease, Peter Warren dēs [key], 1788–1863, Canadian explorer. He was in the North West Company before its merger with the Hudson's Bay Company and later was a Hudson's Bay Company trader. He was a m...

lightning rod

(Encyclopedia)lightning rod, a rod made of materials, especially metals, that are good conductors of electricity, which is mounted on top of a building or other structure and attached to the ground by a cable. By v...

Brogan, Denis William

(Encyclopedia)Brogan, Denis William brōˈgən [key], 1900–1974, British historian and political scientist, b. Glasgow, Scotland. He was educated at the Univ. of Glasgow, Oxford, and Harvard and was professor of ...

Yehoshua, A. B.

(Encyclopedia)Yehoshua, A. B. (Abraham, or Avraham, “Bulli” Yehoshua), 1936–, Israeli writer.He has taught at several schools, and since 1967 has lived in Haifa, where he teaches at the city's university. One...

trombone

(Encyclopedia)trombone [Ital.,=large trumpet], brass wind musical instrument of cylindrical bore, twice bent on itself, having a sliding section that lengthens or shortens it and thus regulates the pitch. The desce...