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Smith, Sydney

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Sydney, 1771–1845, English clergyman, writer, and wit, ordained in the Church of England in 1794. In 1798 he went as a tutor to Edinburgh, where he studied medicine, occasionally preached, an...

Roberts, John Glover, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Roberts, John Glover, Jr., 1955–, American public official, 17th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (2005–), b. Buffalo, N.Y., grad. Harvard (B.A. 1976, J.D. 1979). He clerked (1980–81) for...

Weber, Max, German sociologist

(Encyclopedia)Weber, Max vāˈbər [key], 1864–1920, German sociologist, economist, and political scientist. At various times he taught at Berlin, Freiburg, Munich, and Heidelberg. One of Weber's chief interests...

Long, Huey Pierce

(Encyclopedia)Long, Huey Pierce, 1893–1935, American political leader, b. Winnfield, La.; brother of Earl Long. Originally a farm boy, he was an extremely successful traveling salesman before studying law at Tula...

Gordy, Berry, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Gordy, Berry, Jr., 1929–, African-American music-industry executive, b. Detroit. After stints in the army and as a professional boxer, Gordy opened a ...

Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon

(Encyclopedia)Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon zhäN-bätēstˈ-sēmāôNˈ shärdăNˈ [key], 1699–1779, French painter. He was a major figure of 18th-century painting. While the Académie royale still advocated h...

Ely, Richard Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Ely, Richard Theodore ēˈlē [key], 1854–1943, American economist, b. Ripley, N.Y., grad. Columbia, 1876, Ph.D. Heidelberg, 1879. He taught at Johns Hopkins (1881–92), the Univ. of Wisconsin (189...

Atwood, Margaret Eleanor

(Encyclopedia)Atwood, Margaret Eleanor, 1939–, Canadian novelist and poet. Atwood is a skilled and powerful storyteller whose novels, set mainly in the near future, sometimes make use of such popular genres as hi...

Vico, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Vico, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēˈstä vēˈkō [key], 1668–1744, Italian philosopher and historian, also known as Giambattista Vico, b. Naples. In 1699, Vico became professor of rhetor...

Fowler, Henry Watson

(Encyclopedia)Fowler, Henry Watson, 1858–1933, English lexicographer, b. Devon, educated at Oxford. Both he and his brother, Francis G. Fowler (1870–1918), had been teachers before they began their literary col...