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German Catholics

(Encyclopedia)German Catholics, religious groups founded in 1844 by dissidents from the Roman Catholic Church. They were led by two excommunicated priests, Johann Czerski of Schneidemühl, Posen, and Johann Ronge o...

Lebrun, Charles François

(Encyclopedia)Lebrun, Charles François ləbröNˈ [key], 1739–1824, French statesman. A moderate member of the Constituent Assembly after the start of the French Revolution, he was imprisoned during the Reign o...

Capablanca, José Raúl

(Encyclopedia)Capablanca, José Raúl hōsāˈ räo͞olˈ käpäblängˈkä [key], 1888–1942, Cuban chess player, b. Havana. Champion of Cuba at the age of 12, he won the world's championship from Emanuel Lasker ...

Big Bend National Park

(Encyclopedia)Big Bend National Park, 801,163 acres (324,471 hectares), W Tex.; authorized 1935, est. 1944. It is a triangle formed where the Rio Grande runs southeast then northeast in a big bend along the U.S.-Me...

Bignon, Louis Pierre Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Bignon, Louis Pierre Édouard lwē pyĕr ādwärˈ bēnyôNˈ [key], 1771–1841, French diplomat and historian. He held diplomatic posts under Napoleon, was acting minister of foreign affairs during ...

Afwerki, Isaias

(Encyclopedia)Afwerki or Afewerki, Isaias, 1945–, Eritrean political leader, president of Eritrea (1993–), b. Asmara. He studied engineering at the Univ. of Addis Ababa, leaving in 1966 to join the Eritrean Lib...

Research Triangle Park

(Encyclopedia)Research Triangle Park, research, business, medical, and educational complex situated in central North Carolina. It has an area of 6,900 acres (2,795 hectares) and is 8 × 2 mi (13 × 3 km) in size. N...

Semipalatinsk Test Site

(Encyclopedia)Semipalatinsk Test Site, Soviet nuclear testing site, c.6,950 sq mi (18,000 sq km), NE Kazakhstan, near the city of Kurchatov and some 90 mi (150 km) W of Semey (formerly Semipalatinsk). Between 1949 ...

baby boom

(Encyclopedia)baby boom, a period in which the birthrate is significantly higher than in other periods, especially the post–World War II period in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In the Uni...

Drachenfels

(Encyclopedia)Drachenfels dräˈkhənfĕls [key] [Ger.,=dragon's rock], mountain, 1,053 ft (321 m) high, in the Siebengebirge, W Germany, on the Rhine. It is of volcanic origin. In legend, it is the scene of Siegfr...