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blockade

(Encyclopedia)blockade, use of naval forces to cut off maritime communication and supply. Blockades may be used to prevent shipping from reaching enemy ports, or they may serve purposes of coercion. The term is rar...

Maga, Hubert

(Encyclopedia)Maga, Hubert (Hubert Coutoucou Maga) übârˈ mäˈgä [key], 1916–2000, political leader in Dahomey (now Benin). A teacher, he became active in politics and was (1951–58) a representative in the ...

Russell of Killowen, Charles Russell, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Russell of Killowen, Charles Russell, Baron kĭlōˈən [key], 1832–1900, British jurist, b. Ireland. He practiced law in Belfast and London before his election to Parliament as a Liberal in 1880. I...

Rainwater, James

(Encyclopedia)Rainwater, James, 1917–86, American physicist, Ph.D. Columbia, 1946. After working on the Manhattan Project as a student during World War II, he became a professor of physics at Columbia in 1952. Hi...

Crittenden, Thomas Leonidas

(Encyclopedia)Crittenden, Thomas Leonidas lē-ŏnˈədəs [key], 1819–93, Union general in the Civil War, b. Russellville, Ky.; son of John J. Crittenden and brother of George B. Crittenden. He served in the Mexi...

Goldmark, Peter Carl

(Encyclopedia)Goldmark, Peter Carl, 1906–77, Hungarian-American engineer, b. Budapest. He studied at the Univ. of Vienna (B.S., 1929, Ph.D., 1931); worked for a radio company in England (1931–33). After emigrat...

vending machine

(Encyclopedia)vending machine, coin-operated, automatic device for selling goods. Many vending machines are capable of making change, and some of the more sophisticated ones accept paper money or credit cards. The ...

Osborne, Thomas Mott

(Encyclopedia)Osborne, Thomas Mott, 1859–1926, American prison reformer, b. Auburn, N.Y., grad. Harvard, 1884. As chairman (1913) of the state commission on prison reform he became a voluntary prisoner in the Aub...

Ansip, Andrus

(Encyclopedia)Ansip, Andrus, 1956–, Estonian political leader. Ansip was an engineer (1979–83) before becoming an official of the Tartu district committee of the Estonian Communist party (1986–88). Ansip was ...

Doubleday, Abner

(Encyclopedia)Doubleday, Abner, 1819–93, once credited as originator of baseball and Union general in the American Civil War, b. Saratoga co., N.Y., grad. West Point, 1842. The A. G. Mills commission (1905–8) i...