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calculus of variations

(Encyclopedia)calculus of variations, branch of mathematics concerned with finding maximum or minimum conditions for a relationship between two or more variables that depends not only on the variables themselves, a...

Salamanca, University of

(Encyclopedia)Salamanca, University of, at Salamanca, Spain; founded 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, reorganized 1254 by Alfonso X of Castile and León. It has faculties of philosophy, philology, geography and history...

Richard of Devizes

(Encyclopedia)Richard of Devizes dĭvīˈzĭz [key], fl. late 12th cent., English chronicler and monk. He wrote a lively Chronicon de rebus gestis Ricardi primi [chronicle of the deeds of Richard I], a valuable his...

Pennsylvania, University of

(Encyclopedia)Pennsylvania, University of, in Philadelphia; private with some state support; coeducational. It dates to 1740 and plans for a charity school, and the first predecessor opened in 1751 as an academy, l...

state of emergency

(Encyclopedia)state of emergency, situation in which a government or a government body is empowered to act with enhanced powers in order to respond to a crisis. The enhanced or emergency powers, and in many cases i...

London, University of

(Encyclopedia)London, University of, at London, England; founded 1836 as an examining and degree-giving body. Teaching functions were not added until 1898. It comprised at first University College (or UCL, which ha...

Ten, Council of

(Encyclopedia)Ten, Council of, in the republic of Venice, a special tribunal created (1310) to avert plots and crimes against the state. It was a direct result of the unsuccessful Tiepolo conspiracy against the Ven...

credit, letter of

(Encyclopedia)credit, letter of, commercial instrument through which a bank or other financial institution instructs a correspondent institution to advance a specified sum of money to the bearer. The document is ca...

Reign of Terror

(Encyclopedia)Reign of Terror, 1793–94, period of the French Revolution characterized by a wave of executions of presumed enemies of the state. Directed by the Committee of Public Safety, the Revolutionary govern...

Churches of Christ

(Encyclopedia)Churches of Christ, conservative body of evangelical Protestants in the United States. Its founders were originally members of what is now the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who gradually with...