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Keaton, Buster

(Encyclopedia)Keaton, Buster (Joseph Francis Keaton), 1895–1966, American movie actor, b. Piqua, Kans. Considered one of the greatest comic actors in film history, Keaton used his considerable acrobatic skills, w...

phlogiston theory

(Encyclopedia)phlogiston theory flōjĭsˈtŏn [key], hypothesis regarding combustion. The theory, advanced by J. J. Becher late in the 17th cent. and extended and popularized by G. E. Stahl, postulates that in all...

Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Piranesi, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēˈstä pēränāˈzē [key], 1720–78, Italian etcher and architect. The greater part of his life was spent in Rome, where he made etchings of the bui...

Woolworth, Frank Winfield

(Encyclopedia)Woolworth, Frank Winfield, 1852–1919, American merchant, b. Rodman, N.Y. He established in 1879 a five-cent store at Utica, N.Y., which failed, and the same year he started a successful five-and-ten...

Wyeth, N. C.

(Encyclopedia)Wyeth, N. C. (Newell Convers Wyeth), 1882–1945, American painter and illustrator, b. Needham, Mass., studied with Howard Pyle. Among his many well-known murals are those in the Missouri state capito...

Zephaniah, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Zephaniah zĕfˌənīˈə [key], prophetic book of the Bible. The prophet, who lived in the reign (c.640–609 b.c.) of King Josiah of Judah, traces his genealogy to King Hezekiah. Zephaniah denounces...

Whately, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Whately, Richard hwātˈlē [key], 1787–1863, English prelate and writer. Fellow and tutor of Oriel College, Oxford, he published a witty work aimed at extreme skeptics, Historic Doubts Relative to ...

Cassiodorus

(Encyclopedia)Cassiodorus (Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator) kăshōdōˈrəs [key], c.485–c.585, Roman statesman and author. He held high office under Theodoric the Great and the succeeding Gothic rul...

Niebuhr, Helmut Richard

(Encyclopedia)Niebuhr, Helmut Richard, 1894–1962, American theologian, b. Wright City, Mo., grad. Elmhurst College (Ill.), 1912, and Eden Theological Seminary, 1915, M.A. Washington Univ., 1917, B.D. Yale Divinit...

Micheaux, Oscar Devereaux

(Encyclopedia)Micheaux, Oscar Devereaux, 1884–1951, American filmmaker and author, b. Metropolis, Ill. The son of former slaves, Micheaux first worked as a Pullman porter, then was a homesteader in South Dakota. ...