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Cram, Donald James

(Encyclopedia)Cram, Donald James, 1919–2001, American chemist, b. Chester, Vt., Ph.D. Harvard, 1947. A professor at the Univ. of California at Los Angeles, Cram expanded on the work of Charles J. Pedersen by synt...

Dacko, David

(Encyclopedia)Dacko, David dävēdˈ däkōˈ [key], 1930–2003, president of the Central African Republic (1960–66, 1979–81). A leader in the independence movement in French Equatorial Africa, he became the f...

essence

(Encyclopedia)essence, in philosophy, the nature of a thing. Aristotle maintained that there is a distinction between the form of a thing—its intelligible, verbally formulable character—and the essence of a thi...

Hurok, Sol

(Encyclopedia)Hurok, Sol hyo͝orˈŏk, yo͝orˈ– [key], 1888–1974, American impresario, b. Russia. Emigrating to the United States in 1906, Hurok was a peddler, streetcar conductor, bottlewasher, and hardware s...

Hesdin, Jacquemart de

(Encyclopedia)Hesdin, Jacquemart de zhäkmärˈ də ādăNˈ [key], fl. c.1384–1411, Franco-Flemish manuscript illuminator. Jacquemart illustrated numerous books of hours, including a number of manuscripts for Je...

Smith College

(Encyclopedia)Smith College, at Northampton, Mass.; undergraduate for women, graduate coeducational; chartered 1871, opened 1875 through a bequest of Sophia Smith. The first president, Laurenus Clark Seelye, was in...

miniature painting

(Encyclopedia)miniature painting [Ital.,=artwork, especially manuscript initial letters, done with the red lead pigment minium; the word originally had no implication as to size]. In a general sense the term denote...

Favras, Thomas de Mahy, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Favras, Thomas de Mahy, marquis de tômäˈ də mäēˈ märkēˈ də fävräsˈ [key], 1744–90, French royalist. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, he plotted (1789) with the comte de La ...

Grasse

(Encyclopedia)Grasse, town, Alpes-Maritime dept., SE France. Probably founded in Roman times, Grasse was a commercial center during the Middle Ages. Destroyed many ti...

Mangin, Charles Marie Emmanuel

(Encyclopedia)Mangin, Charles Marie Emmanuel shärl märēˈ ĕmänüĕlˈ mäNzhăNˈ [key], 1866–1925, French general. A graduate of Saint-Cyr, he served in the Sudan under Jean Marchand and in French North Afr...

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