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Spinoza, Baruch

(Encyclopedia)Spinoza, Baruch or Benedict spinōˈzə [key], 1632–77, Dutch philosopher, b. Amsterdam. Politically, Spinoza and Hobbes again share assumptions about the social contract: Right derives from p...

Ockeghem, Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Ockeghem, Johannes yōhänˈəs ŏkˈəgĕm [key], c.1410–1497, Flemish composer. Ockeghem is thought to have been a pupil of Gilles Binchois and was definitely taught by Guillaume Dufay. He himself...

Tourneur, Cyril

(Encyclopedia)Tourneur, Cyril tûrˈnər [key], 1575?–1626, English dramatist and poet. Little is known of his life. The Transformed Metamorphosis (1600), an allegorical satire, was his first published work. His ...

Chalkley, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Chalkley, Thomas chôˈklē [key], 1675–1741, Quaker mariner and missionary preacher, b. England. He made his home after 1701 in Philadelphia. He traded chiefly with the West Indies, navigating his ...

Geibel, Emanuel von

(Encyclopedia)Geibel, Emanuel von āmäˈno͞oĕl fən gīˈbəl [key], 1815–84, German poet. Although at first a revolutionary poet, he gradually became more conservative, reflecting the growing German nationali...

genius

(Encyclopedia)genius, in Roman religion, guardian spirit of a man, a family, or a state. In some instances, a place, a city, or an institution had its genius. As the guardian spirit of an individual, the genius (co...

Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo

(Encyclopedia)Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo: bānēˈtō hārōˈnēmō fāēhōˈō [key], 1676–1764, Spanish Benedictine scholar and critic, abbot at Oviedo, Asturias. Feijoo led in bringing the Enlightenment to Spa...

Altman, Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Altman, Sidney, 1939–, Canadian-American molecular biologist, b. Montreal, Ph.D., Univ. of Colorado, 1967. A professor at Yale Univ. since 1971, he discovered that RNA could function as enzymes; it ...

Graham Land

(Encyclopedia)Graham Land, part of the Antarctic Peninsula, W Antarctica. This ice-covered, mountainous area was thought to be a group of islands but further exploration (1934) showed it to be peninsular. Claimed b...

dominion

(Encyclopedia)dominion, power to rule, or that which is subject to rule. Before 1949 the term was used officially to describe the self-governing countries of the Commonwealth of Nations—e.g., Canada, Australia, o...