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Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi

(Encyclopedia)Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi säˈdēä, äl-fīyo͞oˈmē [key], 882–942, Jewish scholar, b. Egypt. He was known as Saadia Gaon. He was the head of the great Jewish Academy at Sura, Babylonia, which...

Traviès de Villers, Charles Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Traviès de Villers, Charles Joseph shärl zhôzĕfˈ trävyĕsˈ də vēlĕrˈ [key], 1804–59, French caricaturist and painter, b. Switzerland. He founded and was a prolific contributor to the popu...

Boussingault, Jean Baptiste Joseph Dieudonné

(Encyclopedia)Boussingault, Jean Baptiste Joseph Dieudonné zhäN bätēstˈ zhôzĕfˈ dyödônāˈ bo͞osăNgōˈ [key], 1802–87, French agricultural chemist. He was professor of chemistry at Lyons and later pr...

Abbott, Sir John Joseph Caldwell

(Encyclopedia)Abbott, Sir John Joseph Caldwell, 1821–93, Canadian political leader. He was a graduate of McGill College, where he served on the law faculty (1853–80). He served in the Canadian House of Commons ...

Vendôme, Louis Joseph, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Vendôme, Louis Joseph, duc de dük də väNdōmˈ [key], 1654–1712, marshal of France; grandson of César de Vendôme and son of Laura Mancini. He fought in the War of the Grand Alliance. In the W...

catapult

(Encyclopedia)catapult kătˈəpŭltˌ [key], mechanism used to throw missiles in ancient and medieval warfare. At first, catapults were specifically designed to shoot spears or other missiles at a low trajectory (...

Macdonald, Ross

(Encyclopedia)Macdonald, Ross, pseud. of Kenneth Millar, 1915–83, American novelist, b. Los Gatos, Calif. He was educated in Canada and at the Univ. of Michigan. Macdonald's mystery novels center on the tough but...

Kavanaugh, Brett Michael

(Encyclopedia)Kavanaugh, Brett Michael, 1965–, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (2018–), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Yale (B.A. 1987, J.D. 1990). He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy a...

Williams, C. K.

(Encyclopedia)Williams, C. K. (Charles Kenneth Williams), 1936–2015, American poet, b. Newark, N.J., grad. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1959. He wrote more than 20 books of poetry, rich in detail, with complex syntax a...

affluent society

(Encyclopedia)affluent society, term coined by John Kenneth Galbraith in The Affluent Society (1958) to describe the United States after World War II. An affluent society, as the term was used ironically by Galbrai...