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Albert Achilles

(Encyclopedia)Albert Achilles əkĭlˈēz [key], 1414–86, elector of Brandenburg (1470–86); third son of Elector Frederick I. He succeeded his brother in 1470. Anxious to consolidate Hohenzollern power in Brand...

pilot

(Encyclopedia)pilot, person responsible for safe navigation of a ship or airplane. A ship's pilot is an individual possessing local knowledge of coastal waters. Usually licensed by public authority (in the United S...

Leonidas

(Encyclopedia)Leonidas lēŏnˈĭdəs [key], d. 480 b.c., king of Sparta. He succeeded (c.491 b.c.) his half-brother, Cleomenes I. When the Persians invaded Greece under Xerxes (480 b.c.), Leonidas with 300 Spartan...

Molokai

(Encyclopedia)Molokai mōˈlōkīˈ [key], island (1990 pop. 6,587), 261 sq mi (676 sq km), Maui co., Hawaii, between Oahu and Maui islands. Molokai is generally mountainous, with Mt. Kamakou (4,970 ft/1,515 m) the...

Graham, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Graham, Thomas, 1805–69, Scottish chemist, best known for research in diffusion in both gases and liquids that led to his formulation of Graham's law. His discovery that certain substances (e.g., gl...

Tanggula Shan

(Encyclopedia)Tanggula Shan täng-lä, däng-lä [key], mountain range, southeast extension of the Karakorum range, in the central Tibetan plateau, on the Tibet-Qinghai border, W China; rises to about 20,000 ft (6,...

Cenis, Mont

(Encyclopedia)Cenis, Mont môN sənēˈ [key], Ital. Moncenisio, Alpine pass, 6,831 ft (2,082 m) high, on the French-Italian border. It is one of the great invasion routes in Italian history. Napoleon I built a new...

Brigue and Tende

(Encyclopedia)Brigue and Tende brēg, täNd [key], Ital. Briga and Tenda, two small districts, Alpes-Maritimes dept., SE France, on the French-Italian border. The districts are on the “Route Royal,” opened in 1...

Marengo, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Marengo, battle of, a major engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on June 14, 1800, at the village of Marengo in Piedmont, N Italy. Determined to throw the Austrians back from positions ...

cloaca

(Encyclopedia)cloaca klōāˈkə [key], in biology, enlarged posterior end of the digestive tract of some animals. The cloaca, from the Latin word for sewer, is a single chamber into which pass solid and liquid was...