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Siebold, Philipp Franz van

(Encyclopedia)Siebold, Philipp Franz van fēˈlĭp fränts fen zēˈbôlt [key], 1796–1866, German naturalist and physician; son of A. E. von Siebold. He was noted for his studies of the natural history, ethnogra...

Collodi, Carlo

(Encyclopedia)Collodi, Carlo lōrāntsēˈnē [key], 1826–90, Italian author. A prolific journalist, he also wrote didactic tales for children, the most famous of which is Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet. First ...

Curtis, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Curtis, Charles, 1860–1936, Vice President of the United States (1929–33), b. near North Topeka, Kans. Of part Native American background, Curtis lived for three years on a Kaw reservation. After ...

Gdynia

(Encyclopedia)Gdynia gədĭnˈyə [key], Ger. Gdingen, city (1994 est. pop. 252,100), Pomorskie prov., N Poland, a port on the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Danzig. It is the port of a larger urban area that includes ...

Gilbert, Alan

(Encyclopedia)Gilbert, Alan, 1967–, American conductor and violinist, b. New York City, studied Harvard (B.A., 1989), Juilliard (M.A, 1994), and Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. After serving as assistant...

Alföld

(Encyclopedia)Alföld ôlˈföld [key], Hun. Nagy-Alföld [Great Alföld], great central plain of Hungary extending into Serbia and W Romania. The level region is drained by the Tisza and Danube rivers. Formerly wo...

Fallada, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Fallada, Hans ro͞oˈdôlf dĭtˈsən [key], 1893–1947, German novelist. Little Man, What Now? (1932, tr. 1933), his story of a young couple in Germany after World War I, was an immediate internatio...

Fanning, Edmund, 1769–1841, American trader and explorer

(Encyclopedia)Fanning, Edmund, 1769–1841, American trader, explorer, and promoter of trade and exploration in the South Seas, b. Stonington, Conn. At the age of 14 he went to sea. In command of a trading vessel, ...

figurehead

(Encyclopedia)figurehead, carved decoration usually representing a head or figure placed under the bowsprit of a ship. The art is of extreme antiquity. Ancient galleys and triremes carried rostrums, or beaks, on th...

fire clay

(Encyclopedia)fire clay, clay that has a high degree of resistance to heat. By the best standards it should have a fusion point higher than 1,600℃. The term “fire clay” is commonly held to exclude kaolin and ...