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Sumter, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Sumter, Thomas, 1734–1832, American Revolutionary officer, b. near Charlottesville, Va. He served with Edward Braddock (1755) and John Forbes (1758) in their expeditions against Fort Duquesne in the...

Franklin, Rosalind Elsie

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Rosalind Elsie, 1920–58, English molecular biologist and chemist, grad. Newnham College, Cambridge (1941). She spent most of the war years (1942–45) working for the British Coal Utilisat...

Passau

(Encyclopedia)Passau päsˈou [key], city (1994 pop. 51,041), Bavaria, SE Germany, at the confluence of the Danube, Inn, and Ilz rivers, near the border with Austria. It is a river port, rail junction, and industri...

business cycles

(Encyclopedia)business cycles, fluctuations in economic activity characterized by periods of rising and falling fiscal health. During a business cycle, an economy grows, reaches a peak, and then begins a downturn f...

Knussen, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)Knussen, Oliver (Stuart Oliver Knussen), 1952–2018, British composer, conductor, and teacher, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A musical prodigy, he began to compose at age 6 and studied with, among others, Gu...

Nabis

(Encyclopedia)Nabis näbēˈ [key] [Heb.,=prophets], a group of artists in France active during the 1890s. Paul Sérusier and Maurice Denis were the principal theorists of the group. Outstanding members were Édoua...

Crick, Francis Harry Compton

(Encyclopedia)Crick, Francis Harry Compton, 1916–2004, English scientist, grad. University College, London, and Caius College, Cambridge. Crick was trained as a physicist, and from 1940 to 1947 he served as a sci...

Colette

(Encyclopedia)Colette (Sidonie Gabrielle Colette) sēdōnēˈ gäbrēĕlˈ kōlĕtˈ [key], 1873–1954, French novelist. Colette achieved popularity with numerous novels, characterized by sensitive observations—...

John IV, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John IV, 1604–56, king of Portugal (1640–56). He succeeded as duke of Braganza in 1630. Descended from Manuel I and in illegitimate line from John I, he had the strongest claim to the Portuguese t...

John V, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John V (John the Magnanimous), 1689–1750, king of Portugal (1706–50), son and successor of Peter II. Before his accession the Methuen Treaty (1703) with England had brought Portugal into the War o...