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prospecting

(Encyclopedia)prospecting, search for mineral deposits suitable for mining. Modern prospecting has replaced earlier methods based on chance or superstition (e.g., use of the divining rod) with others based on a sci...

Herbert, George

(Encyclopedia)Herbert, George, 1593–1633, one of the English metaphysical poets. Of noble family, he was the brother of Baron Herbert of Cherbury. He was graduated from Cambridge. His early determination to enter...

hundred

(Encyclopedia)hundred, in English history, a subdivision of a shire, first mentioned in the 10th cent. and surviving as a unit of local government into the 19th cent. It is thought that in origin the hundred compri...

Kazin, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Kazin, Alfred kāˈzĭn [key], 1915–98, American critic, b. New York City, grad. College of the City of New York (B.S., 1935) and Columbia (M.A., 1938). Kazin was one of the outstanding literary cri...

Kelly, John

(Encyclopedia)Kelly, John, 1822–86, American politician, boss of Tammany Hall, b. New York City. He entered politics at an early age. At first he opposed Tammany Hall, but later (1853) joined the organization and...

Snorri Sturluson

(Encyclopedia)Snorri Sturluson or Sturleson snôrˈrē stürˈlüsôn, –lĕsôn [key], 1178–1241, Icelandic chieftain, historian, critic, and saga teller, the leading figure in medieval Norse literature. He was...

Soane, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Soane, Sir John sōn [key], 1753–1837, English architect. After studying with George Dance, the younger, Soane won a fellowship to Rome. He toured Italy and returned in 1780 to begin his practice in...

Berlin, Irving

(Encyclopedia)Berlin, Irving bərlĭnˈ [key], 1888–1989, American songwriter, b. Russia as Israel Baline; his Jewish family fled a pogrom in 1893 and settled in New York's Lower East Side. Alexander's Ragtime Ba...

Mailer, Norman

(Encyclopedia)Mailer, Norman (Norman Kingsley Mailer), 1923–2007, American writer, b. Long Branch, N.J., grad. Harvard, 1943. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., served in the army during World War II, and at the age o...

Turner, Joseph Mallord William

(Encyclopedia)Turner, Joseph Mallord William, 1775–1851, English landscape painter, b. London. Turner was the foremost English romantic painter and the most original of English landscape artists; in watercolor he...