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Williams, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Roger, c.1603–1683, clergyman, advocate of religious freedom, founder of Rhode Island, b. London. A protégé of Sir Edward Coke, he graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1627 and...

writing

(Encyclopedia)writing, the visible recording of language peculiar to the human species. Writing enables the transmission of ideas over vast distances of time and space and is a prerequisite of complex civilization....

Camus, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Camus, Albert älbĕrˈ kämüˈ [key], 1913–60, French writer, b. Mondovi (now Dréan). Camus was one of the most important authors and thinkers of the 20th cent. While a philosophy student at the ...

hurricane

(Encyclopedia)CE5 View into the eye of a hurricane showing the structure of the surrounding cloud wall hurricane, tropical cyclone in which winds attain speeds greater than 74 mi (119 km) per hr. Wind speeds gu...

Larbaud, Valery

(Encyclopedia)Larbaud, Valery välārēˈ lärbōˈ [key], 1881–1957, French novelist, poet, critic, and translator. A wealthy and cosmopolitan scholar and poet, Larbaud learned six languages and produced notable...

kite, in aviation and recreation

(Encyclopedia)kite, in aviation, aircraft restrained by a towline and deriving its lift from the aerodynamic action of the wind flowing across it. Commonly the kite consists of a light framework upon which paper, s...

Rezanov, Nikolai Petrovich

(Encyclopedia)Rezanov, Nikolai Petrovich nyĭkəlīˈ pētrôˈvîch ryĕzäˈnəf [key], 1764–1807, Russian trader, an official of the Russian American Company. In 1803 he headed an expedition that aimed to go a...

Ripley, George

(Encyclopedia)Ripley, George, 1802–80, American literary critic and author, b. Greenfield, Mass. After graduating from Harvard Divinity School in 1826, he entered the Unitarian ministry. He was one of the leaders...

Alekseyev, Mikhail Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Alekseyev, Mikhail Vasilyevich mēkhəēlˈvəsēˈlyəvĭch əlyĭksyāˈəf [key], 1857–1918, Russian general, chief of staff (1915–17) of Czar Nicholas II. With other officers he urged the czar...

Abel, Niels Henrik

(Encyclopedia)Abel, Niels Henrik nēls hĕnˈrĭk äˈbəl [key], 1802–29, Norwegian mathematician. While a student at the Univ. of Christiania (Oslo) he did fundamental work on the integration of functional expr...