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Franklin, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–90, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer, b. Boston. The only American of the colonial period to earn a European reputation as a natural philosopher, he is bes...

Abbott and Costello

(Encyclopedia)Abbott and Costello kŏstĕlˈō [key], American comedy team of William Alexander “Bud” Abbott, 1895–1974, b. Asbury Park, N.J., and Lou Costello, 1906–59, b. Pate...

Montmorency, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Montmorency, town (1990 pop. 21,003), Val d'Oise dept., N France, a suburb N of Paris. J. J. Rousseau lived there (1756–62), first at the nearby “Hermitage,” a cottage on the estate of his frien...

Marley, Bob

(Encyclopedia)Marley, Bob (Robert Nesta Marley), 1945–81, Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, and guitarist. As a member of the Wailers, a reggae band that included...

Whitgift, John

(Encyclopedia)Whitgift, John hwĭtˈgĭft [key], 1530?–1604, archbishop of Canterbury. He was a fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. As vice chancellor (1573) he had a leading part in revising the university statutes...

Capote, Truman

(Encyclopedia)Capote, Truman käpōˈtē [key], 1924–84, American author, b. New Orleans as Truman Streckfus Persons. During his lifetime, the witty, diminutive writer was a well-known public personage, hobnobbin...

Adams, John, 2d President of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Adams, John, 1735–1826, 2d President of the United States (1797–1801), b. Quincy (then in Braintree), Mass., grad. Harvard, 1755. John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams, founded one of the most di...

Addison, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Addison, Joseph, 1672–1719, English essayist, poet, and statesman. He was educated at Charterhouse, where he was a classmate of Richard Steele, and at Oxford, where he became a distinguished classic...

protactinium

(Encyclopedia)protactinium prōˌtăktĭnˈēəm [key], radioactive chemical element; symbol Pa; at. no. 91; mass number of most stable isotope 231; m.p. greater than 1,600℃; b.p. 4,026℃; sp. gr. 15.37 (calcula...

Galt, Sir Alexander Tilloch

(Encyclopedia)Galt, Sir Alexander Tilloch tĭlˈək gôlt [key], 1817–93, Canadian statesman, b. England; son of John Galt. In 1835 he went to Canada in the service of the British American Land Company. He direct...