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Lowry, Malcolm

(Encyclopedia)Lowry, Malcolm (Clarence Malcolm Lowry) louˈrē [key], 1909–57, English novelist, b. New Brighton, Wirral. Lowry is widely recognized as an important writer who effectively articulated the spiritua...

Putnam, George Palmer, 1814–72, American publisher

(Encyclopedia)Putnam, George Palmer, 1814–72, American publisher, b. Brunswick, Maine; grandnephew of Israel Putnam. A member of the New York City bookselling firm of Wiley and Putnam, he established a branch in ...

Bacchylides

(Encyclopedia)Bacchylides băkĭlˈĭdēz [key], fl. c.470 b.c., Greek lyric poet, b. Ceos; nephew of Simonides of Ceos. A contemporary of Pindar, he was patronized by Hiero I. His poetry is noted for its narrative...

Minot, George Richards

(Encyclopedia)Minot, George Richards mīˈnət [key], 1885–1950, American physician and pathologist, b. Boston, M.D. Harvard, 1912. From 1928 to 1948 he was professor of medicine at Harvard and director of the Th...

Thomson, Sir Joseph John

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Sir Joseph John, 1856–1940, English physicist. From 1884 to 1919 he was Cavendish professor of experimental physics at Cambridge. J. J. Thomson was one of the founders of modern physics. Wi...

Maitland, Frederic William

(Encyclopedia)Maitland, Frederic William mātˈlənd [key], 1850–1906, English legal historian, educated at Cambridge. A thorough scholar, he founded the Selden Society for the publication of early English docume...

Garrick, David

(Encyclopedia)Garrick, David, 1717–79, English actor, manager, and dramatist. He was indisputably the greatest English actor of the 18th cent., and his friendships with Diderot, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, ...

Wilson, Colin

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Colin, 1931–2013, English writer, b. Leicester. Born into a working-class family and largely self-educated, Wilson in many of his books exhorts humankind to expand its powers and realize its...

Koirala, Girija Prasad

(Encyclopedia)Koirala, Girija Prasad gĭrēˈjə präsädˈ koiräˈlä [key], 1925–2010, Nepalese political leader. He grew up in N India, where his family lived in exile. He helped found the Nepal Trade Union C...

Gentz, Friedrich von

(Encyclopedia)Gentz, Friedrich von frēˈdrĭkh fən gĕnts [key], 1764–1832, German conservative political theorist. Admirer of the English political system of checks and balances, Gentz was critical of the Fren...

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