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Vonnoh, Bessie Potter

(Encyclopedia)Vonnoh, Bessie Potter vŏnˈō [key], 1872–1955, American sculptor, b. St. Louis, studied under Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago. She was Taft's assistant in his work for the World's Colu...

Wilson, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Alexander, 1766–1813, American ornithologist, b. Scotland. He came to the United States c.1794, taught in rural New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and became a citizen in 1804. Encouraged by Willi...

Weiser, Conrad

(Encyclopedia)Weiser, Conrad wīzˈər [key], 1696–1760, American pioneer, b. Württemberg, Germany. Arriving in America in 1710, his family settled in Livingston Manor, N.Y., and later at Schoharie. While still ...

Boehm, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Boehm, Martin bām [key], 1725–1812, American evangelical preacher, b. Conestoga, Pa. He was the son of a Palatinate Mennonite who settled in Lancaster co., Pa. Boehm became a Mennonite preacher c.1...

Bird, Robert Montgomery

(Encyclopedia)Bird, Robert Montgomery, 1806–54, American playwright and novelist, b. New Castle, Del., M.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1827. He wrote several prizewinning verse plays for the actor Edwin Forrest, nota...

Zewail, Ahmed Hassan

(Encyclopedia)Zewail, Ahmed Hassan, 1946–2016, Egyptian-American chemist, b. Damanhur, Egypt, Ph.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1974. He became a U.S. citizen in 1982. A professor at the California Institute of Techno...

Schrieffer, John Robert

(Encyclopedia)Schrieffer, John Robert, 1931–2019, American physicist, b., Oak Park, Ill., Ph.D. Univ. of Illinois, 1957. Schrieffer was a professor at the Univ. of Chicago (1957–60), the Univ. of Illinois (1960...

Ridge, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Ridge, Tom (Thomas Joseph Ridge), 1945–, U.S. politician and government official, first secretary of Homeland Security (2003–5), b. Munhall, Pa. A graduate of Harvard (1967) and the Dickinson Scho...

Barnes, Harry Elmer

(Encyclopedia)Barnes, Harry Elmer, 1889–1968, American historian and sociologist, b. Auburn, N.Y. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1918 and taught economics, sociology, and history at various institutions o...

Carboniferous period

(Encyclopedia)Carboniferous period kärbənĭfˈərəs [key], fifth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 350 to 290 million years ago. The pl...