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Thomson, Peter William

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Peter William, 1929–2018, Australian golfer. A leading player in European tournaments at a time when Australians had not yet emerged as top golfers, Thomson had a compact swing and efficien...

Peter of Verona, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Peter of Verona, Saint, 1206?–1252, Italian preacher, a Dominican. He traveled throughout Italy on preaching tours and was especially known for his opposition to the Cathari. He was murdered by some...

Altgeld, John Peter

(Encyclopedia)Altgeld, John Peter ältˈgĕlt [key], 1847–1902, American politician, governor of Illinois (1892–96), b. Germany. He was taken by his immigrant parents to Ohio, where he grew up with little forma...

Peter I, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Peter I or Peter the Great, 1672–1725, czar of Russia (1682–1725), major figure in the development of imperial Russia. Peter's personal traits ranged from bestial cruelty and vice to the most ...

Carey, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Carey, Peter, 1943–, Australian novelist, b. near Melbourne. Carey's combination of science fiction and fantasy motifs with a realistic style, displayed in the short stories in The Fat Man in Histor...

Debye, Peter Joseph Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Debye, Peter Joseph Wilhelm dēbīˈ [key], 1884–1966, American physicist, b. the Netherlands. He was professor at the universities of Zürich, Utrecht, Göttingen, Leipzig, and Berlin. In 1940 he c...

Sörensen, Sören Peter Lauritz

(Encyclopedia)Sörensen, Sören Peter Lauritz söˈrən pēˈtər louˈrēts söˈrənsən [key], 1868–1939, Danish biochemist. In 1899 he received a Ph.D. degree in Copenhagen. Sörensen was director of chemistr...

Ackroyd, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Ackroyd, Peter, 1949–, British author, b. London; studied Clare College, Cambridge (M.A., 1971) and Yale. A literary journalist, he wrote for the Spectator (1973–82), where he was literary and the...

Peter I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Peter I, 1320–67, king of Portugal (1357–67), son and successor of Alfonso IV. He married (1336) Constance Manuel, a Castilian noblewoman, but subsequently fell in love with one of her ladies in w...

Philomena of Dacia, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Philomena of Dacia, Peter, or Peter Nightingale, fl. 1291–1303, Danish astronomer and mathematician. He taught at the Univ. of Bologna (1291–92) and in Paris, and was a canon of Roskilde Cathedral...