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macular degeneration

(Encyclopedia)macular degeneration, eye disorder causing loss of central vision. The affected area, the macula, lies at the back of the retina and is the part that produces the sharpest vision. The most serious vis...

baldness

(Encyclopedia)baldness, thinning or loss of hair as a result of illness, functional disorder, or hereditary disposition; also known as alopecia. Male pattern baldness, a genetic trait, is the most common cause of b...

Summerhill

(Encyclopedia)Summerhill, radical progressive school in Leiston, Suffolk, England, and the educational movement based on principles developed at the school. The school was founded (1924) by A. S. Neill, who headed ...

Speranski, Mikhail Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Speranski, Mikhail Mikhailovich mēkhəyēlˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch spyĭränˈskē [key], 1772–1839, Russian public official, chief adviser to Czar Alexander I (1808–12). The son of a village priest,...

Wayland, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Wayland, Francis, 1796–1865, American clergyman and educator, b. New York City, grad. Union College, 1813, and studied at Andover Theological Seminary. As pastor (1821–26) of the First Baptist Chu...

convention

(Encyclopedia)convention, in U.S. politics, a gathering of delegates to nominate candidates for elective office and to formulate party policy. They are held at the national, state, and local levels. State convent...

Husák, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Husák, Gustav go͝osˈtäf ho͝oˈsäk [key], 1913–91, Czechoslovakian political leader. A member of the Communist party from 1933, he helped to lead the Slovak national uprising against the German...

Awami League

(Encyclopedia)Awami League, political organization in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was founded in 1949 as an opposition party in Pakistan and had a moderately socialist ideology. The Awami [people's] League, with co...

Kan, Naoto

(Encyclopedia)Kan, Naoto, 1946–, Japanese political leader, grad. Tokyo Institute of Technology (1970). A civic activist and long-time opponent of the Liberal Democratic party, he first was elected to the Diet in...

New Zealand

(Encyclopedia)CE5 New Zealand zēˈlənd [key], island country (2015 est. pop. 4,615,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellingt...