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furniture

(Encyclopedia)furniture, properly such movables as chairs, tables, and beds; it is extended to include draperies, rugs, mirrors, lamps, and other furnishings. In its gradual evolution from periods of earliest civil...

Schmidt, Brian Paul

(Encyclopedia)Schmidt, Brian Paul, 1967–, Australian-American astrophysicist, b. Missoula, Mont., Ph.D. Harvard, 1993. He has been associated with Australian National Univ. since 1995. Schmidt and Adam Riess shar...

Gournay, Vincent de

(Encyclopedia)Gournay, Vincent de văNsäNˈ də go͞ornāˈ [key], 1712–59, French economist, precursor of the physiocrats and of Adam Smith. A wealthy merchant, he was in government service as intendant of comm...

Ball, John

(Encyclopedia)Ball, John, d. 1381, English priest and social reformer. He was one of the instigators of the Peasant's Revolt of 1381 (see under Tyler, Wat). He was an itinerant for many years, acting independently ...

Perlmutter, Saul

(Encyclopedia)Perlmutter, Saul, 1959–, American astrophysicist, b., Champaign-Urbana, Ill., Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1986. He is a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor a...

Stephenson, George

(Encyclopedia)Stephenson, George, 1781–1848, British engineer, noted as a locomotive builder. He learned to read and write in night school at the age of 18, while working in a colliery. He constructed (1814) a tr...

Murray, Thomas Randolph, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Murray or Moray, Thomas Randolph, 1st earl of both: mûrˈē [key], d. 1332, Scottish nobleman; nephew of Robert I. He joined Robert's revolt against Edward I of England in 1306 but was captured at th...

Raimondi, Marcantonio

(Encyclopedia)Raimondi, Marcantonio märkäntôˈnyō rīmônˈdē [key], b. c.1480, d. before c.1534, Italian engraver. In Venice he was influenced by Dürer to such an extent that he plagiarized the German master...

George William

(Encyclopedia)George William, 1597–1640, elector of Brandenburg (1619–40). Mild and irresolute, he was a Calvinist, yet he ruled a Lutheran people. He failed to turn the strategic position of Brandenburg to adv...

Comyn, John (Red Comyn), d. 1306, Scottish nobleman

(Encyclopedia)Comyn, John, d. 1306, Scottish nobleman. He was called the Red Comyn, to distinguish him from his father, the Black Comyn. Aiding his uncle, John de Baliol, in the struggle against Edward I, he was fo...