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Küng, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Küng, Hans häns küng [key], 1928–, Swiss Roman Catholic theologian and author. Ordained in 1954, he became (1960) professor of theology at Tübingen Univ. and later served (1962–65) as adviser ...

Henry of Burgundy

(Encyclopedia)Henry of Burgundy, d. 1112, count of Portugal. One of a group of French nobles called by Alfonso VI of León to assist in the fight against the Moors, he arrived in Spain c.1095. He was assigned a por...

Fourth of July

(Encyclopedia)Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776...

Eudoxus of Cyzicus

(Encyclopedia)Eudoxus of Cyzicus sĭzˈĭkəs [key], fl. 130 b.c., Greek navigator in the service of the Ptolemies. He explored the Arabian Sea for Ptolemy VIII. After being blown from his course to the east coast ...

Provisions of Oxford

(Encyclopedia)Provisions of Oxford, 1258, a scheme of governmental reform forced upon Henry III of England by his barons. In 1258 a group of barons, angered by the king's Sicilian adventure and the expenditures it ...

United Church of Christ

(Encyclopedia)United Church of Christ, American Protestant denomination formed in 1957 by a merger of the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches (see Congregationalism) and the Evangelical and Reforme...

Wolcott, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Wolcott, Roger, 1679–1767, American colonial governor of Connecticut, b. Windsor, Conn. A member of an influential Connecticut family, he became a judge and was prominent in the colonial assembly an...

Clarendon, Constitutions of

(Encyclopedia)Clarendon, Constitutions of, 1164, articles issued by King Henry II of England at the Council of Clarendon defining the customs governing relations between church and state. In the anarchic conditions...

Ivan II

(Encyclopedia)Ivan II or Ivan Asen ēˈvän äˈsən [key], d. 1241, czar of Bulgaria (1218–41). On the death (1207) of his father, Kaloyan, founder of the second Bulgarian empire, the throne was usurped by Ivan'...

polarization of light

(Encyclopedia)polarization of light, orientation of the vibration pattern of light waves in a singular plane. Unpolarized light can be converted into a single polarized beam by means of the Nicol prism, a device ...