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Romilly, Sir Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Romilly, Sir Samuel rŏmˈĭlē [key], 1757–1818, English law reformer. Admitted to the bar in 1783, he soon developed a wide practice in the court of chancery. He was in sympathy with Rousseau's vi...

Tupper, Sir Charles

(Encyclopedia)Tupper, Sir Charles, 1821–1915, Canadian statesman, b. Nova Scotia. A doctor, he sat (1855–67) in the provincial legislature, became (1864) premier of Nova Scotia, and was a leader in the movement...

Whittle, Sir Frank

(Encyclopedia)Whittle, Sir Frank, 1907–96, English aeronautical engineer. Whittle was one of the first persons to associate the gas turbine with jet propulsion. Previously the gas turbine had been regarded as a m...

Wilkie, Sir David

(Encyclopedia)Wilkie, Sir David, 1785–1841, Scottish genre painter. He studied in Edinburgh and at the Royal Academy and won early popularity with his admirable little scenes of everyday life. Anecdotal painting ...

Wilkinson, Sir Geoffrey

(Encyclopedia)Wilkinson, Sir Geoffrey, 1921–, English inorganic chemist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Ernst Otto Fischer for their independent research on the organometallic compounds of the t...

Williams, Sir Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Sir Bernard (Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams), 1929–2003, English philosopher, grad. Oxford (1951). One of the most important philosophers of his era, he is credited with reviving the fie...

Williams, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Sir George, 1821–1905, English merchant. A vigorous advocate of temperance and an opponent of gambling and tobacco, Williams founded the Young Men's Christian Association in 1844. In 1894 ...

Wilmut, Sir Ian

(Encyclopedia)Wilmut, Sir Ian, 1944– British embryologist, b. Warwickshire, England, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1971. While doing postdoctoral research at Cambridge, he was part of the team that produced Frostie, the first...

Wilson, Sir Angus

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Sir Angus, 1913–91, English novelist, b. South Africa. As a novelist, he attempted to delineate a society in which traditional values have lost their force and human relationships are corrup...

Winwood, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Winwood, Sir Ralph, 1563?–1617, English diplomat and statesman. He served as ambassador to France (1601–3) and agent to the States-General of the Netherlands (1603–14). At The Hague he assisted ...