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Royal Greenwich Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Royal Greenwich Observatory, astronomical observatory established in 1675 by Charles II of England at Greenwich and known as the Royal Observatory. It moved during 1948–57 to Herstmonceux Castle, Su...

Saye and Sele, William Fiennes, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Saye and Sele, William Fiennes, 1st Viscount fīnz, sāˈənsēl [key], 1582–1662, English politician and promoter of colonization in America. He was a Puritan in religious sympathy and a leader in ...

Smith, John, English colonist in America

(Encyclopedia)Smith, John, c.1580–1631, English colonist in America, b. Willoughby, Lincolnshire, England. A merchant's apprentice until his father's death in 1596, he thereafter lived an adventurous life, travel...

Smith, James, American political leader

(Encyclopedia)Smith, James, c.1719–1806, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Ireland. He settled in Pennsylvania in his youth and practiced law at York. He s...

Moriah, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Moriah, Mount, biblical name of the hill of E Jerusalem. According to Second Chronicles it was the site of Solomon's temple. ...

Keene, Donald Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Keene, Donald Lawrence, 1922–2019, American scholar and translator, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A. 1942, Ph.D. 1949). During World War II, he worked as a Navy interpreter and intelligence of...

Marcy, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Marcy, Mount, 5,344 ft (1,629 m) high, NE N.Y., in the Adirondack Mts.; highest peak in the state. Lake Tear of the Clouds, on its southern slope, is the source of the main headstream of the Hudson Ri...

Everest, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Everest, Mount ĕvˈərĭst, ĕvˈrəst [key], peak, 29,032 ft (8,849 m) high (as officially recognized by China and Nepal; rock height only, 29,016 ft/8,844 m), on the border of Tibet and Nepal, in t...

Mount, William Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Mount, William Sidney, 1807–68, American genre and portrait painter, b. Setauket, N.Y. His childhood was spent at Stony Brook, Long Island, the scene of many of his pictures. At 17 he was apprentice...

Wayland Smith

(Encyclopedia)Wayland Smith, in English folklore, a skillful blacksmith and great armor maker, whose forge was near the White Horse (Oxfordshire). He appears in the Old English Beowulf and Deor and in Sir Walter Sc...