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Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan

(Encyclopedia)Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan kōˈnən, kŏnˈən [key], 1859–1930, British author and creator of Sherlock Holmes, b. Edinburgh. Educated at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, he received a medical degree...

Dominicans

(Encyclopedia)Dominicans dəmĭnˈĭkənz [key], Roman Catholic religious order, founded by St. Dominic in 1216, officially named the Order of Preachers (O.P.). Although they began locally in evangelizing the Albig...

Davis, Sammy, Jr.

(Encyclopedia) Davis, Sammy, Jr. (Samuel George), 1925-1990, American entertainer, b. Harlem, New York City, N.Y. Both of Davis’s parents were dancers who performe...

americium

(Encyclopedia)americium ămərĭˈshēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Am; at. no. 95; mass no. of most stable isotope 243; m.p. about 1,175℃; b.p. about 2,600℃; sp. gr. 13....

Taylor, James Vernon

(Encyclopedia) Taylor, James Vernon, 1948-, American singer-songwriter, b. Boston, Ma. Taylor was born in Boston but raised in Chapel Hill, N.C. As a teenager, he be...

Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell

(Encyclopedia)Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell, 1862–1931, African-American civil-rights advocate and feminist, b. Holly Springs, Miss. Born a slave, she attended a freedman's school and was orphaned at 16. She moved (188...

scandium

(Encyclopedia)scandium skănˈdēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Sc; at. no. 21; at. wt. 44.95591; m.p. 1,541℃; b.p. 2,831℃; sp. gr. 2.99 at 20℃; valence +3. Scandium is a soft silver-white metal...

pus

(Encyclopedia)pus, thick white or yellowish fluid that forms in areas of infection such as wounds and abscesses. It is constituted of decomposed body tissue, bacteria (or other micro-organisms that cause the infect...

Halifax, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Halifax, city and regional municipality, provincial capital, S central N.S., Canada, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the largest city in the Maritime Provi...

Frost, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Frost, Robert, 1874–1963, American poet, b. San Francisco. Perhaps the most popular and beloved of 20th-century American poets, Frost wrote of the character, people, and landscape of New England in ...