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Five-Year Plan

(Encyclopedia)Five-Year Plan, Soviet economic practice of planning to augment agricultural and industrial output by designated quotas for a limited period of usually five years. Nations other than the former USSR a...

Pramoedya Ananta Toer

(Encyclopedia)Pramoedya Ananta Toer, 1925–2006, modern Indonesia's preeminent writer of fiction, b. Blora, Java. The son of a nationalist headmaster, he was a longtime journalist, involved left-wing politics from...

Alpha Centauri

(Encyclopedia)Alpha Centauri ălˈfə sĕntôrˈē [key], brightest star in the constellation Centaurus and 3d-brightest star in the sky; also known as Rigil Kent or Rigil Kentaurus; 1992 position R.A. 14h39.1m, De...

calendar

(Encyclopedia)calendar [Lat., from Kalends], system of reckoning time for the practical purpose of recording past events and calculating dates for future plans. The calendar is based on noting ordinary and easily o...

nutation

(Encyclopedia)nutation, in astronomy, a slight wobbling motion of the earth's axis. The causes of nutation are similar to those of the precession of the equinoxes, involving the varying attraction of the moon on th...

Schumann-Heink, Ernestine

(Encyclopedia)Schumann-Heink, Ernestine sho͞oˈmən-hīngk [key], 1861–1936, Austrian-American contralto, b. near Prague. Her voice was distinguished for its richness and wide range. She studied with Marietta Le...

Shklovski, Victor Borisovich

(Encyclopedia)Shklovski, Victor Borisovich vēkˈtər bərēˈsəvĭch shklôfˈskē [key], 1893–1984, Russian critic and writer. Shklovski was an exponent of the formalist school, which held that in literature o...

Clurman, Harold

(Encyclopedia)Clurman, Harold klo͝orˈmən [key], 1901–80, American director, manager, critic, and author, b. New York City. In his early years he acted in minor roles, becoming associated with New York's Group ...

González Martínez, Enrique

(Encyclopedia)González Martínez, Enrique ānrēˈkā gōnsäˈlĕs märtēˈnĕs [key], 1871–1952, Mexican poet, physician, and diplomat. His early poetry, written during the 17 years of his medical practice, s...

Greenleaf, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Greenleaf, Simon, 1783–1853, American legal writer, b. Newburyport, Mass. A member of the Maine bar, he won a high reputation for legal scholarship early in his career. With the admission (1820) of ...