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series

(Encyclopedia)series, in mathematics, indicated sum of a sequence of terms. A series may be finite or infinite. A finite series contains a definite number of terms whose sum can be found by various methods. An infi...

Sharif, Nawaz

(Encyclopedia)Sharif, Nawaz näwäzˈ shärēfˈ [key], 1949–, Pakistani politician; grad. Government College, Lahore; Punjab Univ. Law College. Born into a prominent Lahore business family, he was by 1980 direct...

Poison Affair

(Encyclopedia)Poison Affair, in French history, scandal implicating a number of prominent persons at the court of King Louis XIV. It began with the trial of Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers (c.163...

orangutan

(Encyclopedia)orangutan ōrăngˈo͝otăn [key], an ape of the genus Pongo, found in rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra. Highly specialized for arboreal life, orangutans usually travel by grasping branches with han...

coenzyme

(Encyclopedia)coenzyme kō-ĕnˈzīm [key], any one of a group of relatively small organic molecules required for the catalytic function of certain enzymes. A coenzyme may either be attached by covalent bonds to a ...

euthanasia

(Encyclopedia)euthanasia yo͞oˌthənāˈzhə [key], either painlessly putting to death or failing to prevent death from natural causes in cases of terminal illness or irreversible coma. The term comes from the Gre...

Northwest Passage

(Encyclopedia)Northwest Passage, water routes through the Arctic Archipelago, N Canada, and along the northern coast of Alaska between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Even though the explorers of the 16th cent. de...

Clark, Ramsey

(Encyclopedia)Clark, William Ramsey, 1927–2021, attorney general of the United States (1967–69), b. Dallas, Tex., Univ. of Texas-Austin (BA, 1949), Univ. of Chica...

Church Slavonic

(Encyclopedia)Church Slavonic, language belonging to the South Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). Although it is still the liturgical language of m...

Franklin, John Hope

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, John Hope, 1915–2009, the dean of 20th-century African-American historians, b. Rentiesville, Okla., grad. Fisk Univ. (A.B., 1935), Harvard (M.A., 1936; Ph.D., 1941). Franklin served on the...