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Melville, Sir James

(Encyclopedia)Melville, Sir James, 1535–1617, Scottish diplomat. He was a page to Mary Queen of Scots in France and, after her return to Scotland, was employed as Mary's representative at the court of Elizabeth I...

Beame, Abraham David

(Encyclopedia)Beame, Abraham David, 1906–2001, American politician, mayor of New York City (1974–77), b. London. Beame, who grew up on New York's Lower East Side, was city budget director (1952–61). A Democra...

Johnson, Richard Mentor

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Richard Mentor, 1780–1850, Vice President of the United States (1837–41), b. Kentucky, on the site of present Louisville. Admitted (1802) to the bar, he became prominent in state politics...

Philip II, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Philip II, 1527–98, king of Spain (1556–98), king of Naples and Sicily (1554–98), and, as Philip I, king of Portugal (1580–98). Philip was not the bloodthirsty tyrant portrayed by his enemi...

Frankland, William

(Encyclopedia)Frankland, William (Alfred William Frankland), 1912–2020, British allergist and immunologist. He studied medicine at Queens College, Oxford, and St. Mary's Hospital Medical School (now part of Imper...

Pole, Reginald

(Encyclopedia)Pole, Reginald, 1500–1558, English churchman, archbishop of Canterbury (1556–58), cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a cousin of the Tudors, being the son of Sir Richard Pole and of Mar...

Lister, Joseph Lister, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Lister, Joseph Lister, 1st Baron, 1827–1912, English surgeon, educated at University College, London. He brought to surgery the principle of antisepsis, an outgrowth of Pasteur's theory that bacteri...

Habash al-Hasib

(Encyclopedia)Habash al-Hasib häbäshˈ äl-häsēbˈ [key], d. c.870, Arab mathematician and astronomer. Habash al-Hasib was born in what is now Mary, Turkmenistan, and worked in Baghdad. He calculated tables of ...

Hermitage, estate, United States

(Encyclopedia)Hermitage: see Jackson, Andrew.

shield, armor

(Encyclopedia)shield, piece of defensive armor, worn on the arm or shoulder to ward off weapons during combat, used prior to the dominance of gunpowder. Originally for individual defense during hand-to-hand combat,...