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hula

(Encyclopedia)hula, traditional Hawaiian dance usually performed standing with symbolically descriptive arm and hand movements and gracefully sensual undulations of the hips; it is also done in a sitting position. ...

Gance, Abel

(Encyclopedia)Gance, Abel, 1889–1981, pioneering French filmmaker. He acted on the stage in the early 1900s and appeared on the silent screen. From 1911 he wrote and directed several films; his first important fi...

Lord's Supper

(Encyclopedia)Lord's Supper, Protestant rite commemorating the Last Supper. In the Reformation the leaders generally rejected the traditional belief in the sacrament as a sacrifice and as an invisible miracle of th...

Newton, John

(Encyclopedia)Newton, John, 1725–1807, English clergyman and hymn writer, b. London. Until 1755, his life was spent chiefly at sea, where he eventually became the captain of a slave ship plying the waters between...

Nauman, Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Nauman, Bruce nouˈmən [key], 1941–, American artist, b. Fort Wayne, Ind., B.A. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison (1964), M.F.A. Univ. of California, Davis (1966). One of the most innovative and influent...

Maimonides

(Encyclopedia)Maimonides mīˈmən [key], 1135–1204, Jewish scholar, physician, and philosopher, the most influential Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, b. Córdoba, Spain, d. Cairo. He is sometimes called Rambam...

Le Guin, Ursula Kroeber

(Encyclopedia)Le Guin, Ursula Kroeber krōˈbər lə gwĭnˈ [key], 1929–2018, American writer, b. Berkeley, Calif.; daughter of anthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber. Possessing a keen eye for physical and cultura...

Kuchma, Leonid Danylovych

(Encyclopedia)Kuchma, Leonid Danylovych lĭŭnyētˈ dənyēˈləvĭch ko͝ochˈmä [key], 1938–, Ukrainian politician, president of Ukraine (1994–2005). Formerly the manager of the Soviet Union's largest missi...

Cartier, Sir Georges Étienne

(Encyclopedia)Cartier, Sir Georges Étienne zhôrzh ātyĕnˈ kärtyāˈ [key], 1814–73, Canadian statesman, b. Quebec prov. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada (Quebec) in 1835. He took part in the rebellio...

tachyon

(Encyclopedia)tachyon tăkˈēŏnˌ [key], hypothetical elementary particle that travels only at speeds exceeding that of light. According to the theory of relativity, the speed of light is the limiting velocity fo...