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Petty, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Petty, Sir William, 1623–87, English statistician and physician. He was a founder of the Royal Society and was physician general to the army of Ireland in 1652. Petty's survey of the Irish estates a...

Grainger, Percy Aldridge

(Encyclopedia)Grainger, Percy Aldridge grānˈjər [key], 1882–1961, Australian-American pianist and composer. A friend of Grieg, whose music he often played, he settled (1914) in the United States after establis...

Henley, William Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Henley, William Ernest, 1849–1903, English poet, critic, and editor. Although crippled by tuberculosis of the bone, he led an active, vigorous life. As editor of several reviews successively, he int...

Fitzwilliam, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Fitzwilliam, Sir William, 1526–99, lord deputy of Ireland. He acquired (1547) land in Ireland by a grant of Edward VI. Although a Protestant, he was loyal to Queen Mary I, and she appointed him keep...

Jevons, William Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Jevons, William Stanley jĕvˈənz [key], 1835–82, English economist and logician. After working in Australia as assayer to the mint, he taught at Owens College, Manchester, and University College, ...

Crookes, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Crookes, Sir William, 1832–1919, English chemist and physicist. After serving at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, and teaching chemistry at Chester Training College, he retired to work in his own ...

Huggins, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Huggins, Sir William, 1824–1910, English astronomer. Using a spectroscope, he began to study the chemical constitution of stars from the observatory attached to his home in Tulse Hill, London. He pr...

Linton, William James

(Encyclopedia)Linton, William James, 1812–97, Anglo-American wood engraver, author, and political reformer. In 1842 he began working as a wood engraver with John Orrin Smith and produced illustrations for the new...

Safire, William L.

(Encyclopedia)Safire, William L. săfˈīrˌ [key], 1929–2009, American journalist and speechwriter, b. New York City as William Safir. A former reporter and public-relations executive, he became a speechwriter (...

Chambers, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Chambers, Sir William, 1723–96, English architect, b. Gothenburg, Sweden. He traveled extensively in the East Indies and in China making drawings of gardens and buildings, many of which were later p...