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Saffir-Simpson scale

(Encyclopedia)Saffir-Simpson scale săfˈər– [key], standard scale for rating the severity of hurricanes as a measure of the damage they cause; it is based on observations of numerous North Atlantic Basin hurric...

Paleozoic era

(Encyclopedia)Paleozoic era pāˌlēəzōˈĭk [key], a major division (era) of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) occurring between 570 to 240 million years ago. It is subdivide...

War Department, United States

(Encyclopedia)War Department, United States, federal executive department organized (1789) to administer the military establishment. It was reconstituted (1947) as the Dept. of the Army when the military administra...

Washington, George

(Encyclopedia)Washington, George, 1732–99, 1st President of the United States (1789–97), commander in chief of the Continental army in the American Revolution, called the Father of His Country. The Univ. of V...

Miocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Miocene epoch mīˈəsēn [key], fourth epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), lasting from around 24.6 to 5.1 mill...

Cranmer, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Cranmer, Thomas krănˈmər [key], 1489–1556, English churchman under Henry VIII; archbishop of Canterbury. A lecturer at Jesus College, Cambridge, he is said to have come to the attention of the ki...

Alexander I, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander I, 1777–1825, czar of Russia (1801–25), son of Paul I (in whose murder he may have taken an indirect part). In the first years of his reign the liberalism of his Swiss tutor, Frédéric ...

Great Plains

(Encyclopedia)Great Plains, extensive grassland region on the continental slope of central North America. They extend from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba south through W central Unite...

Jones, John Paul

(Encyclopedia)Jones, John Paul, 1747–92, American naval hero, b. near Kirkcudbright, Scotland. His name was originally simply John Paul. After the Revolution Jones was sent to Europe to collect the prize mone...

Jurassic period

(Encyclopedia)Jurassic period jərăsˈĭk [key] [from the Jura Mts.], second period of the Mesozoic era of geologic time, lasting from 213 to 144 million years ago. At the start of the Jurassic most of the contine...