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Joinville, Jean, sire de

(Encyclopedia)Joinville, Jean, sire de zhäN sēr də zhwăNvēlˈ [key], 1224?–1317?, French chronicler, biographer of Louis IX of France (St. Louis). As seneschal (governor) of Champagne, Joinville was a close ...

cataract

(Encyclopedia)cataract, in medicine, opacity of the lens of the eye, which impairs vision. In the young, cataracts are generally congenital or hereditary; later they are usually the result of degenerative changes b...

Gossen, Hermann Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Gossen, Hermann Heinrich hĕrˈmän hīnˈrĭkh gôˈsən [key], 1810–58, German economist, little known in his lifetime. His work, Entwicklung der Gesetze des menschlichen Verkehrs und der daraus f...

Murad, Nadia

(Encyclopedia)Murad, Nadia (Nadia Murad Basee Taha), 1993–, Iraqi human-rights advocate. A Yazidi, Murad was seized (2014) and most of her family murdered by Islamic State (IS) forces when they overran large area...

Kinsey, Alfred Charles

(Encyclopedia)Kinsey, Alfred Charles kĭnˈzē [key], 1894–1956, American biologist, b. Hoboken, N.J., grad. Bowdoin College (B.S., 1916), Harvard (D.Sc., 1920). He was associated with the Univ. of Indiana from 1...

Bassiouni, M. Cherif

(Encyclopedia)Bassiouni, M. Cherif (Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni), 1937–2017, Egyptian-American international criminal law jurist and human-rights advocate, b. Cairo. Bassiouni fought for Egypt in the Suez conflict (...

ehrlichiosis

(Encyclopedia)ehrlichiosis ârlĭkēōˈsĭs [key], any of several diseases caused by rickettsia of the genera Ehrlichia and Anaplasma. Ehrlichiosis is transmitted by ticks. Both human forms tend to develop about n...

rainbow

(Encyclopedia)rainbow, arc showing the colors of the spectrum, violet inside and red outside, which appears when the sun shines through water droplets. It often appears while the sun is shining after a brief thunde...

influenza

(Encyclopedia)influenza or flu, acute, highly contagious disease caused by a RNA virus (family Orthomyxoviridae); formerly known as the grippe. There are three types of the virus, designated A, B, and C, but only t...