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Sirius

(Encyclopedia)Sirius sĭrˈēəs [key], or Dog Star, brightest star in the sky. It is located in the constellation Canis Major (1992 position R.A. 6h44.8m, Dec. −16°42′); its Bayer designation is Alpha Canis M...

Stone, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Stone, Robert, 1937–2015, American novelist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. During his early years he was in the Navy, and later he joined Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters in their drug-enhanced adventures. He...

Provensen, Alice

(Encyclopedia)Provensen, Alice, 1918–2018, b. Chicago as Alice Rose Twitchell, and Martin Provensen prōˈvĕnsĕn [key], 1916–87, b. Chicago, American children's book authors and illustrators. They both attend...

Drabble, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Drabble, Margaret, 1939–, English novelist, b. Sheffield, Yorkshire; sister of A. S. Byatt. Drabble's rigorous and unsentimentally realistic vision of an England split between traditional values and...

Antonioni, Michelangelo

(Encyclopedia)Antonioni, Michelangelo mëkālänˈjālō äntōnyôˈnē [key], 1912–2007, Italian film director and scriptwriter, b. Ferrara, Italy. In the 1940s he made documentaries that contributed to the dev...

food additives

(Encyclopedia)food additives, substances added to foods by manufacturers to prevent spoilage or to enhance appearance, taste, texture, or nutritive value. By quantity, the most common food additives are flavorings,...

Murdoch, Rupert

(Encyclopedia)Murdoch, Rupert (Keith Rupert Murdoch), 1931–, Australian-American publishing magnate. Combining sensationalist journalism (often reflective of his generally hawkish, strongly conservative political...

asthenosphere

(Encyclopedia)asthenosphere ăsthēnˈəsfēr [key], region in the upper mantle of the earth's interior, characterized by low-density, semiplastic (or partially molten) rock material chemically similar to the overl...

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...

Plymouth Brethren

(Encyclopedia)Plymouth Brethren, group of Christian believers originating in the early 19th cent. in Ireland and spreading from there to the Continent (especially Switzerland), the British dominions, and the United...