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Harrison, Lou Silver

(Encyclopedia)Harrison, Lou Silver, 1917–2003, American composer, b. Portland, Oreg. He studied composition in California with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. His early work stresses percussion while combinin...

helicopter

(Encyclopedia)helicopter, type of aircraft in which lift is obtained by means of one or more power-driven horizontal propellers called rotors. When the rotor of a helicopter turns it produces reaction torque which ...

Ito, Hirobumi

(Encyclopedia)Ito, Hirobumi hērōˈbo͞omē ēˈtō [key], 1841–1909, Japanese statesman, the outstanding figure in the modernization of Japan. As a young Choshu samurai, he was a xenophobe. In 1863 he visited E...

Williams, Ted

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Ted (Theodore Samuel Williams), 1918–2002, American baseball player, b. San Diego, Calif. At the age of 17 he began playing professional ball with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast...

Geneva Conference

(Encyclopedia)Geneva Conference, any of various international meetings held at Geneva, Switzerland. Some of the more important ones are discussed here. 1 International conference held Apr.–July, 1954, to restore ...

Lee, Spike

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Spike (Shelton Jackson Lee), 1957–, African-American filmmaker, b. Atlanta, Ga. As a student at New York Univ., he won recognition with his gradu...

Marine Corps, United States

(Encyclopedia)Marine Corps, United States, military corps that forms a separate service within the U.S. Dept. of the Navy. The commandant of the Marine Corps is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During conflic...

amphibious warfare

(Encyclopedia)amphibious warfare ămfĭbˈēəs [key], employment of a combination of land and sea forces to take or defend a military objective. The general strategy is very ancient and was extensively employed by...

Altman, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Altman, Robert, 1925–2006, American film director, b. Kansas City, Mo. One of the most original talents in late-20th-century American filmmaking, he created complex, often loosely plotted movies mar...

clone

(Encyclopedia)clone, group of organisms, all of which are descended from a single individual through asexual reproduction, as in a pure cell culture of bacteria. Except for changes in the hereditary material that c...