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Cole, Nat “King”

(Encyclopedia)Cole, Nat “King,” 1919–65, American musician and composer, b. Montgomery, Ala., as Nathaniel Adams Coles. A jazz pianist, he played Los Angeles nightclubs and in 1938 formed the King Cole Trio. ...

Glorioso Islands

(Encyclopedia)Glorioso Islands glōrˌēōˈsō, –zō [key], Fr. Îles Glorieuses, island group, c.2 sq mi (5 sq km), in the Mozambique Channel, W Indian Ocean, 125 mi (200 km) WNW of N Madagascar, part of the Sc...

Burns, George

(Encyclopedia)Burns, George, 1896–1996, b. New York City as Nathan Birnbaum, and his wife Gracie Allen, 1906–64, b. San Francisco, American comedy team (1923–58). In vaudeville in the 1920s, on radio (1932–...

European Southern Observatory

(Encyclopedia)European Southern Observatory (ESO), an intergovernmental organization for astronomical research with headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany. The ESO began in 1962 as a consortium among Belgiu...

lightship

(Encyclopedia)lightship, moored vessel bearing lights and other signal devices to guide ships and warn of hazards to navigation. Lightships are generally stationed at points where a lighthouse cannot be erected; th...

microwave

(Encyclopedia)microwave, electromagnetic wave having a frequency range from 1,000 megahertz (MHz) to 300,000 MHz, corresponding to a wavelength range from 300 mm (about 12 in.) to 1 mm (about 0.04 in.). Like light ...

Damrosch, Walter Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Damrosch, Walter Johannes, 1862–1950, German-American conductor and composer; son of Leopold Damrosch. At his father's death in 1885, he finished the season as conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, N...

Goldmark, Peter Carl

(Encyclopedia)Goldmark, Peter Carl, 1906–77, Hungarian-American engineer, b. Budapest. He studied at the Univ. of Vienna (B.S., 1929, Ph.D., 1931); worked for a radio company in England (1931–33). After emigrat...

Jean, Michaëlle

(Encyclopedia)Jean, Michaëlle, 1957–, Canadian journalist, filmmaker, and women's rights activist, b. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1968. After studying languages and literature at th...

Braun, Karl Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Braun, Karl Ferdinand broun [key], 1850–1918, German physicist. Braun taught at the Univ. of Marburg, Strasbourg Univ., Karlsruhe's Technische Hochschule, and the Univ. of Tübingen before being na...