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Aravena, Alejandro

(Encyclopedia)Aravena, Alejandro 1967–, Chilean architect, b. Santiago, grad. Pontifical Catholic Univ. of Chile, Santiago (1992). Inspired by public service as much as by aesthetic concerns, he has focused on in...

Kertész, André

(Encyclopedia)Kertész, André kĕrtĕshˈ [key], 1894–1985, American photographer, b. Budapest. His black-and-white modernist photographs often capture small, lyrical, and emotionally resonant moments while also...

Brancusi, Constantin

(Encyclopedia)Brancusi, Constantin bränkyo͞oˈzē, Rom. bränˈko͞osh [key], 1876–1957, Romanian sculptor. Brancusi is considered one of the foremost of modern artists. In 1904 he went to Paris, where he worke...

weed

(Encyclopedia)weed, common term for any wild plant, particularly an undesired plant, growing in cultivated ground, where it competes with crop plants for soil nutrients and water. In their natural habitat, wildflow...

Bezos, Jeffrey Preston

(Encyclopedia)Bezos, Jeffrey Preston bāˈzōs [key], 1964– American business executive and on-line retailing pioneer, b. Albuquerque, N.M., grad. Princeton (B.S.E., 1986). He worked in computer technology for se...

Biosphere 2

(Encyclopedia)Biosphere 2, privately funded ecological research project in which eight people lived sealed in a 3.15-acre (1.28-hectare) structure for two years (Sept. 26, 1991–Sept. 26, 1993). Located in Oracle,...

Bolyai

(Encyclopedia)Bolyai bōˈlyoi [key], family of Hungarian mathematicians. The father, Farkas, or Wolfgang, Bolyai, 1775–1856, b. Bolya, Transylvania, was educated in Nagyszeben from 1781 to 1796 and studied in Ge...

universe

(Encyclopedia)universe, totality of matter and energy in existence. The study of the origin of the universe, or cosmos, is known as cosmogony, and that of its structure and evolution, cosmology. The age of the univ...

Knausgård, Karl Ove

(Encyclopedia)Knausgård or Knausgaard, Karl Ove, 1968–, Norwegian writer, b. Oslo grad. Univ. of Bergen. He is best known for his six-volume autobiographical work, Min Kamp (2009–11, tr. My Struggle, 2012–18...

Sedna

(Encyclopedia)Sedna, in astronomy, the most distant known large object in the solar system. With a highly eccentric elliptical orbit that ranges from an estimated 76 AU to 937 AU, Sedna also has an extremely long o...