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Arlen, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Arlen, Michael, 1895–1956, English novelist, b. Bulgaria as Dikran Kuyumjian. The son of Armenian parents, he was brought to England as a child. In 1922 he became a British subject and changed his n...

Chennault, Claire Lee

(Encyclopedia)Chennault, Claire Lee shĕnˈôltˌ [key], 1890–1958, American general, b. Commerce, Tex. In World War I he was a pioneer in air pursuit tactics. Retired (1937) from the army, he went to China and o...

Fokker, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Fokker, Anthony fôkˈər [key], 1890–1939, Dutch-American aircraft manufacturer, b. Kediri, Java, as Anton Herman Gerard Fokker. He established aircraft factories in Germany before World War I and ...

Borschberg, André

(Encyclopedia)Borschberg, André, 1952–, Swiss engineer, businessman, and pilot. With Bertrand Piccard (see under Piccard, Auguste) he founded Solar Impulse to develop a solar-powered plane capable of circumnavig...

lens, in optics

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Lenses lens, device for forming an image of an object by the refraction of light. In its simplest form it is a disk of transparent substance, commonly glass, with its two surfaces curved or wi...

Curtiss, Glenn Hammond

(Encyclopedia)Curtiss, Glenn Hammond, 1878–1930, American inventor and aviation pioneer, b. Hammondsport, N.Y. He was a member of Alexander Graham Bell's Aerial Experiment Association (1907–9). In 1908 he made ...

Harlingen

(Encyclopedia)Harlingen härˈlĭnjən [key], city (2020 pop. 71,829), Cameron co., extreme S Tex.; inc. 1910. It ...

Bury

(Encyclopedia)Bury bĕˈrē [key], metropolitan borough, NE England, located in the Manchester metropolitan...

billiards

(Encyclopedia)billiards, any one of a number of games played with a tapered, leather-tipped stick called a cue and various numbers of balls on a rectangular, cloth-covered slate table with raised and cushioned edge...

Ungerer, Tomi

(Encyclopedia)Ungerer, Tomi (Jean-Thomas Ungerer), 1931–2019, French author-illustrator and artist, b. Strasbourg, Alsace. He briefly attended the École des Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg, then traveled throughou...

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