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Douglas, Donald Wills

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Donald Wills, 1892–1981, aviation pioneer and aerospace executive, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1914. He helped design the first wind tunnel (1914–15) an...

calypso, in music

(Encyclopedia)calypso, a form of folk song developed on the island of Trinidad and also popular in other Caribbean countries. Thought to have begun with 19th-century black slaves, calypso songs developed and contin...

Lipari Islands

(Encyclopedia)Lipari Islands ēōˈlēən [key], Ital. Isole Eolie, volcanic island group (1991 pop. 10,382), 44 sq mi (114 sq km), Messina prov., NE Sicily, Italy, in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The group includes Lipari ...

Moore, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Moore, Michael, 1954–, American documentary filmmaker, author, and activist, b. Flint, Mich. A highly personal, populist, and frequently controversial and polarizing documentary filmmaker, he made h...

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), former U.S. government agency, created in 1932 by the administration of Herbert Hoover. Its purpose was to facilitate economic activity by lending money in th...

iceboating

(Encyclopedia)iceboating, sport of sailing a specially prepared boat equipped with runners over ice. The first iceboats were probably sailed by the Dutch during the 18th cent., although the Finns and Sami (Lapps) m...

computer-aided design

(Encyclopedia)computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), form of automation that helps designers prepare drawings, specifications, parts lists, and other design-related elements using...

Gish, Lillian

(Encyclopedia)Gish, Lillian, 1896–1993, American stage and movie actress, b. Springfield, Ohio. In 1912 she began her film career with D. W. Griffith. A fragile, delicate beauty, Gish often played a heroine rescu...

Old Person, Earl

(Encyclopedia) Old Person, Earl,1929-2021, leader of the Blackfeet Nation, b. outside Browning, Mt., Blackfeet names Stu Sapoo ("Cold Wind") and ...

Stark, Freya Madeline

(Encyclopedia)Stark, Freya Madeline frāˈə [key], 1893–1993, British author, traveler, and Arabist. The first European to visit several areas in the Middle East, she was born in Paris to artist parents and grew...