(Encyclopedia) Close, Glenn, 1947–, American actress, b. Greenwich, Conn. She began her career in the theater, debuting on Broadway in Love for Love (1974), winning an Obie for the off-Broadway The…
(Encyclopedia) Jeffers, Robinson, 1887–1962, American poet and dramatist, b. Pittsburgh, grad. Occidental College, 1905. From 1914 until his death Jeffers lived on the Big Sur section of the rocky…
(Encyclopedia) Woods, Tiger (Eldrick Woods), 1975–, American golfer, b. Cypress, Calif. The son of an African-American father and a Thai mother, he was a college star at Stanford and became the only…
(Encyclopedia) battleship, large, armored warship equipped with the heaviest naval guns. The evolution of the battleship, from the ironclad warship of the mid-19th cent., received great impetus from…
(Encyclopedia) Ringling Brothers, seven brothers, sons of German-born August Rüngeling, who established an American circus empire. Albert C. (1852–1916), Otto (1858–1911), Alfred T. (1861–1919),…
(Encyclopedia) sagebrush, name for several species of Artemisia, deciduous shrubs of the family Asteraceae (aster family), particularly abundant in arid regions of W North America. The common…
(Encyclopedia) rainmaking, production of rain by artificial means now generally disregarded, though it is probable that rainmaking hastens or increases rainfall from clouds suitable for natural…
(Encyclopedia) Reclamation, United States Bureau of, agency set up in the Dept. of the Interior under the Reclamation Act of 1902. It is charged with promoting regional economies by developing water…
(Encyclopedia) Redford, Robert, 1937–, American actor and director, b. Santa Monica, Calif., as Charles Robert Redford, Jr. One of Hollywood's superstars, he began his acting career in 1959, scoring…
