(Encyclopedia) Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), established (1941) within the Office of Production Management by executive order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was created to…
(Encyclopedia) biochemistry, science concerned chiefly with the chemistry of biological processes; it attempts to utilize the tools and concepts of chemistry, particularly organic and physical…
(Encyclopedia) Blavatsky, Helena PetrovnaBlavatsky, Helena Petrovnablətvătˈskē [key], 1831–91, Russian theosophist and occultist. She was the daughter of a German named Hahn who had settled in Russia…
(Encyclopedia) Houdini, HarryHoudini, Harryh&oomacr;dēˈnē [key], 1874–1926, American magician and writer, b. Budapest, Hungary, as Erik Weisz, later modified to Ehrich Weiss; his stage name…
(Encyclopedia) Styron, William, 1925–2006, American novelist, b. Newport News, Va., grad. Duke, 1947. His fiction is often powerful, deeply felt, poetic, and elegiac. He became well known for his…
(Encyclopedia) ValentinusValentinusvăləntēˈnəs [key], fl. c.135–c.160, founder of the Valentinians, the most celebrated of the Gnostic sects (see Gnosticism) of the 2d cent. The little that is known…
(Encyclopedia) Berry, Wendell Erdman, 1934–, American farmer, environmentalist, and writer, b. Henry co., Ky., grad. Univ of Kentucky (B.A., 1956; M.A., 1957). He taught at various colleges including…
(Encyclopedia) Daumier, HonoréDaumier, Honoréônôrāˈ dōmyāˈ [key], 1808–79, French caricaturist, painter, and sculptor. Daumier was the greatest social satirist of his day. Son of a Marseilles glazier…
