(Encyclopedia) Powell, John Wesley, 1834–1902, American geologist and ethnologist, b. Mt. Morris (now part of New York City). The family moved to Illinois, where Powell joined the Natural History…
(Encyclopedia) Comstock Lode, richest known U.S. silver deposit, W Nevada, on Mt. Davidson in the Virginia Range. It is said to have been discovered in 1857 by Ethan Allen Grosh and Hosea Ballou…
(Encyclopedia) Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st BaronFisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baronärbŭthˈnət [key], 1841–1920, British admiral. Entering the navy in 1854, he specialized in gunnery and…
(Encyclopedia) Frankenthaler, HelenFrankenthaler, Helenfrăngkˈənthŏlər [key], 1928–2011, American painter, b. New York City. The youngest of the women who formed part of abstract expressionism's…
(Encyclopedia) geomorphology, study of the origin and evolution of the earth's landforms, both on the continents and within the ocean basins. It is concerned with the internal geologic processes of…
(Encyclopedia) Bonds, Barry Lamar, 1964–, American baseball player, b. Riverside, Calif. Bonds grew up surrounded by baseball; his father, Bobby Bonds, was a San Francisco Giants outfielder (1968–74…
(Encyclopedia) Gingrich, Newt (Newton Leroy Gingrich)Gingrich, Newtgĭngˈgrĭch [key], 1943–, U.S. congressman, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995–98), b. Harrisburg, Pa., as Newton…
(Encyclopedia) Constitutional Convention, in U.S. history, the 1787 meeting in which the Constitution of the United States was drawn up.
The convention at Philadelphia drew up one of the most…
534 B.C.Thespis wins the first public contest for tragic poets in Greece, and the term thespian derives from his name. He also introduces masks, which become a staple of Greek and Roman…
(Encyclopedia) Mallarmé, StéphaneMallarmé, Stéphanestāfänˈ mälärmāˈ [key], 1842–98, French poet. Mallarmé's great importance is as the chief forebear of the symbolists; the influence of his poetry…
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