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Sheppey, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Sheppey, Isle of, c.30 sq mi (80 sq km), Kent, SE England, at the mouth of the Thames, separated from the mainland by The Swale, a narrow strait. It is largely flat, with wave-eroded cliffs to the nor...

Nostradamus

(Encyclopedia)Nostradamus nŏsˌtrədāˈməs [key], 1503–66, French astrologer and physician, whose real name was Michel de Nostredame. He is reputed to have effected remarkable cures during outbreaks of the pla...

Rosenwald, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Rosenwald, Julius rōˈzənwôld [key], 1862–1932, American merchant and philanthropist, b. Springfield, Ill. He was president (1910–25), and later chairman of the board, of the mail-order house o...

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

(Encyclopedia)Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N.Y.; coeducational; founded and opened 1824 as Rensselaer School; chartered 1826. It was called Rensselaer Institute from 1837 to 1861. The first private te...

combinatorics

(Encyclopedia)combinatorics kŏmˌbĭnətôrˈēəl [key], sometimes called the science of counting, the branch of mathematics concerned with the selection, arrangement, and operation of elements within sets. Combi...

Albee, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Albee, Edward ălˈbē [key], 1928–2016, American playwright, one of the leading dramatists of his generation, b. Washington, D.C., as Edward Harvey. His most characteristic work constitutes an absu...

fuzzy logic

(Encyclopedia)fuzzy logic, a multivalued (as opposed to binary) logic developed to deal with imprecise or vague data. Classical logic holds that everything can be expressed in binary terms: 0 or 1, black or white, ...

Galatians

(Encyclopedia)Galatians gəlāˈshənz [key], letter of the New Testament. It is ascribed to St. Paul and addressed to ethnic Gauls living in central Asia Minor, or to inhabitants of the Roman province of Galatia i...

Andersen, Hans Christian

(Encyclopedia)Andersen, Hans Christian, 1805–75, Danish poet, novelist, and writer of fairy tales. Born to an illiterate washerwoman and reared in poverty, he left Odense at 14 for Copenhagen, where he lived with...
 

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