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Van Vleck, John Hasbrouck

(Encyclopedia)Van Vleck, John Hasbrouck, 1899–1980, American physicist, b. Middletown, Conn., Ph.D. Harvard, 1922. As a professor at Harvard, Van Vleck developed fundamental theories on the quantum mechanics of m...

Swansea, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Swansea swŏnˈzē [key], town (1990 est. pop. 15,500), Bristol co., SE Mass., a suburb of Fall River, on an inlet of Mount Hope Bay; founded 1667, inc. 1785. Once a vast farmland, it has become chief...

Candace

(Encyclopedia)Candace kănˈdəsē, kăndāˈsē [key], title for queens in ancient Cush (Kush). The Latinized form of kandake, it was mistakenly treated in some sources as a name. One of them made war (c.22 b.c.) ...

Santa Cruz, Álvaro de Bazán, marqués de

(Encyclopedia)Santa Cruz, Álvaro de Bazán, marqués de älˈvärō ᵺā bäthänˈ märkāsˈ dā sänˈtä kro͞oth [key], 1526–88, Spanish admiral. He fought in various actions against the Ottomans and disti...

Navarrete, Juan Fernández

(Encyclopedia)Navarrete, Juan Fernández hwän fārnänˈdĕth nävärāˈtā [key], 1526–79, Spanish religious painter, called El Mudo [the mute]. He studied in a monastery and later in Italy, perhaps with Titia...

Tacca, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Tacca, Pietro pyāˈtrō täkˈkä [key], 1577–1644, Italian sculptor. A pupil of Giovanni Bologna, Tacca adopted the tortuous poses of mannerism and combined them in his bronzes with a classical na...

Guy of Lusignan

(Encyclopedia)Guy of Lusignan lüsēnyäNˈ [key], d. 1194, Latin king of Jerusalem (1186–92) and Cyprus (1192–94), second husband of Sibylla, sister of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. In 1183 he was briefly rege...

Maurice, duke and elector of Saxony

(Encyclopedia)Maurice, 1521–53, duke (1541–47) and elector (1547–53) of Saxony. A member of the Albertine branch of the ruling house of Saxony, he became duke of Albertine Saxony during the Protestant Reforma...

Marie de' Medici

(Encyclopedia)Marie de' Medici mĕdˈĭchē [key], 1573–1642, queen of France, second wife of King Henry IV and daughter of Francesco de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany. She was married to Henry in 1600. After his...

abdication

(Encyclopedia)abdication, in a political sense, renunciation of high public office, usually by a monarch. Some abdications have been purely voluntary and resulted in no loss of prestige. For instance, Holy Roman Em...
 

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