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Fort Niagara

(Encyclopedia)Fort Niagara, post on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Niagara River, NW N.Y. It was strategically located on the water route to the fur lands. French explorer Robert LaSalle er...

Mendelsohn, Erich

(Encyclopedia)Mendelsohn, Erich āˈrĭkh mĕnˈdəlzōn [key], 1887–1953, German architect, pioneer of expressionism. He is best known for his exuberant, sculptural design for the Einstein Tower in Potsdam (1919...

Hunt, Gaillard

(Encyclopedia)Hunt, Gaillard gĭlyärdˈ [key], 1862–1924, American historian and editor, b. New Orleans. He served (1887–1909, 1917–24) the Dept. of State in various capacities, his most important work being...

compressed air

(Encyclopedia)compressed air, air whose volume has been decreased by the application of pressure. Air is compressed by various devices, including the simple hand pump and the reciprocating, rotary, centrifugal, and...

Ctesibius

(Encyclopedia)Ctesibius tĭsĭbˈēəs [key], fl. 2d cent. b.c., Alexandrian Greek inventor. He reputedly was the first to discover and apply the expansive power of air as a motive force. Among the inventions ascri...

Gimbel

(Encyclopedia)Gimbel gĭmˈbəl [key], family of American merchants and philanthropists. Adam Gimbel, 1815–96, b. Bavaria, emigrated (1835) to the United States and traveled up and down the Mississippi River pedd...

Santokhi, Chandrikapersad

(Encyclopedia)Santokhi, Chandrikapersad, 1959–, Surinamese political leader. Trained as a police officer in the Netherlands, he worked for the Suriname police force as an inspector, becoming chief inspector (1982...

Aldrin, Buzz

(Encyclopedia)Aldrin, Buzz ôlˈdrĭn [key] (Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.), 1930–, American astronaut, b. Montclair, N.J. After graduating from West Point (1951), Aldrin joined the U.S. air force and flew 66 combat m...

Arab-Israeli Wars

(Encyclopedia)Arab-Israeli Wars, conflicts in 1948–49, 1956, 1967, 1973–74, and 1982 between Israel and the Arab states. Tensions between Israel and the Arabs have been complicated and heightened by the politic...

airline industry

(Encyclopedia)airline industry, the business of transporting paying passengers and freight by air along regularly scheduled routes, typically by airplanes but also by helicopter. Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin set up ...
 

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