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Guðmundsson, Kristmann

(Encyclopedia)Guðmundsson, Kristmann krĭstˈmän gvüᵺˈmünsôn [key], 1901–83, Icelandic novelist. Guðmundsson lived in Norway from 1924 to 1937 and wrote in both Norwegian and Icelandic. His sensitive nov...

Victorinus

(Encyclopedia)Victorinus (Caius Marius Victorinus Afer) vĭktərīˈnəs [key], fl. 361, Roman grammarian, b. Africa. He became renowned as a teacher of rhetoric in Rome and as an advocate of Neoplatonism. Becoming...

Rasmussen, Knud Johan Victor

(Encyclopedia)Rasmussen, Knud Johan Victor kəno͞otˈ yōˈhän vĭkˈtôr räsˈmo͝osən [key], 1879–1933, Danish arctic explorer and ethnologist. Born in Greenland of Eskimo ancestry on his mother's side, he ...

Ryder, Albert Pinkham

(Encyclopedia)Ryder, Albert Pinkham, 1847–1917, American painter, b. New Bedford, Mass. In 1867 his family moved to New York City. There he studied with W. E. Marshall, the engraver, and at the National Academy o...

De Long, George Washington

(Encyclopedia)De Long, George Washington də lôngˈ [key], 1844–81, American arctic explorer, b. New York City, grad. Annapolis, 1865. In 1873 he was assigned to the Juniata, which was sent to the arctic to sear...

Hobbema, Meindert

(Encyclopedia)Hobbema, Meindert mīnˈdərt hôbˈəmä [key], 1638–1709, Dutch landscape painter. In landscape art Hobbema was second only to his contemporary Jacob van Ruisdael, with whom he may have studied. M...

Hesiod

(Encyclopedia)Hesiod hēˈsēəd, hĕsˈ– [key], fl. 8th cent.? b.c., Greek poet. He is thought to have lived later than Homer, but there is no absolute certainty about the dates of his life. Hesiod portrays hims...

half-life

(Encyclopedia)half-life, measure of the average lifetime of a radioactive substance (see radioactivity) or an unstable subatomic particle. One half-life is the time required for one half of any given quantity of th...

life preserver

(Encyclopedia)life preserver, a personal flotation device (PFD) intended to keep the wearer afloat, particularly in case of shipwreck. A Type I PFD will keep even unconscious people afloat in a face–up position; ...
 

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