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bird-of-paradise flower

(Encyclopedia) bird-of-paradise flower, large tropical herb (Strelitzia reginae) of the family Musaceae (banana family), native to S Africa. Its large blue and orange blossom resembles an exotic bird…

Keeling, Charles David

(Encyclopedia) Keeling, Charles David, 1928–2005, U.S. geochemist, b. Scranton, Pa., Ph.D. Northwestern Univ., 1954. As a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology (1953–56), he…

Borschberg, André

(Encyclopedia) Borschberg, André, 1952–, Swiss engineer, businessman, and pilot. With Bertrand Piccard (see under Piccard, Auguste) he founded Solar Impulse to develop a solar-powered plane capable…

Jones, James

(Encyclopedia) Jones, James, 1921–77, American novelist, b. Robinson, Ill. Written in the tradition of naturalism, his novels often celebrate the endurance of man. From Here to Eternity (1951), his…

Palmyra, atoll, Pacific Ocean

(Encyclopedia) Palmyra, atoll (2 sq mi/5.2 sq km), central Pacific, one of the Line Islands, c.1,100 mi (1,770 km) SW of Honolulu. Palmyra has no permanent inhabitants. First visited by Americans in…

Hawaiian

(Encyclopedia) Hawaiian, member of the Polynesian group of the Austronesian family of languages. Of the fewer than 10,000 people who speak Hawaiian, only a few hundred are native speakers, but the…

Carlson, Evans Fordyce

(Encyclopedia) Carlson, Evans Fordyce, 1896–1947, U.S. marine officer, b. Delaware co., N.Y. Enlisting at 16 in the army, he served in the Philippines and Hawaii and in France during World War I. In…

Jones, Thomas ap Catesby

(Encyclopedia) Jones, Thomas ap Catesby, 1789–1858, American naval officer, b. Westmoreland co., Va. He joined the navy in 1805 and helped suppress piracy and the slave trade in the Gulf of Mexico (…

Cannon, George Quayle

(Encyclopedia) Cannon, George Quayle, 1827–1901, Mormon apostle, b. Liverpool, England. He and his parents were converted to Mormonism in 1840; from the Isle of Man they emigrated to Nauvoo, Ill., in…

Cook, James

(Encyclopedia) Cook, James, 1728–79, English explorer and navigator. The son of a Yorkshire agricultural laborer, he had little formal education. After an apprenticeship to a firm of shipowners at…