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Wagner, Honus

(Encyclopedia)Wagner, Honus hōˈnŭs wăgˈnər [key], 1874–1955, American baseball player, b. Mansfield (now Carnegie), Pa. His real name was John Peter Wagner. He played semiprofessional ball in Ohio and was g...

thermite

(Encyclopedia)thermite [from Thermit, a trade name], mixture of powdered or granular aluminum metal and powdered iron oxide. When ignited it gives off large amounts of heat. In wartime it has been used in incendiar...

Tilly, Johannes Tserklaes, count of

(Encyclopedia)Tilly, Johannes Tserklaes, count of yōhänˈəs tsĕrkläsˈ tĭlˈē [key], 1559–1632, general in Bavarian and later imperial service during the Thirty Years War. A younger son of a noble family o...

Kant, Immanuel

(Encyclopedia)Kant, Immanuel ĭmänˈo͞oĕl känt [key], 1724–1804, German metaphysician, one of the greatest figures in philosophy, b. Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The impact of Kant's work has be...

bassoon

(Encyclopedia)bassoon băso͞onˈ [key], double-reed woodwind instrument that plays in the bass and tenor registers. Its 8-ft (2.4-m) conical tube is bent double, the instrument thus being about 4 ft (1.2 m) high. ...

Peck, Justin

(Encyclopedia)Peck, Justin, 1987–, American ballet dancer and choreographer, b. Washington, D.C. He trained at New York City Ballet's School of American Ballet, where he was influenced by the choreography of Geor...

Eisler, Hanns

(Encyclopedia)Eisler, Hanns häns īsˈlər [key], 1898–1962, German composer, pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In 1926, he joined the German Communist party, thereafter producing protest songs and other music express...

Kokoschka, Oskar

(Encyclopedia)Kokoschka, Oskar ôsˈkär kōkôshˈkä [key], 1886–1980, Austrian expressionist painter and writer. After teaching at the art academy in Dresden (1920–24), Kokoschka traveled extensively in Euro...

Gabrieli, Andrea

(Encyclopedia)Gabrieli, Andrea jōvänˈnē [key], c.1555–1612. Giovanni was for a time a singer in the court choir under Lasso in Munich and became (1585) second organist at St. Mark's, succeeding to first organ...

Berlin, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Berlin, Congress of, 1878, called by the signers of the Treaty of Paris of 1856 (see Paris, Congress of) to reconsider the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, which Russia had forced on the Ottoman Em...
 

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