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Wolfe, Thomas Clayton

(Encyclopedia)Wolfe, Thomas Clayton, 1900–1938, American novelist, b. Asheville, N.C., grad. Univ. of North Carolina, 1920, M.A. Harvard, 1922. An important 20th-century American novelist, Wolfe wrote four mammot...

Gibbs, Josiah Willard

(Encyclopedia)Gibbs, Josiah Willard, 1839–1903, American mathematical physicist, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Yale, 1858. He studied abroad and was professor of mathematical physics at Yale from 1871. His great con...

letters

(Encyclopedia)letters, in literature, written messages, ranging from those addressed to the public and those sent from lover to lover, to business letters and thank-you notes. The common quality they share is a liv...

Robert II, duke of Normandy

(Encyclopedia)Robert II (Robert Curthose), c.1054–1134, duke of Normandy (1087–1106); eldest son of King William I of England. Aided by King Philip I of France, he rebelled (1077) against his father. Father and...

statistical mechanics

(Encyclopedia)statistical mechanics, quantitative study of systems consisting of a large number of interacting elements, such as the atoms or molecules of a solid, liquid, or gas, or the individual quanta of light ...

Warner, Sylvia Townsend

(Encyclopedia)Warner, Sylvia Townsend, 1893–1978, English novelist and poet. Her first published work was poetry, The Espalier (1925), but she became more generally known with two novels of gentle fantasy, Lolly ...

Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, Scottish royal family descended from an 11th-century Norman duke, Robert de Brus. He aided William I in his conquest of England (1066) and was given lands in England. His son was granted fiefs ...

Adam, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Adam, Robert ădˈəm [key], 1728–92, and James Adam, 1730–94, Scottish architects, brothers. They designed important public and private buildings in England and Scotland and numerous interiors, p...

Weill, Kurt

(Encyclopedia)Weill, Kurt ko͝ortˈ vīl [key], 1900–1950, German-American composer, b. Dessau, studied with Humperdinck and Busoni in Berlin. He first became known with the production of two short satirical surr...
 

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