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Scriblerus Club
Scriblerus Club English literary group formed about 1713 to satirize "all the false tastes in learning." Among its chief members were Arbuthnot, Gay, Thomas Parnell, Pope, and Swift. Meetings of the club were discontinued after 1714. The club's major production, "Memoirs of …&th...
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August Wilson
August Wilson 1945-2005, American playwright and poet, b. Pittsburgh as Frederick August Kittel. Largely self-educated, Wilson first attracted wide critical attention with his Broadway debut, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984), a play set in 1927 that dramatizes the clash between the blues diva and ...
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urinary system
urinary system group of organs of the body concerned with excretion of urine, that is, water and the waste products of metabolism. In humans, the kidneys are two small organs situated near the vertebral column at the small of the back, the left lying somewhat higher than the right. They are bean-sh...
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Judah ha-Nasi
Judah ha-Nasi , c.135-c.220, Palestinian Jewish communal leader ( tanna ). He occupied the office of patriarch ( nasi ) which was reestablished by the Romans after 135. Under his leadership, Palestinian Jewry rebuilt its economy, which had been devastated during the revolt against Rome (132-135). Tr...
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Saint Justin Martyr
Saint Justin Martyr c.AD 100-c.AD 165, Christian apologist, called also Justin the Philosopher. Born in Samaria of pagan parents, he studied philosophy, and after his conversion in Ephesus to Christianity at about the age of 38, he went from place to place trying to convert men of learning by philo...
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sun
sun intensely hot, self-luminous body of gases at the center of the solar system . Its gravitational attraction maintains the planets, comets, and other bodies of the solar system in their orbits.
General Characteristics of the Sun
The sun is actually a star of about medium size; it appe...
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Stamford
Stamford town (1991 pop. 18,127), in the Parts of Kesteven, Lincolnshire, E central England, on the Welland River. It is a market town. Products include diesel engines, electrical equipment, bricks, and tiles. Stamford is the supposed site of a defeat of the Picts and Scots by the Saxons in 449 and...
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human evolution
human evolution theory of the origins of the human species, Homo sapiens. Modern understanding of human origins is derived largely from the findings of paleontology , anthropology , and genetics , and involves the process of natural selection (see Darwinism ). Although gaps in the fossil reco...
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chartreuse
chartreuse , liqueur made exclusively by Carthusians at their monastery, La Grande Chartreuse, France, until their expulsion in 1903. The French distillery and trademark were sold, and the order set up a new plant in Tarragona, Spain. The monks' product is identified by the name Liqueur des P&egr...
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Michelangelo Buonarroti
Michelangelo Buonarroti , 1475-1564, Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, b. Caprese, Tuscany.
Early Life and Work
Michelangelo drew extensively as a child, and his father placed him under the tutelage of Ghirlandaio , a respected artist of the day. After one unproductive year,...
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