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11,351 Topics

Aalto, Alvar, 1898-1976

(ŏl'vär äl'tō), 1898–1976, Finnish architect and furniture designer. Aalto is considered one of the foremost architects of the 20th cent. Most of his designs were made in collaboration with his first wife, Aino Maria Marsio, 1894–1949, the celebrated furniture designer and architect. Aalto's work…

Open Abadan (Iran)
Abadan (Iran)

Iranian oil port in Khuzestan province, situated on an island on the east side of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway at the head of the Gulf, 675 km/420 mi southwest of Tehran; population (2006) 219,800. Abadan is the chief refinery and shipping centre for Iran's oil industry, nationalized in 1951. This…

Abbott, Diane

British left-wing Labour Party politician, shadow home secretary from 2016. Positioned on the left wing of the party, she criticized Tony Blair 's 1997–2007 ‘New Labour’ government for abandoning traditional socialist policies, taking military action in Iraq in 2003, and counterterrorism proposals…

Abbeville (France)

Town in the Somme département , Picardy region, in northern France, 19 km/12 mi inland from the mouth of the River Somme and 40 km/25 mi northwest of Amiens; population (2005 est) 24,000. Abbeville has a large agricultural market; manufacturing industries include textiles, metal goods, and brewing. …

Abbey, Edward, 1927-1989

Author of 25 books of fiction and non-fiction mostly about the desert Southwest, Edward Abbey is best known as the author of DESERT SOLITAIRE (1968) , alternately compared to WALDEN by Henry David Thoreau and A Sand County Almanac by ALDO LEOPOLD . Abbey saw his second book The Brave Cowboy (1956) …

Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991

1898-1991 US photographer Born in Springfield, Ohio, she studied at Ohio State University with the intention of becoming a journalist, then moved to New York (1918), and to Europe (1921), where she studied sculpture. She worked in Paris as assistant to Man Ray (1923-25) and in 1926 opened her own…

Abbasids

The Abbasid caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates, and it lasted from 750 until 1258, making it the longest of the caliphates and one that presided over great advances in science and technology until it was destroyed by the Mongols. Its capital was Baghdad, and at its height in the 9th…

Aachen (Germany)

Cathedral city and spa in the Land (state) of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 64 km/40 mi southwest of Cologne, near the Dutch and Belgian borders; population (2003 est) 241,300. It has a thriving iron and steel industry; manufacturing includes electronics, glass, food, woollen textiles, rubber, …

Abbey Theatre

Playhouse in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, associated with the literary revival of the early 1900s, that was part of a general cultural Irish revival . The theatre opened in 1904 and staged the works of a number of Irish dramatists, including Lady Gregory, W B Yeats, J M Synge, and Seán O'Casey. …

Aaron, Hank, 1934-2021

Baseball Player Born in Mobile, Alabama, on February 5, 1934, Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron first played sandlot ball as a teenager. He later played for a team called the Black Bears, but soon thereafter signed a $200-per-month contract with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League. In June…