White alder, deciduous shrub or small tree (Clethra alnifolia) native to the Appalachians, named for the resemblance of its leaves to those of the unrelated true alders. It is cultivated as an...

Alder, Kurt, 1902–58, German chemist, educated at Berlin and at Kiel. He was on the research staff of the Bayer Dye Works (1936–40) before becoming (1940) professor of chemistry and director o...

Hazel, any plant of the genus Corylus of the family Betulaceae (birch family), shrubs or small trees with foliage similar to the related alders. They are often cultivated for ornament and for ...

Winterberry, name for two species of shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex of the family Aquifoliaceae (holly family), native to the eastern half of North America. Both are deciduous but hav...

Delambre, Jean Baptiste Joseph, 1749–1822, French astronomer and mathematician. He was a member of the bureau of longitudes from 1795 and professor at the Collège de France from 1807. With P. ...

Diels, Otto Paul Hermann, 1876–1954, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1899. From 1899 to 1915, Diehls was on the faculty at the Univ. of Berlin. In 1916, he joined the Univ. of Kiel, whe...

Woden, Norse Odin, in Germanic religion and mythology, the supreme god. His cult, although widespread among the Germanic tribes, was sometimes subordinated to that of his son Thor. With his br...

Donner Party, group of emigrants to California who in the winter of 1846–47 met with one of the most famous tragedies in Western history. The California-bound families were mostly from Illinoi...

Birch, common name for some members of the Betulaceae, a family of deciduous trees or shrubs bearing male and female flowers on separate plants, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. ...

Lie detector, instrument designed to record bodily changes resulting from the telling of a lie. Cesare Lombroso, in 1895, was the first to utilize such an instrument, but it was not until 1914...