Russell, Bill in full William Felton Russell (b. Feb. 12, 1934, Mon¬ roe, La., U.S.) U.S. basketball player. The 6-ft 10-in. (2.08-m) centre led the University of San Francisco to two NCAA championships (1955-56). Playing for the Boston Celtics (1956-69), Russell led his team to 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons—the last 2 as coach, having become in 1967 the first black coach of a major professional sports team. Russell’s career mark for rebounds (21,620) is second only to that of his great rival Wilt Chamberlain, and he is regarded as one of the finest defensive centres of all time. He was voted most valuable player in the NBA five times. He later coached the Seattle SuperSonics (1973—77) and the Sacramento Kings (1987-88).
Russell, Charles Taze (b. Feb. 16, 1852, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—d. Oct. 31, 1916, Pampa, Texas) U.S. religious leader who founded the Inter¬ national Bible Students Association, the forerunner of the Jehovah's Wit- NESSes. He was raised in the Congregational church but rejected its teachings, unable to reconcile God’s mercy with the idea of hell. Influ¬ enced by the Adventists, he adopted a doctrine of millennialism. He founded
Bertrand Russell, 1960
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1654 I Russell ► Russian Civil War
the International Bible Students Association in 1872 (renamed Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931) and taught that the final days would come in 1914 and that Christ’s kingdom on earth would begin after a war between capital¬ ism and socialism. In 1884 he founded the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, today one of the world’s largest publishers. His books, pamphlets, and periodicals were widely circulated, and he won many converts despite the apparent failure of his apocalyptic prediction.
Russell (of Kingston Russell), John Russell, 1 st Earl (b. Aug. 18, 1792, London, Eng.—d. May 28, 1878, Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey) British politician and prime minister (1846-52, 1865-66). A member of the prominent Russell family, he entered Parliament in 1813. He was a strong advocate of reform and made it a cause of the Whig Party, leading the effort to pass the Reform Bill of 1 832. He served in Viscount Melbourne’s government as home secretary (1835), reducing the number of crimes liable to capital punishment and beginning state support of pub¬ lic education. In the 1840s he advocated free trade and forced Robert Peel out of office. Russell became prime minister in 1846 and established the 10-hour day in factories (1847) and a board of public health (1848), but party disunity defeated his attempts at wider social and economic reform.
Russell, Lillian orig. Helen Louise Leonard (b. Dec. 4, 1861, Clinton, Iowa, U.S.—d. June 6, 1922, Pittsburgh, Pa.) U.S. singer and actress. She made her stage debut while still in her teens. She achieved stardom in Grand Mogul (1881) and later won acclaim in The Grand Duchess (1890). From 1899 to 1904 she appeared in England and the U.S. with a burlesque company. Representing the feminine ideal of her gen¬ eration, she was as famous for her flamboyant personal life as for her hourglass figure, her beauty, and her voice. After her fourth marriage in 1912, she wrote a syndicated column on health, beauty, and love and lec¬ tured on these topics before vaudeville audiences.
Russell, William Russell, Lord (b. Sept. 29,1639—d. July 21,1683, London, Eng.) English Whig politician. A member of the House of Com¬ mons, he joined the opposition to the pro-French policies of Charles II. In 1678 he was convinced by Titus Oates’s fabricated Popish Plot, and by 1680 he led the fight in the Commons to exclude Charles’s brother James (later James II) from the succession. After Charles dissolved Parliament (1681), Russell continued to associate with Whig dissidents. In 1683 he was accused of participating in the Rye House Plot to murder Charles. The charges were never proved, but Russell was found guilty of treason and beheaded.
Russell Cave National Monument National Monument, north¬ eastern Alabama, U.S. Located south of the Alabama-Tennessee border, the monument constitutes part of a cavern that was discovered c. 1953. The cave is about 210 ft (64 m) long, 107 ft (33 m) wide, and 26 ft (8 m) high. It contains an almost continuous record of human habitation dating to at least 7000 bc. The national monument was established in 1961.
Russell family English Whig family. It first became prominent under the Tudors, when John Russell (died 1555) was created earl of Bedford (1549) for helping suppress a rebellion against the Protestant reforms of Edward VI. The family was connected with the Parliamentary party in the English Civil Wars. Its first notable Whig member was William, Lord Rus¬ sell. Later members included John, Earl Russell, and his grandson, the phi¬ losopher Bertrand Russell.
Russia officially Russian Federation Country, eastern Europe and northern Asia, formerly the preeminent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Area: 6,592,800 sq mi (17,075,400 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 143,420,000. Capitaclass="underline" Moscow. The population is primarily Russian; minorities include Tatars and Ukrainians. Languages: Russian (official), various Turkic and Uralic languages. Religions: Christianity (mostly Eastern Orthodox, also Protestant); also Islam. However, about one-third of the people are nonreligious or atheist. Currency: ruble. The land and its environments are varied, including the Ural Mountains and ranges in eastern Siberia, the highest peaks being on the Kamchatka Pen¬ insula. The Russian Plain contains the great Volga and Northern Dvina rivers, and in Siberia are the valleys of the Ob, Yenisey, Lena, and Amur rivers. Tundra covers extensive portions in the north, and in the south there are forests, steppes, and fertile areas. The economy was industrialized from 1917 to 1945 but was in serious decline by the 1980s. In 1992 the government decreed radical reforms to convert the centrally planned economy into a market economy based on private enterprise. Russia is a federal republic with a bicameral legislative body; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. What is now
Leaders of Muscovy; Russia,
and the Russian Empire
Princes of Muscovy:
Interregnum
1610-12
Danilovich dynasty*
Czars and Empresses
Daniel (son of
of Russia: Romanov
Alexander Nevsky)
c. 1276-1303
dynasty**
Yury
1303-25
Michael III
1613-45
Ivan 1
1325-40
Alexis
1645-76
Semyon (Simeon)
1340-53
Fyodor III
1676-82
Ivan II
1353-59
Peter 1 (Ivan V
Dmitry Donskoy
1359-89
coruler 1682-96 )
1682-1725
Vasily 1
1389-1425
Catherine 1
1725-27
Vasily II
1425-62
Peter II
1727-30
Ivan III
1462-1505
Anna
1730-40
Vasily III
1505-33
Ivan VI
1740-41
Ivan IV
1533-47
Elizabeth
1741-61
Czars of Russia:
(O.s.)
Danilovich dynasty
Peter III***
1761-62
Ivan IV
1547-84
(O.s.)
Fyodor 1
1584-98
Catherine II
1762-96
Czars of Russia:
Paul
1796-1801
Time of Troubles
Alexander 1
1801-25
Boris Godunov
1598-1605
Nicholas 1
1825-55
Fyodor II
1605
Alexander II
1855-81
False Dmitry
1605-6
Alexander III
1881-94
Vasily (IV)
1606-10
Nicholas II
1894-1917
*The Danilovich dynasty is a late branch of the Rurik dynasty, named after its progenitor, Daniel.
**ln 1721 Peter I the Great took the title of "emperor" (Russian: imperator), considering it a larger, more European title than the Russian "czar."
However, every male sovereign continued usually to be called czar (and his consort czarina, or czaritsa), though every female sovereign was conven¬ tionally called empress (imperatritsa).