(Encyclopedia) Voyager, the first airplane to circumnavigate the earth nonstop on a single load of fuel. Designed by Burt Rutan and flown by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, Voyager took off from…
(Encyclopedia) DoonDoond&oomacr;n [key], river, c.30 mi (48 km) long, South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire, SW Scotland, flowing NW through Loch Doon (6 mi/9.7 km long) to the Firth of Clyde S of Ayr…
(Encyclopedia) oxyacetylene torchoxyacetylene torchŏkˌsēəsĕtˈəlēn [key], tool that mixes and burns oxygen and acetylene to produce an extremely hot flame. This torch can be used for cutting steel and…
(Encyclopedia) Rand, AynRand, Aynīn [key], 1905–82, American writer, b. St. Petersburg, Russia, as Alissa Rosenbaum. She came to the United States in 1926, became a citizen five years later, and…
HOW DO ROCKETS WORK? PROPELLANTFIND OUT MORESpacecraft are launched into space by rockets—the only engines powerful enough to overcome Earth’s gravity and lift objects into space. Most spacecraft…
(Encyclopedia) Fergusson, Robert, 1750–74, Scottish poet, b. Edinburgh. He was a precursor of Robert Burns, who proclaimed his debt to Fergusson's Poems (1773). After careers in the clergy and in…
(Encyclopedia) Nasmyth, AlexanderNasmyth, Alexandernāˈsmĭth [key], 1758–1840, Scottish landscape and portrait painter. His Stirling Castle (National Gall., London) is a good example of his simple,…
Humans have many shades of pigment in their skin. Skin with deeper pigment absorbs more of the Sun’s burning rays of light. Anyone, even those with dark skin, can burn if they are exposed to…
