(Encyclopedia) automated teller machine (ATM), device used by bank customers to process account transactions. Typically, a user inserts into the ATM a special plastic card that is encoded with…
(Encyclopedia) Ortega y Gasset, JoséOrtega y Gasset, Joséhōsāˈ ôrtāˈgä ē gäsĕtˈ [key], 1883–1955, Spanish essayist and philosopher. He studied in Germany and was influenced by neo-Kantian thought. He…
(Encyclopedia) Carter Family, group of singers that specialized in traditional music of the Southern Appalachian Mountains; it consisted of A(lvin) P(leasant) Carter, 1891–1960, b. Maces Spring, Va…
(Encyclopedia) Beattie, AnnBeattie, Annbēˈtē, bāˈ– [key], 1947–, American writer, b. Washington, D.C. She gained attention in the early 1970s with short stories in the New Yorker; the 48 stories she…
(Encyclopedia) steering system, in automobiles, steering wheel, gears, linkages, and other components used to control the direction of a vehicle's motion. Because of friction between the front tires…
(Encyclopedia) synchrotron radiation, in physics, electromagnetic radiation emitted by high-speed electrons spiraling along the lines of force of a magnetic field (see magnetism). Depending on the…
(Encyclopedia) Terkel, Studs, 1912–2008, American writer, social historian, and radio and television personality, b. the Bronx, N.Y., as Louis Terkel, grad. Univ. of Chicago (Ph.B. 1932, J.D. 1934).…
(Encyclopedia) supply-side economics, economic theory that concentrates on influencing the supply of labor and goods as a path to economic health, rather than approaching the issue through such…
(Encyclopedia) bastard, person born out of wedlock whose legal status is illegitimacy. In civil law countries and in about half the states of the United States, the union of the parents in marriage…
(Encyclopedia) space-time, central concept in the theory of relativity that replaces the earlier concepts of space and time as separate absolute entities. In relativity one cannot uniquely…
