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Malebranche, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Malebranche, Nicolas nēkôläˈ mälbräNshˈ [key], 1638–1715, French philosopher. Malebranche's philosophy is a highly original synthesis of Cartesian and Augustinian thought. Its purpose was to ...

mineral water

(Encyclopedia)mineral water, spring water containing various mineral salts, especially the carbonates, chlorides, phosphates, silicates, sulfides, and sulfates of calcium, iron, lithium, magnesium, potassium, sodiu...

Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig

(Encyclopedia)Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig, 1895–1963, German-American historian, b. Poznań (then Posen, Germany), studied Univ. of Berlin, Univ. of Heidelberg (Ph.D., 1921). As a young man he was a German nationa...

Adnan, Etel

(Encyclopedia) Adnan, Etel, 1925-2021, Lebanese-American author and artist, b. Beirut, Lebanon. Adnan studied at the Sorbonne and did postgraduate work at the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, and Harvard, an...

Barish, Barry Clark

(Encyclopedia)Barish, Barry Clark, 1936–, American experimental physicist, b. Omaha, Nebr. Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1962. Barish has been a professor (emeritus from 2005) at the California Institute o...

positivism

(Encyclopedia)positivism pŏˈzĭtĭvĭzəm [key], philosophical doctrine that denies any validity to speculation or metaphysics. Sometimes associated with empiricism, positivism maintains that metaphysical questio...

musicals

(Encyclopedia)musicals, earlier known as musical comedies, plays that incorporate music, song, and dance. These elements move with the plot, heightening and commenting on the action. Mixing the sprightly songs and ...

dubnium

(Encyclopedia)dubnium do͞obˈnēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Db; at. no. 105; mass number of most stable isotope 268; m.p., b.p., and sp. gr. unknown; valence +5. Situated ...

rutherfordium

(Encyclopedia)rutherfordium rŭᵺˌərfôrˈdēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Rf; at. no. 104; mass number of most stable isotope 265; m.p., b.p., and sp. gr. unknown; valenc...

Gunn, Thom

(Encyclopedia)Gunn, Thom (Thomson William Gunn), 1929–2004, Anglo-American poet, b. Gravesend, Kent, England, grad. Trinity College, Cambridge (1953). Gunn published his first volume of poems, the critically accl...