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Eocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Eocene epoch ēˈəsēnˌ [key], second epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time, from approximately 54.9 to 38 million years ago. The Eocene in North America was marked by th...

gecko

(Encyclopedia)gecko gĕkˈō [key], small or medium-sized lizard of the family Gekkonidae. Some 1,500 species are distributed throughout the warm regions of the world, mostly in the Old World. Despite folklore to t...

Mount Wilson Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Mount Wilson Observatory, astronomical observatory located in California on Mt. Wilson, near Pasadena. Mt. Wilson Observatory was founded in 1904 by George E. Hale. Its equipment includes 100-in. (2.5...

californium

(Encyclopedia)californium kălˈĭfôrˌnēəm [key] [from California], artificially produced, radioactive metallic chemical element; symbol Cf; at. no. 98; mass no. of most stable isotope 251; m.p. about 900℃; b...

Sinclair, Upton

(Encyclopedia)Sinclair, Upton (Upton Beall Sinclair), 1878–1968, American novelist and socialist activist, b. Baltimore, grad. College of the City of New York, 1897. He was one of the muckrakers, and a dedication...

Alfvén, Hannes Olof Gösta

(Encyclopedia)Alfvén, Hannes Olof Gösta, 1908–95, Swedish physicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Uppsala, 1934. He was a lecturer at Uppsala from 1934 to 1937 and a researcher at the Nobel Institute of Physics from 1937 to ...

All-American Canal

(Encyclopedia)All-American Canal, 80 mi (129 km) long, SE Calif.; part of the federal irrigation system of the Hoover Dam. Built between 1934 and 1940 across the Colorado Desert, the canal is entirely within the Un...

David and Lucile Packard Foundation

(Encyclopedia)David and Lucile Packard Foundation, private philanthropic institution that funds nonprofit organizations. It was founded in 1964 by David Packard (1912–96), co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Co., and h...

Davis, Gray

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Gray (Joseph Graham Davis, Jr.), 1942–, U.S. politician, b. the Bronx, N.Y. A graduate of Stanford Univ. (1964) and Columbia Univ. Law School (1967), he entered the army and served in Vietnam...

Clark, Alvan

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Alvan, 1804–87, American astronomer and maker of astronomical lenses, b. Ashfield, Mass. In 1846 the firm of Alvan Clark & Sons was established at Cambridgeport, Mass.; it became famous a...