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fiber optics

(Encyclopedia)fiber optics, transmission of digitized messages or information by light pulses along hair-thin glass or plastic fibers. Each fiber is surrounded by a cladding having a high index of refractance so th...

Fackenheim, Emil Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Fackenheim, Emil Ludwig āmēl lo͞otˈvĭkh făkˈənhīm [key], 1916–2003, Canadian-Israeli rabbi and philosopher, b. Halle, Germany, grad. Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, 1939; Ph...

Pichegru, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Pichegru, Charles shärl pēshgrüˈ [key], 1761–1804, French general in the French Revolutionary Wars. Successful on the Rhine front (1793), he invaded (1794) the Netherlands, entered (1795) Amster...

twilight

(Encyclopedia)twilight, period between sunset and total darkness or between total darkness and sunrise. Total darkness does not occur immediately when the sun sinks below the horizon because light from the sun that...

tilapia

(Encyclopedia)tilapia təläˈpēə [key] or St. Peter's fish, a spiny-finned freshwater fish of the family Cichlidae, native chiefly to Africa and the Middle East. Fish of the genera Oreochromis, Sarotherodon, and...

Richardson, Elliot Lee

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Elliot Lee, 1920–99, U.S. government official, b. Boston. Admitted to the bar in 1949, he was (1957–59) assistant secretary of health, education and welfare under President Dwight D. E...

nave

(Encyclopedia)nave nāv [key], in general, all that part of a church that extends from the atrium to the altar and is intended exclusively for the laity. In a strictly architectural sense, however, the term indicat...

Melrose, town, Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Melrose, town (1991 pop. 2,221), Scottish Borders, S Scotland, on the Tweed River. It is the site of one of the finest ruins in Scotland—Melrose Abbey, owned by the nation and founded for Cistercian...

Kluane National Park

(Encyclopedia)Kluane National Park klo͞oānˈ [key], c.8,500 sq mi (22,000 sq km), SW Yukon, Canada, between Kluane Lake and the British Columbia and Alaska borders; est. 1972. Located in the St. Elias Mts., the p...

Eastman, Joseph Bartlett

(Encyclopedia)Eastman, Joseph Bartlett, 1882–1944, U.S. government administrator, b. Katonah, N.Y. President Wilson appointed him in 1919 to the Interstate Commerce Commission. As federal coordinator of railroads...