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free energy

(Encyclopedia)free energy or Gibbs free energy, quantity derived from the relationships between heat and work studied in thermodynamics and used as a measure of the relative stability of a physical or chemical syst...

Hitchcock, Frank Harris

(Encyclopedia)Hitchcock, Frank Harris, 1867–1935, U.S. Postmaster General (1909–13), b. Amherst, Ohio. After service in the Dept. of Agriculture (1897–1903), the Dept. of Commerce and Labor (1903–5), and as...

Taylor, Joseph Hooton, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Joseph Hooton, Jr., 1941–, American astrophysicist, b. Philadelphia, Ph.D. Harvard, 1968. Taylor was a professor at the Univ. of Massachusetts at Amherst from 1969 to 1980, when he joined th...

hysteresis

(Encyclopedia)hysteresis hĭsˌtərēˈsĭs [key], phenomenon in which the response of a physical system to an external influence depends not only on the present magnitude of that influence but also on the previous...

Dolby, Ray Milton

(Encyclopedia)Dolby, Ray Milton, 1933–2013, American inventor, audio engineer, and corporate executive, B.S. Stanford, 1957, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1961. While a teenager, he worked for Ampex Corp. (1949–57), helping...

Kinorhyncha

(Encyclopedia)Kinorhyncha kĭnˌərĭngˈkə [key], phylum containing about 150 species of tiny pseudocoelomate worms, it is widely distributed in marine sediments. The kinorhynch body is divided into 13 segments, ...

Yerkes, Charles Tyson

(Encyclopedia)Yerkes, Charles Tyson yûrˈkēz, –kəs [key], 1837–1905, American financier, b. Philadelphia. He began his business career as a clerk in a Philadelphia grain commission house. He became a broker ...

Linnaeus, Carolus

(Encyclopedia)Linnaeus, Carolus kärōˈləs lĭnāˈəs [key], 1707–78, Swedish botanist and taxonomist, considered the founder of the binomial system of nomenclature and the originator of modern scientific clas...

weights and measures

(Encyclopedia)CE5 weights and measures, units and standards for expressing the amount of some quantity, such as length, capacity, or weight; the science of measurement standards and methods is known as metrology...

Iberian Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Iberian Mountains ībĭrˈēən [key], mountain system, extending c.250 mi (400 km) along the northeastern edge of the Meseta (central plateau), NE Spain. Moncayo (7,590 ft/2,313 m high) is the highes...