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Bhagavad-Gita

(Encyclopedia)Bhagavad-Gita bŭgˈəvəd-gēˈtə [key] [Skt.,=song of the Lord], Sanskrit poem incorporated into the Mahabharata, one of the greatest religious classics of Hinduism. The Gita (as it is often called...

dark energy

(Encyclopedia)dark energy, repulsive force that opposes the self-attraction of matter (see gravitation) and causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate. The search for dark energy was triggered by the discov...

astronaut

(Encyclopedia)astronaut, crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, a...

Lowell Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Lowell Observatory, astronomical observatory located in Flagstaff, Ariz.; it was founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell, the American astronomer who popularized the idea that Mars might support intelligen...

Stevens

(Encyclopedia)Stevens, family of U.S. inventors. John Stevens, 1749–1838, b. New York City, was graduated from King's College (now Columbia Univ.) in 1768. He studied law (1768–71) and soon joined his father, a...

Vicksburg campaign

(Encyclopedia)Vicksburg campaign, in the American Civil War, the fighting (Nov., 1862–July, 1863) for control of the Mississippi River. The Union wanted such control in order to split the Confederacy and to resto...

York, city, England

(Encyclopedia)York, city and unitary authority (2011 pop. 198,051), N England, at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss rivers. It is located at the historical junction of the three ridings of Yorkshire. York, a rail...

Welles, Gideon

(Encyclopedia)Welles, Gideon wĕlz [key], 1802–78, American statesman, b. Glastonbury, Conn. He was (1826–36) editor and part owner of the Hartford Times, one of the first New England papers to support Andrew J...

Seaborg, Glenn Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Seaborg, Glenn Theodore sēˈbôrg [key], 1912–99, American chemist, b. Ishpeming, Mich., grad. Univ. of California at Los Angeles, 1934, Ph.D. Univ. of California at Berkeley, 1937. In 1939, he beg...

Ku Klux Klan

(Encyclopedia)Ku Klux Klan ko͞oˌ klŭks klăn [key], designation mainly given to two distinct secret societies that played a part in American history, although other less important groups have also used the name....