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vending machine

(Encyclopedia)vending machine, coin-operated, automatic device for selling goods. Many vending machines are capable of making change, and some of the more sophisticated ones accept paper money or credit cards. The ...

Russell of Killowen, Charles Russell, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Russell of Killowen, Charles Russell, Baron kĭlōˈən [key], 1832–1900, British jurist, b. Ireland. He practiced law in Belfast and London before his election to Parliament as a Liberal in 1880. I...

Rainwater, James

(Encyclopedia)Rainwater, James, 1917–86, American physicist, Ph.D. Columbia, 1946. After working on the Manhattan Project as a student during World War II, he became a professor of physics at Columbia in 1952. Hi...

Osborne, Thomas Mott

(Encyclopedia)Osborne, Thomas Mott, 1859–1926, American prison reformer, b. Auburn, N.Y., grad. Harvard, 1884. As chairman (1913) of the state commission on prison reform he became a voluntary prisoner in the Aub...

Kennedy, Joseph Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Kennedy, Joseph Patrick, 1888–1969, U.S. ambassador to Great Britain (1937–40), b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1912. The founder of an American dynasty, he was the father of nine children, including Jo...

privateering

(Encyclopedia)privateering, former usage of war permitting privately owned and operated war vessels (privateers) under commission of a belligerent government to capture enemy shipping. Private ownership distinguish...

safety movement

(Encyclopedia)safety movement, widespread effort to prevent accidents that followed the increasing number of casualties in industry, traffic and transportation, and homes arising out of the Industrial Revolution an...

city planning

(Encyclopedia)city planning, process of planning for the improvement of urban centers in order to provide healthy and safe living conditions, efficient transport and communication, adequate public facilities, and a...

Danube

(Encyclopedia)Danube dănˈyo͞ob [key], Czech Dunaj, Ger. Donau, Hung. Duna, Rom. Dunarea, Serbo-Croatian and Bulg. Dunav, Ukr. Dunay, great river of central and SE Europe, c.1,770 mi (2,850 km) long, with a drain...

thermodynamics

(Encyclopedia)thermodynamics, branch of science concerned with the nature of heat and its conversion to mechanical, electric, and chemical energy. Historically, it grew out of efforts to construct more efficient he...