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short takeoff and landing aircraft

(Encyclopedia)short takeoff and landing aircraft (STOL), heavier-than-air craft, capable of rising from and descending to the ground with only a short length of runway, but incapable of doing so vertically. The pre...

Robbins, John Bennet

(Encyclopedia)Robbins, John Bennet, 1932–2019, American physician and microbiologist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., M.D. New York Univ., 1959. He did research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and taught at the...

O'Neill of the Maine, Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron

(Encyclopedia)O'Neill of the Maine, Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron, 1914–90, Ulster Unionist politician. A member of one of the oldest Protestant families in Ireland, he entered the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1...

Tesla, Nikola

(Encyclopedia)Tesla, Nikola tĕsˈlə [key], 1856–1943, American electrician and inventor, b. Croatia (then an Austrian province). An ethnic Serb, he immigrated to the United States in 1884, worked for a short pe...

Blatter, Sepp

(Encyclopedia)Blatter, Sepp (Joseph S. Blatter), 1936–, Swiss sports executive, grad. Univ. of Lausanne, 1959. He served as general secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation and director of sports timing and p...

fertility drug

(Encyclopedia)fertility drug, any of a variety of substances used to increase the possibility of conception and successful pregnancy. Different methods are used to correct or circumvent the many different functiona...

osteoporosis

(Encyclopedia)osteoporosis ŏsˌtēōˌpərōˈsĭs [key], disorder in which the normal replenishment of old bone tissue is severely disrupted, resulting in weakened bones and increased risk of fracture; osteopenia...

sleep

(Encyclopedia)sleep, resting state in which an individual becomes relatively quiescent and relatively unaware of the environment. During sleep, which is in part a period of rest and relaxation, most physiological f...

Jewish Autonomous Region

(Encyclopedia)Jewish Autonomous Region or Birobidzhan bērōbējänˈ [key], autonomous region (1995 pop. 211,900), c.13,800 sq mi (35,700 sq km), Khabarovsk Territory, Russian Far East, in the basins of the Biro a...

Narayanan, K. R.

(Encyclopedia)Narayanan, K. R. (Raman Kocheril Narayanan) näräyänänˈ [key], 1921–2005, Indian government official. An “untouchable” or Dalit (see Harijans), he nonetheless graduated from the Univ. of Tra...