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Coffin, James Henry

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, James Henry, 1806–73, American mathematician and meteorologist, was professor of mathematics and physics, Lafayette College, 1846–73. In an observatory which he built on Mt. Greylock, Mass...

Arecibo

(Encyclopedia)Arecibo ärəsēˈbō [key], city, N Puerto Rico, a port on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Rio Grande de Arecibo. It has rum distilleries and is the commercial and...

Ben Nevis

(Encyclopedia)Ben Nevis nēˈvĭs, nĕvˈĭs [key], peak, 4,411 ft (1,345 m) high, Highland, W Scotland, overlooking Glen Nevis; highest peak of Great Britain. Ben Nevis is the remnant of a geologically ancient vol...

Tompion, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Tompion, Thomas, 1639?–1713, English clockmaker. When the Royal Observatory at Greenwich was established in 1676, Tompion was chosen to make two clocks, to be wound only once a year, which proved to...

Secchi, Pietro Angelo

(Encyclopedia)Secchi, Pietro Angelo pyĕˈtrō änˈjālō sĕkˈkē [key], 1818–78, Italian astronomer, a Jesuit priest. He was director of the observatory of the Gregorian Univ., Rome, from 1849. He is known es...

Castel Gandolfo

(Encyclopedia)Castel Gandolfo kästĕlˈ gändôlˈfō [key], town, in Latium, central Italy, in th...

Qeqertarsuaq

(Encyclopedia)Qeqertarsuaq gôᵺˈhoun [key], town (1996 pop. 1,095), Qeqertarsuaq dist., W Greenland, on Disko Island; founded in 1773. A fishing base and former whaling base, it has a geophysical observatory and...

Langley, Samuel Pierpont

(Encyclopedia)Langley, Samuel Pierpont, 1834–1906, American scientist, b. Roxbury, Mass., received only a high school education but continued his studies in science in Boston libraries. He became, in 1866, profes...

Sierra Madre, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Sierra Madre sēĕrˈə mäˈdrā [key], residential city (1990 pop. 10,762), Los Angeles co., S Calif., at the foot of Mt. Wilson; inc. 1907. There is some light manufacturing. ...

Gethsemane

(Encyclopedia)Gethsemane gĕthsĕmˈənē [key], olive grove or garden, E of Jerusalem, near the foot of the Mount of Olives. In the Gospels, it is the scene of the agony and betrayal of Jesus. A number of sites in...