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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

(Encyclopedia)Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientific research centers run by the Univ. of California, located in Berkeley, Calif., and Livermore, Calif., respec...

Wolfe, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Wolfe, Tom (Thomas Kennerly Wolfe, Jr.), 1931–2018, American journalist and novelist, b. Richmond, Va., B.A. Washington and Lee Univ., 1951, Ph.D. Yale, 1957. He began his writing career as a newspa...

rubella

(Encyclopedia)rubella or German measles, acute infectious disease of children and young adults. It is caused by a filterable virus that is spread by droplet spray from the respiratory tract of an infected individua...

statistics

(Encyclopedia)statistics, science of collecting and classifying a group of facts according to their relative number and determining certain values that represent characteristics of the group. The most familiar stat...

fainting

(Encyclopedia)fainting or syncope sĭngˈkəpē [key], temporary loss of consciousness caused by an insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. It can be concurrent with any serious disease or condition, such as he...

gynecology

(Encyclopedia)gynecology gīnˌəkŏlˈəjē [key], branch of medicine specializing in the disorders of the female reproductive system. Modern gynecology deals with menstrual disorders, menopause, infectious diseas...

mixture

(Encyclopedia)mixture, in chemistry, a physical combination of two or more pure substances (i.e., elements or compounds). A mixture is distinguished from a compound, which is formed by the chemical combination of t...

liquor laws

(Encyclopedia)liquor laws, legislation designed to restrict, regulate, or totally abolish the manufacture, sale, and use of alcoholic beverages. The passage of liquor laws has been prompted chiefly by the desire to...

LaFontaine, Sir Louis Hippolyte

(Encyclopedia)LaFontaine, Sir Louis Hippolyte ləwēˈ ēpôlētˈ läfôNtĕnˈ [key], 1807–64, Canadian political leader, b. Lower Canada (now Quebec). A lawyer, he entered (1830) the Legislative Assembly of Lo...

benefit of clergy

(Encyclopedia)benefit of clergy, term originally applied to the exemption of Christian clerics from criminal prosecution in the secular courts. The privilege was established by the 12th cent., and it extended only ...