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Cherenkov radiation

(Encyclopedia)Cherenkov radiation or Cerenkov radiation [for P. A. Cherenkov], light emitted by a transparent medium when charged particles pass through it at a speed greater than the speed of light in the medium. ...

Fisk, James

(Encyclopedia)Fisk, James, 1834–72, American financial speculator, b. Pownal, Vt. In his youth he worked for a circus and as a wagon peddler of merchandise. During the Civil War he became wealthy purchasing cotto...

Iona

(Encyclopedia)Iona īōnˈə [key] [Irish Ioua=island] or Icolmkill [Irish,=island of Columba of the church], island (1985 est. pop. 267), 3.5 mi (5.6 km) long and 1.5 mi (2.4 km) wide, Argyll and Bute, NW Scotland...

Hou Hsiao-hsien

(Encyclopedia)Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1947–, Taiwanese film director, b. Guangdong, China. His first feature film, Cute Girl (1980), and subsequent ones were generally saccharine romances until the semibiographical A Ti...

Anderson, Marian

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Marian, 1897–1993, American contralto, b. Philadelphia. She was the first African American to be named a permanent member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, as well as the first to perform...

Lloyd, Harold

(Encyclopedia)Lloyd, Harold, 1893–1971, American movie actor. Born in tiny Burchard, Kans., he came to California in 1912. Lloyd became famous for his comic portrayals of a wistful innocent with horn-rimmed glass...

kapok

(Encyclopedia)kapok kāˈpŏk, kăpˈək [key], name for a tropical tree of the family Bombacaceae (bombax family) and for the fiber (floss) obtained from the seeds in the ripened pods. The floss has been important...

Lang, Fritz

(Encyclopedia)Lang, Fritz läng [key], 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the futu...

Calderón, Alberto

(Encyclopedia)Calderón, Alberto käldārōnˈ [key], 1920–98, Argentine mathematician, b. Mendoza, Argentina, grad. Univ. of Buenos Aires (B.S. 1947), Univ. of Chicago (Ph.D. 1950). He is known for his contribut...

bull-roarer

(Encyclopedia)bull-roarer, an instrument consisting of slit board or chamber attached to a cord. When swung around in the air, it emits a deep, vibrant, “whirrrrrr”-like sound. The mythology of some Native Sout...