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Yosemite National Park

(Encyclopedia)Yosemite National Park yōsĕmˈĭtē [key], 748,436 acres (302,881 hectares), E central Calif.; est. 1890 as a result of the efforts of conservationist John Muir. Located in the Sierra Nevada, it is ...

Guangzhou

(Encyclopedia)Guangzhou kănˌtŏnˈ, kănˈtŏnˌ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 3,113,800), capital of Guangdong prov., S China, a major deepwater port on the Pearl River delta. Guangzhou became a part of China in...

parallax

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The trigonometric parallax of a star, expressed by the angle θ, is a measure of its apparent motion against the background of more distant stars as a result of the earth's motions in its orbit...

Lin Sen

(Encyclopedia)Lin Sen lĭn sŭn [key], 1868–1943, president of China (1932–43). He was an anti-Manchu revolutionary, overseas organizer for the Kuomintang, and parliamentarian. For a time after the death of Sun...

Frey

(Encyclopedia)Frey frā [key], Norse god. He was a beneficent deity associated with the fertilizing powers of the sun and the rain and, like his sister Freyja, with the return of spring. His worship, which extended...

inferior planet

(Encyclopedia)inferior planet, planet whose orbit lies inside that of the earth. There are two inferior planets, Mercury and Venus. They always seem to be close to the sun in the sky; the greatest elongation of Mer...

phoenix, in mythology

(Encyclopedia)phoenix, fabulous bird that periodically regenerated itself, used in literature as a symbol of death and resurrection. According to legend, the phoenix lived in Arabia; when it reached the end of its ...

Ruggles, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Ruggles, Carl, 1876–1971, American composer, b. Marion, Mass. Ruggles studied music at Harvard and was a friend of Charles Ives. His works are highly original, characterized by complex textures and ...

Todd, Mabel Loomis

(Encyclopedia)Todd, Mabel Loomis, 1858–1932, American author, b. Cambridge, Mass. A friend of Emily Dickinson, she edited and deciphered much of the Dickinson material in Poems (with T. W. Higginson, Ser. 1 and S...

Bouguer, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Bouguer, Pierre pyĕr bo͞ogĕrˈ [key], 1698–1758, French mathematician and hydrographer. He made some of the first photometric measurements, calculating the intensity of the light of the sun as co...