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pacemaker, artificial

(Encyclopedia)pacemaker, artificial, device used to stimulate a rhythmic heartbeat by means of electrical impulses. Implanted in the body when the heart's own electrical conduction system (natural pacemaker) does n...

CAT scan

(Encyclopedia)CAT scan kăt [key] [computerized axial tomography], X-ray technique that allows relatively safe, painless, and rapid diagnosis in previously inaccessible areas of the body; also called CT scan. An X-...

Mesdag, Hendrik Willem

(Encyclopedia)Mesdag, Hendrik Willem hĕnˈdrĭk vĭlˈəm mĕsˈdäkh [key], 1831–1915, Dutch marine painter. He gave up banking at 35 to study painting. He later lived at The Hague and was known as a painter an...

Klein, Calvin Richard

(Encyclopedia)Klein, Calvin Richard klīn [key], 1942–, American fashion designer, b. New York City. In 1968 he established Calvin Klein Limited, which produced clothes and accessories bearing his hallmark of sim...

Grundy, Felix

(Encyclopedia)Grundy, Felix, 1777–1840, American political leader, b. Berkeley co., Va. After a successful career in Kentucky, he moved to Nashville, Tenn., where he became a noted criminal lawyer. A member (1811...

Conscience, Hendrik

(Encyclopedia)Conscience, Hendrik hĕnˈdrĭk kôNsēäNsˈ [key], 1812–83, Flemish novelist, a founder of modern Flemish literature. His many historical novels were romantic but powerful, in the tradition of Sco...

Barker, James Nelson

(Encyclopedia)Barker, James Nelson, 1784–1858, American playwright, b. Philadelphia. In 1838, Van Buren appointed him comptroller of the Treasury, and with slight interruptions he worked in the Treasury Dept. unt...

Vanua Levu

(Encyclopedia)Vanua Levu väno͞oˈä lāˈvo͞o [key] or Sandalwood Island, volcanic island, 2,137 sq mi (5,535 sq km), S Pacific, second largest of the Fiji Islands. Nasoro Levu, or Mt. Thurston (3,139 ft/960 m),...

Biringuccio, Vannocio

(Encyclopedia)Biringuccio, Vannocio vän-nôˈchō bērēn-go͞otˈchō [key], 1480–c.1539, Italian metallurgist. He is best known for his practical manual of metallurgy, De la pirotechnia (1540, tr. 1942). As a ...

land-grant colleges and universities

(Encyclopedia)land-grant colleges and universities, U.S. institutions benefiting from the provisions of the Morrill Act (1862), which gave to the states federal lands for the establishment of colleges offering prog...