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Curtis, Benjamin Robbins

(Encyclopedia)Curtis, Benjamin Robbins, 1809–74, American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1851–57), b. Watertown, Mass. After studying law at Harvard, he practiced at Northfield, Mass., and...

Wells, David Ames

(Encyclopedia)Wells, David Ames, 1828–98, American economist, b. Springfield, Mass., grad. Williams, 1847, and Lawrence Scientific School, Cambridge, Mass., 1851. Early in life he wrote several popular books on s...

white dwarf

(Encyclopedia)white dwarf, in astronomy, a type of star that is abnormally faint for its white-hot temperature (see mass-luminosity relation). Typically, a white dwarf star has the mass of the sun and the radius of...

Hovercraft

(Encyclopedia)Hovercraft: see air-cushion vehicle. ...

heat pump

(Encyclopedia)heat pump: see air conditioning. ...

aneroid altimeter

(Encyclopedia)aneroid altimeter: see air navigation. ...

GEM, acronym for ground-effect machine

(Encyclopedia)GEM: see air-cushion vehicle.

automatic pilot

(Encyclopedia)automatic pilot: see air navigation. ...

hiccup

(Encyclopedia)hiccup or hiccough, involuntary spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm followed by a sharp intake of air, which is abruptly stopped by a sudden, involuntary closing of the glottis (opening between the...

avionics

(Encyclopedia)avionics āˌvēŏnˈĭks [key], electronic instruments used in air or space flight; also the design and production of such instruments. Early planes had few instruments, but as aviation and aircraft ...