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Argonne National Laboratory

(Encyclopedia)Argonne National Laboratory, research center, based in Argonne, Ill., 27 mi (43 km) SW of downtown Chicago, with other facilities at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, 50 mi (80 km) W of Idaho...

transmutation of elements

(Encyclopedia)transmutation of elements, conversion of one chemical element into another. The expression has both historical and contemporary significance. The transmutation of certain metals into gold by means of ...

Thomson, Sir Joseph John

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Sir Joseph John, 1856–1940, English physicist. From 1884 to 1919 he was Cavendish professor of experimental physics at Cambridge. J. J. Thomson was one of the founders of modern physics. Wi...

clock

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A pendulum clock: Weight-driven clock mechanism clock, instrument for measuring and indicating time. Predecessors of the clock were the sundial, the hourglass, and the clepsydra. See also watc...

Ginzburg, Vitaly Lazarevich

(Encyclopedia)Ginzburg, Vitaly Lazarevich, 1916–2009, Russian physicist, Ph.D. Moscow State Univ., 1938. He was a researcher at Lebedev Physics Institute of the USSR (later Russian) Academy of Sciences after 1940...

Munk, Walter Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Munk, Walter Heinrich, 1917–2019, American oceanographer and geophysicist, b. Vienna (then in Austria-Hungary), B.S. California Institute of Technology, 1939, Ph.D Univ. of California, Los Angeles, ...

Mnangagwa, Emmerson Dambudzo

(Encyclopedia)Mnangagwa, Emmerson Dambudzo, 1942?–, Zimbabwean political leader. A guerrilla leader during the struggle against white-minority rule, he received military training in China and was imprisoned (1965...

Line Islands

(Encyclopedia)Line Islands or Equatorial Islands, coral group, 43 sq mi (111 sq km), central and S Pacific. Once valuable for their guano deposits, the islands now have coconut groves, airfields, and meteorological...

Haas, Arthur Erich

(Encyclopedia)Haas, Arthur Erich häs [key], 1884–1941, American physicist and educator, b. Bohemia. He was professor of physics at Vienna, Leipzig, London, and, from 1936, the Univ. of Notre Dame, South Bend, In...

Gassendi, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Gassendi, Pierre pyĕr gäsäNdēˈ [key], 1592–1655, French philosopher and scientist. A teacher and priest, Gassendi taught at Digne, Aix, and the Royal College at Paris and held several church of...