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American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters

(Encyclopedia)American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, honorary academy of notable American artists, writers, and composers. The National Institute of Arts and Letters, founded in 1898, served as the par...

sound recording

(Encyclopedia)sound recording, process of converting the acoustic energy of sound into some form in which it can be permanently stored and reproduced at any time. In 1855 the inventor Leon Scott constructed a devic...

powder

(Encyclopedia)powder, any mass of fine particles or dust prepared by various mechanical means, e.g., grinding of solid substances, or by chemical means, e.g., precipitation from solutions. In a special sense, the w...

Rankine, William John Macquorn

(Encyclopedia)Rankine, William John Macquorn răngˈkĭn [key], 1820–72, Scottish engineer and physicist. Serving as a professor of engineering at the Univ. of Glasgow from 1855, he made valuable contributions to...

Baldwin, Matthias William

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin, Matthias William, 1795–1866, American industrialist and philanthropist, b. Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), N.J. After earlier business successes, Baldwin became interested in steam-engine pr...

Mills, Clark

(Encyclopedia)Mills, Clark, 1810–83, American sculptor, b. Onondaga co., N.Y. Self-taught in art, he designed and in 1852 cast in an experimental foundry the statue of General Jackson for Lafayette Square, Washin...

Polhem, Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Polhem, Christopher po͞olˈhĕm [key], 1661–1751, Swedish inventor and industrialist. After studying engineering techniques used in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and England, Polhem set up a me...

Baird, John Logie

(Encyclopedia)Baird, John Logie, 1888–1946, Scottish inventor. In 1926 he gave the first demonstration of true television with a televisor of his own invention that differed from later instruments in being partia...

Baumeister, Willi

(Encyclopedia)Baumeister, Willi vĭlˈē bouˈmīstər [key], 1889–1955, German artist. Influenced by primitive art and Miro's surrealism, Baumeister created abstractions that contain mechanical and organic forms...

sintering

(Encyclopedia)sintering, process of forming objects from a metal powder by heating the powder at a temperature below its melting point. In the production of small metal objects it is often not practical to cast the...