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Palencia

(Encyclopedia)Palencia pälānˈthēä [key], city (1990 pop. 77,464), capital of Palencia prov., N central Spain, in Castile and León. An industrial center with iron foundries, textile mills, and chemical plants,...

obsidian

(Encyclopedia)obsidian ŏbsĭdˈēən [key], a volcanic glass, homogeneous in texture and having a low water content, with a vitreous luster and a conchoidal fracture. The color is commonly black, but may be some s...

Mariupol

(Encyclopedia)Mariupol zhdänˈəf [key], city (1989 pop. 520,000), SE Ukraine, on the Sea of Azov and at the mouth of the Kalmius River. A seaport and railroad terminus, Mariupol is also an iron and steel center w...

Krebs, Sir Hans Adolf

(Encyclopedia)Krebs, Sir Hans Adolf krĕbz, krĕps [key], 1900–1981, English biochemist, b. Germany, M.D. Univ. of Hamburg, 1925. He taught at Cambridge and at the Univ. of Sheffield and after 1954 was professor ...

kaolinite

(Encyclopedia)kaolinite kāˈəlĭnīt [key], clay mineral crystallizing in the monoclinic system and forming the chief constituent of china clay and kaolin. It is a hydrous aluminum silicate commonly formed by the...

potassium nitrate

(Encyclopedia)potassium nitrate, chemical compound, KNO3, occurring as colorless, prismatic crystals or as a white powder; it is found pure in nature as the mineral saltpeter, or niter. (The name saltpeter is also ...

Porter, Rodney Robert

(Encyclopedia)Porter, Rodney Robert, 1917–85, British biochemist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1948. He was a researcher at the National Institute of Medical Research, England (1949–1960), and a professor at St. Mary's Hos...

Tatum, Edward Lawrie

(Encyclopedia)Tatum, Edward Lawrie, 1909–75, American geneticist, b. Boulder, Colo., grad. Univ. of Wisconsin (B.A., 1931; M.S., 1932; Ph.D., 1935). From 1937 to 1945 he taught at Stanford and from 1945 to 1948 a...

VX

(Encyclopedia)VX vēˈĕks [key], nerve gas several times more toxic than sarin but less volatile. It kills within minutes if inhaled or deposited on the skin; protection from VX would require both protective suits...

Wald, George

(Encyclopedia)Wald, George, 1906–97, American biochemist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Columbia, 1932. He spent most of his career on the faculty at Harvard. In 1967 Wald, Haldan K. Hartline, and Ragnar Granit receive...