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Interior, United States Department of the

(Encyclopedia)Interior, United States Department of the, federal executive department established in 1849, delegated custodian of U.S. natural resources, and whose head, the Secretary of the Interior, has cabinet r...

Butler

(Encyclopedia)Butler, city (2020 pop. 12,699), seat of Butler co., W Pa.; inc. as a borough 1817, as a city 1917. It is located in an area with coal, natural gas, oil...

Jungius, Joachim

(Encyclopedia)Jungius, Joachim yōˈäkhĭm yo͝ongˈēo͝os [key], 1587–1657, German mathematician, logician, and systematizer of natural history. In 1608 he made his inaugural dissertation at the Univ. of Giess...

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

(Encyclopedia)United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or Earth Summit, an 11-day meeting held in June, 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss the global conflict between economic devel...

erosion

(Encyclopedia)erosion ĭrōˈzhən [key], general term for the processes by which the surface of the earth is constantly being worn away. The principal agents are gravity, running water, near-shore waves, ice (most...

beta particle

(Encyclopedia)beta particle, one of the three types of radiation resulting from natural radioactivity. Beta radiation (or beta rays) was identified and named by E. Rutherford, who found that it consists of high-spe...

Wyoming, University of

(Encyclopedia)Wyoming, University of, at Laramie; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; chartered 1886, opened 1887. The Rocky Mt. Herbarium, which has an outstanding collection of plants of the central Ro...

Hornaday, William Temple

(Encyclopedia)Hornaday, William Temple hôrˈnədā [key], 1854–1937, American naturalist, b. Plainfield, Ind. He was educated at Iowa State College (now Iowa State Univ.), continued his study of zoology and muse...

Minnesota, University of

(Encyclopedia)Minnesota, University of, main campus at Minneapolis–St. Paul; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1851 and 1868, opened as a university 1869. Other campuses are at Duluth (1947...

endangered species

(Encyclopedia)endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. Endangered Spe...