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cloud

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Approximate heights of some types of clouds cloud, aggregation of minute particles of water or ice suspended in the air. Cloudiness (or proportion of the sky covered by any form of cloud),...

cosmology

(Encyclopedia)cosmology, area of science that aims at a comprehensive theory of the structure and evolution of the entire physical universe. The earliest pre-Ptolemaic theories assumed that the earth was the cent...

Holocaust

(Encyclopedia)Holocaust hŏlˈəkôstˌ, hōˈlə– [key], name given to the period of persecution and extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany. Romani (Gypsies), homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, the disabl...

relativity

(Encyclopedia)relativity, physical theory, introduced by Albert Einstein, that discards the concept of absolute motion and instead treats only relative motion between two systems or frames of reference. One consequ...

automobile industry

(Encyclopedia)automobile industry, the business of producing and selling self-powered vehicles, including passenger cars, trucks, farm equipment, and other commercial vehicles. By allowing consumers to commute long...

Veda

(Encyclopedia)Veda vāˈdə, vēˈdə [key] [Sanskrit,=knowledge, cognate with English wit, from a root meaning know], oldest scriptures of Hinduism and the most ancient religious texts in an Indo-European language...

calculator

(Encyclopedia)calculator or calculating machine, device for performing numerical computations; it may be mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic. The electronic computer is also a calculator but performs other...

Jupiter, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Jupiter jo͞oˈpətər [key], in astronomy, 5th planet from the sun and largest planet of the solar system. Astronomers have discovered 79 satellites orbiting Jupiter, but five of those, small sate...

meteorology

(Encyclopedia)meteorology, branch of science that deals with the atmosphere of a planet, particularly that of the earth, the most important application of which is the analysis and prediction of weather. Individual...

Galileo

(Encyclopedia)Galileo (Galileo Galilei) gălˌĭlēˈō; gälēlĕˈō gälēlĕˈē [key], 1564–1642, great Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist. By his persistent investigation of natural laws he la...