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Wilson, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Benjamin, 1721–88, English portrait painter and electrician who opposed Benjamin Franklin's theory of positive and negative electricity. Instead, Wilson supported Newton's gravitational-opti...

facsimile

(Encyclopedia)facsimile făksĭmˈəlē [key] or fax, in communications, system for transmitting pictures or other graphic matter by wire or radio. Facsimile is used to transmit such materials as documents, telegra...

Heiden, Eric

(Encyclopedia)Heiden, Eric hīˈdən [key], 1958–, American speed skater, b. Madison, Wis. After competing in the 1976 Winter Olympics, he won three consecutive World Speedskating Championships (1977–79). In 19...

Springs

(Encyclopedia)Springs, city, now part of Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa. It is an industrial center of the Witwatersrand, a gold- and uranium-mining region. Manufacturing has r...

Geithner, Timothy Franz

(Encyclopedia)Geithner, Timothy Franz gītˈnər [key], 1961–, U.S. government official, b. New York City, grad. Dartmouth (B.A. 1983), Johns Hopkins (M.A. 1985). In 1988 he began working at the Treasury Dept., w...

Rockhampton

(Encyclopedia)Rockhampton, city and region (2016 pop. 79,726), Queensland, E Australia, on the Fitzroy River. It is a rail center and, with its port at Port Alma, the principal trade center for the pastoral and min...

Kalgoorlie

(Encyclopedia)Kalgoorlie kălgo͝orˈlē [key], town, Western Australia, SW Australia. Since 1989 part of the extensive city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder (2016 pop. 30,059), 36,902 sq mi (95,575 sq km), it is the chief mi...

Skellefteå

(Encyclopedia)Skellefteå shĕlĕfˈtəōˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 31,050), Västerbotten co., NE Sweden, on the Skellefteälven River inland from its mouth on the Gulf of Bothnia. The center of a rich mining regio...

Masbate

(Encyclopedia)Masbate mäsbäˈtā [key], island, 1,262 sq mi (3,269 sq km), the Philippines, one of the Visayan Islands, S of SE Luzon. Gold, which has been mined there for centuries, is still produced in quantity...

Sado

(Encyclopedia)Sado säˈdō [key], island, 330 sq mi (855 sq km), in the Sea of Japan, off the west coast of N Honshu, Japan. Mt. Kimpoku (3,872 ft/1,180 m) is the highest point. The fertile central lowlands are an...