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Barca

(Encyclopedia)Barca, surname, probably meaning lightning, given members of a powerful Carthaginian family: see Hamilcar Barca; Hannibal; Hasdrubal. ...

Apollodorus, Athenian painter

(Encyclopedia)Apollodorus əpŏlˌōdôrˈəs [key], fl. 430–400 b.c., Athenian painter, called the Shadower, said to have introduced the use of light and shade to model form. Among his few known works are Ajax S...

Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees, 1869–1959, Scottish physicist, educated at Manchester and Cambridge universities. He was Jacksonian professor of natural philosophy at Cambridge from 1925 to 1934. Note...

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...

Canton, John

(Encyclopedia)Canton, John kănˈtən [key], 1718–72, English physicist. He is known for his research in magnetism and in electricity, especially his experiments in electrostatic induction. Canton was the first i...

cam, mechanical device

(Encyclopedia)cam, mechanical device for converting a rotating motion into a reciprocating, or back-and-forth, motion, or for changing a simple motion into a complex one. A simple form of cam is a circular disk set...

rivet

(Encyclopedia)rivet, headed metal pin or bolt whose shaft is passed through holes in two or more pieces of metal, wood, plastic, or other material in order to unite them by forming the plain end into a second head....

thunderstorm

(Encyclopedia)thunderstorm, violent, local atmospheric disturbance accompanied by lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, often by strong gusts of wind, and sometimes by hail. The typical thunderstorm caused by convect...

almond

(Encyclopedia)almond, name for a small tree (Prunus amygdalus) of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for the nutlike, edible seed of its drupe fruit. The “nuts” of sweet-almond varieties are eaten raw or roa...

surveying

(Encyclopedia)surveying, method of determining accurately points and lines of direction (bearings) on the earth's surface and preparing from them maps or plans. Boundaries, areas, elevations, construction lines, an...