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adoption

(Encyclopedia)adoption, act by which the legal relation of parent and child is created. Adoption was recognized by Roman law but not by common law. Statutes first introduced adoption into U.S. law in the mid-19th c...

contraception

(Encyclopedia)contraception and contraceptive: see birth control. ...

Gernreich, Rudi (Rudolph)

(Encyclopedia)Gernreich, Rudi (Rudolph) gĕrnˈrīkh [key], 1922–85, American fashion designer, b. Vienna. In 1938, he fled to California, where he studied in Los Angeles. He worked as a dancer and costume design...

silk-screen printing

(Encyclopedia)silk-screen printing, multiple printing technique, also known as serigraphy, involving the use of stencils to transfer the design. Paint is applied to a silk or nylon screen and penetrates areas of th...

Paik, Nam June

(Encyclopedia)Paik, Nam June näm jo͞on pīk [key], 1932–2006, Korean-American artist, widely considered the founder of video art, b. Seoul, studied art and music at Tokyo Univ. and in Germany. A performance and...

Ono no Komachi

(Encyclopedia)Ono no Komachi ōˈnō nō kōˈmäˈchē [key], fl. c.833–857, Japanese poet. She was celebrated for her beauty and erotically charged poetry. Ranked among the most prominent poets of her day, Ono ...

Q fever

(Encyclopedia)Q fever, disease caused by Coxiella burnetii, a small, Gram-negative bacterium. The bacterium infects livestock (cattle, goats, and sheep) and other domesticated animals, and is found in the urine, fe...

Flammarion, Camille

(Encyclopedia)Flammarion, Camille kämēˈyə flämäryôNˈ [key], 1842–1925, French astronomer and author. He served for some years at the Paris Observatory and the Bureau of Longitudes, and in 1883 he set up a...

diverticulosis

(Encyclopedia)diverticulosis, a disorder characterized by the presence of diverticula, which are small, usually multiple saclike protrusions through the wall of the colon (large intestine). Diverticula usually do n...

Sprague, Frank Julian

(Encyclopedia)Sprague, Frank Julian sprāg [key], 1857–1934, American electrical engineer, b. Milford, Conn., grad. Annapolis, 1878. He was an assistant to Thomas Edison in 1883 and independently created a superi...