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Mack, Connie

(Encyclopedia)Mack, Connie (Cornelius McGillicuddy), 1862–1956, American baseball player and manager, b. East Brookfield, Mass. He was a star catcher for the Washington Senators (1886–89) and the Pittsburgh Pir...

Kendall, Henry Way

(Encyclopedia)Kendall, Henry Way, 1926–99, American physicist. A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kendall won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics with Jerome Friedman and Richard Taylor for a s...

Mimosa, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Mimosa or Beta Crucis bāˈtə kro͞oˈsĭs [key], bright star in the constellation Crux (Southern Cross); 1992 position R.A. 12h47.3m, Dec. −59°39′. It is sometimes called Becrux, from its Bayer...

West, Jerry

(Encyclopedia)West, Jerry (Jerome Alan West), 1938–, American basketball player, b. Cheylan, W.Va. One of the game's great shooting guards, he led West Virginia Univ. to the 1959 National Collegiate Athletic Asso...

Boötes

(Encyclopedia)Boötes bō-ōˈtēz [key] [Gr.,=the herdsman], northern constellation located to the SE of the Big Dipper in Ursa Major and W of Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. It contains the brilliant orange ...

Bellatrix

(Encyclopedia)Bellatrix bĕlˈətrĭks [key], bright star in the constellation Orion; Bayer designation Gamma Orionis; 1992 position R.A. 5h24.7m, Dec. +6°21′. A bluish-white giant of spectral class B2 III, its ...

special effects

(Encyclopedia)special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. Some common examples are the use ...

Centaurus

(Encyclopedia)Centaurus sĕntôrˈəs [key], southern constellation located N and E of Crux, the Southern Cross. It is known especially for its bright stars Alpha Centauri and Hadar. It also contains Centaurus A, a...

Puskás, Ferenc

(Encyclopedia)Puskás, Ferenc, 1927–2006, Hungarian soccer player. A relatively slow but extremely powerful forward, Puskás became famous for his extraordinarily effective left-footed kick. He began playing prof...

diffraction

(Encyclopedia)diffraction, bending of waves around the edge of an obstacle. When light strikes an opaque body, for instance, a shadow forms on the side of the body that is shielded from the light source. Ordinarily...