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Kiritimati

(Encyclopedia)Kiritimati kərĭsˈməs [key], largest atoll in the Pacific (1990 pop. 2,537), 222 sq mi (575 sq km), in the Line Islands, one of the island groups that compose the Republic of Kiribati. It was previ...

Carruthers, George Richard

(Encyclopedia) Carruthers, George Richard, 1939-2020, African-American astrophysicist, b. Cincinnati, OH, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (BS, 1961; MS, nuclear...

Taylor, Maxwell Davenport

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Maxwell Davenport, 1901–87, U.S. general, b. Keytesville, Mo., grad. West Point, 1922. In World War II he served in Europe with the 82d Airborne Division and as commander of the 101st Airbor...

Tolstaya, Tatyana

(Encyclopedia)Tolstaya, Tatyana tōlstīˈyä [key], 1951–, Russian short-story writer and essayist. Increasingly recognized as one of the major European writers of the postwar generation, Tolstaya is part of a R...

daylight saving time

(Encyclopedia)daylight saving time (DST), time observed when clocks and other timepieces are set ahead so that the sun will rise and set later in the day as measured by civil time. The amount of daylight on a given...

flame

(Encyclopedia)flame, phenomenon associated with the chemical reaction of a gas that has been heated above its kindling temperature with some other gas, usually atmospheric oxygen (see combustion). The heat and ligh...

magnetic levitation

(Encyclopedia)magnetic levitation or maglev măgˈlĕv [key], support and often propulsion of objects or vehicles by the use of magnets. The magnets used in magnetic levitation suspend an object free of contact wit...

Defense, United States Department of

(Encyclopedia)Defense, United States Department of, executive department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to nationa...

flerovium

(Encyclopedia)flerovium, artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Fl; at. no. 114; mass number of most stable isotope 289; m.p., b.p., sp. gr., and valence unknown. Situated in Group 14 of the per...

strontium

(Encyclopedia)strontium strŏnˈshēəm [key] [from Strontian, a Scottish town], a metallic chemical element; symbol Sr; at. no. 38; at. wt. 87.62; m.p. 769℃; b.p. 1,384℃; sp. gr. 2.6 at 20℃; valence +2. Stro...