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combinatorics

(Encyclopedia)combinatorics kŏmˌbĭnətôrˈēəl [key], sometimes called the science of counting, the branch of mathematics concerned with the selection, arrangement, and operation of elements within sets. Combi...

humor

(Encyclopedia)humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined human health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and b...

Hutton, James

(Encyclopedia)Hutton, James, 1726–97, Scottish geologist, chemist, and naturalist. He was initially attracted to chemistry; he entered the legal profession at the Univ. of Edinburgh; turned to medicine, as it clo...

Lyell, Sir Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lyell, Sir Charles līˈəl [key], 1797–1875, British geologist. After studying and briefly practicing law, he spent most of his life in travel and in popularizing scientific ideas. He championed an...

Maxwell, James Clerk

(Encyclopedia)Maxwell, James Clerk klärk [key], 1831–79, great Scottish physicist. After a brilliant career at Edinburgh and Cambridge, where he won early recognition with mathematical papers, he was a professor...

realism, in philosophy

(Encyclopedia)realism, in philosophy. 1 In medieval philosophy realism represented a position taken on the problem of universals. There were two schools of realism. Extreme realism, represented by William of Champe...

QAnon

(Encyclopedia) QAnon , a widely believed right-wing conspiracy theory. QAnon developed in the early years of Donald Trump’s presidency through the anonymous posts o...

logarithm

(Encyclopedia)logarithm lŏgˈərĭᵺəm [key] [Gr.,=relation number], number associated with a positive number, being the power to which a third number, called the base, must be raised in order to obtain the give...

divine right

(Encyclopedia)divine right, doctrine that sovereigns derive their right to rule by virtue of their birth alone—a right based on the law of God and of nature. Authority is transmitted to a ruler from his ancestors...

Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich ĕrnst hīnˈrĭkh hĕˈkəl [key], 1834–1919, German biologist and philosopher. He taught (1862–1909) at the Univ. of Jena. An early exponent of Darwinism in Germany, he e...