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Boscovich, Ruggiero Giuseppe

(Encyclopedia)Boscovich, Ruggiero Giuseppe ro͞od-jāˈrō jo͞ozĕpˈpā bôsˈkōvēch [key], 1711–87, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He became a Jesuit and taught at Rome, Pavia, and Milan. ...

Collins, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Collins, Anthony, 1676–1729, English theologian; a friend of John Locke. He set forth the position of the deists and defended the cause of rational theology. His Discourse of Free Thinking (1713) wa...

Habash al-Hasib

(Encyclopedia)Habash al-Hasib häbäshˈ äl-häsēbˈ [key], d. c.870, Arab mathematician and astronomer. Habash al-Hasib was born in what is now Mary, Turkmenistan, and worked in Baghdad. He calculated tables of ...

Grimaldi, Francesco Maria

(Encyclopedia)Grimaldi, Francesco Maria fränchāsˈkō märēˈä grēmälˈdē [key], 1618?–1663, Italian physicist and mathematician. A Jesuit and professor at Bologna, he studied in detail and named the dark ...

Gossen, Hermann Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Gossen, Hermann Heinrich hĕrˈmän hīnˈrĭkh gôˈsən [key], 1810–58, German economist, little known in his lifetime. His work, Entwicklung der Gesetze des menschlichen Verkehrs und der daraus f...

Arago, Dominique François

(Encyclopedia)Arago, Dominique François dômēnēkˈ fräNswäˈ ärägōˈ [key], 1786–1853, French physicist and astronomer. He is noted for his discoveries in magnetism and optics as well as for his astronomi...

atomism

(Encyclopedia)atomism, philosophic concept of the nature of the universe, holding that the universe is composed of invisible, indestructible material particles. The theory was first advanced in the 5th cent. b.c. b...

Nollet, Jean Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Nollet, Jean Antoine zhäN äNtwänˈ nôlāˈ [key], 1700–1770, French clergyman, experimental physicist, and leading member of the Paris Academy of Science. He constructed one of the first electro...

Planck's constant

(Encyclopedia)Planck's constant plängks [key], fundamental constant of the quantum theory. It is represented by the letter h and has a value of 6.62607 × 10−34 joule-second. The combination h/2π, denoted by h ...

Schleiden, Matthias Jakob

(Encyclopedia)Schleiden, Matthias Jakob mätēˈäs yäˈkôp shlīˈdən [key], 1804–81, German botanist. He was professor at the universities of Jena (1839–63) and Dorpat (1863–64). With Theodor Schwann, he...