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Khan, Ali Akbar

(Encyclopedia)Khan, Ali Akbar älēˈ ăkˈbär khän [key], 1922–2009, Indian musician, b. Shivpur, East Bengal (now Bangladesh). A master of the sarod, a lutelike 25-stringed N Indian instrument, Khan was born ...

Langley, Samuel Pierpont

(Encyclopedia)Langley, Samuel Pierpont, 1834–1906, American scientist, b. Roxbury, Mass., received only a high school education but continued his studies in science in Boston libraries. He became, in 1866, profes...

tuning systems

(Encyclopedia)tuning systems, methods for assigning pitches to the twelve Western pitch names that constitute the octave. The term usually refers to this procedure in the tuning of keyboard instruments. The need fo...

Shaw, Artie

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, Artie, 1910–2004, American clarinetist and bandleader, b. New York City as Arthur Jacob Arshawsky. He began playing professionally as a teenager, becoming a studio musician in New York after 1...

chlorate

(Encyclopedia)chlorate pərklōrˈāt, –klôrˈ– [key], salts of chloric acid, HClO3, and perchloric acid, HClO4, respectively. Perchlorates are safer to handle than chlorates; they are more stable when expos...

echo sounder

(Encyclopedia)echo sounder, an older instrumentation system for indirectly determining ocean floor depth. Echo sounding is based on the principle that water is an excellent medium for the transmission of sound wave...

osmium

(Encyclopedia)osmium ŏzˈmēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Os; at. no. 76; at. wt. 190.23; m.p. 3,045±30℃; b.p. 5,027±100℃; sp. gr. 22.57 at 20℃; valence usually +0 to +8. Osmium is a very ha...

lyric

(Encyclopedia)lyric, in ancient Greece, a poem accompanied by a musical instrument, usually a lyre. Although the word is still often used to refer to the songlike quality in poetry, it is more generally used to ref...

Kelvin, William Thomson, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Kelvin, William Thomson, 1st Baron, 1824–1907, British mathematician and physicist, b. Belfast. He was professor of natural philosophy at the Univ. of Glasgow (1846–99). He is known especially for...

pharynx

(Encyclopedia)pharynx fârˈĭngks [key], area of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts which lies between the mouth and the esophagus. In humans, the pharynx is a cone-shaped tube about 41⁄2 in. (11.43 cm)...