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Pan-American Highway

(Encyclopedia)Pan-American Highway, system of roads, c.16,000 mi (25,750 km) long, linking the nations of the Western Hemisphere. It was suggested at the Fifth International Conference of American States (1923) and...

Robbins, John Bennet

(Encyclopedia)Robbins, John Bennet, 1932–2019, American physician and microbiologist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., M.D. New York Univ., 1959. He did research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and taught at the...

Buck, Linda B.

(Encyclopedia)Buck, Linda B., 1947–, American neurobiologist, b. Seattle, Wash., Ph.D. Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 1980. Buck taught at Harvard Medi...

Broecker, Wallace Smith

(Encyclopedia)Broecker, Wallace Smith brōkˈər [key], 1931–2019, American geophysicist, b. Chicago, Ph.D. Columbia, 1958. He was a member of Columbia's faculty from 1959. In the 1970s he predicted rising temper...

Brongniart, Alexandre

(Encyclopedia)Brongniart, Alexandre brôNyärˈ [key], 1770–1847, French geologist, mineralogist, and chemist. As director of the Sèvres porcelain factory from 1800, he was responsible for its international fam...

suspension, in vehicles

(Encyclopedia)suspension, in automobiles, system of springs used to suspend the frame, body, engine, and power train above the wheels. Its principal purpose is to lessen the jarring of the automobile that is caused...

repartimiento

(Encyclopedia)repartimiento rāpärtēmyĕnˈtō [key], in Spanish colonial practice, usually, the distribution of indigenous people for forced labor. In a broader sense it referred to any official distribution of ...

Bach, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Bach, Alexander, 1813–93, Austrian politician. A well-known lawyer and liberal, he took part in the revolution of 1848 in Vienna, but after its suppression he joined the forces of reaction. He becam...

refrigeration

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Compression system of refrigeration refrigeration, process for drawing heat from substances to lower their temperature, often for purposes of preservation. Refrigeration in its modern, portabl...

air navigation

(Encyclopedia)air navigation, science and technology of determining the position of an aircraft with respect to the surface of the earth and accurately maintaining a desired course (see navigation). Basic to air ...