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Begin, Menachem

(Encyclopedia)Begin, Menachem mĕnäˈkhĕm bāˈgĭn [key], 1913–92, Zionist leader and Israeli prime minister (1977–83), b. Russia. He became (1938) leader of a Zionist youth movement in Poland, where he also...

ballistics

(Encyclopedia)ballistics bəlĭsˈtĭks [key], science of projectiles. Interior ballistics deals with the propulsion and the motion of a projectile within a gun or firing device. Its problems include the ignition a...

Randolph, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Edmund, 1753–1813, American statesman, b. Williamsburg, Va.; nephew of Peyton Randolph. He studied law under his father, John Randolph, a Loyalist who went to England at the outbreak of th...

norepinephrine

(Encyclopedia)norepinephrine nôrˌĕpīnĕfˈrən [key], a neurotransmitter in the catecholamine family that mediates chemical communication in the sympathetic nervous system, a branch of the autonomic nervous sys...

Wang Mang

(Encyclopedia)Wang Mang wäng mäng [key], 45 b.c.–a.d. 23, Chinese Han dynasty regent who usurped the throne and ruled (a.d. 8–23) as emperor of the Hsin [new] court, carrying out many reforms. Although he por...

adhesive

(Encyclopedia)adhesive, substance capable of sticking to surfaces of other substances and bonding them to one another. The term adhesive cement is sometimes used in place of adhesive, especially when referring to a...

Bassiouni, M. Cherif

(Encyclopedia)Bassiouni, M. Cherif (Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni), 1937–2017, Egyptian-American international criminal law jurist and human-rights advocate, b. Cairo. Bassiouni fought for Egypt in the Suez conflict (...

spark chamber

(Encyclopedia)spark chamber, in physics, device for recording the passage of elementary particles produced by reactions in a particle accelerator. Particles pass through a stack of metal plates or wire grids that a...

caffeine

(Encyclopedia)caffeine kăfēnˈ [key], odorless, slightly bitter alkaloid found in coffee, tea, kola nuts (see cola), ilex plants (the source of the Latin American drink maté), and, in small amounts, in cocoa (se...

vibration

(Encyclopedia)vibration, in physics, commonly an oscillatory motion—a movement first in one direction and then back again in the opposite direction. It is exhibited, for example, by a swinging pendulum, by the pr...