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Cornell, Alonzo B.

(Encyclopedia)Cornell, Alonzo B. kôrnĕlˈ [key], 1832–1904, American businessman and politician, b. Ithaca, N.Y. Cornell was a director (1868–69) and vice president (1870–76) of the Western Union Telegraph ...

Constantinople, Second Council of

(Encyclopedia)Constantinople, Second Council of, 553, regarded generally as the fifth ecumenical council. It was convened by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to settle the dispute known as the Three Chapters. In an at...

Åland Islands

(Encyclopedia)Åland Islands ōˈläntsûˈu̇rnä [key], archipelago, 581 sq mi (1,505 sq km), in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland, at the entrance of the Gulf of Bothnia. Pol...

evaporation

(Encyclopedia)evaporation, change of a liquid into vapor at any temperature below its boiling point. For example, water, when placed in a shallow open container exposed to air, gradually disappears, evaporating at ...

anxiety

(Encyclopedia)anxiety, anticipatory tension or vague dread persisting in the absence of a specific threat. In contrast to fear, which is a realistic reaction to actual danger, anxiety is generally related to an unc...

Hardenberg, Karl August, Fürst von

(Encyclopedia)Hardenberg, Karl August, Fürst von kärl ouˈgo͝ost fürst fən härˈdənbĕrk [key], 1750–1822, Prussian administrator and diplomat, b. Hanover. After service for Hanover and Brunswick, he enter...

Fortas, Abe

(Encyclopedia)Fortas, Abe fôrˈtəs [key], 1910–82, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1965–69), b. Memphis, Tenn. After receiving his law degree from Yale in 1933, he taught there (1933–37) and al...

fluorescence

(Encyclopedia)fluorescence flo͝orĕsˈəns [key], luminescence in which light of a visible color is emitted from a substance under stimulation or excitation by light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation or ...

National Forest System

(Encyclopedia)National Forest System, federally owned reserves, c.191 million acres (77.4 million hectares), administered by the Forest Service of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The system is made up of 155 nationa...

neutron star

(Encyclopedia)neutron star, extremely small, extremely dense star, with as much as double the sun's mass but only a few miles in radius, in the final stage of stellar evolution. Astronomers Baade and Zwicky predict...