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Voinovich, Vladimir Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Voinovich, Vladimir Nikolayevich, 1932–2018, Russian satirist and political dissident. His father was dissident journalist who was jailed for his activities. Voinovich served in the army (1951–55)...

atomic clock

(Encyclopedia)atomic clock, electric or electronic timekeeping device that is controlled by atomic or molecular oscillations. A timekeeping device must contain or be connected to some apparatus that oscillates at a...

fluidics

(Encyclopedia)fluidics, branch of engineering and technology concerned with the development of equivalents of various electronic circuits using movements of fluid rather than movements of electric charge. The basic...

Ann Arbor

(Encyclopedia)Ann Arbor, city (2020 pop. 123,851), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industria...

Williamsport

(Encyclopedia)Williamsport, city (1990 pop. 31,933), seat of Lycoming co., central Pa., on the Susquehanna River; settled 1772, inc. as a borough 1806, as a city 1866. Williamsport grew with the development of the ...

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

(Encyclopedia)United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or Earth Summit, an 11-day meeting held in June, 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss the global conflict between economic devel...

interstellar matter

(Encyclopedia)interstellar matter, matter in a galaxy between the stars, known also as the interstellar medium. The interstellar gas, which constitutes about 99% of the interstellar matter, consists mostly of hyd...

Cooke, Alistair

(Encyclopedia)Cooke, Alistair, 1908–2004, Anglo-American journalist, b. Salford, England, as Alfred Cooke; grad. Cambridge, 1930, where he officially adopted the name Alistair. Cooke became famous in Britain for ...

black hole

(Encyclopedia)black hole, in astronomy, celestial object of such extremely intense gravity that it attracts everything near it and in some instances prevents everything, including light, from escaping. The term was...

Grubbs, Robert Howard

(Encyclopedia)Grubbs, Robert Howard, 1942–2021, American chemist, b. near Possum Trot, Ky., Univ. of Florida (B.S., 1963; M.S., 1965), Columbia, Univ. (Ph.D, 1968)....