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nitrogen mustard

(Encyclopedia)nitrogen mustard, any of various poisonous compounds originally developed for military use (see poison gas). Like mustard gas and lewisite, it is a vesicant (blistering agent). In the form of its crys...

Uslar Pietri, Arturo

(Encyclopedia)Uslar Pietri, Arturo ärto͞oˈrō o͞osˈlär pyāˈtrē [key], 1906–2001, Venezuelan novelist and essayist. Uslar Pietri is considered one of the most powerful regional writers in modern Spanish-A...

Ross, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Ross, Alexander, 1783–1856, Canadian fur trader and pioneer, b. Scotland. He went to Canada in 1805, taught school in Upper Canada, and in 1810 left for Oregon as a clerk in John Jacob Astor's Pacif...

Permian period

(Encyclopedia)Permian period pûrˈmēən [key] [from Perm, Russia], sixth and last period of the Paleozoic era (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) from 250 to 290 million years ago. Many ma...

Ezion-geber

(Encyclopedia)Ezion-geber –gāˈ– [key] [both: Heb.,=giant's backbone], ancient port, on the Gulf of Aqaba. The site, near Aqaba, is now some distance from the shore, which is advancing. The Bible reveals the e...

Grünberg, Peter Andreas

(Encyclopedia)Grünberg, Peter Andreas pāˈtər ändrāˈäs grünbĕrkˈ [key], 1939–2018 German physicist, b. Pilsen, Germany (now Plzeň, Czech Republic). After receiving his Ph.D. at the Darmstadt Univ. of T...

monitor, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)monitor, any of various, mostly tropical lizards. A monitor lizard has a heavy body, long head and neck, long tail that comes to a whiplike end, and strong legs with sharp claws. Its slender, forked t...

Armstrong, Neil Alden

(Encyclopedia)Armstrong, Neil Alden, 1930–2012, American astronaut, b. Wapakoneta, Ohio, grad. Purdue Univ. (B.S., 1955), Univ. of Southern California (M.S., 1970). A U.S. Navy fighter pilot during the Korean War...

Yenisei

(Encyclopedia)Yenisei yĕnĭsāˈ, Rus. yĕnyĭsyāˈ [key], chief river of Siberia, c.2,500 mi (4,020 km) long, central Siberian Russia. It is formed at Kyzyl, Tuva Republic, by the junction of the Bolshoi Yenisei...

scallop

(Encyclopedia)scallop or pecten, marine bivalve mollusk. Like its close relative the oyster, the scallop has no siphons, the mantle being completely open, but it differs from other mollusks in that both mantle edge...