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Feringa, Bernard Lucas

(Encyclopedia)Feringa, Bernard Lucas, 1951–, Dutch organic chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Groningen, Netherlands, 1978. He has been on the faculty at the Univ. of Groningen since 1984. Feringa was jointly awarded the 20...

Three Mile Island

(Encyclopedia)Three Mile Island, site of a nuclear power plant 10 mi (16 km) south of Harrisburg, Pa. On Mar. 28, 1979, failure of the cooling system of the No. 2 nuclear reactor led to overheating and partial melt...

Wittkower, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Wittkower, Rudolf wĭtˈkōv-ər, Ger. vĭtˈkōv-ər [key], 1901–71, German-American art historian. After gaining his doctorate in Berlin, Wittkower became a research assistant and later research f...

carotene

(Encyclopedia)carotene kârˈətēnˌ [key], long-chained, unsaturated hydrocarbon found as a pigment in many higher plants, particularly carrots, sweet potatoes, and leafy vegetables. Carotene is thought to assist...

Castile–La Mancha

(Encyclopedia)Castile–La Mancha kăstēlˈ–lä mänˈchə [key], autonomous community, 30,680 s...

string theory

(Encyclopedia)string theory, description of elementary particles based on one-dimensional curves, or “strings,” instead of point particles. Superstring theory, which is string theory that contains a kind of sym...

bolometer

(Encyclopedia)bolometer bōlŏmˈətər, bə– [key], instrument for detecting and measuring radiation, e.g., visible light, infrared radiation, and ultraviolet radiation, in amounts as small as one millionth of a...

Wigner, Eugene Paul

(Encyclopedia)Wigner, Eugene Paul wĭgˈnər [key], 1902–95, American physicist, b. Hungary, grad. Technische Hochschule, Berlin, 1925. He was a professor at Princeton from 1930 to 1936 and again from 1938 to 197...

Alpha Centauri

(Encyclopedia)Alpha Centauri ălˈfə sĕntôrˈē [key], brightest star in the constellation Centaurus and 3d-brightest star in the sky; also known as Rigil Kent or Rigil Kentaurus; 1992 position R.A. 14h39.1m, De...

satellite, natural

(Encyclopedia)satellite, natural, celestial body orbiting a planet, dwarf planet, asteroid, or star of a larger size. The most familiar natural satellite is the earth's moon; thus, satellites of other planets are o...