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angle

(Encyclopedia)angle, in mathematics, figure formed by the intersection of two straight lines; the lines are called the sides of the angle and their point of intersection the vertex of the angle. Angles are commonly...

jumping mouse

(Encyclopedia)jumping mouse, rodent slightly larger than the common mouse, found in North America and N Asia, also called the kangaroo mouse. Its long hind legs and tail enable it to leap distances up to 12 ft (3.7...

Katayev, Valentin Petrovich

(Encyclopedia)Katayev, Valentin Petrovich vəlyĭntyēnˈ pētrôˈvĭch kətīˈəf [key], 1897–1986, Russian novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. Katayev's novels portray almost the entire range of Sov...

sunbittern

(Encyclopedia)sunbittern, common name for a graceful, stout-bodied, bitternlike bird, Eurypyga helias. It is named for its wing markings, an orange-chestnut shield set in an orange-buff circle, which looks like a s...

Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de

(Encyclopedia)Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de zhäN shärl lāônärˈ sēmôNdˈ də sēsmôNdēˈ [key], 1773–1842, Swiss historian, economist, and critic. A member of the circle of Mme de Staël, he...

Cameron, Julia Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Cameron, Julia Margaret kămˈərən [key], 1815–79, English pioneer photographer, b. Calcutta (now Kolkata). Born and married into the high ranks of the British civil service, Cameron became an int...

Cassatt, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Cassatt, Mary kəsătˈ [key], 1844–1926, American figure painter and etcher, b. Pittsburgh. Most of her life was spent in France, where she was greatly influenced by her great French contemporaries...

Aiken, Conrad

(Encyclopedia)Aiken, Conrad āˈkĭn [key], 1889–1973, American author, b. Savannah, Ga., grad. Harvard, 1912. Aiken is best known for his poetry, which often is preoccupied with the sound and structure of music;...

Cook, James

(Encyclopedia)Cook, James, 1728–79, English explorer and navigator. The son of a Yorkshire agricultural laborer, he had little formal education. After an apprenticeship to a firm of shipowners at Whitby, he joine...

topology

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Möbius strip: On the ordinary flat loop (A), an ant walking along the middle of the strip will pass only around the outside of the strip. If the strip is cut along the dotted line, twisted onc...