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Maillart, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Maillart, Robert mīyärˈ [key], 1872–1940, Swiss engineer, renowned for his inventive and beautiful reinforced-concrete bridges. Maillart's basic structural principles—integration of the support...

Palk Strait

(Encyclopedia)Palk Strait pôk, pôlk [key], 40 to 85 mi (64–137 km) wide, between India and Sri Lanka. At its southern end, it is studded with shoal reefs, forming Adam's Bridge (or Rama's Bridge), and by small ...

Ammann, Othmar Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Ammann, Othmar Hermann ôtˈmär, ŏˈmŏn [key], 1879–1965, American civil engineer, b. Switzerland, grad. Federal Polytechnic Institute, Zürich, 1902. He came to the United States in 1904 and was...

Zhuhai

(Encyclopedia)Zhuhai jo͞o-hī [key], city (1994 est. pop. 308,600), S Guangdong prov., on the Pearl River, N of Macau. Designated a special economic zone in 1979, the city has benefited greatly from its proximity ...

cantilever

(Encyclopedia)cantilever kănˈtəlēvər [key], beam supported rigidly at one end to carry a load along the free arm or at the free end. A slanting beam fixed at the base is often used to support the free end, as ...

Queens

(Encyclopedia)Queens, borough of New York City (1990 pop. 1,951,598), land area c.109 sq mi (293 sq km), on the western portion of Long Island, SE N.Y., coextensive with Queens co.; settled by the Dutch 1635, estab...

Pearl, river, China

(Encyclopedia)Pearl, Chin. Zhujiang, river, 110 mi (177 km) long, S Guangdong prov., S China. Formed at Guangzhou by the confluence of the Xi and Bei rivers, it flows E then S past Guangzhou and Huangpu island to f...

Theus, Jeremiah

(Encyclopedia)Theus, Jeremiah tho͞os, tois [key], c.1719–1744, American portrait painter, b. Switzerland. He emigrated to South Carolina as a child. By 1740, according to newspaper notices, he was painting portr...

Scudder, Janet

(Encyclopedia)Scudder, Janet, 1873–1940, American sculptor, b. Terre Haute, Ind., studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, with Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago, and in Paris. Her fountains and other ...

Gaynor, William Jay

(Encyclopedia)Gaynor, William Jay, 1849–1913, U.S. political leader, mayor of New York City, b. Oneida co., N.Y. He rose to prominence as a civic reformer in Brooklyn and, as justice of the New York supreme court...