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meter, unit of measure

(Encyclopedia)meter, abbr. m, fundamental unit of length in the metric system. The meter was originally defined as 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the equator and either pole; however, the original survey was ...

Moscow State University

(Encyclopedia)Moscow State University, at Moscow, Russia, officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State Univ.; founded 1755 as Moscow Univ. by the Russian scientist M. V. Lomonosov, renamed Moscow State Univ. after the R...

pyroxene

(Encyclopedia)pyroxene pīˈrŏksēn [key], name given to members of a group of widely distributed rock minerals called metasilicates in which magnesium, iron, and calcium, often with aluminum, sodium, lithium, man...

Brameld, Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Brameld, Theodore brămˈəld [key], 1904–87, American educator, b. Neillsville, Wis., grad. Ripon College, 1926; Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1931. Brameld was best known for his theory of reconstructio...

biosphere

(Encyclopedia)biosphere, irregularly shaped envelope of the earth's air, water, and land encompassing the heights and depths at which living things exist. The biosphere is a closed and self-regulating system (see e...

missal

(Encyclopedia)missal [Lat.,=of the mass], in the Roman Catholic Church, liturgical book containing all directions and texts necessary for the performance of Mass throughout the year. The Roman Missal (Missale Roman...

pilaster

(Encyclopedia)pilaster pĭlăsˈtər [key], in architecture, upright supporting member, attached to and projecting slightly from the face of a wall and equipped with a base and capital like a column; also, a simila...

flagellants

(Encyclopedia)flagellants flăjˈələnts, fləjĕlˈənts [key], term applied to the groups of Christians who practiced public flagellation as a penance. The practice supposedly grew out of the floggings administe...

Torah

(Encyclopedia)Torah tôrˈə [key] [Heb.,=teachings or learning], Hebrew name for the five books of Moses—the Law of Moses or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. The Torah is believed by Orthodox J...

demography

(Encyclopedia)demography dĭmŏgˈrəfē [key], science of human population. Demography represents a fundamental approach to the understanding of human society. Its primary tasks are to ascertain the number of peop...