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Arago, Dominique François

(Encyclopedia)Arago, Dominique François dômēnēkˈ fräNswäˈ ärägōˈ [key], 1786–1853, French physicist and astronomer. He is noted for his discoveries in magnetism and optics as well as for his astronomi...

Slough

(Encyclopedia)Slough slou [key], borough and unitary authority (1991 pop. 106,341), central England. After World War I, residential Slough and its outlying area underwent rapid industrial development, owing in part...

Hyperion, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Hyperion hīpērˈēən [key], in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn VII (or S7), Hyperion is the largest highly irregular (nonspherical) body in...

Hypsicles of Alexandria

(Encyclopedia)Hypsicles of Alexandria hĭpˈsĭklēz [key], astronomer of ancient Greece. Some authorities place Hypsicles in the 2d cent. b.c. and some in the 2d cent. a.d. The 14th and 15th books of Euclid's Elem...

Dunash ben Tamim

(Encyclopedia)Dunash ben Tamim täˈmēm [key] or Dunash ibn Tamim, c.900–c.960, Hebrew scholar, an astronomer and physician of North Africa. A pioneer in the field of scientific comparative philology, he tried t...

Newcomb, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Newcomb, Simon no͞oˈkəm, nyo͞oˈ– [key], 1835–1909, American astronomer, b. Nova Scotia, grad. Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard, 1858. Living in the United States from 1853, he was appointe...

Lovell, Sir Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Lovell, Sir Bernard (Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell), 1913–2012, English radio astronomer, b. Oldland Common, Gloucestershire, England, Ph.D. Univ. of Bristol, 1936. He was a member of the cosmic...

Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus

(Encyclopedia)Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus hīnˈrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm mätĕˈo͝os ôlˈbərs [key], 1758–1840, German astronomer and physician. He originated (1797) the first satisfactory method for calculat...

Brahe, Tycho

(Encyclopedia)Brahe, Tycho tīˈkō brä [key], 1546–1601, Danish astronomer. The most prominent astronomer of the late 16th cent., he paved the way for future discoveries by improving instruments and by his prec...

Schwabe, Samuel Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Schwabe, Samuel Heinrich zäˈmo͞oĕl hīnˈrĭkh shväbˈə [key], 1789–1875, German apothecary and amateur astronomer. In the hope of discovering a new planet between Mercury and the sun, he made...