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lac

(Encyclopedia)lac, resinous exudation from the bodies of females of a species of scale insect (Tachardia lacca), from which shellac is prepared. India is the chief source of shellac, although some is obtained from ...

pyroclastic flow

(Encyclopedia)pyroclastic flow, turbulent, fluidized mixture of rock, volcanic ash, and hot gas that moves like an avalanche away from a volcanic eruption. A pyroclastic flow may contain a mix of rock fragments ran...

Santa Rosa, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Santa Rosa sănˈtə rōˈzə [key], city (1990 pop. 113,313), seat of Sonoma co., W Calif.; inc. 1868. It is an industrial city and a retail, financial, and medical center for the fertile Sonoma Vall...

Spillane, Mickey

(Encyclopedia)Spillane, Mickey (Frank Morrison Spillane), 1918–2006, American mystery writer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. After contributing stories to comic books and pulp magazines, Spillane wrote his first novel, I, the...

Parrish, Maxfield

(Encyclopedia)Parrish, Maxfield, 1870–1966, American painter and illustrator, b. Philadelphia; pupil of Howard Pyle. He is known for his original and highly decorative posters, magazine covers, and book illustrat...

MacKinnon, Roderick

(Encyclopedia)MacKinnon, Roderick, 1956–, American biochemist, b. Burlington, Mass., M.D. Tufts Univ., 1982. MacKinnon was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School from 1989–96 and has been a professor at the H...

Lefkowitz, Robert Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Lefkowitz, Robert Joseph, 1943–, American physician, b. New York City, M.D. Columbia, 1966. Since 1973 Lefkowitz has been a professor at Duke Univ.; he was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institut...

Cech, Thomas Robert

(Encyclopedia)Cech, Thomas Robert chĕk [key], 1947–, American microbiologist, b. Chicago, grad. Univ. of California, Berkeley. A professor at the Univ. of Colorado, he discovered that RNA could function as enzym...

Washington, Walter Edward

(Encyclopedia)Washington, Walter Edward, 1915–2003, American political figure, first African-American mayor of Washington, D.C. (1975–79) and of a major American city, b. Dawson, Ga., grad. Howard Univ. (A.B., ...

Welwyn Garden City

(Encyclopedia)Welwyn Garden City wĕlˈĭn [key], town (1991 pop. 40,665), Hertfordshire, E central England. It is a garden city, founded by Ebenezer Howard in 1920, as well as one of the new towns. Its industries ...