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Brooklyn Academy of Music

(Encyclopedia)Brooklyn Academy of Music, performing arts center located in the borough of Brooklyn, N.Y. and popularly known as BAM. Founded in 1859 and opened in 1861, it is the oldest such institution still in op...

Bordone, Paris

(Encyclopedia)Bordone, Paris päˈrēs bōrdôˈnā [key], 1500–1571, Venetian painter of the Renaissance; pupil of Titian. Skillful in his use of color, he was particularly interested in variations of texture in...

Lorentz contraction

(Encyclopedia)Lorentz contraction lôrˈĕnts [key], in physics, contraction or foreshortening of a moving body in the direction of its motion, proposed by H. A. Lorentz on theoretical grounds and based on an earli...

field, in physics

(Encyclopedia)field, in physics, region throughout which a force may be exerted; examples are the gravitational, electric, and magnetic fields that surround, respectively, masses, electric charges, and magnets. The...

antenna

(Encyclopedia)antenna ăntĕnˈə [key], in electronics, system of wires or other conductors used to transmit or receive radio or other electromagnetic waves (see radio); sometimes called an aerial. The idea of usi...

acoustics

(Encyclopedia)acoustics əko͞oˈstĭks [key] [Gr.,=the facts about hearing], the science of sound, including its production, propagation, and effects. Various branches of acoustics that deal with different aspects...

mirror

(Encyclopedia)mirror, in optics, a reflecting surface that forms an image of an object when light rays coming from that object fall upon it (see reflection). Usually mirrors are made of plate glass, one side of whi...

probability

(Encyclopedia)probability, in mathematics, assignment of a number as a measure of the “chance” that a given event will occur. There are certain important restrictions on such a probability measure. In any exper...

avionics

(Encyclopedia)avionics āˌvēŏnˈĭks [key], electronic instruments used in air or space flight; also the design and production of such instruments. Early planes had few instruments, but as aviation and aircraft ...

lettre de cachet

(Encyclopedia)lettre de cachet lĕˈtrə də käshāˈ [key], formerly in French law, private, sealed document, issued as a communication from the king. Such a letter could order imprisonment or exile for an indivi...