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geodesy

(Encyclopedia)geodesy jēŏdˈĭsē [key] or geodetic surveying, theory and practice of determining the position of points on the earth's surface and the dimensions of areas so large that the curvature of the earth...

Hurston, Zora Neale

(Encyclopedia)Hurston, Zora Neale, 1891?–60, African-American writer, b. Notasulga, Ala. She grew up in the pleasant all-black town of Eatonville, Fla., and graduated from Barnard College, where she studied with ...

elephant seal

(Encyclopedia)elephant seal or sea elephant, a true seal of the genus Mirounga. It is the largest of the fin-footed mammals, or pinnipeds, exceeding the walrus in size. There is a northern species, Mirounga angusti...

neutron star

(Encyclopedia)neutron star, extremely small, extremely dense star, with as much as double the sun's mass but only a few miles in radius, in the final stage of stellar evolution. Astronomers Baade and Zwicky predict...

Bent's Fort

(Encyclopedia)Bent's Fort, trading post of the American West, on the Arkansas River in present-day SE Colorado, E of Rocky Ford and La Junta and several miles above the mouth of the Purgatoire. The trading company ...

Taylor, Cecil

(Encyclopedia) Taylor, Cecil, 1929-2018, African-American jazz pianist, composer, and poet, b. Queens, N.Y. A child prodigy on the piano, Taylor studied at the N.Y. ...

Bingham, Hiram, 1875–1956, American archaeologist, historian, and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Bingham, Hiram, 1875–1956, American archaeologist, historian, and statesman, b. Honolulu; son of Hiram Bingham (1831–1908). He was educated at Yale (B.A., 1898), the Univ. of California (M.A., 190...

Burroughs, William Seward

(Encyclopedia)Burroughs, William Seward, 1914–97, American novelist, b. St. Louis, grad. Harvard, 1936, moved to New York City, 1943. He was an elder member of the beat generation. Junkie (1953), originally publi...

learning disabilities

(Encyclopedia)learning disabilities, in education, any of various disorders involved in understanding or using spoken or written language, including difficulties in listening, thinking, talking, reading, writing, s...

Hani, Martin Thembisile

(Encyclopedia)Hani, Chris 1942–1993, anti-apartheid activist, politician, and soldier. A legendary figure in South African history and a key participant in the ...