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Addison, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Addison, Joseph, 1672–1719, English essayist, poet, and statesman. He was educated at Charterhouse, where he was a classmate of Richard Steele, and at Oxford, where he became a distinguished classic...

Fomalhaut

(Encyclopedia)Fomalhaut fōˈməlhôtˌ [key], brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (southern fish); Bayer designation Alpha Piscis Austrini; 1992 position R.A. 22h57.3m, Dec. −29°39′. A white,...

curassow

(Encyclopedia)curassow kyûrˈəsōˌ [key], common name for the largest members of an order of game birds called pigeon-toed fowls, which includes the white-crested guan and the rufous-bellied chachalaca, Ortalis ...

Shimomura, Osamu

(Encyclopedia)Shimomura, Osamu, 1928–2018, Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist, Ph.D. Nagoya Univ., 1960. Shimomura was a researcher at Princeton (1960–82) and a professor (1982–2001) simultaneously...

Pisces

(Encyclopedia)Pisces pīˈsēz [key] [Lat.,=the fishes], constellation lying directly S of Andromeda and on the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Aries and Aquarius; it is one of the co...

yellowwood

(Encyclopedia)yellowwood, common name for any species of the genus Cladrastis, leguminous trees of the family Leguminosae (pulse family). Three of the four species are native to China and Japan. The other, C. lutea...

celestial pole

(Encyclopedia)celestial pole, one of the two points at which the earth's axis of rotation intersects the celestial sphere. The celestial pole is important as a reference point in the equatorial coordinate system; t...

Cancer, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Cancer [Lat.,=the crab], in astronomy, constellation lying on the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Gemini and Leo; it is a constellation of the zodiac. It contains the st...

Betelgeuse

(Encyclopedia)Betelgeuse bētˈəljo͞ozˌ [key], bright star in the constellation Orion; Bayer designation α Orionis; 1992 position R.A. 5h54.8m, Dec. +7°24′. A red supergiant with a luminosity about 13,000 ti...

Bickerstaff, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Bickerstaff, Isaac, pseudonym used by Jonathan Swift and later by Richard Steele in the Tatler. ...