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Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley, 1882–1944, British astronomer and physicist. He was chief assistant (1906–13) at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and was from 1913 Plumian professor of astronomy a...

Cassini

(Encyclopedia)Cassini käs-sēˈnē [key], name of a family of Italian-French astronomers, four generations of whom were directors of the Paris Observatory. Gian Domenico Cassini, 1625–1712, was born in Italy and...

longitude

(Encyclopedia)longitude lŏnˈjĭto͞odˌ [key], angular distance on the earth's surface measured along any latitude line such as the equator east or west of the prime meridian. A meridian of longitude is an imagin...

Royal Shakespeare Company

(Encyclopedia)Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), a British repertory theater. The company, established in 1960, was based on the earlier Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. It is a national theater s...

universal time

(Encyclopedia)universal time (UT), the international time standard common to every place in the world, it nominally reflects the mean solar time along the earth's prime meridian (renumbered to equate to civil time)...

Royal Academy of Arts

(Encyclopedia)Royal Academy of Arts, London, the national academy of art of England, founded in 1768 by George III at the instigation of Sir William Chambers and Benjamin West. Sir Joshua Reynolds was the Academy's...

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

(Encyclopedia)Royal Canadian Mounted Police, constabulary organized (1873) as the Northwest Mounted Police to bring law and order to the Canadian west. In 1920 the name was changed to the present title. The corps, ...

Stuart, British royal family

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, royal family that ruled Scotland and England. The Stuart lineage began in a family of hereditary stewards of Scotland, the earliest of whom was Walter (d. 1177), grandson of a Norma...

Glaisher, James

(Encyclopedia)Glaisher, James glāˈshər [key], 1809–1903, English meteorologist and balloonist, b. London. He served as superintendent of the department of meteorology and magnetism at Greenwich Observatory fro...

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