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evidence

(Encyclopedia)evidence, in law, material submitted to a judge or a judicial body to resolve disputed questions of fact. The rules discussed in this article were developed in England for use in jury trials. Today, t...

Macapagal-Arroyo, Gloria

(Encyclopedia)Macapagal-Arroyo, Gloria ärōˈyō [key], 1947–, Philippine political leader, president of the Philippines (2001–10), daughter of Diosdado Macapagal. A professor of economics, she entered governm...

meteor shower

(Encyclopedia)meteor shower, increase in the number of meteors observed in a particular part of the sky. The trails of the meteors of a meteor shower all appear to be traceable back to a single point in the sky, kn...

Miranda v. Arizona

(Encyclopedia)Miranda v. Arizona, U.S. Supreme Court case (1966) in the area of due process of law (see Fourteenth Amendment). The decision reversed an Arizona court's conviction of Ernesto Miranda on kidnapping an...

multiple personality

(Encyclopedia)multiple personality, a very rare psychological disorder in which a person has two or more distinct personalities, each with its own thoughts, feelings, and patterns of behavior. The personalities oft...

Sacks, Oliver Wolf

(Encyclopedia)Sacks, Oliver Wolf, 1933–2015, British neurologist and author, b. London, educated at Queen's College, Oxford. In 1960 he moved to the United States, where he continued his medical training. He bega...

Raoult's law

(Encyclopedia)Raoult's law räo͞olzˈ [key] [for F. M. Raoult, a French physicist and chemist] states that the addition of solute to a liquid lessens the tendency for the liquid to become a solid or a gas, i.e., r...

image

(Encyclopedia)image, in optics, likeness or counterpart of an object produced when rays of light coming from that object are reflected from a mirror or are refracted by a lens. An image of an object is also formed ...

Navalny, Alexei Anatolyevich

(Encyclopedia)Navalny, Alexei Anatolyevich, 1976–, Russian lawyer and political activist. Navalny joined the Russian United Democratic party...

thymine

(Encyclopedia)thymine thīˈmēn [key], organic base of the pyrimidine family. Thymine was the first pyrimidine to be purified from a natural source, having been isolated from calf thymus and beef spleen in 1893–...

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