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Roebling, John Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Roebling, John Augustus rōˈblĭng [key], 1806–69, German-American engineer, b. Mulhouse. He studied engineering in Berlin and in 1831 came to the United States. He demonstrated the practicability ...

courtly love

(Encyclopedia)courtly love, philosophy of love and code of lovemaking that flourished in France and England during the Middle Ages. Although its origins are obscure, it probably derived from the works of Ovid, vari...

Clyde

(Encyclopedia)Clyde, principal river of SW Scotland, 106 mi (171 km) long, rising in the Southern Uplands and flowing generally NW through Glasgow to the Firth of Clyde. It drains c.1,480 sq mi (3,830 sq km). The l...

hardness

(Encyclopedia)hardness, property of matter commonly described as the resistance of a substance to being scratched by another substance. The degree of hardness is relative, different substances being compared with o...

Lowell

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, city (1990 pop. 103,439), a seat of Middlesex co., NE Mass., at the confluence of the Merrimack and Concord rivers; settled 1653, set off from Chelmsford 1826, inc. as a city 1836. High-techno...

Kisangani

(Encyclopedia)Kisangani kēsangäˈnē [key], formerly Stanleyville, city (1996 est. pop. 500,000), capital of Tshopo prov., N central Congo (Kinshasa), a port on the Congo River. The city is the terminus of steame...

Rudolph, Paul Marvin

(Encyclopedia)Rudolph, Paul Marvin, 1918–97, American modernist architect, b. Elkton, Ky. Rudolph taught at several universities and served as chair of the Yale architecture department from 1958–65. He was one ...

defoliant

(Encyclopedia)defoliant, any one of several chemical compounds that, when applied to plants, can alter their metabolism, causing the leaves to drop off. In agriculture defoliants are used to eliminate the leaves of...

Ontario, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Ontario, Lake, 7,540 sq mi (19,529 sq km), 193 mi (311 km) long and 53 mi (85 km) at its greatest width, between SE Ont., Canada, and NW N.Y.; smallest and lowest of the Great Lakes. It has a surface ...

smart weapon

(Encyclopedia)smart weapon, missile or steerable bomb equipped with a laser, television, or satellite guidance system. Smart weapons, which use guidance systems that rely on external assistance, are distinguished f...