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Slipher, Vesto Melvin

(Encyclopedia)Slipher, Vesto Melvin slīˈfər [key], 1875–1969, American astronomer, b. Mulberry, Ind. From 1901 he was at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz., where he served as director (1917–54). Much of h...

Calvin, Melvin

(Encyclopedia)Calvin, Melvin, 1911–97, American organic chemist and educator, b. St. Paul, Minn., grad. Michigan College of Mining and Technology, 1931, Ph.D. Univ. of Minnesota, 1935. In 1937 he joined the facul...

Schwartz, Melvin

(Encyclopedia)Schwartz, Melvin, 1932–2006 American physicist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Columbia, 1958. He was on the faculty at Columbia (1958–66, 1991–2000, emeritus 2000–2006) and Stanford (1966–83). Sch...

Laird, Melvin Robert

(Encyclopedia)Laird, Melvin Robert, 1922–2016, American politician, U.S. secretary of defense (1969–73), b. Omaha, Nebr. After serving (1942–46) in the navy during World War II, he entered politics as a Repub...

Hubble, Edwin Powell

(Encyclopedia)Hubble, Edwin Powell, 1889–1953, American astronomer, b. Marshfield, Mo. He did research (1914–17) at Yerkes Observatory, and joined (1919) the staff of Mt. Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, Calif., o...

Lowell Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Lowell Observatory, astronomical observatory located in Flagstaff, Ariz.; it was founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell, the American astronomer who popularized the idea that Mars might support intelligen...

Lions International

(Encyclopedia)Lions International, organization of business and professional people, founded (1917) by Melvin Jones. The International Association of Lions Clubs (popularly known as Lions International) is devoted ...

red shift

(Encyclopedia)red shift or redshift, in astronomy, the systematic displacement of individual lines in the spectrum of a celestial object toward the red, or longer wavelength, end of the visible spectrum. The effect...

French, Daniel Chester

(Encyclopedia)French, Daniel Chester, 1850–1931, American sculptor, b. Exeter, N.H., studied in Florence and in Boston with William Rimmer. After executing his first large work, The Minute Man (1875), he received...

Compton, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Compton, Sir John (John George Melvin Compton), 1925–2007, St. Lucian political leader, b. Canouan, Windward Islands (now in St. Vincent and the Grenadines). Compton attended high school in St. Luci...

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