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conduction

(Encyclopedia)conduction, transfer of heat or electricity through a substance, resulting from a difference in temperature between different parts of the substance, in the case of heat, or from a difference in elect...

syphilis

(Encyclopedia)syphilis sĭfˈəlĭs [key], contagious sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum (described by Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann in 1905). Syphilis was not widely reco...

Roddenberry, Gene

(Encyclopedia)Roddenberry, Gene (Eugene Wesley Roddenberry), 1921–91, American television writer and producer, b. El Paso, Tex. After being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal for flying 89 m...

Gog

(Encyclopedia)Gog, in the Bible. In the Book of Ezekiel, Gog is a leader, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal who will attack Israel and be defeated in the last days. Magog is his country. The same theme surfaces...

Jameson, Storm

(Encyclopedia)Jameson, Storm (Margaret Storm Jameson), 1891–1986, English novelist and critic, b. Whitby, Yorkshire, grad. Leeds Univ., 1912. Descended from a shipbuilding family, she drew on her knowledge of tha...

domino theory

(Encyclopedia)domino theory, the notion that if one country becomes Communist, other nations in the region will probably follow, like dominoes falling in a line. The analogy, first applied (1954) to Southeast Asia ...

populism

(Encyclopedia)populism, in politics, a movement or political strategy that purports to endorse the will of the common or ordinary people, especially when distinguished from and opposed to a corrupt political or eco...

hedging

(Encyclopedia)hedging, in commerce, method by which traders use two counterbalancing investment strategies so as to minimize any losses caused by price fluctuations. It is generally used by traders on the commoditi...

Oberlin College

(Encyclopedia)Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio; coeducational; opened 1833 as Oberlin Collegiate Institute, became Oberlin College in 1850. It includes a college of arts and sciences and a well-known conservatory ...

levitation

(Encyclopedia)levitation lĕvĭtāˈshən [key], the raising of a human or other body in the air without mechanical aid. The idea is ancient; holy men, both pagan and Christian, were reputed to have had the power o...