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Ridgway, Matthew Bunker

(Encyclopedia)Ridgway, Matthew Bunker, 1895–1993, U.S. general, b. Fort Monroe, Va. A West Point graduate, in World War II he was made (1942) assistant division commander and then commander of the 82d Infantry Di...

Sellars, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Sellars, Peter, 1957–, American director, b. Pittsburgh, grad. Harvard (1981). A highly innovative director, he began his career with the Boston Shakespeare Co. (1983–84) and Washington's American...

alkali metals

(Encyclopedia)alkali metals, metals found in Group 1 of the periodic table. Compared to other metals they are soft and have low melting points and densities. Alkali metals are powerful reducing agents and form univ...

alkaline-earth metals

(Encyclopedia)alkaline-earth metals, metals constituting Group 2 of the periodic table. Generally, they are softer than most other metals, react readily with water (especially when heated), and are powerful reducin...

electron-volt

(Encyclopedia)electron-volt, abbr. eV, unit of energy used in atomic and nuclear physics; 1 electron-volt is the energy transferred in moving a unit charge, positive or negative and equal to that charge on the elec...

spectroscope

(Encyclopedia)spectroscope, optical instrument for producing spectral lines and measuring their wavelengths and intensities, used in spectral analysis (see spectrum). When a material is heated to incandescence it e...

force

(Encyclopedia)force, commonly, a “push” or “pull,” more properly defined in physics as a quantity that changes the motion, size, or shape of a body. Force is a vector quantity, having both magnitude and dir...

Michigan, University of

(Encyclopedia)Michigan, University of, main campus at Ann Arbor; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1817 at Detroit as the Catholepistemiad, or Univ., of Michigania, rechartered 1821 (as Univ. of Mich.) and ...

Muller, Hermann Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Muller, Hermann Joseph mŭlˈər [key], 1890–1967, American geneticist and educator, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1910; Ph.D., 1916). A student of Thomas Hunt Morgan, he taught (1915–18...

Coulomb's law

(Encyclopedia)Coulomb's law ko͞oˈlŏmz [key], in physics, law stating that the electrostatic force between two charged bodies is proportional to the product of the amount of charge on the bodies divided by the sq...