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barrel organ

(Encyclopedia)barrel organ, mechanical musical instrument requiring nothing but the regular rotary motion of a handle to keep it going. It probably originated at the beginning of the 18th cent., and was once used e...

inclined plane

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Inclined plane inclined plane, simple machine, consisting of a sloping surface, whose purpose is to reduce the force that must be applied to raise a load. To raise a body vertically a force mu...

gilding

(Encyclopedia)gilding, process of applying a thin layer of real or imitation gold to a surface. The process is employed on wood, metal, ivory, leather, paper, glass, porcelain, and fabrics and is used to embellish ...

Escher, M. C.

(Encyclopedia)Escher, M. C. (Maurits Cornelis Escher) ĕsˈkhər [key], 1898–1972, Dutch artist. Primarily a graphic artist, Escher composed works notable for their irony, often with impossible perspectives rende...

C.I.A.M.

(Encyclopedia)C.I.A.M. (Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne). Founded in 1928 by Hélène de Mandrot, Sigfried Giedion, and Le Corbusier, C.I.A.M. sought to divert architecture from academic preoccupatio...

microprocessor

(Encyclopedia)microprocessor, integrated circuit containing the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry required to interpret and execute instructions from a computer program. When combined with other integrated c...

Houston, David Franklin

(Encyclopedia)Houston, David Franklin hyo͞oˈstən [key], 1866–1940, American cabinet officer and educator, b. Monroe, N.C., grad. South Carolina College, 1887, M.A. Harvard, 1892. He taught political science at...

Jacquard, Joseph Marie

(Encyclopedia)Jacquard, Joseph Marie zhôzĕfˈ märēˈ zhäkärˈ [key], 1752–1834, French inventor, whose loom is of the greatest importance in modern mechanical figure weaving. After several years of experime...

kidney, artificial

(Encyclopedia)kidney, artificial, mechanical device capable of assuming the functions ordinarily performed by the kidneys. In treating cases of kidney failure a tube is inserted into an artery in the patient's arm ...

Josephson, Brian David

(Encyclopedia)Josephson, Brian David, 1940–, British physicist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1964. After several postdoctoral appointments, he joined the faculty at Cambridge in 1974. Josephson was co-recipient, with Leo Esa...