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temperature inversion

(Encyclopedia)temperature inversion, condition in which the temperature of the atmosphere increases with altitude in contrast to the normal decrease with altitude. When temperature inversion occurs, cold air underl...

Wheeler, John Archibald

(Encyclopedia)Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911–2008, American physicist and educator, b. Jacksonville, Fla. Educated at Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1933), he joined the faculty at Princeton in 1938, and after 1976 was dir...

Attlee, Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl

(Encyclopedia)Attlee, Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl ătˈlē [key], 1883–1967, British statesman. Educated at Oxford, he was called to the bar in 1905. His early experience as a social worker in London's East ...

Rossiter, Thomas Pritchard

(Encyclopedia)Rossiter, Thomas Pritchard, 1818–1871, American historical painter, b. New Haven, Conn. He spent many years in Europe, studying and painting, and settled finally in Cold Spring, N.Y., where he devot...

Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosiyevich

(Encyclopedia)Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosiyevich ĕdˈwärd shəvˈärdnädˈzyə [key], 1928–2014, Georgian politician and diplomat. Known for pragmatism rather than polemicism, Shevardnadze served as the head o...

Air Force, United States Department of the

(Encyclopedia)Air Force, United States Department of the, military department within the U.S. Dept. of Defense (see Defense, United States Department of). The Air Force traces its roots to the founding of the Aeron...

Loesser, Frank

(Encyclopedia)Loesser, Frank (Frank Henry Loesser), 1910–69, American lyricist and songwriter, b. New York City. He is noted for smart, often witty lyrics that catch the tone and rhythms of vernacular speech. Loe...

von Braun, Wernher

(Encyclopedia)von Braun, Wernher vôn broun [key], 1912–77, German-American rocket scientist and astronautics engineer, b. Germany, grad. Berlin Technological Institute (B.S., 1932), Univ. of Berlin (Ph.D., 1934)...

Niflheim

(Encyclopedia)Niflheim nēˈfəlhīmˌ [key], in Norse mythology, lowest region of the underworld. A land of mist and cold, Niflheim was sometimes called the home of the dead. See also Hel. ...

Seward Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Seward Peninsula, W Alaska, projecting c.200 mi (320 km) into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound and Kotzebue Sound, just below the Arctic Circle. The region is mostly bleak tundra, with long, cold w...