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humus

(Encyclopedia)humus hyo͞oˈməs [key], organic matter that has decayed to a relatively stable, amorphous state. It is an important biological constituent of fertile soil. Humus is formed by the decomposing action ...

naphtha

(Encyclopedia)naphtha năpˈthə, năfˈ– [key], term usually restricted to a class of colorless, volatile, flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixtures. Obtained as one of the more volatile fractions in the fractional ...

Morris, Lewis, 1671–1746, American colonial official

(Encyclopedia)Morris, Lewis, 1671–1746, American colonial official, first lord of the manor of Morrisania in New York. The son of Richard Morris (d. 1672; see Morris, family), he was born in that part of Westches...

Olah, George Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Olah, George Andrew, 1927–2017, American chemist, b. Budapest, Ph.D. Budapest Univ. of Technology and Economics, 1949. Olah was a researcher at Dow Chemical from 1957 to 1965 and a professor at West...

Kroto, Harry

(Encyclopedia)Kroto, Harry (Sir Harold Walter Kroto), 1939–2016, British chemist, b. Harold Walter Krotoschiner, Ph.D. Univ. of Sheffield, 1964. Kroto was the son of German parents who fled Nazi rule to England. ...

turpentine

(Encyclopedia)turpentine, yellow to brown semifluid oleoresin exuded from the sapwood of pines, firs, and other conifers. It is made up of two principal components, an essential oil and a type of resin that is call...

Wieman, Carl Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Wieman, Carl Edwin, 1951–, American physicist, b. Corvallis, Oreg., Ph.D. Stanford, 1977. He was a professor at the Univ. of Colorado from 1984 to 2006. In 2007, he joined the Univ. of British Colum...

Warm Springs

(Encyclopedia)Warm Springs, resort, Meriwether co., W Ga. The salutary properties of the water springing from Pine Mt. were known to Native Americans, and white settlers learned of them in the late 18th cent. By th...

Boussingault, Jean Baptiste Joseph Dieudonné

(Encyclopedia)Boussingault, Jean Baptiste Joseph Dieudonné zhäN bätēstˈ zhôzĕfˈ dyödônāˈ bo͞osăNgōˈ [key], 1802–87, French agricultural chemist. He was professor of chemistry at Lyons and later pr...

bronze, in metallurgy

(Encyclopedia)bronze, in metallurgy, alloy of copper, tin, zinc, phosphorus, and sometimes small amounts of other elements. Bronzes are harder than brasses. Most are produced by melting the copper and adding the de...