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Maskelyne, Nevil

(Encyclopedia)Maskelyne, Nevil măsˈkəlīn [key], 1732–1811, English astronomer. Maskelyne received his education at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Appointed astronomer royal at the Royal Ob...

Lane, Fitz Hugh

(Encyclopedia)Lane, Fitz Hugh, 1804–65, American painter and printmaker, b. Gloucester, Mass. A painter of ships and coastal panoramas, Lane is most notable as a leading figure in American luminism. He illuminate...

Brown, Michael Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Michael Stuart, 1941–, American molecular geneticist, b. New York City, M.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1966. He worked (1968–71) as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health before goi...

STP

(Encyclopedia)STP or standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions for measurement of the properties of matter. The standard temperature is the freezing point of pure water, 0℃ or 273.15K. The standard...

refraction

(Encyclopedia)refraction, in physics, deflection of a wave on passing obliquely from one transparent medium into a second medium in which its speed is different, as the passage of a light ray from air into glass. O...

accordion

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Accordion accordion, musical instrument consisting of a rectangular bellows expanded and contracted between the hands. Buttons or keys operated by the player open valves, allowing air to enter...

British thermal unit

(Encyclopedia)British thermal unit, abbr. Btu, unit for measuring heat quantity in the customary system of English units of measurement, equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of...

stellar structure

(Encyclopedia)stellar structure, physical properties of a star and the processes taking place within it. Except for that of the sun, astronomers must draw their conclusions regarding stellar structure on the basis ...

Anaximenes

(Encyclopedia)Anaximenes ănˌəksĭmˈĭnēz [key], Greek philosopher, 6th cent. b.c., last of the Milesian school founded by Thales. With Thales he held that a single element lay behind the diversity of nature, a...

Reston

(Encyclopedia)Reston, uninc. city (1990 pop. 48,556), Fairfax co., N Va., a residential and commercial suburb c. 20 mi (32 km) W of Washington, D.C. A planned community, it was established in 1961 by real estate de...