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patent

(Encyclopedia)patent, in law, governmental grant of some privilege, property, or authority. Today patent refers to the granting to the inventor of a useful product or process the privilege to exclude others from ma...

aluminum

(Encyclopedia)aluminum ălˌyo͞omĭnˈēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Al; at. no. 13; at. wt. 26.98154; m.p. 660.37℃; b.p. 2,467℃; sp. gr. 2.6989 at 20℃; valence +3. Aluminum is a silver-white...

lexicography

(Encyclopedia)lexicography, the applied study of the meaning, evolution, and function of the vocabulary units of a language for the purpose of compilation in book form—in short, the process of dictionary making. ...

Tobin, James

(Encyclopedia)Tobin, James, 1918–2002, American economist, b. Champaign, Ill., Ph.D. Harvard, 1947. A professor at Yale Univ. from 1950 until his death, he was also an influential member (1961–62) of President ...

cryosurgery

(Encyclopedia)cryosurgery krīˈōsrˌjərē [key], bloodless surgical technique using a supercooled probe to destroy diseased or superfluous tissue. Liquid nitrogen circulating through the instrument cools it to t...

Farmer, Moses Gerrish

(Encyclopedia)Farmer, Moses Gerrish, 1820–93, American inventor, b. Boscawen, N.H. He helped build and maintain some of the pioneer telegraph lines of Massachusetts and experimented in multiple telegraphy. He exh...

genetic testing

(Encyclopedia)genetic testing, medical screening for genetic disorders, by examining either a person's DNA directly or a person's biochemistry or chromosomes for indirect evidence. Testing may be done to identify a...

morocco, type of leather

(Encyclopedia)morocco, goatskin leather, dyed on the grain side and boarded by hand or machine to bring up the grain in a bird's-eye effect. It probably originated with the Arabs in North Africa as an alum-tanned p...

Munn v. Illinois

(Encyclopedia)Munn v. Illinois, case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1876. Munn, a partner in a Chicago warehouse firm, had been found guilty by an Illinois court of violating the state laws providing for the ...

Rowley, Janet Davison

(Encyclopedia)Rowley, Janet Davison, 1925–2013, American physician and geneticist, b. New York City, M.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1948. Rowley was associated with the Univ. of Chicago from 1962, and was a full professo...