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Joffe, Abram

(Encyclopedia)Joffe, Abram əbrämˈ yôˈfyə [key], 1880–1960, Soviet scientist, b. Ukraine, grad. St. Petersburg Technological Institute, 1902. From 1902 to 1906 he worked in Munich as an assistant to W. C. Ro...

Brahic, André Fernand

(Encyclopedia)Brahic, André Fernand, 1942–2016, French astrophysicist, b. Paris. He was introduced to astrophysics by Evry Schatzman, a leading French theoretician, and obtained his doctorate from the Univ. of P...

Abbot, Charles Greeley

(Encyclopedia)Abbot, Charles Greeley, 1872–1973, American astrophysicist, b. Wilton, N.H. He was acting director in 1896 and director in 1907 of the astrophysical observatory of the Smithsonian Institution; he wa...

maser

(Encyclopedia)maser māˈzər [key], device for creation, amplification, and transmission of an intense, highly focused beam of high-frequency radio waves. The name maser is an acronym for microwave amplification b...

gamma-ray astronomy

(Encyclopedia)gamma-ray astronomy, study of astronomical objects by analysis of the most energetic electromagnetic radiation they emit. Gamma rays are shorter in wavelength and hence more energetic than X rays (see...

Mayer, Julius Robert von

(Encyclopedia)Mayer, Julius Robert von, 1814–78, German physician and physicist, studied medicine at Tübingen, Munich, and Paris. From a consideration of the generation of animal heat, he was led to determine th...

Espoo

(Encyclopedia)Espoo ĕsˈpô [key], Swed. Esbo, city, Southern Finland prov., S Finland, 10 mi (16 km) W of...

Tsukuba

(Encyclopedia)Tsukuba tso͝oko͞oˈbä [key], city (1990 pop. 143,396) Ibaraki prefecture, central Honshu, E central Japan, 31 mi (50 km) S of Mito. The city's products include peanuts, mushrooms, tea, processed fo...

actin

(Encyclopedia)actin, a protein abundantly present in many cells, especially muscle cells, that significantly contributes to the cell's structure and motility. Actin can very quickly assemble into long polymer rods ...

Elssler, Fanny

(Encyclopedia)Elssler, Fanny fäˈnē ĕlˈslər [key], 1810–84, Austrian dancer. The youngest daughter of Johann Elssler, copyist and valet of Haydn, she made her debut (1833) in London. She danced at the Paris ...