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Aurangabad

(Encyclopedia)Aurangabad ourŭngˌgäbädˈ [key], city, Maharashtra state, W India. A district administrative center, it trades cotton, wool, and oil, and has an airport. The city has ...

Bida

(Encyclopedia)Bida bēdäˈ [key], town, W central Nigeria. It is the trade center for a rice-growing regio...

neutron

(Encyclopedia)neutron, uncharged elementary particle of slightly greater mass than the proton. It was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932. The stable isotopes of all elements except hydrogen and helium contain a n...

upholstery

(Encyclopedia)upholstery, general term for household fittings, hangings, curtains, cushions, and covers. It refers to stuffed, padded, and spring-cushioned furniture, such as chairs and sofas, or to the usually dec...

Mourou, Gérard Albert

(Encyclopedia)Mourou, Gérard Albert, 1944–, French physicist, Ph.D. Pierre and Marie Curie Univ. (now part of Sorbonne Univ.), 1973. Mourou was a professor at the Univ. of Rochester, New York, from 1977 to 1988,...

Research Triangle Park

(Encyclopedia)Research Triangle Park, research, business, medical, and educational complex situated in central North Carolina. It has an area of 6,900 acres (2,795 hectares) and is 8 × 2 mi (13 × 3 km) in size. N...

Ghez, Andrea Mia

(Encyclopedia)Ghez, Andrea Mia, 1965–, American astrophysicist, b. New York City, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1992. She has been on the faculty at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles, since 1994. G...

Poisson, Siméon Denis

(Encyclopedia)Poisson, Siméon Denis sēmāôNˈ dənēˈ pwäsôNˈ [key], 1781–1840, French mathematician and physicist. From 1802 he taught at the École polytechnique, Paris, and was also on the faculty of sc...

prism

(Encyclopedia)prism, in optics, a piece of translucent glass or crystal used to form a spectrum of light separated according to colors. Its cross section is usually triangular. The light becomes separated because d...

Kursk

(Encyclopedia)Kursk ko͝orsk [key], city (1989 pop. 424,000), capital of Kursk region, W European Russia, at the confluence of the Tuskor and Seim rivers. An important rail junction, it has machine, chemical, and s...