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Fouquet, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Fouquet or Foucquet, Jean or Jehan all: zhäN fo͞okāˈ [key], c.1420–c.1480, French painter and illuminator. He was summoned to Rome in the 1440s to paint the portrait (now lost) of Pope Eugenius ...

Dalton, John

(Encyclopedia)Dalton, John dôlˈtən [key], 1766–1844, English scientist. He revived the atomic theory (see atom), which he formulated in the first volume of his New System of Chemical Philosophy (2 vol., 1808�...

debit card

(Encyclopedia)debit card, card that allows the cost of goods or services that are purchased to be deducted directly from the purchaser's checking account. They can also be used at automated teller machines for with...

tone

(Encyclopedia)tone. In music, a tone is distinguished from noise by its definite pitch, caused by the regularity of the vibrations which produce it. Any tone possesses the attributes of pitch, intensity, and qualit...

Redon, Odilon

(Encyclopedia)Redon, Odilon ôdēlôNˈ rədôNˈ [key], 1840–1916, French painter and lithographer. He studied in Paris under Gérôme. Later his friend Fantin-Latour taught him lithography, but he was most infl...

Volstead, Andrew Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Volstead, Andrew Joseph vŏlˈstĕd [key], 1860–1947, American legislator, b. Goodhue co., Minn. A lawyer, he held several local offices in Minnesota before serving (1903–23) in the U.S. House of ...

surface tension

(Encyclopedia)surface tension, tendency of liquids to reduce their exposed surface to the smallest possible area. A drop of water, for example, tends to assume the shape of a sphere. The phenomenon is attributed to...

river

(Encyclopedia)river, stream of water larger than a brook or creek. Land surfaces are never perfectly flat, and as a result the runoff after precipitation tends to flow downward by the shortest and steepest course i...

Spenser, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Spenser, Edmund, 1552?–1599, English poet, b. London. He was the friend of men eminent in literature and at court, including Gabriel Harvey, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Robert Sidney,...

micromechanics

(Encyclopedia)micromechanics, the combination of minuscule electrical and mechanical components in a single device less than 1 mm across, such as a valve or a motor. Although micromechanical production processes an...