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Hartline, Haldan Keffer

(Encyclopedia)Hartline, Haldan Keffer, 1903–83, American physiologist, b. Bloomsburg, Pa., M.D. Johns Hopkins, 1927. From 1931 to 1949 (except for 1940–41), he was a researcher at the Eldridge Reeves Johnson Fo...

Bourke-White, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Bourke-White, Margaret bûrkˈ hwīt [key], 1904–71, American photo-journalist, b. New York City. One of the original staff photographers at Fortune, Life, and Time magazines, Bourke-White was noted...

Scott, Sir Walter

(Encyclopedia)Scott, Sir Walter, 1771–1832, Scottish novelist and poet, b. Edinburgh. He is considered the father of both the regional and the historical novel. Scott's narrative poems introduced a form of v...

nitrogen mustard

(Encyclopedia)nitrogen mustard, any of various poisonous compounds originally developed for military use (see poison gas). Like mustard gas and lewisite, it is a vesicant (blistering agent). In the form of its crys...

Cubango

(Encyclopedia)Cubango ōkəvängˈgō [key], river, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) long, rising in the highlands of central Angola, W central Africa, and flowing southeast, across the Caprivi Strip, Namibia, to the Okavango...

uremia

(Encyclopedia)uremia yo͝orēˈmēə [key], condition resulting from advanced stages of kidney failure in which urea and other nitrogen-containing wastes are found in the blood. Uremia can be caused by NSAIDs (nons...

Progressive Conservative party

(Encyclopedia)Progressive Conservative party, former Canadian political party, formed in 1942 by the merger of the Progressive and Conservative parties. Beginning with the first Canadian prime minister, John A. Mac...

psychosis

(Encyclopedia)psychosis sīkōˈsĭs [key], in psychiatry, a broad category of mental disorder encompassing the most serious emotional disturbances, often rendering the individual incapable of staying in contact wi...

crater

(Encyclopedia)crater, circular, bowl-shaped depression on the earth's surface. (For a discussion of lunar craters, see moon.) Simple craters are bowl-shaped with a raised outer rim. Complex craters have a raised ce...

capitalism

(Encyclopedia)capitalism, economic system based on private ownership of the means of production, in which personal profit can be acquired through investment of capital and employment of labor. Capitalism is grounde...