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Urey, Harold Clayton

(Encyclopedia)Urey, Harold Clayton yo͝orˈē [key], 1893–1981, American chemist, b. Walkerton, Ind., grad. Univ. of Montana (B.S., 1917), Ph.D. Univ. of California, 1923. He taught at Johns Hopkins (1924–29), ...

fusion

(Encyclopedia)fusion, in physics. 1 The change of a substance from the solid to the liquid state, also known as melting. The heat given up by a unit mass of a substance during fusion is called the latent heat of fu...

Sakharov, Andrei Dmitriyevich

(Encyclopedia)Sakharov, Andrei Dmitriyevich, 1921–89, Soviet nuclear physicist and human-rights advocate; first Soviet citizen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (1975). From 1948 to 1956 he helped to develop the U...

Bikini

(Encyclopedia)Bikini bēkēˈnē [key], atoll, c.2 sq mi (5.2 sq km), W central Pacific, one of the Ralik Chain, Marshall Islands. It comprises 36 islets on a reef 25 mi (40 km) long. After its inhabitants were rem...

Strauss, Lewis Lichtenstein

(Encyclopedia)Strauss, Lewis Lichtenstein strôz [key], 1896–1974, American financier, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1953–58), b. Charleston, W.Va. In World War I he served under Herbert Hoover on t...

cold fusion

(Encyclopedia)cold fusion or low-temperature fusion, nuclear fusion of deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, at or relatively near room temperature. Fusion, the reaction involved in the release of the destructive ener...

Wheeler, John Archibald

(Encyclopedia)Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911–2008, American physicist and educator, b. Jacksonville, Fla. Educated at Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1933), he joined the faculty at Princeton in 1938, and after 1976 was dir...

nuclear weapons

(Encyclopedia)nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction powered by atomic, rather than chemical, processes. Nuclear weapons produce large explosions and hazardous radioactive byproducts by means of either nuclea...

Atomic Energy Commission

(Encyclopedia)Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), former U.S. government commission created by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 and charged with the development and control of the U.S. atomic energy program following Worl...

Line Islands

(Encyclopedia)Line Islands or Equatorial Islands, coral group, 43 sq mi (111 sq km), central and S Pacific. Once valuable for their guano deposits, the islands now have coconut groves, airfields, and meteorological...