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Cassiopeia, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Cassiopeia, in astronomy, prominent northern constellation located almost directly opposite the Big Dipper across the north celestial pole. Five bright stars in the constellation form a rough W (or M)...

conglomerate, in geology

(Encyclopedia)conglomerate, in geology, sedimentary rock composed largely of pebbles or other rounded particles whose diameter is larger than 2 mm (.08 in.). Essentially a cemented gravel, conglomerates are formed ...

Draco, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Draco [Lat.,=the dragon], northern constellation lying SE of Ursa Minor and N of Lyra and Hercules. It is traditionally depicted as a dragon. Draco contains the bright star Eltanin (Gamma Draconis). T...

mesquite, in botany

(Encyclopedia)mesquite mĭskētˈ, mĕsˈkēt [key], any plant of the genus Prosopis, leguminous spiny trees or shrubs of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), native to tropical and subtropical regions. The seed ...

Popper, Sir Karl Raimund

(Encyclopedia)Popper, Sir Karl Raimund, 1902–94, Anglo-Austrian philosopher, b. Vienna. He became familiar with the Vienna circle of logical positivists (see logical positivism) while a student at the Univ. of Vi...

tenure, in education

(Encyclopedia)tenure, in education, a guarantee of the permanence of a college or university teacher's position, awarded upon successful completion of a probationary period, usually seven years. Tenure is designed ...

Rabi, Isidor Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Rabi, Isidor Isaac rŏbˈē [key], 1898–1988, American physicist, b. Austria, grad. Cornell, 1919, Ph.D. Columbia, 1927. A teacher at Columbia from 1929, he became professor of physics in 1937. He i...

mode, in statistics

(Encyclopedia)mode, in statistics, an infrequently used type of average. In a group of numbers the mode is the number occurring most frequently. In the group 1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 9, 9, the mode is 6 because it o...

chord, in music

(Encyclopedia)chord, in music, two or more simultaneously sounding pitches. In tonal music the fundamental chord is called the triad. It consists of three pitches, two a perfect fifth apart and a third pitch a majo...

conglomerate, in business

(Encyclopedia)conglomerate, corporation whose asset growth, often very rapid, comes largely through the acquisition of, or merger with, other firms whose products are largely unrelated to each other or to that of t...