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Tikal

(Encyclopedia)Tikal tēkälˈ [key], ruined city of the Classic Period of the Maya, N central Petén, Guatemala. The largest and possibly the oldest of the Maya cities, Tikal consists of nine groups of courts and p...

Sèvres ware

(Encyclopedia)Sèvres ware, porcelain made in France by the royal (now national) potteries established (1745) by Louis XV at Vincennes, moved (1756) to Sèvres after changing hands. Before 1770 it was a soft-paste ...

Chase, William Merritt

(Encyclopedia)Chase, William Merritt, 1849–1916, American painter, b. Williamsburg, Ind., studied in Indianapolis and in Munich under Piloty. In 1878 he began his long career as an influential teacher at the Art ...

cloisonné

(Encyclopedia)cloisonné kloizənāˈ, –sənāˈ [key], method of enamel decoration of metal surfaces, such as vases and jewel boxes. Metal filaments (which form the cloisons or separating elements) are attached ...

Cobb, Henry Nichols

(Encyclopedia)Cobb, Henry Nichols, 1926–2020, American modernist architect, b. Boston, grad. Harvard Graduate School of Design (1949). At Harvard he met I. M. Pei, with whom he established a New York firm in 1955...

damask

(Encyclopedia)damask dămˈəsk [key] [from Damascus], fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by the weaving; e.g., the ground may be in twill weave, and the contrasting des...

Challenger

(Encyclopedia)Challenger, U.S. space shuttle. It exploded (Jan. 28, 1986) 73 seconds into its tenth flight, killing all seven crew members, including the first civilian in space, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Th...

filigree

(Encyclopedia)filigree fĭlˈĭgrē [key], ornamental work of fine gold or silver wire, often wrought into an openwork design and joined with matching solder and borax under the flame of the blowpipe. Filigree is u...

truss

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. King post truss B. Queen, with princess posts truss, in architecture and engineering, a supporting structure or framework composed of beams, girders, or rods commonly of steel or wood lying...

Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich

(Encyclopedia)Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich kənstəntyēnˈ ĕdwärˈdəvĭchˈ tsēōlkŏvˈskē [key], 1857–1935, Russian inventor and rocket expert. He lost his hearing in childhood, and, as he could no...