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Zewail, Ahmed Hassan

(Encyclopedia)Zewail, Ahmed Hassan, 1946–2016, Egyptian-American chemist, b. Damanhur, Egypt, Ph.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1974. He became a U.S. citizen in 1982. A professor at the California Institute of Techno...

Smithson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Smithson, Robert, 1938–73, American sculptor, b. Passaic, N.J. After first making modular, serial sculpture, Smithson began to design large-scale earthworks (see land art) in the 1960s. Smithson res...

Stoddart, James Fraser

(Encyclopedia)Stoddart, James Fraser, 1942–, British chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Edinburgh, 1966. He began his career at Sheffield Univ., England, in 1970, then moved to Birmingham Univ., England, in 1990, the Univ. ...

short takeoff and landing aircraft

(Encyclopedia)short takeoff and landing aircraft (STOL), heavier-than-air craft, capable of rising from and descending to the ground with only a short length of runway, but incapable of doing so vertically. The pre...

Sarasota

(Encyclopedia)Sarasota sârˌəsōˈtə [key], city (1990 pop. 50,961), seat of Sarasota co., SW Fla., on Sarasota Bay; settled c.1884, inc. 1914. It is a yachting and fishing resort with varied light manufacturing...

Candela, Felix

(Encyclopedia)Candela, Felix (Félix Candela Outeriño) fāˈlēks kändāˈlä [key], 1910–97, Mexican-American architect, b. Madrid. Candela studied in Madrid but was forced to flee Spain after his participatio...

capacitance

(Encyclopedia)capacitance, in electricity, capability of a body, system, circuit, or device for storing electric charge. Capacitance is expressed as the ratio of stored charge in coulombs to the impressed potential...

catamaran

(Encyclopedia)catamaran kătˌəmərănˈ [key], watercraft made up of two connected hulls or a single hull with two parallel keels. Originally used by the natives of Polynesia, the catamaran design was adopted by ...

Caslon, William

(Encyclopedia)Caslon, William kăzˈlən [key], 1692–1766, English type designer, b. Worcestershire. He worked first in London as an engraver of gunlocks, then set up his own foundry in 1716. The merits of Caslon...

Ride, Sally Kristen

(Encyclopedia)Ride, Sally Kristen 1951–2012, American astrophysicist and astronaut, b. Encino, Calif. With an M.A. in physics (1975) and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Stanford Univ., she joined NASA in 1978, where...