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nuclear winter

(Encyclopedia)nuclear winter, theory holding that the smoke and dust produced by a large nuclear war would result in a prolonged period of cold on the earth. The earliest version of the theory, which was put forwar...

Zwicky, Fritz

(Encyclopedia)Zwicky, Fritz tsvĭkˈē [key], 1898–1974, Swiss-American astrophysicist, b. Bulgaria, educated at Zürich. Associated with the California Institute of Technology after his arrival in the United Sta...

uniformitarianism

(Encyclopedia)uniformitarianism, in geology, doctrine holding that changes in the earth's surface that occurred in past geologic time are referable to the same causes as changes now being produced upon the earth's ...

Yukawa, Hideki

(Encyclopedia)Yukawa, Hideki hēˈdĕkē yo͞okäˈwä [key], 1907–81, Japanese physicist, grad. Kyoto Univ., 1929, Ph.D. Osaka Univ., 1938. He was professor of physics at Kyoto Univ. from 1939 to 1970. He receiv...

James I, king of England

(Encyclopedia)James I, 1566–1625, king of England (1603–25) and, as James VI, of Scotland (1567–1625). James's reign witnessed the beginnings of English colonization in North America (Jamestown was founded in...

Boyle, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Boyle, Robert, 1627–91, Anglo-Irish physicist and chemist. The seventh son of the 1st earl of Cork, he was educated at Eton and on the Continent and conducted most of his researches at his own labor...

Romer, Paul Michael

(Encyclopedia)Romer, Paul Michael, 1955–, American economist, b. Denver, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1983. He has taught at the Univ. of Rochester (1982–88), Univ. of Chicago (1988–90), Univ. of California at Ber...

Garofalo, Raffaele

(Encyclopedia)Garofalo, Raffaele gärôˈfälō [key], 1851–1934, Italian jurist and criminologist. He studied at the Univ. of Naples, where he later taught law and criminal procedure. Second only to Enrico Ferr...

intoxication

(Encyclopedia)intoxication, condition of body tissue affected by a poisonous substance. Poisonous materials, or toxins, are to be found in heavy metals such as lead and mercury, in drugs, in chemicals such as alcoh...

Vickrey, William Spencer

(Encyclopedia)Vickrey, William Spencer, 1914–96, Canadian economist, b. Victoria, B.C., Ph.D. Columbia, 1947. He was on the faculty of Columbia from 1946 until his death. In 1996 he and James Mirrlees shared the ...