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peritonitis

(Encyclopedia)peritonitis pĕrˌĭtənīˈtĭs [key], acute or chronic inflammation of the peritoneum, the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity and surrounds the internal organs. It is caused by invasion of bac...

photorealism

(Encyclopedia)photorealism, international art movement of the late 1960s and 70s that stressed the precise rendering of subject matter, often taken from actual photographs or painted with the aid of slides. Also kn...

Bagnold, Enid

(Encyclopedia)Bagnold, Enid băgˈnəld [key], 1889–1981, English novelist and playwright, b. Rochester, Kent, England. She was a nurse in a military hospital in World War I. In 1920 she married Sir Roderick Jone...

Wilson, Sir Angus

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Sir Angus, 1913–91, English novelist, b. South Africa. As a novelist, he attempted to delineate a society in which traditional values have lost their force and human relationships are corrup...

Wineland, David Jeffrey

(Encyclopedia)Wineland, David Jeffrey, 1944–, American physicist, b. Milwaukee, Wis., Ph.D. Harvard, 1970. Wineland has been a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Univ. of Col...

White, William Allen

(Encyclopedia)White, William Allen, 1868–1944, American author, b. Emporia, Kans., studied (1886–90) at Kansas State Univ. As owner and editor of the Emporia Gazette from 1895 until his death, he represented gr...

capillary

(Encyclopedia)capillary kăpˈəlĕrˌē [key], microscopic blood vessel, smallest unit of the circulatory system. Capillaries form a network of tiny tubes throughout the body, connecting arterioles (smallest arter...

materialism

(Encyclopedia)materialism, in philosophy, a widely held system of thought that explains the nature of the world as entirely dependent on matter, the fundamental and final reality beyond which nothing need be sought...

Nernst, Walther Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Nernst, Walther Hermann välˈtər hĕrˈmän nĕrnst [key], 1864–1941, German physicist and chemist, a founder of modern physical chemistry. After doing outstanding research on osmotic pressure and...

Nevers

(Encyclopedia)Nevers nəvĕrˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 43,889), capital of Nièvre dept., central France, on the Loire and Nièvre rivers. It is noted for its pottery and china industries. Other manufactures include...