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acetic acid

(Encyclopedia)acetic acid əsēˈtĭk [key], CH3CO2H, colorless liquid that has a characteristic pungent odor, boils at 118℃, and is miscible with water in all proportions; it is a weak organic carboxylic acid (s...

Shaffer, Sir Peter

(Encyclopedia)Shaffer, Sir Peter shăfˈər [key], 1926–2016, English playwright, b. Liverpool, grad. Cambridge, 1950. Before turning to the stage he wrote for radio and television and was the author of several m...

Guthrie, Woody

(Encyclopedia)Guthrie, Woody (Woodrow Wilson Guthrie), 1912–67, American folk singer, guitarist, and composer, b. Okemah, Okla. Guthrie was an itinerant musician and laborer from the age of 13. Deeply involved in...

Peck, Gregory

(Encyclopedia)Peck, Gregory, 1916–2003, American movie actor, b. La Jolla, Calif., as Eldred Gregory Peck. Peck studied at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse and debuted on Broadway in The Morning Star (1942) and ...

Adler, Larry

(Encyclopedia)Adler, Larry (Lawrence Cecil Adler) ădˈlər [key], 1914–2001, American harmonica player, b. Baltimore. Adler, whose career spanned seven decades, is generally credited with elevating the harmonica...

Gotham

(Encyclopedia)Gotham gŏthˈəm [key], name for New York City first used by Washington Irving and others in the Salmagundi Papers, with satirical reference to Gotham, England, where the wise men acted as fools in o...

Beatty, Warren

(Encyclopedia)Beatty, Warren (Henry Warren Beaty) bāˈtē, bēˈ– [key], 1937–, motion picture act...

robot

(Encyclopedia)robot or automaton ôtämˈətänˌ [key] mechanical device designed to perform the work generally done by a human being. The Czech dramatist Karel Čapek popularized the expression [Czech,=compulsory...

induction, in electricity and magnetism

(Encyclopedia)induction, in electricity and magnetism, common name for three distinct phenomena. Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) in a conductor as a result of a changing ...

W and Z particles

(Encyclopedia)W and Z particles, elementary particles that mediate, or carry, the fundamental force associated with weak interactions. The discovery of the W and Z particles at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, in the...