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compressor

(Encyclopedia)compressor, machine that decreases the volume of air or other gas by the application of pressure. Compressor types range from the simple hand pump and the piston-equipped compressor used to inflate ti...

Largo Caballero, Francisco

(Encyclopedia)Largo Caballero, Francisco fränthēsˈkō lärˈgō käbälyāˈrō [key], 1869–1946, Spanish Socialist leader and politician. A trade union leader, he initially followed opportunistic policies and...

reserpine

(Encyclopedia)reserpine rĕsûrˈpēn [key], alkaloid isolated from the root of the snakeroot plant (Rauwolfia serpentina), a small evergreen climbing shrub of the dogbane family native to the Indian subcontinent. ...

Scroggs, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Scroggs, Sir William, 1623?–1683, English jurist. Educated at Oxford and trained in law at Gray's Inn, he became (1669) a king's sergeant, was made (1676) justice in common pleas through the influen...

Constantine I, king of Greece

(Encyclopedia)Constantine I, 1868–1923, king of the Hellenes, eldest son of George I, whom he succeeded in 1913. Married to Sophia, sister of the German emperor William II, he opposed the pro-Allied policy of the...

cross-laminated timber

(Encyclopedia)cross-laminated timber (CLT), manufactured wood panels that consist of layers of boards glued together under pressure with the grain of the boards in one layer running perpendicular to the grain in ad...

dimension, in physics

(Encyclopedia)dimension, in physics, an expression of the character of a derived quantity in relation to fundamental quantities, without regard for its numerical value. In any system of measurement, such as the met...

altimeter

(Encyclopedia)altimeter ăltĭmˈĭtər, ălˈtĭmēˌtər [key], device for measuring altitude. The most common type is an aneroid barometer calibrated to show the drop in atmospheric pressure in terms of linear e...

Vane, Sir John Robert

(Encyclopedia)Vane, Sir John Robert, 1927–2004, British pharmacologist, Ph.D. Oxford, 1953. With B. I. Samuelsson and Sune K. Bergström, Vane was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The trio ...

Vargas, Getúlio Dornelles

(Encyclopedia)Vargas, Getúlio Dornelles zhəto͞oˈlyō dôrnĕˈlĭs värˈgəs [key], 1883–1954, Brazilian statesman, twice president (1930–45, 1951–54). The popular governor of Rio Grande do Sul (1928–3...