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interstellar matter

(Encyclopedia)interstellar matter, matter in a galaxy between the stars, known also as the interstellar medium. The interstellar gas, which constitutes about 99% of the interstellar matter, consists mostly of hyd...

black hole

(Encyclopedia)black hole, in astronomy, celestial object of such extremely intense gravity that it attracts everything near it and in some instances prevents everything, including light, from escaping. The term was...

Newhouse, Samuel Irving

(Encyclopedia)Newhouse, Samuel Irving, 1895–1979, American newspaper and magazine publisher, b. New York City as Solomon Neuhaus, known generally as Sam. From 1922 to the 1970s, his Advance Publications acquired ...

melodrama

(Encyclopedia)melodrama [Gr.,=song-drama], originally a spoken text with musical background, as in Greek drama. The form was popular in the 18th cent., when its composers included Georg Benda, J. J. Rousseau, and W...

minstrel show

(Encyclopedia)minstrel show, stage entertainment by white performers made up as blacks. Thomas Dartmouth Rice, who gave (c.1828) the first solo performance in blackface and introduced the song-and-dance act Jim Cro...

Atkins, Chet

(Encyclopedia)Atkins, Chet (Chester Burton Atkins), 1924–2001, American country guitarist, singer, and record company executive, b. Luttrell, Tenn. Part of a musical family, he played fiddle and guitar as a young...

Lemmon, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Lemmon, Jack (John Uhler Lemmon 3d), 1925–2001, American actor, b. Newton, Mass., grad. Harvard (1947). He became famous in roles ranging from sardonic comedy to compelling drama, ultimately achievi...

National Science Foundation

(Encyclopedia)National Science Foundation (NSF), an independent agency in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government concerned with promoting a national science policy by supporting basic research and educ...

theremin

(Encyclopedia)theremin thĕrˈəmən [key], one of the earliest electronic musical instruments, invented (1920) in the Soviet Union and named for its creator, Leon Theremin. A forerunner of the synthesizer, it cons...

Cline, Patsy

(Encyclopedia)Cline, Patsy, 1932–63, American country singer, b. Winchester, Va., as Virginia Patterson Hensley. She began singing locally while still in her teens and signed her first recording contract in 1953,...