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contrabassoon

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Contrabassoon contrabassoon, large, deep-toned instrument of the oboe family, also called double bassoon. Its tube, over 16 ft (5 m) long, is doubled upon itself four times. It was first made ...

Fischer, Edmond Henri

(Encyclopedia)Fischer, Edmond Henri, 1920–, American biochemist, b. Shanghai, China. As researchers at the Univ. of Washington in Seattle, Fischer and Edwin G. Krebs discovered a biological regulatory mechanism, ...

Horgan, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Horgan, Paul (Paul George Vincent O'Shaughnessy Horgan), 1903–95, American writer, b. Buffalo, N.Y. His diverse works reflect his fascination with the effects of history and landscape on people. Amo...

antihistamine

(Encyclopedia)antihistamine ănˌtĭhĭsˈtəmēn [key], any one of a group of compounds having various chemical structures and characterized by the ability to antagonize the effects of histamine. Their principal u...

intrauterine device

(Encyclopedia)intrauterine device (IUD), variously shaped birth control device, usually of plastic, which is inserted into the uterus by a physician. The IUD may contain copper or levonorgestrel, a progestin (a hor...

Jouvet, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Jouvet, Louis lwē zho͞ovāˈ [key], 1887–1951, French actor, producer, and director. A member of Copeau's Théâtre du Vieux Colombier after 1913, he left in 1922 to organize his own theater. He w...

Wilson, Kenneth Geddes

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Kenneth Geddes, 1936–2013, American physicist, b. Waltham, Mass., Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1961. A professor at Cornell (1963–88) and Ohio State Univ. (1988–2008), Wilso...

cortisone

(Encyclopedia)cortisone kôrˈtĭsōnˌ [key], steroid hormone whose main physiological effect is on carbohydrate metabolism. It is synthesized from cholesterol in the outer layer, or cortex, of the adrenal gland u...

Mott Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Mott Foundation, philanthropic trust created (1926) by automobile executive Charles Stewart Mott (1875–1973) to support programs dealing with selected urban problems. The foundation originally conce...

Laki

(Encyclopedia)Laki, volcano, 2,684 ft (818 m) high, S Iceland, at SW edge of the Vatnajökull glacier. Its eruption in 1783 was one of the more devastating on record, leading to the deaths of a quarter of Iceland's...