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facsimile

(Encyclopedia)facsimile făksĭmˈəlē [key] or fax, in communications, system for transmitting pictures or other graphic matter by wire or radio. Facsimile is used to transmit such materials as documents, telegra...

Karlin, John Elias

(Encyclopedia)Karlin, John Elias, American industrial psychologist and human-factors engineering pioneer, b. Johannesburg, South Africa, grad. Univ. of Cape Town (B.A., M.A.), Univ. of Chicago (Ph.D., 1942). With a...

Brantford

(Encyclopedia)Brantford, city, S Ont., Canada, on the Grand River. It is a leading manufacturing city, noted particularly for its large farm implement factories. The ...

Pierce, John

(Encyclopedia)Pierce, John, 1910–2002, American electrical engineer, b. Des Moines, Iowa, grad. California Institute of Technology (Ph.D. 1936). Pierce worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he proposed...

Milgrom, Paul Robert

(Encyclopedia)Milgrom, Paul Robert, 1948–, American economist, b. Detroit, Ph.D. Stanford, 1979. He has been a professor of economics at Stanford since 1987, and previously taught at Northwestern Univ. (1979–83...

Williams, Robert R., Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Robert R., Jr., 1886–1965, American chemist, b. India, grad. Univ. of Chicago (B.S., 1907); brother of Roger John Williams. Research undertaken in 1910, while he was chemist (1908–15) at...

Bekesy, Georg von

(Encyclopedia)Bekesy, Georg von gāˈôrk fən bĕkˈĭshē [key], 1899–1972, American biophysicist, b. Budapest, Hungary, grad. Univ. of Budapest (Ph.D. 1923). He was (1923–46) a physicist in the research labo...

cable

(Encyclopedia)cable, originally wire cordage of great strength or heavy metal chain used for hauling, towing, supporting the roadway of a suspension bridge, or securing a large ship to its anchor or mooring. Today ...

creosote

(Encyclopedia)creosote krēˈəsōt [key], volatile, heavy, oily liquid obtained by the distillation of coal tar or wood tar. Creosote derived from beechwood tar has been used medicinally as an antiseptic and in th...

Davisson, Clinton Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Davisson, Clinton Joseph dāˈvĭsən [key], 1881–1958, American physicist, b. Bloomington, Ill. He joined the engineering department of the Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1917. Davisson worked on t...

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