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combining weight

(Encyclopedia)combining weight, the proportion (by weight) in which a chemical element combines with other elements to form compounds. The determination of combining weights was a very important part of early chemi...

Consalvi, Ercole

(Encyclopedia)Consalvi, Ercole ārkôˈlā kōnsälˈvē [key], 1757–1824, Italian cardinal and papal diplomat. In his first term (1800–1806) as secretary of state for Pope Pius VII he negotiated the Concordat ...

gilding

(Encyclopedia)gilding, process of applying a thin layer of real or imitation gold to a surface. The process is employed on wood, metal, ivory, leather, paper, glass, porcelain, and fabrics and is used to embellish ...

pastry

(Encyclopedia)pastry, general name for baked articles of food made of paste or having paste as a necessary ingredient. The name is also used for the paste itself. The essential elements of paste are flour, liquid (...

gunmetal

(Encyclopedia)gunmetal, a bronze, an alloy of copper, tin, and a small amount of zinc. Although originally used extensively for making guns (from which it received its name), it has been superseded by steel, and it...

Gwilt, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Gwilt, Joseph gwĭlt [key], 1784–1863, British architect, archaeologist, and writer, known chiefly for his Encyclopaedia of Architecture, Historical, Theoretical, and Practical (8 vol., 1842). Among...

Burbidge, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Burbidge, Margaret, 1925–2020, Anglo-American astronomer, b. England as Eleanor Margaret Peachey. Burbidge; her husband, Geoffrey Burbidge; William Fowler; and Sir Fred Hoyle showed (1956) how heavi...

Cambert, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Cambert, Robert rōbĕrˈ käNbĕrˈ [key], c.1628–1677, French composer; pupil of Chambonnières. His Pastorale d'Issy (1659) and other works are among the first real French operas. With the libret...

black humor

(Encyclopedia)black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...

Möbius, Augustus Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Möbius, Augustus Ferdinand mōˈbēəs, Ger. möˈbēəs [key],(1790–1868), German mathematician and astronomer, b. Schulpforta, Saxony. A professor of astronomy at the Univ. of Leipzig, he made im...