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clavichord

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Clavichord clavichord klăvˈĭkôrd [key], keyboard musical instrument invented in the Middle Ages. It consists of a small rectangular wooden box, placed upon a table or on legs, containing a...

glockenspiel

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Glockenspiel glockenspiel glŏkˈənspēl [key] [Ger.,=bell-play], percussion instrument. The medieval glockenspiel was a sort of miniature carillon (see bell), sometimes played mechanically b...

ultimatum

(Encyclopedia)ultimatum ŭlˌtĭmāˈtəm [key], in international law, final, definitive terms submitted by one disputant nation to the other for immediate acceptance or rejection. Since refusal to accept the terms...

Frederick William I

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William I, 1688–1740, king of Prussia (1713–40), son and successor of Frederick I. He continued the administrative reforms and the process of centralization begun by Frederick William, t...

Hogwood, Christopher Jarvis Haley

(Encyclopedia)Hogwood, Christopher Jarvis Haley, 1941–2014, British conductor, musicologist, and harpsichordist, b. Nottingham, grad. Cambridge (1964). He was an leader of the early-music movement, which sought t...

spectroscope

(Encyclopedia)spectroscope, optical instrument for producing spectral lines and measuring their wavelengths and intensities, used in spectral analysis (see spectrum). When a material is heated to incandescence it e...

Piazzolla, Ástor Pantaleón

(Encyclopedia)Piazzolla, Ástor Pantaleón, 1921–92, Argentinian composer and player of the bandoneón (a large accordionlike instrument), b. Mar del Plata. He spent much of his childhood in New York, returned (1...

ceilometer

(Encyclopedia)ceilometer sēlŏmˈĭtər [key], in aviation and meteorology, automatic instrument used to record ceiling, i.e., the altitude of the lowest cloud layer covering more than half of the sky. The ceilome...

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory sāˈrō tōlōˈlō [key], astronomical observatory located on Cerro Tololo peak, Chile, with offices in La Serena, about 40 mi (64 km) to the west. Funded by ...

bolometer

(Encyclopedia)bolometer bōlŏmˈətər, bə– [key], instrument for detecting and measuring radiation, e.g., visible light, infrared radiation, and ultraviolet radiation, in amounts as small as one millionth of a...