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Huygens, Christiaan

(Encyclopedia)Huygens, Christiaan krĭsˈtyän hoiˈgəns [key], 1629–95, Dutch mathematician and physicist; son of Constantijn Huygens. He improved telescopic lenses and discovered (1655) a satellite of Saturn a...

ampere

(Encyclopedia)ampere ămˈpēr [key], abbr. amp or A, basic unit of electric current. It is the fundamental electrical unit used with the mks system of units of the metric system. The ampere is officially defined a...

Brewster, Sir David

(Encyclopedia)Brewster, Sir David, 1781–1868, Scottish physicist and natural philosopher. He is noted especially for his research into the polarization of light (the invention of the kaleidoscope was one result o...

Aepinus, Franz Ulrich Theodosius

(Encyclopedia)Aepinus, Franz Ulrich Theodosius fränts o͝olˈrĭkh tāˌōdōˈzēo͝os âpēˈno͝os [key], 1724–1802, German physicist. He studied at Jena and Rostock and taught mathematics at Rostock from 174...

Walker, Francis Amasa

(Encyclopedia)Walker, Francis Amasa, 1840–97, American economist, statistician, and educator, b. Boston, grad. Amherst; son of Amasa Walker. In the Civil War he was brevetted brigadier general. Walker's activitie...

greenback

(Encyclopedia)greenback, in U.S. history, legal tender notes unsecured by specie (coin). In 1862, under the exigencies of the Civil War, the U.S. government first issued legal tender notes (popularly called greenba...

Parsons, Talcott

(Encyclopedia)Parsons, Talcott, 1902–79, American sociologist, b. Colorado Springs, Colo., educated at Amherst College (B.A., 1924), London School of Economics, and Univ. of Heidelberg (Ph.D., 1927). He was on th...

Lasker, Emanuel

(Encyclopedia)Lasker, Emanuel āmäˈno͞oĕl [key], 1868–1941, German chess player. He won the world championship in 1894 when he defeated Wilhelm Steinitz and held it until he was defeated by José Raúl Capabl...

Eisner, Kurt

(Encyclopedia)Eisner, Kurt ko͝ortˈ īsˈnər [key], 1867–1919, German socialist. He studied at the Friedrich Wilhelm Univ. in Berlin and edited several leading socialist newspapers. In 1917 he joined the newly ...

Eastman, George

(Encyclopedia)Eastman, George, 1854–1932, American inventor, industrialist, and philanthropist, b. Waterville, N.Y. By mass production of his photographic inventions, Eastman enormously stimulated the development...
 

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