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blasting

(Encyclopedia)blasting, shattering, breaking, or splitting of rock or other material by the discharge of an explosive placed within or in contact with it. It is a necessary part of many engineering operations. An a...

Leggett, Sir Anthony James

(Encyclopedia)Leggett, Sir Anthony James, 1938–, British physicist, Ph.D. Oxford, 1964. He was a professor at Sussex Univ., England, from 1967 to 1983, when he joined the faculty at the Univ. of Illinois at Urban...

Moissan, Henri Ferdinand Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Moissan, Henri Ferdinand Frederick, 1852–1907, French chemist, Ph.D. École Pratique des Haute Études, Paris, 1880. Moissan was a professor at the School of Pharmacy in Paris (1886–1900) and at t...

optical activity

(Encyclopedia)optical activity, the ability of asymmetric compounds to rotate the orientation of planar polarized light. Such compounds and their mirror images are know as enantiomers, or optical isomers. Although ...

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...

Elamite

(Encyclopedia)Elamite ēˈləmītˌ [key], extinct language of uncertain relationship that was once spoken in the ancient kingdom of Elam, located in SW Asia. It appears to be unrelated to any other languages, alth...

composite material

(Encyclopedia)composite material or composite, any material made from at least two discrete substances, such as concrete. Many materials are produced as composites, such as the fiberglass-reinforced plastics used f...

accounting

(Encyclopedia)accounting, classification, analysis, and interpretation of the financial, or bookkeeping, records of an enterprise. The professional who supplies such services is known as an accountant. Auditing is ...

Mott, Sir Nevill

(Encyclopedia)Mott, Sir Nevill, 1905–96, British physicist. A professor at the Univ. of Bristol (1933–54) and the Univ. of Cambridge (1954–71), Mott won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977 for a lifetime of re...

Brown, Capability

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Capability (Lancelot Brown), 1715–83, English landscape gardener, b. Kirkharle, Northumberland. The leading landscape gardener of his time, he is known for designing gardens that broke with t...
 

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