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Michael Moore
Michael Moore 1954-, American documentary filmmaker, author, and sociopolitical activist, b. Flint, Mich. After working as an alternative print and radio journalist, he embarked on a career as a highly personal, populist, frequently polarizing, and increasingly controversial documentary filmmaker. ...
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artificial pacemaker
artificial pacemaker device used to stimulate a rhythmic heartbeat by means of electrical impulses. Implanted in the body when the heart's own electrical conduction system (natural pacemaker) does not function normally, the battery-powered device emits impulses that trigger heart-muscle contraction...
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Geiger counter
Geiger counter or Geiger-Müller (G-M) counter , instrument for the detection and quantitative determination of ionizing radiation such as the alpha and beta rays given off by radioactive minerals and cosmic rays. It was first developed by Hans (J. W.) Geiger and later improved by Geiger a...
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H. Ross Perot
H. Ross Perot (Henry Ross Perot), 1930-, American business executive and political leader, b. Texarkana, Tex., grad. Annapolis, 1953. In 1957 he resigned his commission and became a salesman for IBM. In 1962 he founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS), one of the first computer data service companies....
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Swabia
Swabia , Ger. Schwaben, historic region, mainly in S Baden-Württemberg and SW Bavaria, SW Germany. It is bounded in the east by Upper Bavaria, in the west by France, and in the south by Switzerland and Austria. It includes the former Prussian province of Hohenzollern. The main physical featur...
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Tay-Sachs disease
Tay-Sachs disease , rare hereditary disease caused by a genetic mutation that leaves the body unable to produce an enzyme necessary for fat metabolism in nerve cells, producing central nervous system degeneration. The disease is named for a British ophthalmologist, Warren Tay, who first describe...
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William Grocyn
William Grocyn , 1446?-1519, English humanist. An associate of John Colet and Thomas Linacre , he reputedly introduced the teaching of Greek at Oxford.
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antitoxin
antitoxin any of a group of antibodies formed in the body as a response to the introduction of poisonous products, or toxins . By introducing small amounts of a specific toxin into the healthy body, it is possible to stimulate the production of antitoxin so that the body's defenses are already est...
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Apollodorus
Apollodorus , fl. 430-400 BC, Athenian painter, called the Shadower, said to have introduced the use of light and shade to model form. Among his few known works are Ajax Struck by Lightning and Priest in the Act of Devotion; both were at Pergamum in the time of Pliny the Elder; none has survived...
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bolero
bolero , national dance of Spain, introduced c.1780 by Sebastian Zerezo, or Cerezo. Of Moroccan origin, it resembles the fandango . It is in 2-4 or 3-4 time for solo or duo dancing and is performed to the accompaniment of castanets, guitar, and the voices of the dancers. Ravel's Bolero is in this...
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