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global warming
global warming the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution .
The temperature of the atmosphere near the earth's surface is warmed through a natural process called the greenhouse effect....
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George Bentham
George Bentham , 1800-1884, one of the greatest of English systematic botanists; nephew of Jeremy Bentham. He wrote Handbook of British Flora (1858) and, with W. J. Hooker, Genera Plantarum (1862-83), as well as handbooks on the flora of several British possessions including a seven volume flora...
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Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski , 1928-, American political scientist and public official, b. Warsaw, Poland, grad. Harvard (Ph.D, 1953). The son of a diplomat, he was raised in Canada and became (1958) a U.S. citizen. A professor of international relations at Harvard (1953-60), Columbia (1960-89), an...
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Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama [Tibetan,=oceanic teacher], title of the leader of Tibetan Buddhism . Believed like his predecessors to be the incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, 1935-, was installed in 1940. In 1959, following a Tibetan revolt against Chinese rule (see ...
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National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences with headquarters in Washington, D.C., a private organization of leading American scientists and engineers devoted to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. The Academy was founded in 1863; there are presently about 2,000 members. Members are el...
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bourse
bourse , term applied to a European stock exchange . The first international bourse was established in Antwerp in the 16th cent. The Paris bourse, dating from 1720 but completely reorganized in 1999, consists of the main exchange, equivalent to the New York Stock Exchange, plus the Matif (the deriv...
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United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey bureau organized in 1879 under the Dept. of the Interior to unify and centralize the work already undertaken by separate surveys under Clarence King, F. V. Hayden, George W. Wheeler, and J. W. Powell . The functions of the bureau cover the exploration of the country...
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‘greenhouse effect’
‘greenhouse effect’ The effect of heat retention in the lower atmosphere as a result of absorption and reradiation of long-wave (more than 4 μm) terrestrial radiation by clouds and gases (e.g. water vapour and carbon dioxide). The insulating effect is not strictly analogous to th...
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Hans Küng
Hans Küng , 1928-, Swiss Roman Catholic theologian and author. Ordained in 1954, he became (1960) professor of theology at Tübingen Univ. and later served (1962-65) as adviser to the Second Vatican Council. Having consistently criticized papal authority, he became the first major Roman Cat...
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Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan (Herbert Marshall McLuhan), 1911-80, Canadian communications theorist and educator, b. Edmonton, Alta. He taught at the Univ. of Toronto (1946-80) and at other institutions of higher education in Canada and the United States. McLuhan gained popularity and fame in the 1960s with his...
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