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aberration
aberration in optics, condition that causes a blurring and loss of clearness in the images produced by lenses or mirrors. Of the many types of aberration, the two most significant to the lens maker are spherical and chromatic. Spherical aberration is caused by the failure of a lens or mirror of...
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Leonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler , 1707-83, Swiss mathematician. Born and educated at Basel, where he knew the Bernoullis, he went to St. Petersburg (1727) at the invitation of Catherine I, becoming professor of mathematics there on the departure of Daniel Bernoulli (1733). He was invited to Berlin (1741) by Frederic...
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City University of New York
City University of New York (CUNY), at New York City; created in 1961 by combining the city's 17 municipal colleges. It includes Bernard M. Baruch College (1919; specializes in business studies), Brooklyn College (1930), City College (1847; the oldest member college), the College of Staten Island (...
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Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau , 1879-1949, French theatrical producer and critic. A founder (1909) and editor (1912-14) of the Nouvelle Revue française, he established the experimental Théâtre du Vieux Colombier in Paris (1913-24) in order to produce poetic drama of artistic worth. Ever in se...
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Ordinance of 1787
Ordinance of 1787 adopted by the Congress of Confederation for the government of the Western territories ceded to the United States by the states. It created the Northwest Territory and is frequently called the Northwest Ordinance. It was based on the ordinance of 1784, drafted by Thomas Jefferson,...
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Faust
Faust , Faustus , or Johann Faust , fl. 16th cent., learned German doctor who traveled widely, performed magical feats, and died under mysterious circumstances. According to legend he had sold his soul to the devil (personified by Mephistopheles in many literary versions) in exchange for youth...
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vulture
vulture common name for large birds of prey of temperate and tropical regions. The Old World vultures (family Accipitridae) are allied to hawks and eagles; the more ancient American vultures and condors are of a different family (Cathartidae) with distant links to storks and cormorants. American ...
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bassoon
bassoon , double-reed woodwind instrument that plays in the bass and tenor registers. Its 8-ft (2.4-m) conical tube is bent double, the instrument thus being about 4 ft (1.2 m) high. It evolved from earlier double-reed instruments in the 16th cent. and by 1600 was common throughout Europe. When the ...
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Nagasaki
Nagasaki , city (1990 pop. 444,599), capital of Nagasaki prefecture, W Kyushu, Japan, on Nagasaki Bay. It is one of Japan's leading ports. Shipbuilding is the chief industry; steelworks, collieries, fisheries, and electrical machinery plants are also important. Nagasaki's port, the first to receive ...
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Augusto Pinochet Ugarte
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte , 1915-2006, president and dictator of Chile (1973-90). An army general who served as chief of staff (1972-73) and commander of the army (1973), he led the coup that overthrew socialist president Salvador Allende (Sept., 1973). As head of a four-man military junta, he resor...
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