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Graz

(Encyclopedia)Graz gräts [key], city, capital of Styria prov., SE Austria, on the Mur River. The second la...

planet

(Encyclopedia)planet [Gr.,=wanderer], a large nonluminous body of rock, gas, or ice that orbits the sun or another star, has a rounded shape due to gravity, and has cleared its orbit of smaller objects. The term, o...

Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus

(Encyclopedia)Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus hīnˈrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm mätĕˈo͝os ôlˈbərs [key], 1758–1840, German astronomer and physician. He originated (1797) the first satisfactory method for calculat...

perturbation

(Encyclopedia)perturbation pŭrˌtərbāˈshən [key], in astronomy and physics, small force or other influence that modifies the otherwise simple motion of some object. The term is also used for the effect produce...

Bruno, Giordano

(Encyclopedia)Bruno, Giordano jōrdäˈnō bro͞oˈnō [key], 1548–1600, Italian philosopher, b. Nola. The son of a professional soldier, he entered the Dominican order early in his youth and was ordained a pries...

conservation laws

(Encyclopedia)conservation laws, in physics, basic laws that together determine which processes can or cannot occur in nature; each law maintains that the total value of the quantity governed by that law, e.g., mas...

Dreyer, Johan Ludwig Emil

(Encyclopedia)Dreyer, Johan Ludwig Emil yōˈhän lo͝otˈvĭkh āˈmēl [key], 1852–1926, Danish astronomer, b. Copenhagen, who worked in Great Britain. He was assistant astronomer at the earl of Rosse's observa...

conflict of laws

(Encyclopedia)conflict of laws, that part of the law in each state, country, or other jurisdiction that determines whether, in dealing with a particular legal situation, its law or the law of some other jurisdictio...

war, laws of

(Encyclopedia)war, laws of, in international law, rules and principles regulating an armed conflict between nations. These laws are designed to minimize the destruction of life and property, to proscribe cruel trea...

Kirchhoff's laws

(Encyclopedia)Kirchhoff's laws [for Gustav R. Kirchhoff], pair of laws stating general restrictions on the current and voltage in an electric circuit. The first of these states that at any given instant the sum of ...
 

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