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Newton, Sir Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Newton, Sir Isaac, 1642–1727, English mathematician and natural philosopher (physicist), who is considered by many the greatest scientist that ever lived. Newton was his university's representa...

Michelson, Albert Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Michelson, Albert Abraham mīˈkəlsən [key], 1852–1931, American physicist, b. Strelno, Prussia, grad. Annapolis, 1873, and studied at Berlin, Heidelberg, and Paris. He was professor of physics at...

time and motion study

(Encyclopedia)time and motion study, analysis of the operations required to produce a manufactured article in a factory, with the aim of increasing efficiency. Each operation is studied minutely and analyzed in ord...

stroboscope

(Encyclopedia)stroboscope strŏbˈəskōp [key], optical instrument for making a moving object appear to be slowed down or stationary. This effect is created by interrupting the observer's view so that the object i...

speed

(Encyclopedia)speed, change in distance with respect to time. Speed is a scalar rather than a vector quantity; i.e., the speed of a body tells one how fast the body is moving but not the direction of the motion. If...

aberration of starlight

(Encyclopedia)aberration of starlight, displacement of the apparent path of light from a star, resulting in a displacement of the apparent position of the star from its true position; discovered by the English astr...

Brahe, Tycho

(Encyclopedia)Brahe, Tycho tīˈkō brä [key], 1546–1601, Danish astronomer. The most prominent astronomer of the late 16th cent., he paved the way for future discoveries by improving instruments and by his prec...

work

(Encyclopedia)work, in physics and mechanics, transfer of energy by a force acting to displace a body. Work is equal to the product of the force and the distance through which it produces movement. Although both fo...

Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice dĭrăkˈ [key], 1902–84, English physicist. He was educated at the Univ. of Bristol and St. John's College, Cambridge, and became professor of mathematics at Cambridge in...

auteur

(Encyclopedia)auteur ōtörˈ [key], in film criticism, a director who so dominates the film-making process that it is appropriate to call the director the auteur, or author, of the motion picture. The auteur theor...
 

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