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Longwy

(Encyclopedia)Longwy lôNwēˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 15,647), Meurthe-et-Moselle dept., NE France, near the Belgian and Luxembourg borders. The center of the Lorraine iron and steel industry, Longwy has been diver...

Müller, Karl Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Müller, Karl Alexander, 1927–, Swiss physicist, Ph.D. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 1958. In 1983, Müller and co-researcher Johannes Georg Bednorz discovered superconductivity in a cerami...

piccolo

(Encyclopedia)piccolo, small transverse flute pitched an octave higher than the standard flute. Its tone is bright and shrill, and it can produce the highest notes in the orchestral range. The piccolo is used in or...

Jim Crow laws

(Encyclopedia)Jim Crow laws, in U.S. history, statutes enacted by Southern states and municipalities, beginning in the 1880s, that legalized segregation between blacks and whites. The name is believed to be derived...

microcredit

(Encyclopedia)microcredit, the extension to individuals of small loans to be used for income-generating activities that will improve the borrowers' living standards. The borrowers, most of whom usually are poor wom...

Ontario, province, Canada

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Ontario ŏntârˈēō [key], province (2001 pop. 11,410,046), 412,582 sq mi (1,068,587 sq km), E central Canada. Before the arrival of Europeans the Ontario region was inhabited by several Al...

Tuskegee University

(Encyclopedia)Tuskegee University, at Tuskegee, Ala.; coeducational; chartered and opened 1881 by Booker T. Washington as Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. It became Tuskegee Institute in 1937 and adopted i...

waterspout

(Encyclopedia)waterspout, tornado occurring at sea or over inland waters. The characteristic funnel-shaped cloud is formed at the base of a cumulus-type cloud and extends downward to the water surface, where it pic...

Naismith, James

(Encyclopedia)Naismith, James nāˈsmĭth [key], 1861–1939, American athletic director, inventor (1891) of basketball, b. Almonte, Ontario. While an instructor of physical education at the International YMCA Trai...

Darboux, Jean Gaston

(Encyclopedia)Darboux, Jean Gaston zhäN gästôNˈ därbo͞oˈ [key], 1842–1917, French mathematician. He is known for his work on orthogonal surfaces and for his application of infinitesimal calculus to geometr...
 

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