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yerba buena

(Encyclopedia) yerba buenayerba buenayĕrˈbə bwāˈnə [key], trailing evergreen perennial (Micromeria chamissonis) of the family Labiatae (mint family). It is native to W North America and especially…

Mount Wilson Observatory

(Encyclopedia) Mount Wilson Observatory, astronomical observatory located in California on Mt. Wilson, near Pasadena. Mt. Wilson Observatory was founded in 1904 by George E. Hale. Its equipment…

Didion, Joan

(Encyclopedia) Didion, Joan Didion, Joan dĭdˈēŏn [key], 1934–2021, American writer, b. Sacramento, Calif., Univ. of…

Sinclair, Upton

(Encyclopedia) Sinclair, Upton (Upton Beall Sinclair), 1878–1968, American novelist and socialist activist, b. Baltimore, grad. College of the City of New York, 1897. He was one of the muckrakers,…

Eocene epoch

(Encyclopedia) Eocene epochEocene epochēˈəsēnˌ [key], second epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time, from approximately 54.9 to 38 million years ago. The Eocene in North…

gecko

(Encyclopedia) geckogeckogĕkˈō [key], small or medium-sized lizard of the family Gekkonidae. Some 1,500 species are distributed throughout the warm regions of the world, mostly in the Old World.…

californium

(Encyclopedia) californiumcaliforniumkălˈĭfôrˌnēəm [key] [from California], artificially produced, radioactive metallic chemical element; symbol Cf; at. no. 98; mass no. of most stable isotope 251; m…

Kingston, Maxine Hong

(Encyclopedia) Kingston, Maxine Hong, 1940–, American writer, b. Stockton, Calif., grad. Univ. of California, Berkeley (1962). The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she explores the experience of…

Lyon, Nathaniel

(Encyclopedia) Lyon, Nathaniel, 1818–61, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Eastford, Conn. After serving against the Seminole and in the Mexican War, he was stationed in California and…

Alfvén, Hannes Olof Gösta

(Encyclopedia) Alfvén, Hannes Olof Gösta, 1908–95, Swedish physicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Uppsala, 1934. He was a lecturer at Uppsala from 1934 to 1937 and a researcher at the Nobel Institute of Physics…