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Bergson, Henri

(Encyclopedia)Bergson, Henri äNrēˈ bĕrgsôNˈ [key], 1859–1941, French philosopher. He became a professor at the Collège de France in 1900, devoted some time to politics, and, after World War I, took an inte...

transit instrument

(Encyclopedia)transit instrument or transit, telescope devised to observe stars as they cross the meridian and used for determining time. Its viewing tube swings on a rigid horizontal axis restricting its movements...

Bingham, George Caleb

(Encyclopedia)Bingham, George Caleb, 1811–79, American painter and politician, b. Augusta co., Va. His family moved (1819) to Missouri, which was the site of most of Bingham's activities. In 1837 he studied for a...

language

(Encyclopedia)language, systematic communication by vocal symbols. It is a universal characteristic of the human species. Nothing is known of its origin, although scientists have identified a gene that clearly cont...

atomic clock

(Encyclopedia)atomic clock, electric or electronic timekeeping device that is controlled by atomic or molecular oscillations. A timekeeping device must contain or be connected to some apparatus that oscillates at a...

sea level

(Encyclopedia)sea level, the level of the sea, which serves as the datum used for measurement of land elevations and ocean depths. Theoretically, one would expect sea level to be a fixed and permanent horizontal su...

pendulum

(Encyclopedia)pendulum, a mass, called a bob, suspended from a fixed point so that it can swing in an arc determined by its momentum and the force of gravity. The length of a pendulum is the distance from the point...

clock

(Encyclopedia) CE5 A pendulum clock: Weight-driven clock mechanism clock, instrument for measuring and indicating time. Predecessors of the clock were the sundial, the hourglass, and the clepsydra. See also watc...

Descartes, René

(Encyclopedia)Descartes, René rənāˈ dākärtˈ [key], Lat. Renatus Cartesius, 1596–1650, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, b. La Haye. Descartes' methodology was a major influence in the trans...

number

(Encyclopedia)number, entity describing the magnitude or position of a mathematical object or extensions of these concepts. A real or complex number z is called algebraic if it is the root of a polynomial equati...
 

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