city, seat (1867) of DuPage county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It is a suburb of Chicago, located about 25 miles (40 km) west of downtown. The first settlers (1837) were Erastus Gary and brothers Warren and Jesse Wheaton, all of whom ...
private, coeducational liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, U.S. Wheaton College began as a preparatory school, the Illinois Institute, built by Wesleyan Methodists in 1854. It became a college in 1860 and was renamed for an early donor, Warren L. ...
private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Norton, Massachusetts, U.S. It is a liberal arts college offering bachelor's degree programs in such areas as biological and physical sciences, computer science, economics, music, psychology, and humanities. Students may create interdisciplinary majors; ...
English physicist who popularized the Wheatstone bridge, a device that accurately measured electrical resistance and became widely used in laboratories.
basic machine component for amplifying force. In its earliest form it was probably used for raising weights or water buckets from wells. Its principle of operation is demonstrated by the large and small gears attached to the same shaft, as ...
device for igniting the powder in a firearm such as a musket. It was developed in about 1515. The wheel lock struck a spark to ignite powder on the pan of a musket. It did so by means of a ...
highest point (13,161 feet [4,011 metres]) in New Mexico, U.S. The peak is located in Taos county, 70 miles (113 km) north-northeast of Santa Fe, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and within Carson National Forest. It was named for ...
physicist, the first American involved in the theoretical development of the atomic bomb. He also originated a novel approach to the unified field theory.
British archaeologist, noted for his discoveries in Great Britain and India and for his advancement of scientific technique in archaeology. He was also a great popularizer of his subject, particularly on television.
19th vice president of the United States (1877-81) who, with Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes, took office by the decision of an Electoral Commission appointed to rule on contested electoral ballots in the 1876 election.
American entomologist recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on ants and other social insects. Two of his works, Ants: Their Structure, Development, and Behavior (1910) and Social Life Among the Insects (1923), long served as standard references on ...
city, seat of Ohio county, in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, U.S., on the Ohio River (there bridged to Martins Ferry, Bridgeport, and Bellaire, Ohio). The site was settled in 1769 by the Zane family. The name Wheeling supposedly ...
any marine snail of the family Buccinidae (subclass Prosobranchia of the class Gastropoda), or a snail having a similar shell. Some are incorrectly called conchs. The sturdy shell of most buccinids is elongated and has a wide aperture in the ...
English philosopher and historian remembered both for his writings on ethics and for his work on the theory of induction, a philosophical analysis of particulars to arrive at a scientific generalization.
watery fraction that forms along with curd when milk coagulates. It contains the water-soluble constituents of milk and is essentially a 5 percent solution of lactose in water, with some minerals and lactalbumin.
island, part of Island county, northwestern Washington, U.S., in Puget Sound. Approximately 40 miles (65 km) long, it is one of the largest offshore islands in the continental United States. Its chief towns are Oak Harbor, Coupeville (a preserved historic ...
island in Bantry Bay, County Cork, Ireland. It lies 2 miles (3 km) west of Bantry, at the head of Bantry Bay. It is about 3.5 miles (5.5 km) from northeast to southwest and about 1 mile (1.6 km) across. ...
members of two opposing political parties or factions in England, particularly during the 18th century. Originally "Whig" and "Tory" were terms of abuse introduced in 1679 during the heated struggle over the bill to exclude James, duke of York (afterward ...
in U.S. history, major political party active in the period 1834-54 that espoused a program of national development but foundered on the rising tide of sectional antagonism. The Whig Party was formally organized in 1834, bringing together a loose coalition ...
glass with no utilitarian purpose, executed to satisfy the whim of the glassmaker. Such offhand exercises in skill are almost as old as glassmaking itself. Some of the earliest pieces blown for fun are boots and hats made in Germany ...
(Saxicola rubetra), Eurasian thrush named for its habitat: swampy meadows, called, in England, whins. This species, 13 centimetres (5 inches) long, one of the chat-thrush group (family Turdidae, order Passeriformes), is brown-streaked above and buffy below, with white patches on ...
any of the 75 species of the order Uropygi (sometimes Thelyphonida) of the arthropod class Arachnida. They look like true scorpions, but the larger species have a whiplike telson, or tail-an organ of touch, devoid of a stinger. The second ...
either of the two species of the Australian genus Psophodes, belonging to the songbird family Muscicapidae. They are named for the voice of the eastern whipbird (P. olivaceus): the male gives a long whistle and a loud crack, and the ...
injury to the cervical spine and its soft tissues caused by forceful flexion or extension of the neck, especially that occurring during an automobile accident. It may involve sprain, fracture, or dislocation and may vary greatly in location, extent, and ...
hound breed developed in mid-19th-century England to chase rabbits for sport in an arena. The breed was developed from terriers and small English greyhounds; Italian greyhounds were later bred in to give the whippet a sleek appearance. A greyhound-like dog ...
American pathologist whose discovery that raw liver fed to chronically bled dogs will reverse the effects of anemia led directly to successful liver treatment of pernicious anemia by the American physicians George R. Minot and William P. Murphy. This major ...
(Caprimulgus vociferus), nocturnal bird of North America belonging to the family Caprimulgidae (see caprimulgiform) and closely resembling the related common nightjar of Europe. It is named for its vigorous deliberate call (first and third syllables accented), which it may repeat ...
any of certain worms of the genus Trichuris, class Nematoda (phylum Aschelminthes), especially T. trichiura, that are parasitic in the large intestine of man and other mammals. They are so named because of the whiplike shape of the body.
(foaled 1938), American racehorse (Thoroughbred) who in 1941 captured the U.S. Triple Crown-the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. A chestnut colt distinguished by an unusually long tail, he was sired by Blenheim II (an English-bred horse) ...
any member of the approximately 700 species of the cosmopolitan insect family Gyrinidae (order Coleoptera). These beetles are usually seen in groups, spinning and whirling around on the surfaces of quiet ponds or lakes. Whirligig beetles prey on insects and ...
rotary oceanic current, a large-scale eddy that is produced by the interaction of rising and falling tides. Similar currents that exhibit a central downdraft are termed vortexes and occur where coastal and bottom configurations provide narrow passages of considerable depth. ...
a small-diameter columnar vortex of rapidly swirling air. A broad spectrum of vortices occurs in the atmosphere, ranging in scale from small eddies that form in the lee of buildings and topographic features to fire storms, waterspouts, and tornadoes. While ...
any of several distilled liquors made from a fermented mash of cereal grains and including Scotch, Irish, and Canadian whiskeys and the various whiskeys of the United States. Whiskey is always aged in wooden containers, usually of white oak. The ...
(1794), in American history, uprising that afforded the new U.S. government its first opportunity to establish federal authority by military means within state boundaries, as officials moved into western Pennsylvania to quell an uprising of farmers rebelling against the liquor ...
in U.S. history, group of whiskey distillers (dissolved in 1875) who conspired to defraud the federal government of taxes. Operating mainly in St. Louis, Mo., Milwaukee, Wis., and Chicago, Ill., the Whiskey Ring bribed Internal Revenue officials and accomplices in ...
speech in which the vocal cords are held rigid, preventing the vibration that produces normal sounds. In whispering, voiceless sounds are produced as usual; but voiced sounds (e.g., vowels) are produced by forcing air through a narrow glottal opening formed ...
card game belonging to a family that includes bridge whist, auction bridge, and contract bridge, each of which developed in succession from the original game of whist. The essential features of card games in the whist family are: four people ...
short flute having a stopped lower end and a flue that directs the player's breath from the mouth hole at the upper end against the edge of a hole cut in the whistle wall, causing the enclosed air to vibrate. ...
electromagnetic wave propagating through the atmosphere that occasionally is detected by a sensitive audio amplifier as a gliding high-to-low-frequency sound. Initially, whistlers last about half a second, and they may be repeated at regular intervals of several seconds, growing progressively ...
American-born artist noted for his paintings of nocturnal London, for his striking and stylistically advanced full-length portraits, and for his brilliant etchings and lithographs. An articulate theorist about art, he did much to introduce modern French painting into England. His ...
(Dendrocygna), any of eight species of long-legged and long-necked ducks that utter sibilant cries and may make whirring wing sounds in flight; these distinctive ducks are separated from other members of the family Anatidae (q.v.; order Anseriformes) as a tribe ...
