Antelope

• Antelope, common name applied to a diverse group of hollow-horned mammals that belong to the same family as cattle, goats, and sheep.

• About 100 species of antelopes live in Africa and Asia, including some of the world's fastest and most elegant hoofed mammals, as well as some of the most endangered.
• In size, antelopes range from the tiny royal antelope, which stands about 25 cm (10 in) high at the shoulder, to the massively built common eland, which can weigh as much as 900 kg (nearly 2,000 lb)—more than an average car.
• Some better-known antelopes include impalas, gazelles, and gnus.Antelopes vary widely in their physical appearance and the way they live.
• Some antelopes, including many of the smallest species, stay close to vegetative cover and disappear into the undergrowth if disturbed, but most live in more open habitats where they rely on speed and alertness to escape attack.
• The species that flee also use their superb jumping skills to escape from predators: impalas, for example, can leap over fences 3 m (10 ft) high, and cover 10 m (33 ft) in a single bound.
• Some antelopes are solitary but most live in herds. In the late 1800s, herds of springbok in southern Africa sometimes included over 10 million animals that spread over a distance of 160 km (100 mi).
• Although herds no longer reach this astounding size today, antelopes still dominate life in African plains.
• They help grass thrive by nibbling away competing plants, and they provide food for predators and also for people.

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Sea Horse

• Sea Horse, any of a number of small fishes of the same family as the pipefish.

• The name is derived from the resemblance of the head to that of a horse.
• It has long, tubular jaws much like a snout.
• The body is compressed, with an elongated tail, and the integument (external covering) is a series of large, rectangular bony plates, with a series of spines and projections along the lines of juncture.
• These spines, together with the divided, streamerlike fins of some species, give them a strong resemblance to the seaweeds among which they live.
• About 30 species are found in various warm and temperate seas. All keep near the shore, often developing in brackish water.
• Like the pipefishes, the males take charge of the eggs, which are placed in an abdominal pouch and remain there until they hatch.
• The common sea horse of the Atlantic coast of North America is one of the largest species, reaching a length of more than 13 cm (more than 5 in).

Scientific classification:

• Sea horses make up the genus Hippocampus in the family Syngnathidae.
• The common sea horse is classified as Hippocampus hudsonius.

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Angelfish

• Angelfish, name used for several different fishes, including the true angelfishes and the butterfly fishes.

• Angelfishes differ from butterfly fishes in having a spine near the lower edge of the gill cover.
• These laterally compressed fishes are among the most beautiful of the tropical reef fishes.
• Most species are only a few centimeters long, but some grow to a length of 61 cm (24 in).
• In many species the juveniles and adults are colored differently; the young French angelfish of tropical Atlantic waters is black with bright yellow bands; the adult is predominantly black.
• The well-known queen angelfish is also differently colored as a juvenile.
• Most angelfishes feed on small invertebrates.
• Certain species are often called freshwater angelfish and are popular as aquarium fishes.
• In the United States a spadefish is sometimes incorrectly called an angelfish.

• Scientific classification: Angelfishes belong to the order Perciformes.
• True angelfishes make up the family Pomacanthidae. Butterfly fishes constitute the family Chaetodontidae.
• Freshwater angelfish belong to the family Cichlidae.
• French angelfishes are classified as Pomacanthus paru.
• Queen angelfishes are classified as Holacanthus ciliaris. Spadefishes are classified as Chaetodipterus faber.

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Astronomy

• Astronomy, study of the universe and the celestial bodies, gas, and dust within it.

• Astronomy includes observations and theories about the solar system, the stars, the galaxies, and the general structure of space.
• Astronomy also includes cosmology, the study of the universe and its past and future.
• People who study astronomy are called astronomers, and they use a wide variety of methods to perform their research.
• These methods usually involve ideas of physics, so most astronomers are also astrophysicists, and the terms astronomer and astrophysicist are basically identical.
• Some areas of astronomy also use techniques of chemistry, geology, and biology.
• Astronomy is the oldest science, dating back thousands of years to when primitive people noticed objects in the sky overhead and watched the way the objects moved.
• In ancient Egypt, the first appearance of certain stars each year marked the onset of the seasonal flood, an important event for agriculture.
• In 17th-century England, astronomy provided methods of keeping track of time that were especially useful for accurate navigation.
• Astronomy has a long tradition of practical results, such as our current understanding of the stars, day and night, the seasons, and the phases of the Moon.
• Much of today's research in astronomy does not address immediate practical problems.
• Instead, it involves basic research to satisfy our curiosity about the universe and the objects in it. One day such knowledge may well be of practical use to humans.

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Soil

• Soil, the loose material that covers the land surfaces of Earth and supports the growth of plants.
• In general, soil is an unconsolidated, or loose, combination of inorganic and organic materials.
• The inorganic components of soil are principally the products of rocks and minerals that have been gradually broken down by weather, chemical action, and other natural processes.
• The organic materials are composed of debris from plants and from the decomposition of the many tiny life forms that inhabit the soil.Soils vary widely from place to place.
• Many factors determine the chemical composition and physical structure of the soil at any given location.
• The different kinds of rocks, minerals, and other geologic materials from which the soil originally formed play a role.
• The kinds of plants or other vegetation that grow in the soil are also important.
• Topography—that is, whether the terrain is steep, flat, or some combination—is another factor.
• In some cases, human activity such as farming or building has caused disruption.
• Soils also differ in color, texture, chemical makeup, and the kinds of plants they can support.
• Soil actually constitutes a living system, combining with air, water, and sunlight to sustain plant life.
• The essential process of photosynthesis, in which plants convert sunlight into energy, depends on exchanges that take place within the soil.
• Plants, in turn, serve as a vital part of the food chain for living things, including humans.
• Without soil there would be no vegetation—no crops for food, no forests, flowers, or grasslands. To a great extent, life on Earth depends on soil.

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Alexander Graham Bell

• Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), American inventor and teacher of the deaf, most famous for his work on the telephone.

• Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and educated at the universities of Edinburgh and London.
• He immigrated to Canada in 1870 and to the United States in 1871. In the United States he began teaching deaf-mutes, publicizing the system called visible speech.
• The system, which was developed by his father, the Scottish educator Alexander Melville Bell, shows how the lips, tongue, and throat are used in the articulation of sound.
• In 1872 Bell founded a school to train teachers of the deaf in Boston, Massachusetts.
• The school subsequently became part of Boston University, where Bell was appointed professor of vocal physiology.
• He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1882.Since the age of 18, Bell had been working on the idea of transmitting speech.
• In 1874, while working on a multiple telegraph, he developed the basic ideas of the telephone.
• His experiments with his assistant Thomas Watson finally proved successful on March 10, 1876, when he transmitted: “Watson, come here; I want you.” Subsequent demonstrations, particularly one at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, introduced the telephone to the world and led to the organization of the Bell Telephone Company in 1877.
• In 1880 France bestowed on Bell the Volta Prize, worth 50,000 francs, for his invention.
• With this money he founded the Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C., where, in that same year, he and his associates invented the photophone, which transmits speech by light rays.
• Other inventions include the audiometer, used to measure acuity in hearing; the induction balance, used to locate metal objects in human bodies; and the first wax recording cylinder, introduced in 1886.
• The cylinder, together with the flat wax disc, formed the basis of the modern phonograph.
• Bell's continuing studies on the causes and heredity of deafness led to experiments in eugenics, including sheep breeding, and to his book Duration of Life and Conditions Associated with Longevity (1918).
• He died on August 2, 1922, at Baddeck, where a museum containing many of his original inventions is maintained by the Canadian government.

National Inventors Hall of Fame

The National Inventors Hall of Fame is a U.S. organization founded in 1973 to honor successful inventors. Members are chosen by the selection committee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, which is composed of representatives from national scientific and technical organizations.

Date of selection

Inventor

Invention

1973	Thomas Alva Edison	electric lamp
1974	John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, William Shockley	transistor
	Alexander Graham Bell	telegraphy and telephone
	Eli Whitney	cotton gin
1975	William Coolidge	vacuum tube
	Guglielmo Marconi	transmitting electric signals
	Samuel Morse	telegraph signals
	Nikola Tesla	electromagnetic motor
	Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright	flying machine
1976	Rudolf Diesel	internal combustion engine
	Enrico Fermi	neutronic reactor
	Charles Goodyear	improvement in India-rubber fabrics, vulcanization of rubber
	Charles Hall	manufacture of aluminum
	Cyrus McCormick	mechanical reaper
	Charles Townes	maser
1977	Lee De Forest	audio amplifier
	George Eastman	coating plates for use in photography
	Edwin Land	instant processing photography
	Charles Steinmetz	system of electrical distribution
	Vladimir Zworykin	cathode-ray tube
1978	Luis Alvarez	radio distance and direction indicator
	Leo Baekeland	synthetic resin
	Carl Djerassi	oral contraceptive
	Louis Pasteur	brewing beer and ale
1979	Jay Forrester	random access memory (RAM)
	Robert Goddard	rocket science
	Charles Plank, Edward Rosinski	improved gasoline manufacture
1980	Edwin Armstrong	frequency modulation (FM) radio broadcasting
	James Hillier	electron lens correction device
	Charles Kettering	engine starting devices and ignition system
	Lewis Sarett	synthetic cortisone
1981	Harold Black	negative feedback amplifier
	Chester Carlson	xerography
	Charles Draper	gyroscopic apparatus
	Nikolaus Otto	gas motor engine
1982	Henry Ford	transmission mechanism
	Jack Kilby	integrated circuit
	Ernest Lawrence	cyclotron
	Ottmar Mergenthaler	linotype machine
	Max Tishler	riboflavin, sulfaquinoxline
1983	Ernest Alexanderson	high-frequency alternator
	Andrew Alford	localizer antenna systems
	Herbert Dow	process of extracting bromine
	Robert Noyce	semiconductor device and lead structure
	George Stibitz	complex computer
1984	William Burton	manufacture of gasoline
	Wallace Carothers	nylon
	Philo Farnsworth	television system
	Theodore Maiman	laser
1985	Marvin Camras	magnetic recording
	Willis Carrier	air conditioning
	René Higonnet, Louis Moyroud	phototypesetter
	Willem Kolff	artificial heart
	Roy Plunkett	Teflon
1986	Luther Burbank	strain of peach
	Harold Edgerton	stroboscope
	Wilson Greatbatch	heart pacemaker
	Donalee Tabern, Ernest Volwiler	Pentothal, Nembutal
1987	Arnold Beckman	apparatus for testing acidity
	William Burroughs	calculating machine
	Andrew Moyer	method for production of penicillin
	Igor Sikorsky	helicopter controls
1988	Frank Colton	oral contraceptive
	Elisha Otis	safety elevator
	Louis Parker	television receiver
	An Wang	magnetic pulse controlling device
1989	Raymond Damadian	magnetic resonance imaging
	John Deere	steel plow
	Irving Langmuir	incandescent electric lamp
	George Westinghouse	steam-power brake device
1990	George Washington Carver	cosmetics, paint, and stain
	Graham Durant, John Emmett, C. Robin Ganellin	antiulcer compounds and compositions
	Charles Ginsburg	videotape recorder
	Herman Hollerith	punched card tabulating system
	Eugene Houdry	liquid fuels
	Percy Julian	cortisone synthesis
	Robert Ledley	diagnostic X-ray system
	Kenneth Olsen	magnetic core memory
1991	Willard Bennett	radio frequency mass spectrometer
	Gertrude Elion	antileukemia drug
	Gordon Gould	optically pumped laser amplifier
	Leonard Greene	airplane stall warning device
	William 'Butch' Hanford, Donald Holmes	polyurethane
	Elmer Sperry	gyroscopic compass
	Robert Williams	synthesis of vitamin B1
1992	Lloyd Conover	tetracycline
	Frederick Cottrell	electrostatic precipitator
	William Hewlett	audio oscillator
	Benjamin Rubin	bifurcated vaccination needle
1993	Baruch Blumberg, Irving Millman	test and vaccine for hepatitis B
	John Ericsson	propeller
	William Lear	automobile radio
	Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, Peter Schultz	fiber optics
	John Parsons	numerical control of machine tools
1994	Emile Berliner	gramophone/microphone
	Robert Hall	magnetron
	Elizabeth Hazen, Rachel Brown	nystatin
	Robert Rines	high-resolution imaging-scanning radar and sonar
	Heinrich Rohrer, Gerd Binnig	scanning tunneling microscope
1995	Joseph H. Burckhalter, Robert J. Seiwald	dyes for diagnosing infectious disease
	Stephanie L. Kwolek	Kevlar polymers and fibers
	Waldo L. Semon	polyvinyl chloride plastisols
	John Sheehan	semisynthetic penicillin
	William Stanley	electric transformer
	Forrest M. Bird	fluid control device, respirator, pediatric ventilator
1996	H. M. Edmund Germer	discharge device, high-pressure vapor lamp
	Ted Hoff, Stanley Mazor, Federico Faggin	microprocessor concept and architecture
	Julius Arthur Nieuwland	vinyl derivatives of acetylene and methods of preparation
	Arthur Leonard Schawlow	masers and maser communications system
	Leo Szilard	neutronic reactor
1997	Edward Goodrich Acheson	carborundum
	Robert W. Bower	field-effect device with insulated gate (MOSFET)
	George H. Babcock, Stephen Wilcox, Jr.	water-tube steam boiler
	Seymour Cray	supercomputer
	Mark Dean, Dennis Moeller	improvements in computer architecture allowing computer components to communicate with each other in a high-speed and efficient manner
	Robert H. Dennard	dynamic random access memory (DRAM)
1998	Henry Timken	tapered roller bearing
	Alfred Nobel	dynamite
	Joseph Begun	magnetic recording
	Douglas Engelbart	computer mouse and development of modern computer environment
	James Fergason	liquid-crystal display
	Kary Mullis	polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
1999	Percy LeBaron Spencer	microwave oven
	Donald L. Campbell, Homer Z. Martin, Eger V. Murphree, Charles W. Tyson	fluid catalytic cracking
	George de Mestral	Velcro
	Gerhard Sessler, James Edward West	foil electret microphone
	Bryan B. Molloy, Klaus K. Schmiegel	Prozac
2000	Walt Disney	multiplane camera
	Reginald Fessenden	radiotelephony
	Alfred Free, Helen Free	glucose detection for diabetes
	J. Franklin Hyde	method of making a transparent article of silica
	William Kroll	method for manufacturing titanium and related alloys
	Stephen Wozniak	microcomputer for use with video display
2001	Robert Banks, Paul Hogan	polymers
	Herbert Boyer, Stanley Cohen	genetic engineering
	Oliver Evans	high-pressure steam engine
	Thomas Fogarty	embolectomy catheter
	Elijah McCoy	automatic engine lubricator
	Patsy Sherman, Sam Smith	Scotchgard
	Christopher Sholes	typewriter
2002	Raymond Kurzweil	Kurzweil reading machine
	Nils Bohlin	3-point safety belt
	Rangaswamy Srinivasan, James Wynne, Samuel Blum	excimer laser surgery
	Drs. M. Stephen Heilman, Alois Langer, Morton Mower, Michel Mirowski	implantable defibrillator
	Dr. Rodney Bagley, Dr. Irwin Lachman, Ronald Lewis	ceramic substrate for catalytic converters
	Felix Hoffmann	aspirin
	Dr. John Presper Eckert, Jr., John Mauchly	electronic numerical integrator and computer (ENIAC) data translating device
	Henry Bessemer	Bessemer steel process
2003	George Carruthers	far electrograph ultraviolet camera
	Frank Cepollina	satellite servicing techniques
	Glenn Curtiss	hydroaeroplane
	Maxime Faget	space capsule design
	Leroy Grumman	retractable landing gear; folding wing
	Charles H. Kaman	rotor control mechanism for rotary aircraft
	Paul Kollsman	altimeter
	Edwin A. Link	link trainer/simulator
	Thomas Midgley, Jr.	ethyl gasoline
	John Northrop	flying wing plane; all-metal high-wing monocoque airplane (Vega)
	John Pierce	communications satellite
	Harold Rosen	spin stabilized synchronous communications satellite
	Theodore von Kármán	turbo jet
	Hans J. P. von Ohain	jet engine
	Richard Whitcomb	supercritical wing
	Sir Frank Whittle	jet engine
	Sam Williams	small fan-jet engine
2004	Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip	Insulin for diabetics
	Vannevar Bush	Differential Analyzer
	Harry Coover	superglue
	Wallace Coulter	blood counter
	Ray Dolby	noise reduction systems
	Edith Flanigen	molecular filters for petroleum processing
	Robert Gallo, Luc Montagnier	HIV isolation and diagnosis
	Ivan Getting, Bradford Parkinson	Global Positioning System (GPS)
	John Gibbon	heart-lung machine
	Lloyd Hall	food preservation techniques
	Elias Howe	sewing machine
	Charles Kelman	cataract eye surgery
	Bernard Oliver, Claude Shannon	Pulse Code Modulation
	Norbert Rillieux	modern sugar refining
	John Roebling	modern suspension bridge
Source: National Inventors Hall of Fame.

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Atom

• Atom, tiny basic building block of matter.

• All the material on Earth is composed of various combinations of atoms.

• Atoms are the smallest particles of a chemical element that still exhibit all the chemical properties unique to that element.

• A row of 100 million atoms would be only about a centimeter long.Understanding atoms is key to understanding the physical world.

• More than 100 different elements exist in nature, each with its own unique atomic makeup.

• The atoms of these elements react with one another and combine in different ways to form a virtually unlimited number of chemical compounds.

• When two or more atoms combine, they form a molecule.

• For example, two atoms of the element hydrogen (abbreviated H) combine with one atom of the element oxygen (O) to form a molecule of water (H₂0).

• Throughout history, people have sought to explain the world in terms of its most basic parts.

• Ancient Greek philosophers conceived of the idea of the atom, which they defined as the smallest possible piece of a substance.

• The word atom comes from the Greek word meaning “not divisible.”

• The ancient Greeks also believed this fundamental particle was indestructible. Scientists have since learned that atoms are not indivisible but made of smaller particles, and atoms of different elements contain different numbers of each type of these smaller particles.

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Anatomy

• Anatomy (Greek anatomē, “dissection”), branch of natural science dealing with the structural organization of living things.

• It is an old science, having its beginnings in prehistoric times.

• For centuries anatomical knowledge consisted largely of observations of dissected plants and animals.

• The proper understanding of structure, however, implies a knowledge of function in the living organism. Anatomy is therefore almost inseparable from physiology, which is sometimes called functional anatomy.

• As one of the basic life sciences, anatomy is closely related to medicine and to other branches of biology.

• It is convenient to subdivide the study of anatomy in several different ways.

• One classification is based on the type of organisms studied, the major subdivisions being plant anatomy and animal anatomy.

• Animal anatomy is further subdivided into human anatomy and comparative anatomy, which seeks out similarities and differences among animal types .

• Anatomy can also be subdivided into biological processes—for example, developmental anatomy, the study of embryos, and pathological anatomy, the study of diseased organs.

• Other subdivisions, such as surgical anatomy and anatomical art, are based on the relationship of anatomy to other branches of activity under the general heading of applied anatomy.

• Still another way to subdivide anatomy is by the techniques employed—for example, microanatomy, which concerns itself with observations made with the help of the microscope.

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FORMATION OF ACID RAIN

• The process that leads to acid rain begins with the burning of fossil fuels.

• Burning, or combustion, is a chemical reaction in which oxygen from the air combines with carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and other elements in the substance being burned.

• The new compounds formed are gases called oxides. When sulfur and nitrogen are present in the fuel, their reaction with oxygen yields sulfur dioxide and various nitrogen oxide compounds.

• In the United States, 70 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution comes from power plants, especially those that burn coal. In Canada, industrial activities, including oil refining and metal smelting, account for 61 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution.

• Nitrogen oxides enter the atmosphere from many sources, with motor vehicles emitting the largest share—43 percent in the United States and 60 percent in Canada.

• Once in the atmosphere, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides undergo complex reactions with water vapor and other chemicals to yield sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and other pollutants called nitrates and sulfates.

• The acid compounds are carried by air currents and the wind, sometimes over long distances.

• When clouds or fog form in acid-laden air, they too are acidic, and so is the rain or snow that falls from them.

• Acid pollutants also occur as dry particles and as gases, which may reach the ground without the help of water.

• When these “dry” acids are washed from ground surfaces by rain, they add to the acids in the rain itself to produce a still more corrosive solution.

• The combination of acid rain and dry acids is known as acid deposition.

Major Air Pollutants

Sources of major air pollutants include individual actions, such as driving a car, and industrial activities, such as manufacturing products or generating electricity. Note: 1 cubic meter (1m³) is equal to 35.3 cu ft; 1 milligram (1 mg) is equal to 0.00004 oz; 1 microgram (1µg) is equal to 0.00000004 oz.

Pollutant

Major Sources

Notes

Carbon monoxide (CO)	Motor-vehicle exhaust; some industrial processes	Health standard: 10 mg/m3 (9 ppm) over 8 hr; 40 mg/m3 over 1 hr (35 ppm)
Sulfur dioxide (SO2)	Heat and power generation facilities that use oil or coal containing sulfur; sulfuric acid plants	Health standard: 80 µg/m3 (0.03 ppm) over a year; 365 µg/m3 over 24 hr (0.14 ppm)
Particulate matter	Motor-vehicle exhaust; industrial processes; refuse incineration; heat and power generation; reaction of pollution gases in the atmosphere	Health standard: 50 µg/m3 over a year; 150 µg/m3 over 24 hr; composed of carbon, nitrates, sulfates, and many metals including lead, copper, iron, and zinc
Lead (Pb)	Motor-vehicle exhaust; lead smelters; battery plants	Health standard: 1.5 µg/m3 over 3 months
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)	Motor-vehicle exhaust; heat and power generation; nitric acid; explosives; fertilizer plants	Health standard: 100 µg/m3 (0.05 ppm) over a year; reacts with hydrocarbons and sunlight to form photochemical oxidants
Ozone (O3)	Formed in the atmosphere by reaction of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and sunlight	Health standard: 235 µg/m3 (0.12 ppm) over 1 hr

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Acid Rain

• Acid Rain, form of air pollution in which airborne acids produced by electric utility plants and other sources fall to Earth in distant regions.

• The corrosive nature of acid rain causes widespread damage to the environment.

• The problem begins with the production of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, and oil, and from certain kinds of manufacturing.

• Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water and other chemicals in the air to form sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and other pollutants.

• These acid pollutants reach high into the atmosphere, travel with the wind for hundreds of miles, and eventually return to the ground by way of rain, snow, or fog, and as invisible “dry” forms.

• Damage from acid rain has been widespread in eastern North America and throughout Europe, and in Japan, China, and Southeast Asia.
  

• Acid rain leaches nutrients from soils, slows the growth of trees, and makes lakes uninhabitable for fish and other wildlife. In cities, acid pollutants corrode almost everything they touch, accelerating natural wear and tear on structures such as buildings and statues.
  

• Acids combine with other chemicals to form urban smog, which attacks the lungs, causing illness and premature deaths.

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