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Gratz, Rebecca ... Gray, Walter de

Gratz, Rebecca American philanthropist who was a proponent of Jewish education and a pioneer in establishing charitable institutions. Grau, Shirley Ann American novelist and short-story writer noted for her examinations of evil and isolation among American Southerners, both black and white. Graubunden largest and most easterly canton of Switzerland; it has an area of 2,743 square miles (7,105 square km), of which two-thirds is classed as productive (forests covering one-fifth of the total). The entire canton is mountainous, containing peaks and glaciers of the Todi (11,857 feet [3,614 metres]), Bernina (13,284 feet), ... Graun, Carl Heinrich German composer of operas and sacred music, known especially for his Passion oratorio Der Tod Jesu. Graunt, John English statistician, generally considered to be the founder of the science of demography, the statistical study of human populations. His analysis of the vital statistics of the London populace influenced the pioneer demographic work of his friend Sir William Petty and, even more importantly, that of Edmond Halley, the astronomer ... Graupner, Christoph one of the principal German composers of the period of Bach and Telemann. Graustark romantic quasi-historical novel subtitled The Story of a Love Behind a Throne, by George Barr McCutcheon, first published in 1901. Modeled on Anthony Hope's popular novel The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), Graustark is set in the mythical middle-European kingdom of Graustark and is suffused with derring-do, court intrigues, and passionate ... gravel aggregate of more or less rounded rock fragments coarser than sand (i.e., more than 2 mm [0.08 inch] in diameter). Gravel beds in some places contain accumulations of heavy metallic ore minerals, such as cassiterite (a major source of tin), or native metals, such as gold, in nuggets or flakes. ... Gravel, Mike American politician, who served as a member of the U.S. Senate (1969-81) and who sought the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Gravelines seaport town of northern France, in the Nord departement, Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and the arrondissement of Dunkirk. It is situated midway between Dunkirk and Calais, near the mouth of the Aa River and adjacent to the western port and industrial zone of Dunkirk. The canalization of the Aa by the Count ... Graves disease endocrine disorder that is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism (excess secretion of thyroid hormone) and thyrotoxicosis (effects of excess thyroid hormone action in tissue). In Graves disease the excessive secretion of thyroid hormone is accompanied by diffuse enlargement of the thyroid gland (diffuse goitre). The thyroid gland may be ... Graves, Michael American architect and designer, one of the principal figures in the postmodernist movement. Graves, Morris American painter best known for introspective works that present a mystical view of nature. His style was greatly influenced by the three trips he made to East Asia between 1928 and 1930, and, like Mark Tobey, another painter of the Northwest school, Graves had a deep interest in Asian art ... Graves, Robert English poet, novelist, critic, and classical scholar who carried on many of the formal traditions of English verse in a period of experimentation. His more than 120 books also include a notable historical novel, I, Claudius (1934); an autobiographical classic of World War I, Good-Bye to All That (1929; rev. ... Graves, Robert James Irish physician and a leader of the Irish, or Dublin, school of diagnosis, which emphasized the clinical observation of patients and which significantly advanced the fields of physical diagnosis and internal medicine. Gravesend town, Gravesham district, administrative and historic county of Kent, England. It lies on the right bank of the River Thames, downstream from London. Gravesham borough (district), administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. Its centre is the town of Gravesend, but it includes a section of the south bank of the River Thames above and below the town, and it runs inland to the crest of the chalk hills (North Downs) that traverse ... Graveyard by the Sea, The poem by Paul Valery, written in French as "Le Cimetiere marin" and published in 1922 in the collection Charmes; ou poemes. The poem, set in the cemetery at Sete (where Valery himself is now buried), is a meditation on death. graveyard school genre of 18th-century British poetry that focused on death and bereavement. The graveyard school consisted largely of imitations of Robert Blair's popular long poem of morbid appeal, The Grave (1743), and of Edward Young's celebrated blank-verse dramatic rhapsody Night Thoughts (1742-45). These poems express the sorrow and pain of bereavement, ... gravimeter sensitive device for measuring variations in the Earth's gravitational field, useful in prospecting for oil and minerals. In one form, it consists of a weight suspended from a spring; variations in gravity cause variations in the extension of the spring. A number of different mechanical and optical schemes have been ... gravimetric analysis a method of quantitative chemical analysis in which the constituent sought is converted into a substance (of known composition) that can be separated from the sample and weighed. The steps commonly followed in gravimetric analysis are (1) preparation of a solution containing a known weight of the sample, (2) separation ... Gravina in Puglia walled town, Puglia (Apulia) regione, southern Italy. The town's cathedral and the castle of the Orsini family are notable local monuments, and there are numerous cave dwellings in the locality. The town also has museums of local costumes and of archaeology and pottery. Local crops are chiefly cereals; there are ... gravitational microlensing brightening of a star by an object passing between the star and an observer. Since 2004 many extrasolar planets have been found through gravitational microlensing, including several so-called free-floating planets that do not orbit any star. This technique depends on an effect first discussed by physicist Albert Einstein. In his ... graviton postulated quantum that is thought to be the carrier of the gravitational field. It is analogous to the well-established photon of the electromagnetic field. Gravitons, like photons, would be massless, electrically uncharged particles traveling at the speed of light and would be emitted only by highly accelerating, extremely massive objects ... gravity in mechanics, the universal force of attraction acting between all matter. It is by far the weakest known force in nature and thus plays no role in determining the internal properties of everyday matter. On the other hand, through its long reach and universal action, it controls the trajectories of ... Gravity Probe B U.S. spacecraft, launched April 20, 2004, into polar orbit, that tested Einstein's general theory of relativity. Specifically, it proved the existence of both frame-dragging-a very subtle phenomenon in which the rotation of a body (in this case, Earth) slowly drags the space-time continuum with it-and the geodetic effect, in which ... Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment U.S.-German Earth-mapping mission consisting of twin spacecraft GRACE 1 and 2 (nicknamed Tom and Jerry after the cartoon characters). GRACE 1 and 2 were launched on March 17, 2002. By tracking the precise distance between the two spacecraft and their exact altitude and path over Earth, scientists could measure subtle ... Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory U.S. space mission consisting of two spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, designed to map the Moon's gravitational field. GRAIL was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on September 10, 2011. To conserve fuel, the spacecraft traveled very slowly, taking three and a half months to travel to the Moon. (Most other missions ... gravity wave the transmission of variations in the gravitational field as waves. According to general relativity, the curvature of space-time is determined by the distribution of masses, while the motion of masses is determined by the curvature. In consequence, variations of the gravitational field should be transmitted from place to place as ... Gravity's Rainbow novel by Thomas Pynchon, published in 1973. The sprawling narrative comprises numerous threads having to do either directly or tangentially with the secret development and deployment of a rocket by the Nazis near the end of World War II. Lieut. Tyrone Slothrop is an American working for Allied Intelligence in ... gravity, centre of in physics, imaginary point in a body of matter where, for convenience in certain calculations, the total weight of the body may be thought to be concentrated. The concept is sometimes useful in designing static structures (e.g., buildings and bridges) or in predicting the behaviour of a moving body when ... gravure printing photomechanical intaglio process in which the image to be printed consists of depressions or recesses on the surface of the printing plate. The process is the reverse of relief printing, in which the image is raised from the surface of the plate. The printer forms the image by cutting into ... gray unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation, defined in the 1980s by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements. One gray is equal approximately to the absorbed dose delivered when the energy per unit mass imparted to matter by ionizing radiation is one joule per kilogram. As a unit ... gray birch (Betula populifolia), slender ornamental tree of the family Betulaceae, found in clusters on moist sites in northeastern North America. Rarely 12 m (40 feet) tall, it is covered almost to the ground with flexible branches that form a narrow, pyramidal crown. The thin, glossy, dark green, triangular leaves have long, ... gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), grizzled, gray-furred New World fox of the family Canidae. It is found in forested, rocky, and brush-covered country from Canada to northern South America. Distinguished by the reddish colour on its neck, ears, and legs, the gray fox grows to a length of about 50-75 cm (20-30 inches), ... gray seal (Halichoerus grypus), seal of the family Phocidae, found in North Atlantic waters along the coast of Newfoundland, the British Isles, and in the Baltic region. It is spotted gray and black and is characterized by a robust appearance and heavy head. The male grows to about 3 m (10 feet) ... gray whale a slender baleen whale having a profusion of external parasites that give it the appearance of a barnacle-encrusted rock. gray wolf largest wild member of the dog family (Canidae). It inhabits vast areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Five subspecies are recognized in North America, seven to 12 in Eurasia, and one in Africa. Wolves were domesticated several thousand years ago, and selective breeding produced dogs. Gray, Alasdair Scottish novelist, playwright, and artist best known for his novel Lanark (1981). Gray, Asa American botanist whose extensive studies of North American flora did more than the work of any other botanist to unify the taxonomic knowledge of plants of this region. His most widely used book, Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, from New England to Wisconsin and South to ... Gray, Dorian fictional character, the hedonistic protagonist of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). He exchanges his soul for youth that never fades. Gray, Elisha U.S. inventor and contestant with Alexander Graham Bell in a famous legal battle over the invention of the telephone. Gray, Harold American cartoonist and creator of "Little Orphan Annie," one of the most popular comic strips of all time. Gray, Horace justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1881-1902. Gray, James Nicholas American computer scientist and winner of the 1998 A.M. Turing Award, the highest honour in computer science, for his "seminal contributions to database and transaction processing research and technical leadership in system implementation." Gray, John American self-help author and pop psychologist who built a business empire out of his most famous book, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992). Gray, Robert captain of the first U.S. ship to circumnavigate the globe and explorer of the Columbia River. Gray, Simon British dramatist whose plays, often set in academia, are noted for their challenging storylines, witty, literary dialogue, and complex characterizations. Gray, Sir James English zoologist who played a leading part in changing the main objective of 20th-century zoological research from evolutionary comparative anatomy to the functional analysis of living cells and living animals, particularly through his editorship (1925-54) of the Journal of Experimental Biology. He was noted for his work on the mechanism ... Gray, Thomas English poet whose "An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard" is one of the best known of English lyric poems. Although his literary output was slight, he was the dominant poetic figure in the mid-18th century and a precursor of the Romantic movement. Gray, Walter de English churchman who rose to high ecclesiastical office through service to King John.