(1840-1905) German physicist who, working with Carl Zeiss, greatly improved the design and quality of optical instruments, particularly the compound microscope. This enabled researchers to observe microorganisms and internal cellular structures for the first time.
Abbe was born in Eisenach, Thuringia, and studied physics at Jena and Göttingen, becoming a professor at Jena 1870 and director of the observatory 1878. Zeiss supplied optical instruments to the university and repaired them. Abbe became a partner in Zeiss's firm.
Abbe worked out how to overcome spherical aberration in lenses and why, contrary to expectation, the definition of a microscope decreases with a reduction in the aperture of the objective; he found that the loss in resolving power is a diffraction effect. In 1872 he developed the Abbe substage condenser for illuminating objects under high-power magnification.

American Broadcasting Corporation
Abbreviation for Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

ETYM Latin alphabetum, from Greek alpha + beta, the first two Greek letters; Hebrew âleph and bete: cf. French alphabet.
A character set that includes letters.
Set of conventional symbols used for writing, based on a correlation between individual symbols and spoken sounds, so called from alpha (a) and beta (b), the names of the first two letters of the classical Greek alphabet. The earliest known alphabet is from Palestine, about 1700 BC. Alphabetic writing now takes many forms—for example, the Hebrew aleph-beth and the Arabic script, both written from right to left; the Devanagari script of the Hindus, in which the symbols “hang” from a line common to all the symbols; and the Greek alphabet, with the first clearly delineated vowel symbols.
Each letter of the alphabets descended from Greek represents a particular sound or sounds, usually grouped into vowels (a, e, i, o, u, in the English version of the Roman alphabet), consonants (b, p, d, t, and so on) and semivowels (w, y). Letters may be combined to produce distinct sounds (for example, a and e in words like tale and take, or o and i together to produce a “wa” sound in the French loi), or may have no sound whatsoever (for example, the silent letters gh in high and through).

1. Alphabetically arranged.
2. In alphabetical order; SYN. alphabetical.
3. Of elementary education; the primary grades; SYN. basal, basic, beginning, primary.

ETYM Cf. French alphabétique.
1. Arranged in order according to the alphabet; SYN. alphabetical.
2. Relating to or expressed by an alphabet; SYN. alphabetical.

See

A poplar that is widely cultivated in the United States; has white bark and leaves with whitish undersurfaces; SYN. white aspen, abele, aspen poplar, silver-leaved poplar, Populus alba.

(English form of Pierre Abélard) (1079-1142)
French scholastic philosopher who worked on logic and theology. His romantic liaison with his pupil Héloïse caused a medieval scandal. Details of his life are contained in the autobiographical Historia Calamitatum Mearum/The History of My Misfortunes.
Abelard, born near Nantes, became canon of Notre Dame in Paris and master of the cathedral school 1115. When his seduction of, and secret marriage to, Héloïse became known, she entered a convent. He was castrated at the instigation of her uncle Canon Fulbert, and became a monk. Resuming teaching a year later, he was cited for heresy and became a hermit at Nogent, where he built the oratory of the Paraclete, and later abbot of a monastery in Brittany.
Abelard died at Châlon-sur-Saône on his way to defend himself against a new charge of heresy. Héloïse was buried beside him at the Paraclete 1164; their remains were taken to Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris, 1817.
He opposed realism in the debate over universals, and propounded conceptualism, whereby universal terms have only a mental existence. He asserted the importance of reason in religious belief, and his skillful application of logic and dialectic to such doctrines as the Trinity and atonement, though controversial, gave theology a new breadth.

1. A communication (usually brief) that is written or spoken or signaled
2. What a communication that is about something is about; SYN. content, subject matter, substance.

1. Information reported in a newspaper or news magazine
2. New information about specific and timely events; SYN. intelligence, tidings, word.
3. New information of any kind

ETYM Latin aberratio: cf. French aberration. Related to Aberrate.
Deviation; momentary mental lapse; Astronomy, apparent deviation from heavenly body's true position due to movement of observer with the earth. chromatic aberration, focusing of light of different colors at different points resulting in a blurred image. spherical aberration, focusing at different points of rays passing through different parts of spherical lens.
1. An abnormal instance of something; an anomaly.
2. A disorder in one's mental state.
3. An optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image; SYN. distortion, optical aberration.

1. A city in northeastern Scotland on the North Sea.
2. City in Idaho (USA), population 1406.
3. City in Mississippi (USA), population 6837; zip code 39730.
4. City in South Dakota (USA), population 24927; zip code 57401.
5. City in Washington (USA), population 16565; zip code 98520.
6. Town in Maryland (USA), population 13087; zip code 21001.
7. Town in North Carolina (USA), population 2700; zip code 28315.
8. Unincorporated community in Florida (USA), population 2572.
9. Village in Ohio (USA), population 1329; zip code 45101.
City and seaport on the east coast of Scotland, administrative headquarters of Grampian Region; population (1991) 204,900. Industries include agricultural machinery, paper, knitwear, and textiles; fishing; ship-building; granite-quarrying; and engineering. There are shore-based maintenance and service depots for the North Sea oil rigs. Aberdeen is Scotland's third-largest city and its biggest resort.

Of or relating to Aberdeen