California summary
Below is the article summary. For the full article, see California.
Alcatraz Island Summary
Alcatraz Island, rocky island in San Francisco Bay, California, U.S. The island occupies an area of 22 acres (9 hectares) and is located 1.5 miles (2 km) offshore. The island had little vegetation and was a seabird habitat when it was explored in 1775 by Lieut. Juan Manuel de Ayala, who named it
Mount Wilson Observatory Summary
Mount Wilson Observatory, astronomical observatory located atop Mount Wilson, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Pasadena, California. It was established in 1904 by American astronomer George Ellery Hale as a solar-observing station for the Yerkes Observatory, but it soon became an independent
Palomar Observatory Summary
Palomar Observatory, astronomical observatory located on Mount Palomar, about 40 miles (65 km) north-northeast of San Diego, Calif. The observatory is the site of the famous Hale Telescope, a reflector with a 200-inch (508-cm) aperture that has proved instrumental in cosmological research. The
Compromise of 1850 Summary
Compromise of 1850, in U.S. history, a series of measures proposed by the “great compromiser,” Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky, and passed by the U.S. Congress in an effort to settle several outstanding slavery issues and to avert the threat of dissolution of the Union. The crisis arose from the