information processing Acquisition, recording, organization, retrieval, display, and dissemination of information. Today the term usu¬ ally refers to computer-based operations. Information processing consists of locating and capturing information, using software to manipulate it into a desired form, and outputting the data. An Internet search engine is an example of an information-processing tool, as is any sophisticated INFORMATION-RETRIEVAL system. See also DATA PROCESSING.
information retrieval Recovery of information, especially in a data¬ base stored in a computer. Two main approaches are matching words in the query against the database index (keyword searching) and traversing the database using hypertext or hypermedia links. Keyword searching has been the dominant approach to text retrieval since the early 1960s; hyper¬ text has so far been confined largely to personal or corporate information- retrieval applications. Evolving information-retrieval techniques, exemplified by developments with modern Internet search engines, com¬ bine natural language, hyperlinks, and keyword searching. Other tech¬
niques that seek higher levels of retrieval precision are studied by researchers involved with artificial intelligence.
information science Discipline that deals with the processes of stor¬ ing and transferring information. It attempts to bring together concepts and methods from such varied disciplines as library science, computer science and engineering, linguistics, and psychology to develop tech¬ niques and devices to aid in the handling of information. In its early stages in the 1960s, information science was concerned primarily with applying the then-new computer technology to the processing and managing of documents. The applied computer technologies and theoretical studies of information science have since permeated many other disciplines. Com¬ puter science and engineering still tend to absorb its theory- and technology-oriented subjects, and management science tends to absorb information-systems subjects.
information theory See communication theory
infrared V.in-fro-'redX astronomy Study of astronomical objects by observing the infrared radiation they emit. Its techniques enable examina¬ tion of many celestial objects that give off energy at wavelengths in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum but that cannot otherwise be seen from Earth because they do not emit much visible light or because that light is blocked by dust clouds, which infrared radiation can penetrate. Infrared astronomy originated in the early 19th century with the work of William Herschel (see Herschel family), who discovered infrared radiation while studying sunlight. The first systematic infrared observations of other stars were made in the 1920s; modem techniques, such as the use of inter¬ ference filters for ground-based telescopes, were introduced in the early 1960s. Because atmospheric water vapour absorbs many infrared wave¬ lengths, observations are carried out with telescopes sited on high moun- taintops and from airborne and space-based observatories. Infrared astronomy allows studies of the dust-obscured core of the Milky Way Gal¬ axy and the hearts of star-forming regions and has led to many discoveries including brown dwarf candidates and disks of matter around certain stars.
infrared radiation Portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that extends from the microwave range to the red end of the visible light range. Its wave¬ lengths vary from about 0.7 to 1,000 micrometres. Most of the radiation emitted by a moderately heated surface is infrared, and it forms a continu¬ ous spectrum. Molecular excitation produces extensive infrared radiation but in a discrete spectrum of lines or bands. Infrared wavelengths are useful for night-vision equipment, heat-seeking missiles, molecular spectroscopy, and infrared astronomy, among other things. The trapping of infrared radia¬ tion by atmospheric gases is also the basis of the greenhouse effect.
Inge \'inj\, William (Motter) (b. May 3, 1913, Independence, Kan., U.S.—d. June 10, 1973, Hollywood Hills, Calif.) U.S. playwright and screenwriter. He worked as a schoolteacher (1937—49) and moonlighted as drama editor of the St. Louis Star-Times (1943—46). His first play. Far¬ ther Off from Heaven (1947), was revised for Broadway as The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957; film, 1960). He is best known for his plays Come Back, Little Sheba (1950; film, 1952), Picnic (1953, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1956), and Bus Stop (1955; film, 1956), and for his original screen¬ play for Splendor in the Grass (1961, Academy Award). He was one of the first dramatists to explore small-town life in the Midwest.
Inglewood City (pop., 2000: 112,580), southwestern California, U.S., situated southwest of Los Angeles. Settled by Daniel Freeman in 1873, it was laid out by the Centinela-Inglewood Land Co. in 1887 and incorpo¬ rated in 1908. It developed along with the Los Angeles metropolitan area and is the site of Hollywood Park racetrack.
ingot Viq-gat\ Mass of metal cast into a size and shape such as a bar, plate, or sheet convenient to store, transport, and work into a semifinished or finished product. The term also refers to a mold in which metal is so cast. Steel ingots range in size from small rectangular blocks weighing a few pounds (or kilograms) to huge, tapered, octagonal masses weighing more than 500 tons (450 metric tons).
Ingres \'a n gr 3 \, Jean-Auguste-Dominique (b. Aug. 29, 1780, Montauban, France—d. Jan. 14, 1867, Paris) French painter. He studied with Jacques- Louis David in Paris before attending the Ecole des Beaux- Arts (1799-1801), where he won a Prix de Rome scholarship. Critics condemned one of his first public works, the awe-inspiring portrait Napo¬ leon on His Imperial Throne (1806), as stiff and archaic, but its style was one he developed intentionally. In Italy (1806-24) he prospered with por¬ traits and history paintings. His small-scale portrait drawings are meticu-
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lously rendered. Back in Paris he received critical acclaim at last and won admission to the academy with The Vow of Louis XIII (1824). He succeeded David as the leader of French Neoclassical painting, a style that was the antithesis of the lush Romanticism of contemporary artists such as Eugene Delacroix, Ingres’s chief rival. In 1825 he opened a teaching studio, which became one of the largest in Paris. By the mid 1840s he was France’s most sought- after society portraitist. Some of his most notable later works are female nudes, which are often notable for their elongated distortion. None of his many students attained distinc¬ tion, but his influence is seen in the work of Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Pablo Picasso.
inheritance Devolution of prop¬ erty on an heir or heirs upon the death of its owner. In civil law juris¬ dictions it is called succession. The concept depends on a common acceptance of the notion of private own¬ ership of goods and property. Under some systems, land is considered communal property and rights to it are redistributed, rather than bequeathed, on the death of a community member. In many countries, a minimum portion of the decedent’s estate must be assigned to the sur¬ viving spouse and often to the progeny as well. Intestacy laws, which govern the inheritance of estates whose distribution is not directed by a will, universally view kinship between the decedent and the beneficiary as a primary consideration. Inheritance usually entails payment of an inheritance tax. See also inheritance tax; intestate succession; probate.
inheritance tax Levy on the property accruing to each beneficiary of the estate of a deceased person. Inheritance tax may be more difficult to administer than estate tax because the value passing to each beneficiary must be fixed, and this often requires complex actuarial calculations. Inheritance taxes date back to the Roman Empire. In the U.S. inheritance taxes have always been collected by the individual states, while the fed¬ eral government has imposed an estate tax. The first state inheritance tax was imposed by Pennsylvania in 1826.