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Hemisphere

1. A half sphere; one half of a sphere or globe, when divided by a plane passing through its center.

2. Half of the terrestrial globe, or a projection of the same in a map or picture.

3. The people who inhabit a hemisphere. He died . . . Mourned by a hemisphere. (j. P. Peters)ten cerebral hemispheres.

(Science: anatomy) see brain.

(Science: physics) Magdeburg hemispheres, two hemispherical cups forming, when placed together, a cavity from which the air can be withdrawn by an air pump; used to illustrate the pressure of the air. So called because invented by otto von Guericke at Magdeburg.

Origin: L. Hemisphaerium, gr.; half = sphere: cf. F. Hemisphere. See Hemi-, and sphere.