Crossword clues for observer
observer
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Observer \Ob*serv"er\, n.
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One who observes, or pays attention to, anything; especially, one engaged in, or trained to habits of, close and exact observation; as, an astronomical observer.
The observed of all observers.
--Shak.Careful observers may foretell the hour, By sure prognostic, when to dread a shower.
--Swift. -
One who keeps any law, custom, regulation, rite, etc.; one who conforms to anything in practice. ``Diligent observers of old customs.''
--Spenser.These . . . hearkened unto observers of times.
--Deut. xviii. 14. One who fulfills or performs; as, an observer of his promises.
A sycophantic follower. [Obs.]
--Beau. & Fl.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1550s, "one who keeps a rule, custom, etc.," agent noun from observe. Meaning "one who watches and takes notice" is from 1580s; this is the sense of the word in many newspaper names.
Wiktionary
n. 1 One who makes observations, monitors or takes notice 2 One who adheres or follows laws, guidelines, etc. 3 A person sent as a representative, to a meeting or other function to monitor but not to participate 4 (context military English) A crew member on an aircraft who makes observations of enemy positions or aircraft 5 (context military English) A sentry etc. manning an observation post
WordNet
n. a person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses [syn: perceiver, beholder]
an expert who observes and comments on something [syn: commentator]
Wikipedia
An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment.
Observer may also refer to:
Observer (also known as Brain Guy) is a fictional character in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 television series. He is played by Bill Corbett, and appears in the eighth through tenth seasons of the series.
Observer is a hyperintelligent, psychic alien from a planet of fellow aliens confusingly sharing the name "Observer" (the other two who appear in the series are played by Michael J. Nelson and Paul Chaplin). Supposedly, the Observers "evolved" beyond bodies into dark-green brains, contained in large Petri dishes (not unlike the Providers in the Star Trek episode " The Gamesters of Triskelion"). They are carried around by humanoid host bodies (controllable over a distance of up to 50 yards), rendering their abandonment of their original bodies rather pointless. (As the robot Gypsy points out, "Wouldn't it be more convenient to just keep your brains in your heads?") Thus Observer is, technically, only the brain which is being carried by the host body, but for all intents and purposes, he is considered a humanoid with brain separated from body. Observer joins the mad scientists ("The Mads") after his planet is inadvertently destroyed by Mike Nelson.
Like his colleagues Professor Bobo (Kevin Murphy) and Pearl Forrester (Mary Jo Pehl), Brain Guy is deeply dysfunctional. Unlike Bobo and Pearl, Brain Guy apparently has a considerable social and sexual life once the Mads returns to Earth in Seasons 9 and 10. He is also said to have, as Professor Bobo put it, "B.O." ( body odor). Observer denies this, claiming that he doesn't have a body, although eventually he gives himself a sniff and admits that he does, in fact, stink.
Observer, after joining the Mads, usually ends up being the one who sends the movies to the Satellite of Love via his psychic abilities.
Observer, like his fellow Observers, claims to be omnipotent and omniscient, much like Q and his people from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but frequently fails to demonstrate these supposed abilities (he once stated that he was "not that omnipotent"). In one of his early appearances (Episode #806, The Undead), before his homeworld is accidentally destroyed by Mike Nelson, his fellow Observers test the rest of the cast to see if any of them deserve the right to become part of their kind. He is surprised when Tom Servo scores higher than him, leading to Observer being painfully punished.
Exposure to Pearl's autocratic manner appears to further degrade his powers over the course of the show, to the point that when Observer tries to punish Mike horribly, he only sends him a necktie. ("Don't you see what a terrible gift that is?") In the final episode, #1013, Danger: Diabolik, Pearl's playful dousing of his brain in Mountain Dew temporarily interferes with his speech and disables his gifts, allowing the Satellite of Love to crash to Earth.
The term observer has a number of non-equivalent uses in science.
Observer is an upcoming cyberpunk horror video game developed by Bloober Team for Microsoft Windows.
The Observer is a newspaper for the residents of Northern Chautauqua County, NY and northwestern Cattaraugus County, NY, with offices located in Dunkirk, NY. Formerly known as the Evening Observer, and before then, the Dunkirk Evening Observer, it was originally delivered in the afternoon six days a week (Monday through Saturday), although it has since switched to morning delivery seven days a week.
The Observer was first published December 4, 1882 by founder Dr. Julien T. Williams. John D'Agostino, former news and managing editor, is the current Publisher.
The newspaper describes itself as a hometown paper, but it is owned by Ogden Newspapers Inc. of Wheeling, West Virginia; the paper is operated in a cluster along with The Post-Journal of Jamestown, New York and the Times-Observer of Warren, Pennsylvania.
On March 13, 2014, the entirety of the newspaper's Web site was placed behind a paywall. The site had been behind a paywall for most of the early 2000s but that paywall was eventually removed.
In special relativity, an observer is a frame of reference from which a set of objects or events are being measured. Usually this is an inertial reference frame or "inertial observer". Less often an observer may be an arbitrary non-inertial reference frame such as a Rindler frame which may be called an "accelerating observer".
The special relativity usage differs significantly from the ordinary English meaning of "observer". Reference frames are inherently nonlocal constructs, covering all of space and time or a nontrivial part of it; thus it does not make sense to speak of an observer (in the special relativistic sense) having a location. Also, an inertial observer cannot accelerate at a later time, nor can an accelerating observer stop accelerating.
Physicists use the term "observer" as shorthand for a specific reference frame from which a set of objects or events is being measured. Speaking of an observer in special relativity is not specifically hypothesizing an individual person who is experiencing events, but rather it is a particular mathematical context which objects and events are to be evaluated from. The effects of special relativity occur whether or not there is a sentient being within the inertial reference frame to witness them.
In quantum mechanics, "observation" is synonymous with quantum measurement and "observer" with a measurement apparatus and " observable" with what can be measured. Thus the quantum mechanical observer does not have to necessarily present or solve any problems over and above the (admittedly difficult) issue of measurement in quantum mechanics. The quantum mechanical observer is also intimately tied to the issue of observer effect.
A number of interpretations of quantum mechanics, notably " consciousness causes collapse", give the observer a special role, or place constraints on who or what can be an observer. For instance, Fritjof Capra writes:
"The crucial feature of atomic physics is that the human observer is not only necessary to observe the properties of an object, but is necessary even to define these properties. ... This can be illustrated with the simple case of a subatomic particle. When observing such a particle, one may choose to measure — among other quantities — the particle's position and its momentum"
However, other authorities downplay any special role of human observers:
"Of course the introduction of the observer must not be misunderstood to imply that some kind of subjective
features are to be brought into the description of nature. The observer has, rather, only the function of
registering decisions, i.e., processes in space and time, and it does not matter whether the observer is an
apparatus or a human being; but the registration, i.e., the transition from the "possible" to the "actual,"
is absolutely necessary here and cannot be omitted from the interpretation of quantum theory."
Critics of the special role of the observer also point out that observers can themselves be observed, leading to paradoxes such as that of Wigner's friend; and that it is not clear how much consciousness is required ("Was the wave function waiting to jump for thousands of millions of years until a single-celled living creature appeared? Or did it have to wait a little longer for some highly qualified measurer - with a PhD?").
Usage examples of "observer".
For a long time the abnormality was not believed to exist, and some of the observers denied the proof by postmortem examination of any of the cases so diagnosed, but there is at present no doubt of the fact,--three, four, and five testicles having been found at autopsies.
The observations of such individuals will be more complicated to analyze than those of constant-velocity observers, whose motion is more serene, but nevertheless we can ask whether there is some way of taming this complexity and bringing accelerated motion squarely into our newfound understanding of space and time.
Einstein significantly extended this symmetry by showing that the laws of physics are actually identical for all observers, even if they are undergoing complicated accelerated motion.
Recall that Einstein accomplished this by realizing that an accelerated observer is also perfectly justified in declaring himself or herself to be at rest, and in claiming that the force he or she feels is due to a gravitational field.
Still on the same day, at the Argentine base at Orkney Island, two meteorological observers sighted an aerial object flying at high speed on a parabolic trajectory, course E-W, white luminosity, causing disturbance in the magnetic field registered on geomagnetic instruments with patterns notably out of the normal.
There were men to envy in the Doughnut, the observers and the scientists: physicists, aerologists, astro-physicists, astronomer.
It is true, indeed, that according to a celebrated observer, Professor von Bunge, the influence of alcoholism in preceding generations is such that the daughters of such a stock are mostly unable to nurse their children.
To a superficial observer, so wonderful a regularity may be admired as the effect either of chance or design: but a skilful algebraist immediately concludes it to be the work of necessity, and demonstrates, that it must for ever result from the nature of these numbers.
ALKINE knew he was Alkine, he was an observer, a passenger in another mind, the functioning of which was perfectly clear.
At this moment the Southern Cross presented itself to the observer in an inverted position, the star Alpha marking its base, which is nearer to the southern pole.
Bobby was the NOAA observer for the Park, or at least making daily reports to the National Weather Service in Anchorage was his excuse to the IRS every time he bought a new receiver.
From forwards, a well-muffled observer could make out the jolly boat ahead with the ancipital rowers straining as they pulled the warship out of harbour.
Thinking of public and commercial annotation products as rivals misses the point, observers say.
There was no question of his plane having been engulfed: in those initial stages, according to observers, there had been only an inch or two ofwater fanning out over the airfield but that had been enough to make the Fokker aquaplane with disastrous results.
Captain Kirk was therefore directed to extend to Commander ha Bem all courtesies normally extended to an attached observer, with special regard for the precarious diplomatic situation, keeping in mind the need to .