Alpha by itself may refer to:
The International Space Station has sometimes been referred to as 'Alpha'.
Alpha may also be used in:
- An adjective to indicate the first or most significant occurrence of something., as in these examples:
- alpha female or male - the individual in the community to whom the others defer. Humans and their nearest species-relatives, the chimpanzees, show deference to the alpha of the community by ritualized gestures such as bowing, allowing the alpha to walk first in a procession, or standing aside when the alpha challenges.
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alpha geek - a slang term based on the above, referring to any person considered pre-eminent amongst geeks, such as Linus Torvalds.
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alpha version or alpha release - the first release of a computer program or other product, likely to be very unstable but useful for demonstrating internally and to select customers.
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alpha <name of constellation> - Bayer designation of (typically) the brightest star in a constellation.
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alpha channel - a transparency information layer to supplement the three RGB color layers to make the RGBA color space.
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H-alpha, an emission line created by Hydrogen atoms.
- Alpha particles
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Alpha course, a course in Christianity
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Alpha squad, a Russian special unit
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Alpha, Michigan
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Alpha, Minnesota
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Alpha, New_Jersey
Alpha is also the symbol used in Atomic Physics for the Fine Structure Constant
Last updated: 02-08-2005 13:03:43