Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

155 results found

Odets, Clifford

(Encyclopedia)Odets, Clifford ōdĕtsˈ [key], 1906–63, American dramatist, b. Philadelphia. After graduating from high school he became an actor and in 1931 joined the Group Theatre. Turning his attention from a...

Terkel, Studs

(Encyclopedia)Terkel, Studs, 1912–2008, American writer, social historian, and radio and television personality, b. the Bronx, N.Y., as Louis Terkel, grad. Univ. of Chicago (Ph.B. 1932, J.D. 1934). Terkel, who mo...

Rabe, David

(Encyclopedia)Rabe, David rāb [key], 1940–, American playwright, b. Dubuque, Iowa; grad. Loras College (B.A., 1962), Villanova Univ. (M.A., 1968). Rabe served in Vietnam (1965–67) and his experiences and obser...

altimeter

(Encyclopedia)altimeter ăltĭmˈĭtər, ălˈtĭmēˌtər [key], device for measuring altitude. The most common type is an aneroid barometer calibrated to show the drop in atmospheric pressure in terms of linear e...

Hercules cluster

(Encyclopedia)Hercules cluster, giant globular star cluster in the northern constellation Hercules; cataloged as M13 or NGC 6205. The cluster is just visible to the naked eye and is the best example of a globular c...

melody

(Encyclopedia)melody, succession of single tones of varying pitch. Melody is the linear aspect of music, in contrast to harmony, the chordal aspect, which results from the simultaneous sounding of tones. Melody mus...

Ottonian art

(Encyclopedia)Ottonian art ŏtōˈnēən [key], art produced (c.900–1050) in the East Frankish kingdom of Germany known, after the emperors Otto (936–1002), as the Ottonian kingdom. Influenced by Byzantine and ...

matrix

(Encyclopedia)matrix, in mathematics, a rectangular array of elements (e.g., numbers) considered as a single entity. A matrix is distinguished by the number of rows and columns it contains. The matrix CE5 is a 2...

Ting, Samuel Chao Chung

(Encyclopedia)Ting, Samuel Chao Chung, 1936–, American physicist, b. Ann Arbor, Mich., Ph.D. Univ. of Michigan 1962. Ting was a professor at Columbia from 1965 to 1969, when he joined the faculty at the Massachus...

barcode

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Barcode barcode, computer coding system that uses a printed pattern of lines and bars to identify such things as products, mail and packages, and customer accounts; the term also is used for s...

Browse by Subject