Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

fireball

(Encyclopedia)fireball, very bright meteor leaving a trail in the sky that can remain visible for several minutes; often a distinct sound, perhaps caused by very low frequency radio waves, is associated with it. A ...

Thayer, Sylvanus

(Encyclopedia)Thayer, Sylvanus, 1785–1872, American soldier and educator, b. Braintree, Mass., grad. Dartmouth, 1807, and West Point, 1808. During the War of 1812 he served as an engineer, and afterward he was se...

Achill

(Encyclopedia)Achill ăkˈĭl [key] [Irish,=eagle], island, 56 sq mi (145 sq km), Co. Mayo, W Republic of Ireland; the largest island of Ireland. It is connected with the mainland by a bridge over Achill Sound. The...

harp

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Harp harp, stringed musical instrument of ancient origin, the strings of which are plucked with the fingers. Harps were found in paintings from the 13th cent. b.c. at Thebes. In different form...

digital art

(Encyclopedia)digital art, contemporary art in which computer technology is used in a wide variety of ways to make distinctive works. Digital art was pioneered in the 1970s but only came into its own as a viable ar...

telephone

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Hand telephone telephone, device for communicating sound, especially speech, usually by means of wires in an electric circuit. The telephones now in general use evolved from the device invente...

Mariotte, Edme

(Encyclopedia)Mariotte, Edme ĕdˈmə märyôtˈ [key], 1620?–1684, French physicist. His De la nature de l'air (1676) includes a statement of Boyle's law (see gas laws), which he discovered independently and whi...

Kotzebue

(Encyclopedia)Kotzebue kŏtˈsəbyo͞o [key], city (1990 pop. 2,751), NW Alaska, on Kotzebue Sound at the tip of Baldwin Peninsula; inc. 1958. It has one of the largest settlements of Eskimos in Alaska. Kotzebue is...

Kayser, Heinrich Gustav Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Kayser, Heinrich Gustav Johannes hīnˈrĭkh go͝osˈtäf yōhänˈəs kīˈzər [key], 1853–1940, German physicist. He was professor at Bonn from 1894 to 1920. He is known for his work in sound and...

Framingham

(Encyclopedia)Framingham frāˈmĭnghămˌ [key], town (2020 pop. 72,362), Middlesex co., E Mass., on the Sudbury ...