Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Guam

(Encyclopedia)Guam gwäm [key], Chamorro Guåhan, officially Territory of Guam, the largest, most populous, and southernmost of the Mariana Islands (see also Northern Mariana Islands), an unincorporated territory o...

Hubble's law

(Encyclopedia)Hubble's law, in astronomy, statement that the distances between galaxies (see galaxy) or clusters of galaxies are continuously increasing and that therefore the universe is expanding. Hubble's law ...

interior decoration

(Encyclopedia)interior decoration, adornment of the interior of a building, public or domestic, comprising interior architecture, finishing, and furnishings. Asian and classical cultures used the decorative arts to...

ecumenical movement

(Encyclopedia)ecumenical movement ĕkˌyo͞omĕnˈĭkəl, ĕkˌyə– [key], name given to the movement aimed at the unification of the Protestant churches of the world and ultimately of all Christians. During and ...

Borneo

(Encyclopedia)Borneo bôrˈnēōˌ [key], island, c.287,000 sq mi (743,330 sq km), largest of the Malay Arc...

Alaska

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Alaska əlăˈskə [key], largest in area of the United States but one of the smallest in population, occupying the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from the coter...

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Baron von

(Encyclopedia)Leibniz or Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Baron von both: gôtˈfrēt vĭlˈhĕlm bärônˈ fan līpˈnĭts [key], 1646–1716, German philosopher and mathematician, b. Leipzig. Although known primarily...

Kuomintang

(Encyclopedia)Kuomintang gwōˈmĭnˈdängˈ, kwōˈmĭntăngˈ [key] [Chin.,=national people's party] (KMT), Chinese and Taiwanese political party. Sung Chiao-jen organized the party in 1912, under the nominal lea...

atomic weight

(Encyclopedia)atomic weight, mean (weighted average) of the masses of all the naturally occurring isotopes of a chemical element, as contrasted with atomic mass, which is the mass of any individual isotope. Althoug...

nitrogen cycle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Nitrogen cycle nitrogen cycle, the continuous flow of nitrogen through the biosphere by the processes of nitrogen fixation, ammonification (decay), nitrification, and denitrification. Nitrogen...