Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

488 results found

Federal Communications Commission

(Encyclopedia)Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. The FCC is co...

Pandora, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Pandora păndôrˈə [key], in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn XVII (or S17), Pandora is an irregularly shaped (nonspherical) body measuring a...

Western Union Telegraph Company

(Encyclopedia)Western Union Telegraph Company, enterprise created (1851) to provide telegraphic communications services in the United States. Originally known as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegra...

Weiss, Rainer

(Encyclopedia)Weiss, Rainer, 1932–, American physicist, b. Berlin, Germany, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1962. Weiss has been on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1964...

Saturn, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Saturn and its ring system as seen from Earth Saturn, in astronomy, 6th planet from the sun. Saturn has 82 confirmed natural satellites, many of which have not been named. Five of the discov...

Loeb, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Loeb, Jacques lōb [key], 1859–1924, American physiologist, b. Germany, M.D. Univ. of Strasbourg, 1884. He came to the United States in 1891 and taught at Bryn Mawr, the Univ. of Chicago, and the Un...

Liebig, Justus, Baron von

(Encyclopedia)Liebig, Justus, Baron von yo͝osˈto͝os bärônˈ fən lēˈbĭkh [key], 1803–73, German chemist. As professor at Giessen (1824–52), he was among the first to establish a chemical teaching labora...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(Encyclopedia)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge; coeducational; chartered 1861, opened 1865 in Boston, moved 1916. It has long been recognized as an outstanding technological institute and its Slo...

Kiel Canal

(Encyclopedia)Kiel Canal, artificial waterway, 61 mi (98 km) long, in Schleswig-Holstein, N central Germany, connecting the North Sea with the Baltic Sea. At sea level, the canal extends from Kiel on the Baltic to ...

iron lung

(Encyclopedia)iron lung, device used to maintain artificial respiration over an extended period of time. Before the successful vaccination program against poliomyelitis, it was used mostly in treatment of that dise...