Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

100 results found

safety movement

(Encyclopedia)safety movement, widespread effort to prevent accidents that followed the increasing number of casualties in industry, traffic and transportation, and homes arising out of the Industrial Revolution an...

airport

(Encyclopedia)airport or airfield, place for landing and departure of aircraft, usually with facilities for housing and maintaining planes and for receiving and discharging passengers and cargo. There are about 16,...

transportation

(Encyclopedia)transportation, conveyance of goods and people over land, across water, and through the air. See also commerce. The first practical attempts at air transportation began with the invention of the h...

navigation satellite

(Encyclopedia)navigation satellite, artificial satellite designed expressly to aid the navigation of sea and air traffic. Early navigation satellites, from the Transit series launched in 1960 to the U.S. navy's Nav...

Ottawa, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Ottawa ŏtˈəwə [key], city (1991 pop. 313,987), capital of Canada, SE Ont., at the confluence of the Ottawa and Rideau rivers and across the Ottawa from Gatineau, Que. The Rideau Canal separates th...

Bell, Alexander Graham

(Encyclopedia)Bell, Alexander Graham, 1847–1922, American scientist, inventor of the telephone, b. Edinburgh, Scotland, educated at the Univ. of Edinburgh and University College, London; son of Alexander Melville...

flight

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Aircraft motions and control surfaces: Yaw, or motion to the left or right, is controlled by the rudder. Pitch, or climbing or dropping, is controlled by the elevators, which move in the same d...

aerial and satellite photography

(Encyclopedia)aerial and satellite photography, technology and science of taking still or moving-picture photographs from a camera mounted on a balloon, airplane, satellite, rocket, or spacecraft. In the 19th cent....

administrative law

(Encyclopedia)administrative law, law governing the powers and processes of administrative agencies. The term is sometimes used also of law (i.e., rules, regulations) developed by agencies in the course of their op...

radio-frequency identification

(Encyclopedia)radio-frequency identification (RFID), a technology that uses radio waves to transmit data and uniquely identify an animal, person, or thing. An RFID system typically consists of a tag and a reader. T...