Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

multinational corporation

(Encyclopedia)multinational corporation, business enterprise with manufacturing, sales, or service subsidiaries in one or more foreign countries, also known as a transnational or international corporation. These co...

fusion

(Encyclopedia)fusion, in physics. 1 The change of a substance from the solid to the liquid state, also known as melting. The heat given up by a unit mass of a substance during fusion is called the latent heat of fu...

garter snake

(Encyclopedia)garter snake, harmless snake of the genus Thamnophis, abundant from Canada to Central America. There are many common species; members of most species are about 2 ft (60 cm) long. Most garter snakes ar...

chernozem

(Encyclopedia)chernozem chĕrˈnəzĕmˌ [key] or black earth, variety of soil rich in organic matter in the form of humus. It is generally a modified type of loess. True chernozem is black in color, but there are ...

Siepi, Cesare

(Encyclopedia)Siepi, Cesare chāˈzärā sēĕpˈē [key], 1923–2010, Italian opera singer, b. Milan. A classic basso cantante [singing bass], his warm, resonant voice was suited to for Mozart's operas, and the t...

Floyd, Carlisle

(Encyclopedia)Floyd, Carlisle (Carlisle Sessions Floyd, Jr.), 1926–, American composer, b. Latta, S.C., grad. Syracuse Univ. (B.A., 1946; M.A., 1949). His reputation rests on his operas, for which he writes both ...

Plzeň

(Encyclopedia)Plzeň pŭlˈzĕnyə [key], Ger. Pilsen, city (1991 pop. 173,008), W Czech Republic, in Bohemia, at the confluence of several rivers. One of the Czech Republic's largest cities, it lies near a belt of...

Webb Space Telescope

(Encyclopedia)Webb Space Telescope or James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is an infrared space telescope, the largest in space at its launc...

conjoined twins

(Encyclopedia)conjoined twins, congenitally united organisms that are complete or nearly complete individuals, historically known as Siamese twins. They develop from a single fertilized ovum that has divided imperf...

hydrotherapy

(Encyclopedia)hydrotherapy, use of water in the treatment of illness or injury. Although the medicinal and hygienic value of water was recognized by the early Greeks, hydrotherapy attained its widest use in the 18t...