Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Clarke, Arthur C.

(Encyclopedia)Clarke, Arthur C. (Sir Arthur Charles Clarke), 1917–2008, British science fiction writer. During World War II he served as a radar instructor and aviator in the Royal Air Force. After the war he obt...

Flynt, Larry Claxton, Jr.

(Encyclopedia) Flynt, Larry Claxton, Jr., 1942-2021, American magazine publisher, b. Lakeville, Ky. Flynt was the son of a sharecropper, and dropped out of school at...

micromechanics

(Encyclopedia)micromechanics, the combination of minuscule electrical and mechanical components in a single device less than 1 mm across, such as a valve or a motor. Although micromechanical production processes an...

audiovisual education

(Encyclopedia)audiovisual education, educational instruction by means of materials that use the senses of sight and hearing to stimulate and enrich learning experiences. The successful use of motion pictures and ot...

Tubman, Harriet

(Encyclopedia)Tubman, Harriet, c.1820–1913, American abolitionist, b. Dorchester co., Md. Born into slavery, she escaped to Phildelphia in 1849, and subsequently became one of the most successful “conductors”...

dimension, in physics

(Encyclopedia)dimension, in physics, an expression of the character of a derived quantity in relation to fundamental quantities, without regard for its numerical value. In any system of measurement, such as the met...

Changsha

(Encyclopedia)Changsha chängˈshäˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,198,100), capital of Hunan prov., S China, on the Xiang River. The name, which means “long sandbank,” is derived from an island in the river. ...

Great Falls

(Encyclopedia)Great Falls, city (2020 pop. 60,442), seat of Cascade co., N central Mont., second largest city in the state, at the confluence of the Missouri and Sun ...

flux, magnetic

(Encyclopedia)flux, magnetic, in physics, term used to describe the total amount of magnetic field in a given region. The term flux was chosen because the power of a magnet seems to “flow” out of the magnet at ...

bus

(Encyclopedia)bus [Lat. omnibus=for all], large public conveyance. A horse-drawn urban omnibus was introduced in Paris in 1662 by Blaise Pascal and his associates, but it remained in operation for only a few years....

Browse by Subject