Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

molecule

(Encyclopedia)molecule mŏlˈəkyo͞ol [key] [New Lat.,=little mass], smallest particle of a compound that has all the chemical properties of that compound. A single atom is usually not referred to as a molecule, a...

Mulliken, Robert Sanderson

(Encyclopedia)Mulliken, Robert Sanderson, 1896–1986, American chemist, b. Newburyport, Mass., Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1921. Mulliken taught at New York Univ. from 1926 to 1928 and then at the Univ. of Chicago fro...

Perutz, Max Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Perutz, Max Ferdinand, 1914–2002, British molecular biologist, b. Vienna. One of the pioneers in the field of molecular biology, Perutz studied chemistry at the Univ. of Vienna (1932–36) and then ...

clock

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A pendulum clock: Weight-driven clock mechanism clock, instrument for measuring and indicating time. Predecessors of the clock were the sundial, the hourglass, and the clepsydra. See also watc...

Herschbach, Dudley Robert

(Encyclopedia)Herschbach, Dudley Robert hûrshˈbăk [key], 1932–, American chemist, b. San Jose, Calif., Ph.D. Harvard, 1958. In 1986, Herschbach shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Yuan T. Lee and John C. ...

chickpea

(Encyclopedia)chickpea, annual plant (Cicer arietinum) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), cultivated since antiquity for the somewhat pealike seeds, which are often used as food and forage, principally in In...

Archimedes' principle

(Encyclopedia)Archimedes' principle, principle that states that a body immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. The principle applies to both floating and submerged bo...

snowmobile

(Encyclopedia)snowmobile, vehicle designed to travel over snow, ice, and similar surfaces that offer limited traction and weight-supporting capability. As the performance of the vehicle depends to a large extent on...

chemical reaction

(Encyclopedia)chemical reaction, process by which one or more substances may be transformed into one or more new substances. Energy is released or is absorbed, but no loss in total molecular weight occurs. When, fo...

Stanley, William Meredith

(Encyclopedia)Stanley, William Meredith, 1904–71, American biochemist, b. Ridgeville, Ind., Ph.D. Univ. of Illinois, 1929. He was a professor at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller Uni...

Browse by Subject