Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

320 results found

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

(Encyclopedia)Integrated Ocean Drilling Program: see under Deep Sea Drilling Project. ...

microelectronics

(Encyclopedia)microelectronics, branch of electronic technology devoted to the design and development of extremely small electronic devices that consume very little electric power. Although the term is sometimes us...

Boyle, Willard Sterling

(Encyclopedia)Boyle, Willard Sterling, 1924–2011, Canadian-American solid-state physicist, b. Amherst, N.S., Canada, Ph.D. McGill Univ., Montreal, 1950. Boyle was a researcher at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill,...

Noyce, Robert Norton

(Encyclopedia)Noyce, Robert Norton nois [key], 1927–90, American engineer, inventor, and entrepeneur, b. Burlington, Iowa.; grad. Grinnell College (B.A., 1949), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1953)...

Moore's Law

(Encyclopedia)Moore's Law, a projection of semiconductor manufacturing trends made by Gordon E. Moore, cofounder of the Intel Corp., in a 1965 magazine article. He observed that the number of transistors per square...

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...

amplifier

(Encyclopedia)amplifier, device that accepts a varying input signal and produces an output signal that varies in the same way as the input but has a larger amplitude. The input signal may be a current, a voltage, a...

microprocessor

(Encyclopedia)microprocessor, integrated circuit containing the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry required to interpret and execute instructions from a computer program. When combined with other integrated c...

calculator

(Encyclopedia)calculator or calculating machine, device for performing numerical computations; it may be mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic. The electronic computer is also a calculator but performs other...

fuse, electric

(Encyclopedia)fuse, electric, safety device used to protect an electric circuit against an excessive current. A fuse consists essentially of a strip of low-melting alloy enclosed in a suitable housing. It is connec...