Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

287 results found

Whittle, Sir Frank

(Encyclopedia)Whittle, Sir Frank, 1907–96, English aeronautical engineer. Whittle was one of the first persons to associate the gas turbine with jet propulsion. Previously the gas turbine had been regarded as a m...

waterfall

(Encyclopedia)waterfall, a sudden unsupported drop in a stream. It is formed when the stream course is interrupted as when a stream passes over a layer of harder rock—often igneous—to an area of softer and ther...

marine engine

(Encyclopedia)marine engine, machine for the propulsion of watercraft. The earliest marine power plants, reciprocating steam engines, were used almost exclusively until the early 1900s. In later ship construction t...

McDonnell, James Smith

(Encyclopedia)McDonnell, James Smith, 1899–1980, American aviation pioneer, b. Denver, B.S. Princeton, 1921, M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1925. He designed the Doodlebug (1929), a small monoplane, ...

Oceanus

(Encyclopedia)Oceanus ōsēˈənəs [key], in Greek mythology. 1 Circular stream that flows around the edge of the earth. The sun and moon rise from and descend into this stream; it is the source of all rivers. 2 P...

Tupolev, Andrei Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Tupolev, Andrei Nikolayevich əndrāˈ nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch to͞opōˈlĕf [key], 1888–1972, Soviet aeronautical engineer, educated at the Moscow Technical Institute. In 1918 he helped organize the C...

ramjet

(Encyclopedia)ramjet: see jet propulsion.

scramjet

(Encyclopedia)scramjet: see jet propulsion.

pitot static system

(Encyclopedia)pitot static system pētōˈ [key], device for measuring the rate at which a fluid flows. Among the principal applications of the device are an airspeed indicator for aircraft and a distance and speed...

Moose Jaw

(Encyclopedia)Moose Jaw, city (1991 pop. 33,593), S central Sask., Canada. It is a railroad and distribution center, with oil refineries, meatpacking and dairy-processing plants, flour, lumber, and woolen mills, st...