Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

458 results found

light

(Encyclopedia)light, visible electromagnetic radiation. Of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, the human eye is sensitive to only a tiny part, the part that is called light. The wavelengths of visible light range ...

photography, still

(Encyclopedia)photography, still, science and art of making permanent images on light-sensitive materials. See also photographic processing; motion picture photography; motion pictures. By the end of ...

library

(Encyclopedia)library, a collection of books or other written or printed materials, as well as the facility in which they are housed and the institution that is responsible for their maintenance. Modern libraries m...

Saturn, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Saturn and its ring system as seen from Earth Saturn, in astronomy, 6th planet from the sun. Saturn has 82 confirmed natural satellites, many of which have not been named. Five of the discov...

Venice

(Encyclopedia)Venice vĕnˈĭs [key], Ital. Venezia, city (1991 pop. 309,422), capital of Venetia and of Venice prov., NE Italy, built on 118 alluvial islets within a lagoon in the Gulf of Venice (an arm of the Adr...

Hong Kong

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Hong Kong hŏng kŏng [key], Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2015 est. pop. 7,246,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent ...

sculpture

(Encyclopedia)sculpture, art of producing in three dimensions representations of natural or imagined forms. It includes sculpture in the round, which can be viewed from any direction, as well as incised relief, in ...

philosophy

(Encyclopedia)philosophy [Gr.,=love of wisdom], study of the ultimate reality, causes, and principles underlying being and thinking. It has many aspects and different manifestations according to the problems involv...

telescope

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mirror arrangements for a reflecting telescope telescope, traditionally, a system of lenses, mirrors, or both, used to gather light from a distant object and form an image of it. Traditional o...

science

(Encyclopedia)science [Lat. scientia=knowledge]. For many the term science refers to the organized body of knowledge concerning the physical world, both animate and inanimate, but a proper definition would also hav...

Browse by Subject