Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

419 results found

Malpighi, Marcello

(Encyclopedia)Malpighi, Marcello märchĕlˈlō mälpēˈgē [key], 1628–94, Italian anatomist. A pioneer in the use of the microscope, he made many valuable observations on the structure of plants and animals. H...

acanthus

(Encyclopedia)acanthus əkănˈthəs [key], common name for a member of the Acanthaceae, a family of chiefly perennial herbs and shrubs, mostly native to the tropics. A few members of the family, many of which have...

teasel

(Encyclopedia)teasel, common name for some members of the Dipsacaceae, a family of chiefly Old World herbs found mostly in the Mediterranean and Balkan areas but ranging to India and to S Africa. Species of Dipsacu...

Woodbury

(Encyclopedia)Woodbury. 1 Residential city (1990 pop. 10,904), seat of Gloucester co., SW N.J., in the Philadelphia–Camden metropolitan area; settled 1683, inc. as a city 1871. It is a trade and service center, a...

Svalbard

(Encyclopedia)Svalbard svälˈbärd [key], archipelago (23,958 sq mi/62,051 sq km), island group (2015 est. pop. 2,700), possession of Norway, located in the Arctic Ocean, c.400 mi (640 km) N of the Norwegian mainl...

air mass

(Encyclopedia)air mass, large body of air within the earth's atmosphere in which temperature and humidity, although varying at different heights, remain similar throughout the body at any one height. Air masses for...

Bjerknes, Vilhelm Frimann Koren

(Encyclopedia)Bjerknes, Vilhelm Frimann Koren vĭlˈhĕlm frēˈmän kôˈrən byĕrkˈnĕs [key], 1862–1951, Norwegian physicist and pioneer in modern meteorology. He worked on applying hydrodynamic and thermody...

Rasmussen, Knud Johan Victor

(Encyclopedia)Rasmussen, Knud Johan Victor kəno͞otˈ yōˈhän vĭkˈtôr räsˈmo͝osən [key], 1879–1933, Danish arctic explorer and ethnologist. Born in Greenland of Eskimo ancestry on his mother's side, he ...

Alaska Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Alaska Peninsula, SW Alaska, extending 500 mi (800 km) SW from the mainland, separating Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea from Cook Inlet, the Shelikof Strait, and Pacific Ocean. The Aleutian Range, runn...

garter snake

(Encyclopedia)garter snake, harmless snake of the genus Thamnophis, abundant from Canada to Central America. There are many common species; members of most species are about 2 ft (60 cm) long. Most garter snakes ar...