Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

368 results found

Hampton, Lionel

(Encyclopedia)Hampton, Lionel, 1908?–2002, African-American vibraphonist and bandleader, b. Louisville, Ky. When his family moved to Chicago c.1916, the young Hampton began playing drums in a newsboys' band. He m...

Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, astronomical observatory located 35 mi (56 km) S of Tucson, Ariz., at an altitude of 8,500 ft (2,590 m). It is operated jointly by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Obse...

ohmmeter

(Encyclopedia)ohmmeter ōmˈmēˌtər [key], instrument used to measure the electrical resistance of a conductor. It is usually included in a single package with a voltmeter, and often an ammeter. In normal usage, ...

Masham, Abigail, Lady

(Encyclopedia)Masham, Abigail, Lady măshˈəm [key], d. 1734, favorite of Queen Anne of England. Her maiden name was Abigail Hill. A plain, intelligent person, she became (1704) bedchamber woman to the queen throu...

capitularies

(Encyclopedia)capitularies kəpĭchˈo͝olĕrˌēz [key], decrees and written commands of the Carolingian kings of the Franks, so called because they were divided into capitula, or chapters. Both legislative and ad...

Turnverein

(Encyclopedia)Turnverein to͝ornˈfərīn [key], society of a type originated in Prussia by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. The first hall of such a society was built in 1811 on the Hasenheide athletic grounds, near Berlin....

speedometer

(Encyclopedia)speedometer, instrument that indicates speed. A cable from an automotive speedometer is attached to the rear of the transmission of an automobile; the cable turns at a rate proportional to the speed o...

Pu Yi

(Encyclopedia)Pu Yi po͞o yē [key] or Henry Pu-yi, Manchu Aisin Gioro, 1906–67, last emperor (1908–12) of China, under the reign name Hsuan T'ung. After his abdication, the new republican government granted hi...

Roehm, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Roehm or Röhm, Ernst both: ĕrnst röm [key], 1887–1934, German National Socialist leader. An army officer in World War I, he met (1919) Adolf Hitler, whose political career he helped to launch. Ro...

scanning tunneling microscope

(Encyclopedia)scanning tunneling microscope (STM), device for studying and imaging individual atoms on the surfaces of materials. The instrument was invented in the early 1980s by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, w...