Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

137 results found

Ångström, Anders Jöns

(Encyclopedia)Ångström, Anders Jöns änˈdərs yöns ōngˈström [key], 1814–74, Swedish physicist. He was educated at the Univ. of Uppsala and in 1839 became a member of its faculty. He is particularly noted...

Raman effect

(Encyclopedia)Raman effect räˈmən [key], appearance of additional lines in the spectrum of monochromatic light that has been scattered by a transparent material medium. The effect was discovered by C. V. Raman i...

Paschen series

(Encyclopedia)Paschen series päˈshən [key]: see spectrum. ...

radial velocity

(Encyclopedia)radial velocity, in astronomy, the speed with which a star moves toward or away from the sun. It is determined from the red or blue shift in the star's spectrum. ...

Rydberg constant

(Encyclopedia)Rydberg constant rĭdˈbərg [key], physical constant used in studies of the spectrum of a substance. Its value for hydrogen is 109,737.3 cm−1. ...

blue shift

(Encyclopedia)blue shift or blueshift, in astronomy, the systematic displacement of individual lines in the spectrum of a celestial object toward the blue, or shorter wavelength, end of the visible spectrum. The am...

prism

(Encyclopedia)prism, in optics, a piece of translucent glass or crystal used to form a spectrum of light separated according to colors. Its cross section is usually triangular. The light becomes separated because d...

spectrophotometer

(Encyclopedia)spectrophotometer, instrument for measuring and comparing the intensities of common spectral lines in the spectra of two different sources of light. See photometry; spectroscope; spectrum. ...

Kayser, Heinrich Gustav Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Kayser, Heinrich Gustav Johannes hīnˈrĭkh go͝osˈtäf yōhänˈəs kīˈzər [key], 1853–1940, German physicist. He was professor at Bonn from 1894 to 1920. He is known for his work in sound and...

Browse by Subject