Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Murchison Falls

(Encyclopedia)Murchison Falls, rapids on the lower Victoria Nile River, NW Uganda, 22 mi (35 km) E of Lake Albert (see Albert, Lake). The river, narrowing to about 20 ft (6 m) wide, flows through precipitously clef...

Victoria Nile

(Encyclopedia)Victoria Nile, river, section of the White Nile, c.260 mi (420 km) long, central Uganda, E central Africa. It drains from the northern end of Lake Victoria (see Victoria, Lake) at Jinja and flows gene...

Rore, Cipriano de

(Encyclopedia)Rore, Cipriano de sēprēäˈnō dā rōˈrə [key], c.1516–65, Flemish composer. Much of his mature life was spent in Italy, where his some 120 madrigals, for four and five voices, were admired and...

quantum theory

(Encyclopedia)quantum theory, modern physical theory concerned with the emission and absorption of energy by matter and with the motion of material particles; the quantum theory and the theory of relativity togethe...

mechanics

(Encyclopedia)mechanics, branch of physics concerned with motion and the forces that tend to cause it; it includes study of the mechanical properties of matter, such as density, elasticity, and viscosity. Mechanics...

Philippe

(Encyclopedia)Philippe, 1960–, king of the Belgians (2013–). Eldest son of Albert II, he was educated at the Belgian Royal Military Academy, Oxford, and Stanford. Philippe married Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz in 19...

statistical mechanics

(Encyclopedia)statistical mechanics, quantitative study of systems consisting of a large number of interacting elements, such as the atoms or molecules of a solid, liquid, or gas, or the individual quanta of light ...

Isaac, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Isaac, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh ēˈzäk [key], c.1450–1517, Flemish composer. Isaac, a prolific and versatile composer, traveled widely in Europe, serving at the courts of Lorenzo de' Medici and Empero...

Fermi-Dirac statistics

(Encyclopedia)Fermi-Dirac statistics, class of statistics that applies to particles called fermions. Fermions have half-integral values of the quantum mechanical property called spin and are “antisocial” in the...

Tourcoing

(Encyclopedia)Tourcoing to͞orkwăNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 94,424), Nord dept., N France, in French Flanders. With the adjacent city of Roubaix, it forms one of the most important textile centers of France. In 14...