Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

hydrogen chloride

(Encyclopedia)hydrogen chloride, chemical compound, HCl, a colorless, poisonous gas with an unpleasant, acrid odor. It is very soluble in water and readily soluble in alcohol and ether. It fumes in moist air. It is...

hysteresis

(Encyclopedia)hysteresis hĭsˌtərēˈsĭs [key], phenomenon in which the response of a physical system to an external influence depends not only on the present magnitude of that influence but also on the previous...

Sunni

(Encyclopedia)Sunni so͞oˈnī [key] [Arab. Sunna,=tradition], from ahl al-sunnah wa-l-jamaa [Arab.,=the people of the custom of the Prophet and community], the largest division of Islam. Sunni Islam is the heir to...

Planck, Max

(Encyclopedia)Planck, Max mäks plängk [key], 1858–1947, German physicist. Seeking to explain the experimental spectrum (distribution of electromagnetic energy according to wavelength) of blackbody radiation, he...

Lanzmann, Claude

(Encyclopedia)Lanzmann, Claude, 1925–2018, French filmmaker and journalist, b. Paris. While his Jewish family was in hiding in rural France during World War II, Lanzmann joined the Resistance and fought the Nazis...

eyeglasses

(Encyclopedia)eyeglasses or spectacles, instrument or device for aiding and correcting defective sight. Eyeglasses usually consist of a pair of lenses mounted in a frame to hold them in position before the eyes. Th...

Greenback party

(Encyclopedia)Greenback party, in U.S. history, political organization formed in the years 1874–76 to promote currency expansion. The members were principally farmers of the West and the South; stricken by the Pa...

anti–Vietnam War movement

(Encyclopedia)anti–Vietnam War movement, domestic and international reaction (1965–73) in opposition to U.S. policy during the Vietnam War. During the four years following passage of the Tonkin Gulf resolution ...

Judges

(Encyclopedia)Judges, book of the Bible, seventh book of the Old Testament in the order of the Authorized Version. It is the sequel of Joshua in the biblical history, telling of the Hebrews in the Promised Land fro...

Neustria

(Encyclopedia)Neustria no͞osˈtrēə [key], western portion of the kingdom of the Franks in the 6th, 7th, and 8th cent., during the rule of the Merovingians. It comprised the Seine and Loire country and the region...