Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

adenosine triphosphate

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) adenosine triphosphate (ATP) ədĕnˈəsēn trīˌfŏsˈfāt [key], organic compound composed of adenine, the sugar ribose, and three phosphate groups. ATP serves ...

periodic table

(Encyclopedia)CE5 periodic table, chart of the elements arranged according to the periodic law discovered by Dmitri I. Mendeleev and revised by Henry G. J. Moseley. In the periodic table the elements are arrange...

cosmology

(Encyclopedia)cosmology, area of science that aims at a comprehensive theory of the structure and evolution of the entire physical universe. The earliest pre-Ptolemaic theories assumed that the earth was the cent...

cold fusion

(Encyclopedia)cold fusion or low-temperature fusion, nuclear fusion of deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, at or relatively near room temperature. Fusion, the reaction involved in the release of the destructive ener...

Purcell, Edward Mills

(Encyclopedia)Purcell, Edward Mills, 1912–97, American physicist, b. Taylorville, Ill., Ph.D. Harvard, 1938. During World War II, Purcell was a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation La...

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

(Encyclopedia)Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), multinational organization (est. 1960, formally constituted 1961) that coordinates petroleum policies and economic aid among oil-producing nations...

particle accelerator

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Linear accelerator (LINAC) CE5 Cyclotron: As the charged particles move faster, they spiral out to the edge of the Ds. particle accelerator, apparatus used in nuclear physics to produce bea...

McLean

(Encyclopedia)McLean, city (1990 pop. 38,168), Fairfax co., N Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C. Manufacturing includes foods, satellite components, and computer and telecommunications equipment. The headquarters of...

Reuter, Baron Paul Julius von

(Encyclopedia)Reuter, Baron Paul Julius von roiˈtər [key], 1816–99, founder of Reuters Telegram Company (now part of Thomson Reuters), b. Kassel, Germany. His original name was Israel Beer Josaphat. First a ba...

Office of Price Administration

(Encyclopedia)Office of Price Administration (OPA), U.S. federal agency in World War II, established to prevent wartime inflation. The OPA issued (Apr., 1942) a general maximum-price regulation that made prices cha...