Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Möbius, Augustus Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Möbius, Augustus Ferdinand mōˈbēəs, Ger. möˈbēəs [key],(1790–1868), German mathematician and astronomer, b. Schulpforta, Saxony. A professor of astronomy at the Univ. of Leipzig, he made im...

radar

(Encyclopedia)radar, system or technique for detecting the position, movement, and nature of a remote object by means of radio waves reflected from its surface. Although most radar units use microwave frequencies, ...

evening star

(Encyclopedia)evening star or morning star, planet that becomes visible in the western sky shortly after sunset or in the eastern sky shortly before sunrise. It can usually be seen in twilight, when it is too light...

Blow, John

(Encyclopedia)Blow, John, 1649–1708, English composer. He was organist and choirmaster at Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal and the teacher of Henry Purcell. He wrote more than 100 anthems and 10 sacred serv...

astrometry

(Encyclopedia)astrometry: see astronomy.

Orpen, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Orpen, Sir William, 1878–1931, British portrait and genre painter, b. Ireland. He is best known for his scenes of Irish daily life, his paintings and sketches of life at the front in World War I, an...

Eryx

(Encyclopedia)Eryx ĕrˈĭks [key], ancient city, W Sicily, Italy. Long a source of conflict between Carthage and Syracuse, it was destroyed (c.260 b.c.) by the Carthaginians in the First Punic War. Its temple of V...

Ganesa

(Encyclopedia)Ganesa gənāˈsə [key], b. 1507, d. after 1564, Indian astronomer. As a boy of 13 in a village N of Mumbai, Ganesa wrote a treatise on astronomy, the Grahalaghava, which has often been reprinted and...

Fogelberg, Bengt Erland

(Encyclopedia)Fogelberg, Bengt Erland bĕngt ĕrˈländ fo͞oˈgəlbĕrˌyə [key], 1786–1854, Swedish sculptor. He studied in Stockholm, in Paris, and in Rome, where he lived for many years. His statues of Greek...

Burnham, Sherburne Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Burnham, Sherburne Wesley, 1838–1921, American astronomer, b. Thetford, Vt. After serving as observer at Dearborn Observatory, Chicago (1877–81, 1882–84), and as astronomer at Lick Observatory (...