Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

498 results found

wind tunnel

(Encyclopedia)wind tunnel, apparatus for studying the interaction between a solid body and an airstream. A wind tunnel simulates the conditions of an aircraft in flight by causing a high-speed stream of air to flow...

Bengaluru

(Encyclopedia)Bengaluru băng-gəlôrˈ [key], city (2021 pop. 5,104,047; est. pop. metropolitan area 12,327,000), ...

xerography

(Encyclopedia)xerography zərŏgˈrəfēˌ [key], also called electrophotography, method of dry photocopying in which the image is transferred by using the attractive forces of electric charges. A beam of light, us...

Wheeling

(Encyclopedia)Wheeling. 1 Village (1990 pop. 29,911), Cook co., NE Ill., a suburb of Chicago; founded c.1830, inc. 1894. Machinery, computer supplies, metal and paper products, security devices, insulation, and che...

Boolean algebra

(Encyclopedia)Boolean algebra bo͞oˈlēən [key], an abstract mathematical system primarily used in computer science and in expressing the relationships between sets (groups of objects or concepts). The notational...

Billings, John Shaw

(Encyclopedia)Billings, John Shaw, 1838–1913, American surgeon and librarian, b. Indiana. In the Civil War he was medical inspector of the Army of the Potomac. After the war he was given charge of the Surgeon Gen...

blood test

(Encyclopedia)blood test, examination of blood routinely or as an aid in diagnosing a suspected disease. Tests may be performed on whole blood or on the plasma portion only. Blood typing identifies the proteins at ...

seeing

(Encyclopedia)seeing, in astronomy, the clarity with which stars and other celestial objects can be observed. It is primarily determined by the atmosphere of the earth. The most obvious phenomenon is twinkling, whe...

spark chamber

(Encyclopedia)spark chamber, in physics, device for recording the passage of elementary particles produced by reactions in a particle accelerator. Particles pass through a stack of metal plates or wire grids that a...

Shannon, Claude Elwood

(Encyclopedia)Shannon, Claude Elwood, 1916–2001, American applied mathematician, b. Gaylord, Michigan. A student of Vannevar Bush at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he was the first to propose th...

Browse by Subject