Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

325 results found

exobiology

(Encyclopedia)exobiology or astrobiology, search for extraterrestrial life within the solar system and throughout the universe. Philosophical speculation that there might be other worlds similar to ours dates back ...

heat

(Encyclopedia)heat, nonmechanical energy in transit, associated with differences in temperature between a system and its surroundings or between parts of the same system. The study of heat and its relationship ...

black hole

(Encyclopedia)black hole, in astronomy, celestial object of such extremely intense gravity that it attracts everything near it and in some instances prevents everything, including light, from escaping. The term was...

Peters, Vera

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Vera (Mildred Vera Peters), 1911–93, Canadian radiation oncologist and clinical investigator, b. Rexdale, Ont., M.D. Univ. of Toronto, 1934. Beginning in 1935, she studied the treatment of H...

polarization of light

(Encyclopedia)polarization of light, orientation of the vibration pattern of light waves in a singular plane. Unpolarized light can be converted into a single polarized beam by means of the Nicol prism, a device ...

radiology

(Encyclopedia)radiology, branch of medicine specializing in the use of X rays, gamma rays, radioactive isotopes, and other forms of radiation in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. X ray machines and fluoroscop...

Tamm, Igor Yevgenyevich

(Encyclopedia)Tamm, Igor Yevgenyevich, 1895–1971, Soviet physicist, Ph.D. Moscow State Univ., 1933. He was a researcher at the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow from 1934 until his death in 1971. Tamm an...

inductance

(Encyclopedia)inductance, quantity that measures the electromagnetic induction of an electric circuit component; it is a property of the component itself rather than of the circuit as a whole. The self-inductance, ...

ionization chamber

(Encyclopedia)ionization chamber, device for the detection and measurement of ionizing radiation. It consists basically of a sealed chamber containing a gas and two electrodes between which a voltage is maintained ...

Wien, Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Wien, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm vēn [key], 1864–1928, German physicist. He was professor at the universities of Giessen (1899), Würzburg (1900–1920), and Munich (from 1920). He received the 1911 Nobel...