Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

amplifier

(Encyclopedia)amplifier, device that accepts a varying input signal and produces an output signal that varies in the same way as the input but has a larger amplitude. The input signal may be a current, a voltage, a...

King, B. B.

(Encyclopedia)King, B. B., 1925–2015, African-American blues singer and guitarist, b. near Indianola, Miss., as Riley B. King. He grew up poor in the Mississippi Delta region, began playing the guitar at 12, was ...

King, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)King, Stephen, 1947–, American writer, b. Portland, Maine. Influenced by the 19th-century Gothic tradition, especially the works of Poe, King's fiction reveals the macabre and horrific potential of ...

Bach

(Encyclopedia)Bach bäkh [key], German family of distinguished musicians who flourished from the 16th through the 18th cent., its most renowned member being Johann Sebastian Bach (see separate articleBach, Johann S...

calculator

(Encyclopedia)calculator or calculating machine, device for performing numerical computations; it may be mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic. The electronic computer is also a calculator but performs other...

Hopkins

(Encyclopedia)Hopkins, city (2020 pop. 19,079), Hennepin co., SE Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis; inc. as West Minneapolis 1893, name changed 1928. The city manufactur...

Horgen

(Encyclopedia)Horgen hôrˈgən [key], town, Zürich canton, N Switzerland, on the Lake of Zürich. A texti...

Libertyville

(Encyclopedia)Libertyville, village (1990 pop. 19,174), Lake co., NE Ill., in a lake area; inc. 1882. Paper products and electronic equipment are made. Adlai E. Stevenson had a home there. A naval training station ...

Ardmore

(Encyclopedia)Ardmore, city (2020 pop. 24,725), seat of Carter co., S Okla.; inc. 1898. It is the commercial center of an oil and farm area. Its industries include oil refining, tourism, and the manufac...

Stassfurt

(Encyclopedia)Stassfurt shtäsˈfo͝ort [key], city (1994 pop. 24,025), Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is a center of one of the world's great potash-mining regions. City manufactures include chemicals, foodstu...