Columbia Encyclopedia

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potentiometer

(Encyclopedia)potentiometer. 1 Manually adjustable, variable, electrical resistor. It has a resistance element that is attached to the circuit by three contacts, or terminals. The ends of the resistance element are...

Central Valley project

(Encyclopedia)Central Valley project, central Calif., long-term general scheme for the utilization of the water of the Sacramento River basin in the north for the benefit of the farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley ...

agar, substance obtained from seaweed

(Encyclopedia)agar äˈgär, āˈ–, ăgˈär [key], product obtained from several species of red algae, or seaweed, chiefly from the Ceylon, or Jaffna, moss (Gracilaria lichenoides) and species of Gelidium, harve...

Suzuki, Akira

(Encyclopedia)Suzuki, Akira, 1930–, Japanese chemist, Ph.D. Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo, 1959. He was a professor at Hokkaido from 1963 until his retirement in 1994. Since then, he has taught for short periods at Oka...

White, Richard Grant

(Encyclopedia)White, Richard Grant, 1821–85, American journalist, writer, and Shakespearean scholar, b. New York City. He had a varied career and was at different times music critic and coeditor (1851–59) of th...

U , letter of the alphabet

(Encyclopedia)U, 21st letter of the alphabet, corresponding to the Greek upsilon [Gr.,=u without the aspirate]. Until the late Middle Ages the capital was V, the minuscule u, no distinction being made between the c...

raffia

(Encyclopedia)raffia rāˈfēə [key], fiber obtained from the raffia palm of Madagascar, exported for various uses, such as tying up plants that require support, binding together vegetables to be marketed, and wea...

skin patch

(Encyclopedia)skin patch, transdermal patch, or transdermal delivery system, adhesive patch used to deliver a controlled dose of a drug through the skin over a period of time. A skin patch uses a special membrane ...

Dillon, John Forrest

(Encyclopedia)Dillon, John Forrest, 1831–1914, American jurist, b. Montgomery co., N.Y., M.D. State Univ. of Iowa, 1850. He abandoned medical practice early in his career and was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1852....

Amador Guerrero, Manuel

(Encyclopedia)Amador Guerrero, Manuel mänwĕlˈ ämädōrˈ gārāˈrō [key], 1833–1909, first president of Panama (1904–8), b. Colombia. A physician, he served as medical officer for the Panama RR and was a ...