Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

science fiction

(Encyclopedia)science fiction, literary genre in which a background of science or pseudoscience is an integral part of the story. Although science fiction is a form of fantastic literature, many of the events recou...

political science

(Encyclopedia)political science, the study of government and political processes, institutions, and behavior. Government and politics have been studied and commented on since the time of the ancient Greeks. However...

sanitary science

(Encyclopedia)sanitary science, principles of health preservation, embracing hygiene, on an individual level, and public health, on a communal level. Those who specialize in sanitary science are sanitary engineers....

naval science

(Encyclopedia)naval science: see strategy and tactics. ...

National Science Foundation

(Encyclopedia)National Science Foundation (NSF), an independent agency in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government concerned with promoting a national science policy by supporting basic research and educ...

museums of science

(Encyclopedia)museums of science, institutions or buildings where collections relevant to science and technology are preserved and displayed to promote education and research. While the preponderance of these museu...

philosophy of science

(Encyclopedia)philosophy of science, branch of philosophy that emerged as an autonomous discipline in the 19th cent., especially through the work of Auguste Comte, J. S. Mill, and William Whewell. Several of the is...

Coblentz, William Weber

(Encyclopedia)Coblentz, William Weber kōˈblĕnts [key], 1873–1962, American physicist, b. North Lima, Ohio, grad. Case School of Applied Science (B.S., 1900) and Cornell (Ph.D., 1903). From 1905 to 1945 he was ...

liberty, in political science

(Encyclopedia)liberty, term used to describe various types of individual freedom, such as religious liberty, political liberty, freedom of speech, right of self-defense, and others. It is also used as a general ter...

secession, in political science

(Encyclopedia)secession, in political science, formal withdrawal from an association by a group discontented with the actions or decisions of that association. The term is generally used to refer to withdrawal from...