Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) altazimuth coordinate system ăltăzˈəməth [key] or horizon coordinate system, astronomical coordinate system in which the position of a body on the celestial sphere is described relative to an obs...

(Encyclopedia) cooling system: see air conditioning; internal-combustion engine; refrigeration. ...

(Encyclopedia) Rivlin, Alice M., 1931–2019, American economist, b. Philadelphia as Georgianna Alice Mitchell, Ph.D. Harvard, 1958. Rivlin was affiliated with the Brookings Institution at various times from 1957 un...

(Encyclopedia) Farm Credit Administration (FCA), an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government that supervises and regulates the Farm Credit System (FCS) for American agriculture. The Farm ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Urinary system urinary system, group of organs of the body concerned with excretion of urine, that is, water and the waste products of metabolism. In humans, the kidneys are two small organs s...

(Encyclopedia) galactic coordinate system, astronomical coordinate system in which the principal axis is the galactic equator (the intersection of the plane of the Milky Way with the celestial sphere) and the refere...

(Encyclopedia) Murad, Ferid, 1936–, American pharmacologist, b. Whiting, Ind., M.D., Ph.D. Western Reserve Univ. (now Case Western Reserve Univ.), 1965. Murad taught at the Univ. of Virginia (1975–81), Stanford ...

(Encyclopedia) militia məlĭshˈə [key], military organization composed of citizens enrolled and trained for service in times of national emergency. Its ranks may be filled either by enlistment or conscription. An...

(Encyclopedia) Prescott, Edward Christian, 1940–, American economist, b. Glen Falls, N.Y., Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon Univ., 1967. Prescott has taught at Carnegie Mellon (1971–80), the Univ. of Minnesota (1980–98, ...

(Encyclopedia) Mnuchin, Steven Terner məno͞ochən [key], 1962–, U.S. business leader, b. New York City, grad. Yale, 1985. An investment banker, he joined Goldman Sachs in 1985, becoming a partner in 1994 and exe...