Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) planetary system, a star and all the celestial bodies bound to it by gravity, especially planets and their natural satellites. Until the last decade of the 20th cent., the only planetary system known ...

(Encyclopedia) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice charged with investigating all violations of federal laws except those assigned to some other federal agency. The FBI has j...

(Encyclopedia) Thompson, William Boyce, 1869–1930, American financier, b. Virginia City, Mont. He operated silver and copper mines in Montana and Arizona before moving to New York City. He was (1914–19) a direct...

(Encyclopedia) expert system, a computer system or program that uses artificial intelligence techniques to solve problems that ordinarily require a knowledgeable human. The method used to construct such systems, kno...

(Encyclopedia) Kruger National Park, game reserve, c.8,000 sq mi (20,720 sq km), Limpopo and Mpumalanga, NE South Africa. One of the world's largest wildlife sanctuaries, it has almost every species of game found in...

(Encyclopedia) fiat money fīˈət, fīˈăt [key], inconvertible money that is made legal tender by the decree, or fiat, of the government but that is not covered by a specie reserve. It is commonly understood to b...

(Encyclopedia) Ptolemaic system tŏlˌəmāˈĭk [key], historically the most influential of the geocentric cosmological theories, i.e., theories that placed the earth motionless at the center of the universe with a...

(Encyclopedia) Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. The FCC is co...

(Encyclopedia) Kahoolawe kähōˈōläˈvā, –wā, kähōˈläˈ– [key], uninhabited island, 45 sq mi (117 sq km), central Hawaii; separated from Maui island to the NE by Alalakeiki Channel. The low island, dott...

(Encyclopedia) respiratory system: see respiration. ...