Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Kajita, Takaaki 1959–, Japanese physicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Tokyo, 1986. In 1988 he joined the faculty at the Univ. of Tokyo, where he is now professor and director of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Res...

(Encyclopedia) spinal puncture, surgical penetration of the spinal canal by a hollow needle introduced between two of the lumbar vertebrae. The arrangement permits injection of antibiotics or anesthetics (see anesth...

(Encyclopedia) observatory, scientific facility especially equipped to detect and record naturally occurring scientific phenomena. Although geological and meteorological observatories exist, the term is generally ap...

(Encyclopedia) Lansing. 1 Village (1990 pop. 28,086), Cook co., NE Ill., a suburb of Chicago, near the Ind. line; inc. 1893. Among the city's industries are meatpacking, food processing, and the manufacture of metal...

(Encyclopedia) oscilloscope əsĭlˈəskōpˌ [key], electronic device used to produce visual displays corresponding to electrical signals. Displays of such nonelectrical phenomena as the variations of a sound's int...

(Encyclopedia) Klug, Sir Aaron klo͞og [key], 1926–2018, British biochemist, b. Lithuania. Raised and educated in South Africa, he moved to England and completed his doctorate at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 195...

(Encyclopedia) King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929–68, American clergyman and civil-rights leader, b. Atlanta, Ga., grad. Morehouse College (B.A., 1948), Crozer Theological Seminary (B.D., 1951), Boston Univ. (Ph.D., 1...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Cross section of a sunflower, a member of the aster family aster [Gr.,=star], common name for the Asteraceae (Compositae), the aster family, in North America, name for plants of the genus Aste...

(Encyclopedia) Delany, Samuel R. (Samuel Ray Delany, Jr.), 1942–, African-American wrtier, b. Harlem, New York City. Delany uses science fiction, fantasy, and memoir to explore sexual identity, race, language, and...