Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bradley, James, 1693–1762, English astronomer. His discovery of the aberration of light, announced in 1728, provided an important line of evidence for the motion of the earth around the sun. In 1742...

(Encyclopedia) cold frame, in horticulture, sun-heated board frame covered with a removable top of glass or other transparent material and sunk into the ground. The top may be solid or slatted or screened for shade....

(Encyclopedia) Huitzilopochtli wēˌtsēlōpōchtˈlē [key], chief deity of the Aztec, god of war. He is said to have guided the Aztecs during their migration from Aztlán. Usually represented in sculptured images ...

(Encyclopedia) Juno jo͞oˈnō [key], in astronomy, 3d asteroid to be discovered. It was found in 1804 by C. Harding. It has a diameter of c.120 mi (190 km). Its average distance from the sun is 2.67 astronomical un...

(Encyclopedia) heliograph hēˈlēəgrăf [key] [Gr.,=sun-writer], signaling device using flashes of sunlight. It has two mirrors that are used to reflect sunlight on a distant point and a shutter through which the ...

(Encyclopedia) Belopolsky, Aristarkh Apollonovich ərĭˈstärkh əpəlônˈəvĭch byələpôlˈskē [key], 1854–1934, Russian astrophysicist, grad. Moscow Univ. (1877). He worked at the Moscow Observatory and fr...

(Encyclopedia) Schwabe, Samuel Heinrich zäˈmo͞oĕl hīnˈrĭkh shväbˈə [key], 1789–1875, German apothecary and amateur astronomer. In the hope of discovering a new planet between Mercury and the sun, he made...

(Encyclopedia) Set or Seth both: sĕt or sāt [key], in Egyptian religion, god of evil. Set was a sun god of predynastic Egypt, but he gradually degenerated from being a beneficent deity into being a god of evil and...

(Encyclopedia) espalier ĕspălˈyər [key], trellis or lattice used in horticulture for training a tree or vine flat against a wall, either for ornament or to fit it into a small space, allowing it to get a maximum...

(Encyclopedia) Ames, Nathaniel, 1708–64, American almanac maker, b. Bridgewater, Mass. His Astronomical Diary and Almanack, begun in 1725 and issued annually after c.1732 from Dedham, Mass., was highly popular and...