Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) diesel engine, type of internal-combustion engine invented by the German engineer Rudolf Diesel and patented by him in 1892. Although his engine was designed to use coal dust as fuel, the diesel engin...

(Encyclopedia) cloud chamber, device used to detect elementary particles and other ionizing radiation. A cloud chamber consists essentially of a closed container filled with a supersaturated vapor, e.g., water in ai...

(Encyclopedia) valve, device for controlling the flow of fluids (liquids and gases). Valves vary in construction and size depending upon their function. Some are classified according to their method of operation or ...

(Encyclopedia) Lockhart, John Gibson, 1794–1854, Scottish editor, lawyer, literary critic, and biographer; son-in-law and biographer of Sir Walter Scott. A major contributor to Blackwood's Magazine, he also was ed...

(Encyclopedia) Cecil, Lord David sĭsˈəl, sĕs– [key] (Lord Edward Christian David Gascoyne Cecil), 1902–86, English biographer. He was professor of English literature at Oxford (1948–70). Cecil's works are ...

(Encyclopedia) Newberry Library: see under Newberry, Walter Loomis. ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Particle detector—Bubble chamber: A. Pressure drops as piston is raised; B. Charged particles passing through chamber ionize atoms in liquid; C. Bubbles form around atoms and form visible tra...

(Encyclopedia) Kroto, Harry (Sir Harold Walter Kroto), 1939–2016, British chemist, b. Harold Walter Krotoschiner, Ph.D. Univ. of Sheffield, 1964. Kroto was the son of German parents who fled Nazi rule to England. ...

(Encyclopedia) Tintern Abbey, ruins of an abbey, Monmouthshire, W. England, near Chepstow. It was founded for Cistercians in 1131 by Walter de Clare and now consists mainly of 13th- and 14-century English work. It i...

(Encyclopedia) Rich, Penelope, Lady, 1562–1607, the “Stella” of Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (1591). Daughter of Walter Devereux, first earl of Essex, she married (1581) Lord Rich (later earl of Wa...