Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Ignition system ignition, apparatus for igniting a combustible mixture. The German engineer Nikolaus A. Otto, in his first gas engine, used flame ignition; another method was heating a metal t...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 A. Side view of jet-propelled airplane B. Top view airplane, aeroplane, or aircraft, heavier-than-air vehicle, mechanically driven and fitted with fixed wings that support it in flight thro...

(Encyclopedia) thermodynamics, branch of science concerned with the nature of heat and its conversion to mechanical, electric, and chemical energy. Historically, it grew out of efforts to construct more efficient he...

(Encyclopedia) Bauhaus bouˈhous [key], artists' collective and school of art and architecture in Germany (1919–33). The Bauhaus revolutionized art training by combining the teaching of classic arts with the study...

(Encyclopedia) land art or earthworks, art form developed in the late 1960s and early 70s by Robert Smithson, Robert Morris, Michael Heizer, and others, in which the artist employs the elements of nature in situ or ...

(Encyclopedia) Devon dĕvˈən [key], county, 2,591 sq mi (6,711 sq km), SW England. The county town is ...

(Encyclopedia) rhenium rēˈnēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Re; at. no. 75; at. wt. 186.207; m.p. about 3,180℃; b.p. about 5,625℃; sp. gr. 21.02 at 20℃; valence −1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, or +7....

(Encyclopedia) McMurtry, Larry Jeff, 1936–2021, American novelist, b. Wichita Falls, Tx., grad. North Texas State Univ. (B.A., 1958), Rice Un...

(Encyclopedia) Mahler, Gustav go͝osˈtäf mäˈlər [key], 1860–1911, composer and conductor, born in Austrian Bohemia of Jewish parentage. Mahler studied at the Univ. of Vienna and the Vienna Conservatory. He wa...

(Encyclopedia) stellar populations, two broadly contrasting distributions of star types that are characteristic of different parts of a galaxy. Population I stars are young, recently formed stars, whereas population...