Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Corneille (Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo) kôrnāˈyə [key], 1922–2010, Belgian painter. Corneille was a member of CoBrA, the European group (1948–51) allied with abstract expressionism. His wo...

(Encyclopedia) Cropsey, Jasper Francis, 1823–1900, American artist, b. Staten Island, N.Y. Trained as an architect, Cropsey designed two churches in Staten Island and several stations on the Sixth Ave. elevated ra...

(Encyclopedia) spinel, magnesium aluminum oxide, MgAl2O4, a mineral crystallizing in the isometric system, usually as octahedrons. It occurs as an accessory mineral in basic igneous rocks, in aluminum-rich metamorph...

(Encyclopedia) Geissler tube gīsˈlər [key], gas discharge tube in which light is produced when an electric discharge passes through the rarefied gas in the tube. The color of the glow depends on the gas used. The...

(Encyclopedia) bile, bitter alkaline fluid of a yellow, brown, or green color, secreted, in man, by the liver. Bile, or gall, is composed of water, bile acids and their salts, bile pigments, cholesterol, fatty acids...

(Encyclopedia) sucrose so͞oˈkrōs [key], commonest of the sugars, a white, crystalline solid disaccharide (see carbohydrate) with a sweet taste, melting and decomposing at 186℃ to form caramel. It is known commo...

(Encyclopedia) grouper, common name for a large carnivorous member of the family Serranidae (sea bass family), abundant in tropical and subtropical seas and highly valued as food fish. There are several genera, nota...

(Encyclopedia) Matisse, Henri äNrēˈ mätēsˈ [key], 1869–1954, French painter, sculptor, and lithographer. Along with Picasso, Matisse is considered one of the two foremost artists of the modern period. His co...

(Encyclopedia) sex, term used to refer both to the two groups distinguished as males and females, and to the anatomical and physiological characteristics associated with maleness and femaleness. Sex relates to the t...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Video transmission and reception of color and black-and-white television: The camera lens focuses collected light rays into mirrors, which separate the image into its three primary color compon...