Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) opal ōˈpəl [key], a mineral consisting of poorly crystalline to amorphous silica, SiO2·nH2O; the water content is quite variable but usually ranges from 3% to 10%. Common opal is usually colorless...

(Encyclopedia) Crawford, Ralston, 1906–78, American painter, b. St. Catherine's, Ont. Crawford's paintings are marked by precise detail, flat color, and the simplification of form. His works portray the American c...

(Encyclopedia) colophon kŏlˈəfŏnˌ [key] [Gr.,=finishing stroke]. Before the use of printing in Western Europe a manuscript often ended with a statement about the author, the scribe, or the illuminator. The firs...

(Encyclopedia) Haringey hârˈĭng-gāˌ [key], outer borough of Greater London, SE England. Although defined as an ...

(Encyclopedia) Migne, Jacques Paul zhäk pôl mēˈnyə [key], 1800–1875, French publisher of theological works, a Roman Catholic priest (ordained 1824). He set up a printing press in Paris and printed many religi...

(Encyclopedia) polychlorinated biphenyl or PCB, any of a group of organic compounds originally widely used in industrial processes but later found to be dangerous environmental pollutants. Polychlorinated biphenyl i...

(Encyclopedia) optical sensing, in general, any method by which information that occurs as variations in the intensity, or some other property, of light is translated into an electric signal. This is usually accompl...

(Encyclopedia) Annecy änsēˈ [key], town, capital of Haute-Savoie dept., SE France, in Savoy in the N Alps, on beautiful Lake Annecy. A popular tourist resort, it also has printing pla...

(Encyclopedia) Subiaco so͞obyäˈkō [key], town (1991 pop. 9,004), Latium, central Italy, in the Apennines, at the confluence of the Aniene and the Acquaviva rivers. It is an agricultural, industrial, and tourist ...

(Encyclopedia) Robinson, Theodore, 1852–96, American painter, b. Irasburg, Vt. Beginning his career as a realist, Robinson was profoundly influenced by his meeting with Monet in 1888. Translating the impressionist...