Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Stern, Otto stûrn, Ger. ôˈtō shtĕrn [key], 1888–1969, American physicist, b. Germany, Ph.D. Univ. of Breslau, 1912. After resigning from his post at the Univ. of Hamburg in 1933, he became prof...

(Encyclopedia) Tullahoma tələhōˈmə [key], city (1990 pop. 16,761), Coffee and Franklin counties, central Tenn.; settled c.1850 as a railroad labor camp, inc. 1903. It is an industrial center in a highland timbe...

(Encyclopedia) Rømer, Olaus or Ole ōläˈo͝os, ōˈlə römˈər [key], 1644–1710, Danish astronomer. He is noted for his discovery that light travels at a definite speed and does not move through space instant...

(Encyclopedia) Schiaparelli, Giovanni Virginio skyäpärĕlˈlē [key], 1835–1910, Italian astronomer. He was director (1862–1900) of the Brera Observatory, Milan. He is especially noted for having detected (18...

(Encyclopedia) sea mouse, marine worm of the genus Aphrodite with a short, broad, segmented body, found in moderately deep water. The upper, or dorsal, surface of a sea mouse bears 15 pairs of raised scales; the spa...

(Encyclopedia) Shanghai Tower, skyscraper in Shanghai, China. Largely completed in 2015 but not opened until 2017, it is the second-tallest building in the world and the tallest structure in China, standing 2,073 ft...

(Encyclopedia) anecdote ănˈĭkdōtˌ [key], brief narrative of a particular incident. An anecdote differs from a short story in that it is unified in time and space, is uncomplicated, and deals with a single episo...

(Encyclopedia) Irwin, Robert, 1928–, American painter and sculptor, b. Long Beach, Calif. Irwin was one of the founders of the California-based Light and Space movement. Early in his career, he painted in the abst...

(Encyclopedia) cofferdam, temporary barrier for excluding water from an area that is normally submerged. Made commonly of wood, steel, or concrete sheet piling (see pile), cofferdams are used in constructing the fou...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Sinuses of the face sinus, cavity or hollow space in the body, usually filled with air or blood. In humans the paranasal sinuses, mucus-lined cavities in the bones of the face, are connected b...