Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Brown, Capability

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Capability (Lancelot Brown), 1715–83, English landscape gardener, b. Kirkharle, Northumberland. The leading landscape gardener of his time, he is known for designing gardens that broke with t...

Biot, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Biot, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ byō [key], 1774–1862, French physicist, grad. École Polytechnique (1797). He taught mathematics at Beauvais before becoming (1800) professor of mathematical ph...

optics

(Encyclopedia)optics, scientific study of light. Physical optics is concerned with the genesis, nature, and properties of light; physiological optics with the part light plays in vision; and geometrical optics with...

Food and Drug Administration

(Encyclopedia)Food and Drug Administration (FDA), agency of the Public Health Service division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is charged with protecting public health by ensuring that foods...

Jingdezhen

(Encyclopedia)Jingdezhen fo͞oˈlyängˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 294,000), NE Jiangxi prov., China, on the Chang River. It is world famous for its fine porcelain, made since the Han dynasty (202 b.c.–a.d. 220...

spring, in geology

(Encyclopedia)spring, in geology, natural flow of water from the ground or from rocks, representing an outlet for the water that has accumulated in permeable rock strata underground. Some of the water that falls as...

dragon's blood

(Encyclopedia)dragon's blood, name for a red resin obtained from a number of different plants. It was held by early Greeks, Romans, and Arabs to have medicinal properties; Dioscorides and other early writers descri...

crucible

(Encyclopedia)crucible, vessel in which a substance is heated to a high temperature, as for fusing or calcining. The necessary properties of a crucible are that it maintain its mechanical strength and rigidity at h...

Moore, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Moore, Henry, 1898–1986, English sculptor. Moore's early sculpture was angular and rough, strongly influenced by pre-Columbian art. About 1928 he evolved a more personal style which has gained him a...

essential oils

(Encyclopedia)essential oils, volatile oils that occur in plants and in general give to the plants their characteristic odors, flavors, or other such properties. Essential oils are found in various parts of the pla...
 

Browse by Subject