Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

294 results found

computer graphics

(Encyclopedia)computer graphics, the transfer of pictorial data into and out of a computer. Using analog-to-digital conversion techniques, a variety of devices—such as curve tracers, digitizers, and light pens—...

grasshopper

(Encyclopedia)grasshopper, name applied to almost 9,000 different species of singing, jumping insects in two families of the order Orthoptera. Grasshoppers are long, slender, winged insects with powerful hind legs ...

Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill, 2d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill, 2d earl of, 1540?–1616, Irish chieftain. He was the son of Matthew O'Neill, the illegitimate son of the 1st earl. Hugh succeeded his murdered older brother, Brian, as Baron Dun...

duck

(Encyclopedia)duck, common name for wild and domestic waterfowl of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and swans. It is hunted and bred for its meat, eggs, and feathers. Strictly speaking, duck refers to...

pigeon

(Encyclopedia)pigeon, common name for members of the large family Columbidae, land birds, cosmopolitan in temperate and tropical regions, characterized by stout bodies, short necks, small heads, and thick, heavy pl...

aviation

(Encyclopedia)aviation, operation of heavier-than-air aircraft and related activities. Aviation can be conveniently divided into military aviation, air transport, and general aviation. Military aviation includes al...

Nez Percé

(Encyclopedia)Nez Percé nĕz pûrs, nā pĕrsāˈ [key] [Fr.,=pierced nose], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American langu...

Carracci

(Encyclopedia)Carracci kärätˈchē [key], family of Italian painters of the Bolognese school, founders of an important academy of painting. Lodovico Carracci, 1555–1619, a pupil of Tintoretto in Venice, was inf...

space medicine

(Encyclopedia)space medicine, study of the medical and biological effects of space travel on living organisms. The principal aim is to discover how well and for how long humans can withstand the extreme conditions ...

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(Encyclopedia)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space e...
 

Browse by Subject