Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

De Lancey

(Encyclopedia)De Lancey də lănˈsē [key], family of political leaders, soldiers, and merchants prominent in colonial New York. Étienne De Lancey or Stephen De Lancey, 1663–1741, b. Caen, France, was among the...

Allen, Woody

(Encyclopedia)Allen, Woody, 1935–, American actor, writer, and director, one of contemporary America's leading filmmakers, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Allen Stewart Konigsberg. Allen began his career writing for televi...

tunnel

(Encyclopedia)tunnel, underground passage usually made without removing the overlying rock or soil. Although tunnels are approximately horizontal, they must be built with sufficient gradient for proper drainage. Tu...

Lin, Maya Ying

(Encyclopedia)Lin, Maya Ying mīˈə [key], 1959–, American architect and sculptor, b. Athens, Ohio. Lin's work is known for its visual poetry and sensitive mingling of highly abstract form with meaning. From an ...

Mayne, Thom

(Encyclopedia)Mayne, Thom, 1944–, American architect, b. Waterbury, Conn., grad. Univ. of Southern California (B.A., 1968), Harvard (M.A., 1978). In 1972 Mayne cofounded the firm Morphosis in Santa Monica, Calif....

Mann, Horace

(Encyclopedia)Mann, Horace măn [key], 1796–1859, American educator, b. Franklin, Mass. He received a sparse preliminary schooling, but succeeded in entering Brown in the sophomore class and graduated with honors...

Hoover Dam

(Encyclopedia)Hoover Dam, 726 ft (221 m) high and 1,244 ft (379 m) long, on the Colorado River between Nev. and Ariz.; one of the world's largest dams. Built between 1931 and 1936 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,...

Grand Coulee Dam

(Encyclopedia)Grand Coulee Dam ko͞oˈlē [key], 550 ft (168 m) high and 4,173 ft (1,272 m) long, on the Columbia ...

Glen Canyon Dam

(Encyclopedia)Glen Canyon Dam, 710 ft (216 m) high, 1,560 ft (475 m) long, NE Ariz., on the Colorado River. The key unit of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Colorado River storage project, it is one of the world's ...

Erechtheum

(Encyclopedia)Erechtheum ĭrĕkˈthēəm [key] [for Erechtheus], Gr. Erechtheion, temple in Pentelic marble, on the Acropolis at Athens. One of the masterpieces of Greek architecture, it was constructed between c.4...

Browse by Subject