Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Fiske, Bradley Allen

(Encyclopedia)Fiske, Bradley Allen fĭsk [key], 1854–1942, American naval officer and inventor, b. Lyons, N.Y., grad. Annapolis, 1874. In the U.S. navy he devoted himself to the invention of instruments for shipb...

Sharp, Phillip Allen

(Encyclopedia)Sharp, Phillip Allen, 1944–, American geneticist, b. Falmouth, Ky., Ph.D., Univ. of Illinois, 1969. Sharp joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, where he has spent ...

Posner, Richard Allen

(Encyclopedia)Posner, Richard Allen pōzˈnər [key], 1939–, American jurist and author, b. New York City, grad. Yale (A.B., 1959), Harvard Law School (LL.B., 1962). He clerked for Supreme Court Justice William B...

White, William Allen

(Encyclopedia)White, William Allen, 1868–1944, American author, b. Emporia, Kans., studied (1886–90) at Kansas State Univ. As owner and editor of the Emporia Gazette from 1895 until his death, he represented gr...

atmosphere

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Atmosphere atmosphere [Gr.,=sphere of air], the mixture of gases surrounding a celestial body with sufficient gravity to maintain it. Although some details about the atmospheres of other plane...

Cliburn, Van

(Encyclopedia)Cliburn, Van (Harvey Lavan Cliburn) klīˈbərn [key], 1934–2013, American pianist, b. Shreveport, La. Until 1951, Cliburn studied with his mother, a concert pianist; he later was a pupil of Rosina ...

Eyck, van

(Encyclopedia)Eyck, van văn īk [key], family of Flemish painters, the brothers Hubert van Eyck, c.1370–1426, and Jan van Eyck, c.1390–1441. Of the van Eycks' works that have survived, the largest is an alta...

Van, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Van, Lake vän [key], 1,453 sq mi (3,763 sq km), largest lake in Turkey, in E Turkey 65 mi (105 km) SW of Mt. Ararat. Some 75 mi (120 km) long, the lake is alkaline and has no outlet; the city of Van ...

Van Wert

(Encyclopedia)Van Wert văn wûrt [key], city (1990 pop. 10,891), seat of Van Wert co., NW Ohio, near the Ind. line, in a rich grain-farming area; inc. 1848. Fabricated metal products, electronic equipment, cheeses...

Van Dyck, Cornelius Van Alen

(Encyclopedia)Van Dyck, Cornelius Van Alen, 1818–95, American missionary, b. Kinderhook, N.Y. In 1840 he went to Syria as a medical missionary. In 1846 he was ordained in the Congregational ministry. Besides bein...