Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Fire Island

(Encyclopedia)Fire Island, barrier beach, 32 mi (52 km) long, off the south shore of Long Island, SE N.Y., separating Great South Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Robert Moses State Park is at its west end. Once access...

Greek fire

(Encyclopedia)Greek fire, a flammable composition believed to have consisted of sulfur, naphtha, and quicklime. Although known in antiquity, it was first employed on a large scale by the Byzantines. Bronze tubes th...

Peshtigo Fire

(Encyclopedia)Peshtigo Fire: see under Peshtigo. ...

Fire, Andrew Zachary

(Encyclopedia)Fire, Andrew Zachary, 1959–, American geneticist, b. Palo Alto, Calif., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983. After a long association with the Carnegie Institution of Washington (1986...

Saint Elmo's fire

(Encyclopedia)Saint Elmo's fire, luminous discharge of electricity extending into the atmosphere from some projecting or elevated object. It is usually observed (often during a snowstorm or a dust storm) as brushli...

Camp Fire Boys and Girls

(Encyclopedia)Camp Fire Boys and Girls, American organization for boys and girls from birth to age 21, originally the Camp Fire Girls, for girls 6 to 18 years old. It was founded (1910) by Luther Halsey Gulick (186...

Hodeida

(Encyclopedia)Hodeida äl ho͞odāˈdä [key], city, W Yemen, on the Red Sea. An important port, it exported ...

Browse by Subject