Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Stigand

(Encyclopedia)Stigand stĭgˈənd [key], d. 1072, English prelate. He held simultaneously the sees of Winchester and Canterbury from 1052 though official recognition of this did not come until 1058 from Benedict X,...

Siwah

(Encyclopedia)Siwah or Siwa both: sēˈwä [key], oasis, c.35 sq mi (90 sq km), NW Egypt, in the Libyan (Western) Desert. Dates and tea are grown in the oasis, parts of which are c.200 ft (60 m) below sea level. Em...

Peipus, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Peipus, Lake pīˈpəs [key], Estonian Peipsi Järv, Rus. Chudskoye Ozero, c.1,390 sq mi (3,600 sq km), dividing Estonia from the W Pskov region, Russia. Its southern section is known as Lake Pskov. L...

Ustinov, Sir Peter

(Encyclopedia)Ustinov, Sir Peter (Alexander) yo͞osˈtənôf [key], 1921–2004, English writer, director, and actor, b. London. A witty, charming, and cosmopolitan man, he debuted on the London stage at 18 and sub...

Agis

(Encyclopedia)Agis āˈjĭs [key], name of four Spartan kings. Agis I, fl. late 10th cent. b.c., was the traditional founder of the Agiad dynasty, one of the two ruling dynasties of Sparta, which had a dual kingshi...

Romney, George

(Encyclopedia)Romney, George rŏmˈnē [key], 1734–1802, English portrait painter, b. Lancashire. Having had little early training, Romney went to London in 1762, where he rapidly became a popular and fashionable...

Childers, Robert Erskine

(Encyclopedia)Childers, Robert Erskine chĭlˈdərz [key], 1870–1922, Irish politician and author. Born into a Protestant family, he was a clerk in the House of Commons (1895–1910). Gradually becoming convinced...

quaternion

(Encyclopedia)quaternion kwətûrˈnēən [key], in mathematics, a type of higher complex number first suggested by Sir William R. Hamilton in 1843. A complex number is a number of the form a+bi when a and b are re...

Dunning, William Archibald

(Encyclopedia)Dunning, William Archibald, 1857–1922, American historian, b. Plainfield, N.J., grad. Columbia (B.A., 1881; Ph. D., 1885). After studying in Berlin, he returned (1886) to spend a lifetime at Columbi...

Philip II, king of Macedon

(Encyclopedia)Philip II, 382–336 b.c., king of Macedon (359–336 b.c.), son of Amyntas II. While a hostage in Thebes (367–364), he gained much knowledge of Greece and its people. He was appointed regent for Am...