Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Callahan, Harry Morey

(Encyclopedia)Callahan, Harry Morey, 1912–99, American photographer, b. Detroit. Self-taught, he began taking pictures (1938) as a hobby and, inspired by the work of Ansel Adams, began to produce professional-qua...

Lachine

(Encyclopedia)Lachine ləshēnˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 35,266), S Que., Canada, on Montreal island, at the east end of Lake St. Louis just SW of Montreal. Its industries include iron and steel foundries and the ma...

Grossman, David

(Encyclopedia)Grossman, David, 1954–, Israeli writer and peace activist, b. Jerusalem. He is widely recognized as the finest novelist in the generation that followed Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua. The son of a Polis...

dime novels

(Encyclopedia)dime novels, swift-moving, thrilling novels, mainly about the American Revolution, the frontier period, and the Civil War. The books were first sold in 1860 for 10 cents by the firm of Beadle and Adam...

Le Verrier, Urbain Jean Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Le Verrier, Urbain Jean Joseph ürbăNˈ zhäN zhôzĕfˈ ləvĕryāˈ [key], 1811–77, French astronomer who made calculations that led to the discovery of the planet Neptune. In considering the per...

Livermore

(Encyclopedia)Livermore, city (1990 pop. 56,741), Alameda co., W central Calif.; inc. 1876. Nursery stock is grown, and there is light manufacturing, but the major sources of employment are wineries and the Lawrenc...

Thousand Islands

(Encyclopedia)Thousand Islands, a group of more than 1,800 islands and 3,000 shoals in the St. Lawrence River, E of Lake Ontario, N N.Y. and S Ont., stretching c.50 mi (80 km) along the U.S.-Canada line. Most of th...

Beauharnois

(Encyclopedia)Beauharnois bōhärˈnwä [key], city, S Que., Canada, on Lake St. Louis, a broadening of the St. ...

Thomson, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Charles, 1729–1824, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Co. Londonderry (now Derry), Ireland. Emigrating to America in 1739, he later taught school and became a merchant. His pr...

Browere, John Henri Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Browere, John Henri Isaac brouˈər [key], 1792–1834, American sculptor, b. New York City, studied painting in New York under Archibald Robertson and sculpture in Europe. He is known for his life ma...

Browse by Subject