Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

338 results found

Gleason, Henry Allan

(Encyclopedia)Gleason, Henry Allan glēˈsən [key], 1882–1975, American botanist, plant geographer, and plant ecologist. His floristic studies of North American vegetation led to his “individualistic concept o...

Levasseur, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Levasseur, Émile (Pierre Émile Levasseur) pyĕr āmēlˈ lüväsörˈ [key], 1828–1911, French economist. He was noted especially for his historical approach to the study of economics. He studied ...

Stuck, Hudson

(Encyclopedia)Stuck, Hudson, 1863–1920, American missionary and explorer, b. London, England. He emigrated to the United States in 1885, graduated from the Univ. of the South (1892), and was dean (1894–1904) of...

Scoresby, William

(Encyclopedia)Scoresby, William skôrzˈbē [key], 1789–1857, English arctic explorer and scientist. He made yearly voyages (1803–22) to Greenland, at first on his father's whaler, later as captain on other shi...

Espejo, Antonio de

(Encyclopedia)Espejo, Antonio de äntōˈnyō ᵺā āspāˈhō [key], fl. 1582–83, Spanish explorer. In 1582 he was sent out from San Bartolomé, Mexico, to rescue missionaries said to be menaced by the Pueblo p...

geodesic dome

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Geodesic dome geodesic dome jēˌədĕsˈĭk, –dēˈsĭk [key], structure that roughly approximates a hemisphere. Popular in recent years as economical, easily erected buildings, geodesic do...

Gadsden Purchase

(Encyclopedia)Gadsden Purchase gădzˈdən [key], strip of land purchased (1853) by the United States from Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) had described the U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and Presiden...

Gault, in re

(Encyclopedia)Gault, in re ĭn rā gôlt [key], case decided in 1967 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Fifteen-year-old Gerald Gault had been found a delinquent by an Arizona juvenile court and sentenced to the state indu...

La Farge, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)La Farge, Oliver lä färzh [key], 1901–63, American writer and anthropologist, b. New York City, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1924; M.A., 1929). He conducted three archaeological expeditions to Arizona and...

turquoise

(Encyclopedia)turquoise, hydrous phosphate of aluminum and copper, Al2(OH)3PO4·H2O+Cu, used as a gem. It occurs rarely in crystal form, but is usually cryptocrystalline. Turquoise is opaque and has a waxy luster; ...