Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Drake, Francis Marion

(Encyclopedia)Drake, Francis Marion, 1830–1903, Union army officer in the Civil War, railroad president, and governor of Iowa (1896–98), b. Rushville, Ill. He helped defend St. Joseph, Mo., against Confederate ...

Patchen, Kenneth

(Encyclopedia)Patchen, Kenneth, 1911–72, American poet and novelist, b. Niles, Ohio. His writings, characterized by complete freedom of form, embrace genres as diverse as satire, fantasy, and metaphysical love po...

Uruguay , river, South America

(Encyclopedia)Uruguay yo͝oˈrəgwā, gwī, Span. o͞oro͞ogwiˈ, o͞oro͞owīˈ [key], river, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) long, rising in S Brazil and flowing in an arc W, SW, and S to the Río de la Plata, an estuary; ...

Fukui, Kenichi

(Encyclopedia)Fukui, Kenichi kĕnˈēchē fo͝oko͞oˈē, fo͝okˈo͞o-ē [key], 1918–98, Japanese chemist, b. Nara, Japan, Ph.D. Kyoto Univ., 1948. As a professor at Kyoto Univ., Fukui developed the theory that ...

wire

(Encyclopedia)wire, metal filament, strand, or solid rod usually having a round cross section. Metals and alloys used for wiremaking are chosen for high tensile strength and ductility or for their electrical conduc...

Rio Grande do Sul

(Encyclopedia)Rio Grande do Sul rēˈo͝o gränˈdĭ ᵺo͝o so͞ol [key], state (1996 pop. 9,445,000), 108,951 sq mi (282,183 sq km), S Brazil, bordering on Argentina and Uruguay and on the Atlantic Ocean. Pôrto ...

Lasker, Albert Davis

(Encyclopedia)Lasker, Albert Davis, 1880–1952, American advertising executive, sometimes called the founder of modern advertising, b. Freiburg, Germany. He came to the United States as an infant and entered adver...

Harunobu

(Encyclopedia)Harunobu (Suzuki Harunobu) so͞ozo͞oˈkē häro͞oˈnōˈbo͞o [key], 1724–70, Japanese color-print artist of the ukiyo-e school. He was the first to use a wide range of colors effectively in print...

Eanes, António dos Santos Ramalho

(Encyclopedia)Eanes, António dos Santos Ramalho äNtônˈyo͞o do͞os säNˈto͞oz rämälˈyo͞o yäˈnēsh [key], 1935–, Portuguese military leader and politician. Eanes became disillusioned with Portugal's co...

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke

(Encyclopedia)Akutagawa, Ryunosuke chōkōˈdō sho͞oˈjĭn [key], 1892–1927, Japanese author. One of Japan's finest short-story writers, he derived many of his tales from historical Japanese sources, but told t...