Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Delta Plan

(Encyclopedia)Delta Plan, flood control and reclamation project, S Netherlands, in the Rhine River delta. Built in 1957–81, it involved construction of four major dikes (up to 131 ft/40 m high) across the Rhine's...

Doesburg, Theo van

(Encyclopedia)Doesburg, Theo van tāˈō vän do͞osˈbûrg [key], 1883–1931, Dutch painter, teacher, and writer. Together with Mondrian he founded the magazine De Stijl and successfully proselytized in Europe fo...

Passaic, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Passaic pəsāˈĭk [key], city (1990 pop. 58,041), Passaic co., NE N.J., a port on the Passaic River; settled 1678 by Dutch traders as Acquackanonk, named Passaic 1854, inc. as a city 1873. Formerly ...

Helst, Bartholomeus van der

(Encyclopedia)Helst, Bartholomeus van der bärˌtōlōmāˈəs vän dər hĕlst [key], 1613–70, Dutch portrait painter. In Amsterdam the wealthy citizens preferred his flattering, tasteful portraits to those of R...

Hoogstraten, Samuel van

(Encyclopedia)Hoogstraten, Samuel van säˈmüĕl vän hōkhˈsträtən [key], 1627–78, Dutch portrait painter and etcher, studied with his father, Dirk van Hoogstraten (1596–1640), and with Rembrandt. His best...

Drebbel, Cornelis Jacobszoon

(Encyclopedia)Drebbel, Cornelis Jacobszoon kôrnāˈlĭs yäˈkôpsōn drĕbˈəl [key], 1572–1634, Dutch inventor, physicist, and mechanician. His major inventions were an atmospherically driven clock and the fi...

Dunning, John, 1st Baron Ashburton

(Encyclopedia)Dunning, John, 1st Baron Ashburton, 1731–83, English jurist and politician. He attracted notice in 1762 by his written defense of the British East India Company merchants against their Dutch rivals....

Ems, river, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Ems, river, 208 mi (335 km) long, rising in the Teutoburger Wald, NW Germany, and flowing NW into the North Sea near Emden. Its wide mouth is called the Dollart. The Ems is paralleled for much of its ...

Held, Julius Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Held, Julius Samuel, 1905–2002, American art historian, b. Germany. Held immigrated to the United States in 1934. In 1937 he began to teach at Barnard College, where he was professor of art history ...

Stevin, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Stevin, Simon sēˈmôn stəvīnˈ [key], 1548–1620, Dutch engineer and mathematician. His experiments in hydrostatics showed that the pressure exerted by a liquid is dependent only on its vertical ...