Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

499 results found

Aphek

(Encyclopedia)Aphek āˈfĕk [key], in the Bible. 1 Canaanite royal town, the modern Ras el-Ain or Rosh Hayim (Israel). Herod called it Antipatris. It is mentioned in Egyptian documents dating from the 19th cent. b...

Burleigh, Henry Thacker

(Encyclopedia)Burleigh, Henry Thacker bûrˈlē [key], 1866–1949, American baritone and composer, b. Erie, Pa.; pupil of Dvořák at the National Conservatory, New York, where he later taught. He was soloist at S...

Hershey, Alfred Day

(Encyclopedia)Hershey, Alfred Day, 1908–1997, American microbiologist, b. Owosso, Mich., Ph.D., Michigan State College (now Michigan State Univ.), 1934. Hershey was a professor at the Washington Univ. School of M...

Ruiz, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Ruiz, Juan hwän ro͞oēthˈ [key], 1283?–1350?, Spanish poet, musician, and archpriest of Hita. Ruiz suffered 13 years in prison, during which time he revised his masterpiece, El Libro de buen amor...

Navarrete, Juan Fernández

(Encyclopedia)Navarrete, Juan Fernández hwän fārnänˈdĕth nävärāˈtā [key], 1526–79, Spanish religious painter, called El Mudo [the mute]. He studied in a monastery and later in Italy, perhaps with Titia...

Barrios, Eduardo

(Encyclopedia)Barrios, Eduardo āᵺwärˈᵺō bärˈyōs [key], 1884–1963, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. He was director of libraries and minister of education in Chile. As a writer he w...

Shafter, William Rufus

(Encyclopedia)Shafter, William Rufus, 1835–1906, American general, b. Galesburg, Mich. He served in the Union army during the Civil War and in 1867 joined the regular army, rising to become brigadier general (189...

commutator

(Encyclopedia)commutator, device used in an electric generator to convert the alternating current produced in the generator into direct current before the current is sent into an external circuit; it is basically a...

Qantarah esh Sharqiya

(Encyclopedia)Qantarah esh Sharqiya känˈtärä ĕsh shärkēˈyä [key], town, NE Egypt, on the east bank of the Suez Canal. It is on the ancient military road between Egypt and Syria. Qantarah esh Sharqiya is th...

Palomino de Castro y Velasco, Acislo Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Palomino de Castro y Velasco, Acislo Antonio äthēsˈlō äntōˈnyō pälōmēˈnō ᵺā käˈstrō ē vāläsˈkō [key], 1655–1726, Spanish historical painter and writer on art, called the Span...

Browse by Subject