Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wilkens, Lenny

(Encyclopedia)Wilkens, Lenny (Leonard Randolph Wilkens), 1937–, American basketball player and coach, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. After playing at Providence College, he joined the St. Louis Hawks of the National Basketbal...

Bergen op Zoom

(Encyclopedia)Bergen op Zoom bĕrˈgən ôp zōmˈ [key], town, North Brabant prov., SW Netherlands, on the Zoom River near ...

West, Jerry

(Encyclopedia)West, Jerry (Jerome Alan West), 1938–, American basketball player, b. Cheylan, W.Va. One of the game's great shooting guards, he led West Virginia Univ. to the 1959 National Collegiate Athletic Asso...

Carter, Gary Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Carter, Gary Edmund, 1954–2012, American baseball player, b. Culver City, Calif. A superb catcher and clutch-hitting right-handed slugger, he played in the majors for 19 years. Drafted (1972) by the...

Bradford, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Bradford, city and metropolitan borough, N central England, on a small tributary of the Aire River. It is a center of the worsted industry, which dates ...

Chamberlain, Neville

(Encyclopedia)Chamberlain, Neville (Arthur Neville Chamberlain), 1869–1940, British statesman; son of Joseph Chamberlain and half-brother of Sir Austen Chamberlain. The first half of his career was spent in busin...

berkelium

(Encyclopedia)berkelium bûrˈklēəm [key] [from Berkeley], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Bk; at. no. 97; mass no. of most stable isotope 247; m.p. about 1,050℃; b.p. about 2,590℃;...

Monroe, Bill

(Encyclopedia)Monroe, Bill (William Smith Monroe), 1911–96, country singer, musician, and songwriter, often called the “father of bluegrass,” b. Rosine, Ky. A m...

Rainey, Gertrude "Ma"

(Encyclopedia)Rainey, Gertrude "Ma," 1886–1939, African-American blues singer and songwriter, b. Columbus, Ga., as Gertrude Melissa Nix Pridgett. Rainey's place and...

Gaye, Marvin

(Encyclopedia) Gaye, Marvin, 1939-1984, African-American singer and songwriter, b. Washington, D.C., as Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. Gaye’s father was a minister, and Gaye...

Browse by Subject