Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

98 results found

Capablanca, José Raúl

(Encyclopedia)Capablanca, José Raúl hōsāˈ räo͞olˈ käpäblängˈkä [key], 1888–1942, Cuban chess player, b. Havana. Champion of Cuba at the age of 12, he won the world's championship from Emanuel Lasker ...

Sun Ra

(Encyclopedia) Sun Ra, 1914-1993, African-American jazz composer, bandleader, and keyboard player, b. Birmingham, Al., as Herman Poole Blount. Sun Ra was a leading c...

Ra, in Egyptian religion

(Encyclopedia)Ra rā [key], in Egyptian religion, sun god, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. Ra was chief of the cosmic deities and was sometimes called the creator and father of all things. Early Eg...

Heliopolis, ancient city, Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Heliopolis hēlēŏpˈəlĭs [key] [Gr.,=city of the sun], ancient city, N Egypt, in the Nile delta, 6 mi (10 km) below modern Cairo. It was noted as the center of sun worship, and its god Ra or Re wa...

Amon, Egyptian deity

(Encyclopedia)Amon äˈmĕn [key], Egyptian deity. He was originally the chief god of Thebes; he and his wife Mut and their son Khensu were the divine Theban triad of deities. Amon grew increasingly important in Eg...

Alekhine, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Alekhine, Alexander əlyĕkhˈēn [key], 1892–1946, Russian-French chess player, b. Moscow. He became a naturalized French citizen after the Russian Revolution. At the age of 16 he gained the rank o...

Lasker, Emanuel

(Encyclopedia)Lasker, Emanuel āmäˈno͞oĕl [key], 1868–1941, German chess player. He won the world championship in 1894 when he defeated Wilhelm Steinitz and held it until he was defeated by José Raúl Capabl...

Rankine temperature scale

(Encyclopedia)Rankine temperature scale, temperature scale having an absolute zero, below which temperatures do not exist, and using a degree of the same size as that used by the Fahrenheit temperature scale. Absol...

Browse by Subject