Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lankester, Sir Edwin Ray

(Encyclopedia)Lankester, Sir Edwin Ray lăngˈkəstər [key], 1847–1929, English zoologist. He was a professor at University College, London (1874–90) and Oxford (1891–98) and was director of the natural hist...

Wilbur, Ray Lyman

(Encyclopedia)Wilbur, Ray Lyman, 1875–1949, American public official and educator, b. Boonesboro, Iowa, grad. Stanford (B.A., 1896; M.A., 1897) and Cooper Medical College, San Francisco, 1899. After studying medi...

Neanderthal man

(Encyclopedia)Neanderthal man –tôlˌ [key], a species of Homo, the genus to which contemporary humans belong, known as H. neandertalensis after Neanderthal (now Neandertal), Germany, the valley where the first s...

Dolby, Ray Milton

(Encyclopedia)Dolby, Ray Milton, 1933–2013, American inventor, audio engineer, and corporate executive, B.S. Stanford, 1957, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1961. While a teenager, he worked for Ampex Corp. (1949–57), helping...

Heseltine, Michael Ray Dibdin

(Encyclopedia)Heseltine, Michael Ray Dibdin hĕsˈəltīnˌ, hĕzˈ– [key], 1933–, British politician. After studying law at Oxford, he built a successful career in publishing before entering the House of Commo...

Man Booker Prize

(Encyclopedia)Man Booker Prize and Man Booker International Prize: see Booker Prize. ...

Man o' War

(Encyclopedia)Man o' War, 1917–47, American racehorse, by Fair Play out of Mahubah, bred by August Belmont near Lexington, Ky., and owned by Samuel D. Riddle after 1918. A large reddish-colored colt capable of tr...

Cro-Magnon man

(Encyclopedia)Cro-Magnon man krō-măgˈnən, –mănˈyən [key], an early Homo sapiens (the species to which modern humans belong) that lived about 40,000 years ago. Skeletal remains and associated artifacts of t...

Baker, Ray Stannard

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Ray Stannard, pseud. David Grayson, 1870–1946, American author, b. Lansing, Mich., grad. Michigan State College (now Michigan State Univ.), 1889. At first a Chicago newspaper reporter, he joi...

ray, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)ray, extremely flat-bodied cartilaginous marine fish, related to the shark. The pectoral fins of most rays are developed into broad, flat, winglike appendages, attached all along the sides of the head...