Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rawlinson, Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Rawlinson, Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron, 1864–1925, British general; son of Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson. He served in the Myanmar expedition of 1886–87, in the Sudan campaign (1898), and i...

Iguaçu Falls

(Encyclopedia)Iguaçu Falls or Iguassú Falls both: ēgwəso͞oˈ [key], in the Iguaçu River, on the Argentina-Brazil border near the Paraguay line. Iguaçu Falls has two main sections that are composed of hundred...

Kurz, Sebastian

(Encyclopedia)Kurz, Sebastian, 1986–, Austrian politician, federal chancellor of Austria (2017–), b. Vienna. A member of the conservative People's party, he was active in the party's youth wing and became its l...

Romer, Paul Michael

(Encyclopedia)Romer, Paul Michael, 1955–, American economist, b. Denver, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1983. He has taught at the Univ. of Rochester (1982–88), Univ. of Chicago (1988–90), Univ. of California at Ber...

Scève, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Scève, Maurice mōrēsˈ sĕv [key], c.1510–c.1564, French poet. While studying at Avignon he discovered the tomb of Laura, to whom Petrarch directed many of his sonnets. Scève was the leader of t...

Schomburgk, Sir Robert Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Schomburgk, Sir Robert Hermann shŏmˈbərk [key], 1804–65, English traveler and explorer, b. Germany. Under the direction of the Royal Geographical Society he went on a trip of botanical and geogra...

Siemens, Ernst Werner von

(Encyclopedia)Siemens, Ernst Werner von ĕrnst vĕrˈnər fən zēˈməns [key], 1816–92, German electrical engineer and inventor. He was a founder and director of Siemens and Halske, a firm that made electrical ...

Alcaeus

(Encyclopedia)Alcaeus ălsēˈəs [key], c.620–c.580 b.c., Greek lyric poet of Lesbos. An aristocrat, he was often embroiled in political battles with the ruling tyrants. He wrote drinking songs, hymns, love song...

Clovis

(Encyclopedia)Clovis. 1 City (2020 pop. 120,124, Fresno co., S central Calif., near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range; inc. 1912. It is a growing trade ...

proper motion

(Encyclopedia)proper motion, in astronomy, apparent movement of a star on the celestial sphere, usually measured as seconds of arc per year; it is due both to the actual relative motions of the sun and the star thr...