Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Angell, James Burrill

(Encyclopedia)Angell, James Burrill jāmz bûrˈəl ānˈjəl [key], 1829–1916, American educator, editor, and diplomat, b. Scituate, R.I., grad. Brown, 1849, and studied abroad. He became professor of modern lan...

Waukegan

(Encyclopedia)Waukegan wôkēˈgən [key], residential and industrial city (1990 pop. 69,392), seat of Lake co., NE Ill., on Lake Michigan; inc. 1859. It has a good harbor and is the first port of call in Illinois ...

Bunyan, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Bunyan, Paul, legendary American lumberjack. He was the hero of a series of “tall tales” popular through the timber country from Michigan westward. Bunyan was known for his fantastic strength and ...

Claxton, Philander Priestly

(Encyclopedia)Claxton, Philander Priestly, 1862–1957, American educator, b. Bedford co., Tenn., grad. Univ. of Tennessee (B.A., 1882; M.A., 1887) and studied at Johns Hopkins and in Germany. After several years' ...

Wayne State University

(Encyclopedia)Wayne State University, at Detroit, Mich.; state supported; coeducational; established 1956 as a successor to Wayne Univ. (formed 1934 by a merger of five city colleges). The university includes progr...

Memorial University of Newfoundland

(Encyclopedia)Memorial University of Newfoundland, at St. John's, N.L., Canada; provincially supported; coeducational; founded 1925 as Memorial Univ. College. It achieved university status in 1949. The school has f...

Calvin, Melvin

(Encyclopedia)Calvin, Melvin, 1911–97, American organic chemist and educator, b. St. Paul, Minn., grad. Michigan College of Mining and Technology, 1931, Ph.D. Univ. of Minnesota, 1935. In 1937 he joined the facul...

Owen, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Owen, Robert, 1771–1858, British social reformer and socialist, pioneer in the cooperative movement. The son of a saddler, he had little formal education but was a zealous reader. At the age of 10 h...

chloroplast

(Encyclopedia)chloroplast klōrˈəplăstˌ, klôrˈ– [key], a complex, discrete green structure, or organelle, contained in the cytoplasm of plant cells. Chloroplasts are reponsible for the green color of almost...

Baha'i

(Encyclopedia)Baha'i bähäˈē, –hīˈ, bə– [key], religion founded by Baha Ullah (born Mirza Huseyn Ali Nuri) and promulgated by his eldest son, Abdul Baha (1844–1921). It is a doctrinal outgrowth of Babis...