Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rimini

(Encyclopedia)Rimini rēˈmēnē [key], anc. Ariminum, city (1991 pop. 127,960), in Emilia-Romagna, N central Italy, on the Adriatic Sea. It is a highly diversified industrial, commercial, and railroad center and a...

surfing

(Encyclopedia)surfing, sport of gliding on a breaking wave. Surfers originally used long, cumbersome wooden boards but now ride lightweight synthetic boards that allow a greater degree of maneuverability. Boards ar...

California State University System

(Encyclopedia)California State University System, coordinating agency established in 1960 by the merger of individual California state colleges, now consisting of 23 campuses. It constitutes one of the three Califo...

Versace, Gianni

(Encyclopedia)Versace, Gianni (Giovanni Maria Versace), 1946–97, Italian fashion designer, b. Reggio Calabria. A dressmaker's son, Versace worked for several Italian designers before opening (1978) his own Milan ...

Drew, John

(Encyclopedia)Drew, John, 1827–62, American actor, b. Dublin. After establishing a reputation as a comedian in the 1840s, he devoted his energies to the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, where he maintained a fa...

Pentecost

(Encyclopedia)Pentecost pĕnˈtəkôst [key] [Gr.,=fiftieth], important Jewish and Christian feast. The Jewish feast of Pentecost, in Hebrew Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, one of the three pilgrimage festivals, arose...

Buber, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Buber, Martin bo͞oˈbĕr [key], 1878–1965, Jewish philosopher, b. Vienna. Educated at German ...

Lederberg, Joshua

(Encyclopedia)Lederberg, Joshua lāˈdərbûrgˌ [key], 1925–2008, American geneticist, b. Montclair, N.J., grad. Columbia, 1944, Ph.D. Yale, 1948. He is known for his studies of the genetic mechanisms of bacteri...

Lee, David Morris

(Encyclopedia)Lee, David Morris, 1931–, American physicist, b. Rye, N.Y., Ph.D. Yale, 1959. Lee joined the faculty at Cornell in 1959, moving to Texas A&M Univ. in 2009. He was a co-recipient, with Douglas Os...

Lamb, Willis Eugene, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Lamb, Willis Eugene, Jr., 1913–2008, American physicist, b. Los Angeles, Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1938. Lamb was a professor at Columbia (1938–51), Stanford (1951–56), Oxford (1956�...