Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Haley, Alex

(Encyclopedia)Haley, Alex (Alexander Murray Palmer Haley), 1921–92, American writer, b. Ithaca, N.Y. Haley was for a time one of the most famous writers in the United States as the author of Roots: The Saga of an...

National Institute of Standards and Technology

(Encyclopedia)National Institute of Standards and Technology, governmental agency within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce with the mission of “working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and st...

Storey, David

(Encyclopedia)Storey, David (David Malcolm Storey), 1933–, English novelist and playwright, b. Wakefield, Yorkshire. His first novel, This Sporting Life (1960), was a disguised autobiography about the brutalizati...

Edinburgh

(Encyclopedia)Edinburgh ĕdˈĭnbərə [key], city (2021 pop. 542,599) and council area, royal burgh, capital of ...

Dunfermline

(Encyclopedia)Dunfermline dŭnförmˈlĭn, dŭm– [key], city, Fife, E central Scotland, on the Firth of Forth. It is a ...

Museum of Fine Arts

(Encyclopedia)Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, chartered and incorporated (1870) after a decision by the Boston Athenæum, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pool their collections of art objects...

Shriver, Eunice Mary Kennedy

(Encyclopedia)Shriver, Eunice Mary Kennedy, 1921–2009, American philanthropist and advocate for the intellectually disabled, b. Brookline, Mass., grad. Stanford (1943); she was a daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy and...

Morrison, Scott

(Encyclopedia)Morrison, Scott, 1968–, Australian political leader, b. Sydney. Morrison was head of tourism for both New Zealand and Australia before he became state director (2000–2004) of the Liberal party in ...

Tantlinger, Keith Walton

(Encyclopedia)Tantlinger, Keith Walton, 1919–2011, b. Orange, Calif. Trained as a mechanical engineer, he was the inventor of the modern shipping container. After stints at Douglas Aircraft Co. (later McDonnell D...

Browse by Subject