Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Finley, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Finley, Robert fĭnˈlē [key], 1772–1817, American clergyman, a founder of the American Colonization Society, b. Princeton, N.J. In 1787 he graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton),...

tritium

(Encyclopedia)tritium trĭtˈēəm [key], radioactive isotope of hydrogen with mass number 3. The tritium nucleus, called a triton, contains one proton and two neutrons. It has a half-life of 12.5 years and decays ...

Odum, Eugene Pleasants

(Encyclopedia)Odum, Eugene Pleasants, 1913–2002, American ecologist, b. Newport, N.H., Ph.D. Univ. of Illinois, 1939; son of Howard W. Odum. He joined the department of zoology at the Univ. of Georgia in 1940, ev...

Warner, Glenn Scobey

(Encyclopedia)Warner, Glenn Scobey, 1871–1954, American football coach, commonly known as “Pop” Warner, b. Springville, N.Y., grad. Cornell (LL.B., 1894). He excelled as guard (1892–94) on the Cornell footb...

Carmichael, Hoagy

(Encyclopedia)Carmichael, Hoagy hōˈgē [key] (Hoagland Howard Carmichael), 1899–1981, American songwriter, pianist, and singer, b. Bloomington, Ind. While still a student at Indiana Univ. he was influenced by a...

Reconstruction

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...

Imeritia

(Encyclopedia)Imeritia ĭmərĭshˈə [key], geographic and historic region, Georgia, in the upper Rion River basin. Kutaisi (the historic capital) and Chiatura are the main cities. Imeritia is an agricultural regi...

Colchis

(Encyclopedia)Colchis kŏlˈkĭs [key], ancient country on the eastern shore of the Black Sea and in the Caucasus region. Centered about the fertile valley of the Phasis River (the modern Rion), Colchis corresponds...

Trumbull, Lyman

(Encyclopedia)Trumbull, Lyman, 1813–96, U.S. Senator from Illinois (1855–73), b. Colchester, Conn. He taught school in Georgia, was admitted to the bar, and in 1837 moved to Illinois. After serving in the state...

Portman, John Calvin, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Portman, John Calvin, Jr., 1924–2017, American architect and developer, b. Walhalla, S.C., grad. Georgia Institute of Technology (1950). In the 1960s and 70s, he radically changed the look of the ho...