Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Frederiksted

(Encyclopedia)Frederiksted frĕˈdrĭkstĕd [key], town, historically the chief port and commercial center of ...

Allen, William

(Encyclopedia)Allen, William, 1704–80, American jurist, b. Philadelphia. He and his father-in-law, Andrew Hamilton, decided the choice of Philadelphia instead of Chester as provincial capital, and he helped finan...

Khairpur

(Encyclopedia)Khairpur khīrˈpo͝or [key], city (1981 pop. 61,447), SE Pakistan, in Sind prov. It trades in wheat, cotton, tobacco, and dates and is linked by road and rail to Karachi. Manufactures include textile...

Zrenjanin

(Encyclopedia)Zrenjanin zrĕnyäˈnēn [key], city (1991 pop. 81,316), NE Serbia, in the Vojvodina region of Serbia, on the Begej River. A river port and a railway center, it has industries that produce foodstuffs,...

Scorpius

(Encyclopedia)Scorpius –pēō [key] [Lat.,=the scorpion], conspicuous southern constellation lying on the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Sagittarius and Libra; it is one of the con...

Compton effect

(Encyclopedia)Compton effect [for A. H. Compton], increase in the wavelengths of X rays and gamma rays when they collide with and are scattered from loosely bound electrons in matter. This effect provides strong ve...

Cushing, Harvey Williams

(Encyclopedia)Cushing, Harvey Williams, 1869–1939, American neurosurgeon, b. Cleveland, B.A. Yale, 1891, M.D. Harvard, 1895. Associated with Johns Hopkins (1896–1912), Harvard (1912–32), and Yale (1933–37),...

Delany, Samuel R.

(Encyclopedia)Delany, Samuel R. (Samuel Ray Delany, Jr.), 1942–, African-American wrtier, b. Harlem, New York City. Delany uses science fiction, fantasy, and memoir to explore sexual identity, race, language, and...

Dodd, William Edward

(Encyclopedia)Dodd, William Edward, 1869–1940, American historian and diplomat, b. Clayton, N.C. He was professor of history at Randolph-Macon College (1900–1908) and at the Univ. of Chicago (1908–33). From J...

Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, astronomical observatory located 35 mi (56 km) S of Tucson, Ariz., at an altitude of 8,500 ft (2,590 m). It is operated jointly by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Obse...