Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Flanagan, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Flanagan, Richard, 1961–, Australian novelist, b. Longford, Tasmania, studied Univ. of Tasmania (grad. 1982), Oxford (Rhodes scholar). Flanagan, whose novels explore the past and present of his nati...

Koop, C. Everett

(Encyclopedia)Koop, C. Everett (Charles Everett Koop), 1916–2013, American physician, U.S. surgeon general (1982–89), b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Dartmouth (B.S., 1937), Cornell Medical College (M.D., 1941), Univ....

Arledge, Roone Pinckney, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Arledge, Roone Pinckney, Jr., 1931–2002, American television executive, b. Forest Hills, N.Y., grad. Columbia (B.A., 1952). He was a producer-director (1955–60) at the National Broadcasting Compan...

piquet

(Encyclopedia)piquet or picquet both: pēkāˈ [key], card game played by two persons with a deck of 32 cards—7 (low) up to ace (high) in each suit. Each player receives 12 cards, and eight cards are left on the ...

Bürgi, Joost

(Encyclopedia)Bürgi, Joost or Jost, 1552–1632, Swiss mathematician and instrument maker. As the official clockmaker (1579–92) to Duke Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Kassell, he developed the first clock with a minute han...

winch

(Encyclopedia)winch, mechanical device for hauling or lifting consisting essentially of a movable drum around which a cable is wound so that rotation of the drum produces a drawing force at the end of the cable. A ...

Seghers, Hercules

(Encyclopedia)Seghers or Segers, Hercules Pietersz hĕrˈküləs pēˈtərs sāˈgərs [key], c.1589–c.1638, Dutch landscape painter and etcher, b. Haarlem. Seghers's work greatly influenced early 17th-century Du...

Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of

(Encyclopedia)Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of, SE Africa, 1953–63, composed of the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The ca...

ordeal

(Encyclopedia)ordeal, ancient legal custom whereby an accused person was required to perform a test, the outcome of which decided the person's guilt or innocence. By an ordeal, appeal was made to divine authority t...

wings

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Structure of a bird wing B. Structure of a bat wing wings, flight organs of the bird, the bat, and the insect. Birds' wings are pectoral appendages that are basically the same in skeletal...