Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Penn, Sir William, British admiral

(Encyclopedia)Penn, Sir William, 1621–70, British admiral. In the English civil war he served in Parliament's naval forces, and he joined the pursuit (1651–52) of Prince Rupert in the Mediterranean. He served i...

Parks, Gordon

(Encyclopedia)Parks, Gordon (Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks), 1912–2006, African-American photographer, filmmaker, writer, and composer, b. Fort Scott, Kans. Parks purchased his first camera in 1938 and be...

Theodora

(Encyclopedia)Theodora thēədôrˈə [key], d. 548, Byzantine empress. Information about her early career comes from the often-questionable source, the Secret History of Procopius. It appears that she was the daug...

threat

(Encyclopedia)threat, in law, declaration of intent to injure another by doing an unlawful act, with a view to restraining his freedom of action. A threat is distinguishable from an assault, for an assault requires...

Remington, Frederic

(Encyclopedia)Remington, Frederic, 1861–1909, American painter, sculptor, illustrator, and writer, b. Canton, N.Y., studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts and the Art Students League. His subjects, drawn largely...

nitrocellulose

(Encyclopedia)nitrocellulose, nitric acid ester of cellulose (a glucose polymer). It is usually formed by the action of a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids on purified cotton or wood pulp. The extent of nitratio...

carotene

(Encyclopedia)carotene kârˈətēnˌ [key], long-chained, unsaturated hydrocarbon found as a pigment in many higher plants, particularly carrots, sweet potatoes, and leafy vegetables. Carotene is thought to assist...

South India, Church of

(Encyclopedia)South India, Church of, Indian Protestant church, formed in 1947 by the merger of Anglican dioceses in India, Myanmar, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka); the Methodist Church of South India; and the South India ...

Stevens, Isaac Ingalls

(Encyclopedia)Stevens, Isaac Ingalls, 1818–62, American army engineer, territorial governor, and Union general in the Civil War, b. North Andover (then part of Andover), Mass., grad. West Point, 1839. He won two ...

Calixtus I, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Calixtus I, Callixtus I, or Callistus I, Saint kəlĭkˈstəs, kəlĭsˈtəs [key], c.160–c.222, pope (217–222), a Roman; successor of St. Zephyrinus. As archdeacon to Zephyrinus he established th...