Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

hydrofoil

(Encyclopedia)hydrofoil, flat or curved finlike device, attached by struts to the hull of a watercraft, that lifts the moving watercraft above the water's surface. The term is often extended to include the vessel i...

Igbo

(Encyclopedia)Igbo ēˈbō [key], one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, deriving mainly from SE Nigeria, numbering around 15 million. Originally settled in many autonomous villages, the Igbo nevertheless had...

Habash, George

(Encyclopedia)Habash, George, 1925?–2008, Palestinian guerrilla leader. When Israel was established (1948), he fled to Lebanon, where he attended the American Univ. of Beirut (M.D., 1951). He practiced medicine i...

Ford Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Ford Foundation, philanthropic institution, established (1936) in Michigan by Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, for the general purpose of advancing human welfare. Until 1950 the foundation was involved ...

Muhammad, Benjamin Franklin Chavis

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad, Benjamin Franklin Chavis, 1948–, African-American civil-rights and religious leader, b. Oxford, N.C., as Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Jr. An activist from boyhood, he was a youth coordinator ...

Lie, Trygve Halvdan

(Encyclopedia)Lie, Trygve Halvdan trügˈvə hälvˈdän lē [key], 1896–1968, Norwegian statesman, first secretary-general of the United Nations. A lawyer and Labor party leader, he was Norwegian minister of jus...

Manila hemp

(Encyclopedia)Manila hemp, the most important of the cordage fibers. It is obtained chiefly from the Manila hemp plant (Musa textilis) of the family Musaceae (banana family). It is grown mainly in its native Philip...

Marsh, George Perkins

(Encyclopedia)Marsh, George Perkins, 1801–82, American diplomat and scholar, b. Woodstock, Vt., grad. Dartmouth (1820). He was admitted to the bar in 1825 and began practicing law in Burlington, Vt. A member of t...

Lancaster, Burt

(Encyclopedia)Lancaster, Burt (Burton Stephen Lancaster), 1913–94, American film actor, b. New York City. A superb athlete, he began his career as an acrobat. Best known for his roles as a cerebral tough guy, he ...

Rivlin, Alice M.

(Encyclopedia)Rivlin, Alice M., 1931–2019, American economist, b. Philadelphia as Georgianna Alice Mitchell, Ph.D. Harvard, 1958. Rivlin was affiliated with the Brookings Institution at various times from 1957 un...