Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Roberts, Elizabeth Madox

(Encyclopedia)Roberts, Elizabeth Madox, 1886–1941, American poet and novelist, b. Perryville, Ky., grad. Univ. of Chicago, 1921. She is best known for her novels and stories of the Kentucky mountain people, whose...

coast protection

(Encyclopedia)coast protection, methods used to protect coastal lands from erosion. Beaches can exist only where a delicate dynamic equilibrium exists between the amount of sand supplied to the beach and the inevit...

Chichicastenango

(Encyclopedia)Chichicastenango chēˌchēkästānängˈgō [key], town, SW Guatemala. In the heart of the highlands, Chichicastenango was a trading town in ancient times. It became the spiritual center of the Quich...

Hudson, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Hudson, William Henry, 1841–1922, English author and naturalist, b. Quilmes, Argentina, of American parents. He spent his childhood on the pampas but developed a heart condition and finally emigrate...

Groote Schuur

(Encyclopedia)Groote Schuur khro͝oˈtə skür [key] [Afrik.,=large barn], estate, Cape Town, Western Cape, SW South Africa. The main building of the estate, which is a good example of Dutch colonial architecture, ...

Natsume Soseki

(Encyclopedia)Natsume Soseki näˈtso͞oˈmĕ sōˈsĕˈkē [key], 1867–1916, Japanese writer. Soseki ranks along with Mori Ogai as one of two giants of early modern Japanese letters. Although Soseki began his ca...

Saint Charles

(Encyclopedia)Saint Charles. 1 City (1990 pop. 22,501), Kane co., NE Ill., on the Fox River, a suburb of Chicago; inc. 1850. Located in an agricultural area (corn and soybeans), the city has food-processing, alumin...

Rodbell, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Rodbell, Martin, 1925–1998, American biochemist, b. Baltimore, Ph.D. Univ. of Washington, 1954. He was a researcher (1956–1985) at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda, Md., before becoming sc...

Prishtinë

(Encyclopedia)Prishtinë, Prishtina, or Priština prēˈshtĭnä [key], city (2011 pop. 198,214), E central Kosovo, the capital and largest city of Kosovo. Prishtinë is a commercial center with diverse industries...

lungs

(Encyclopedia)lungs, elastic organs used for breathing in vertebrate animals, excluding most fish, which use gills, and a few amphibian species that respire through the skin. The word is sometimes applied to the re...