Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wakatsuki, Reijiro

(Encyclopedia)Wakatsuki, Reijiro rāˈjērō wäkätso͞oˈkē [key], 1866–1949, Japanese statesman. He served (1906, 1908–11) as vice minister of finance, was elected to parliament in 1911, and was minister of...

Song of Solomon

(Encyclopedia)Song of Solomon, Song of Songs, or Canticles, book of the Bible, 22d in the order of the Authorized Version. Although traditionally ascribed to King Solomon, many scholars date it as late as the 3d c...

refrigeration

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Compression system of refrigeration refrigeration, process for drawing heat from substances to lower their temperature, often for purposes of preservation. Refrigeration in its modern, portabl...

Huxtable, Ada Louise

(Encyclopedia)Huxtable, Ada Louise hŭkˈstəbəl [key], 1921–2013, American architecture critic, b. New York City as Ada Louise Landman, grad. Hunter College (1941). As architecture critic for the New York Times...

Newburgh

(Encyclopedia)Newburgh no͞oˈbərg, nyo͞oˈ– [key], city (1990 pop. 26,454), Orange co., SE N.Y., on the west bank of the Hudson River, opposite Beacon; settled 1709 by Palatine Germans, inc. 1800. The city has...

Mather, Stephen Tyng

(Encyclopedia)Mather, Stephen Tyng, 1867–1930, American industrialist and environmentalist, b. San Francisco, grad. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1887. He began working for the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the...

Toledo, Francisco , Mexican artist

(Encyclopedia)Toledo, Francisco, 1940–2019, Mexican artist and activist, b. Francisco Benjamín López Toledo. He drew upon his Zapotec heritage for his paintings, drawings, prints, collages, ceramics, and tapest...

Baird, Spencer Fullerton

(Encyclopedia)Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823–87, American zoologist, b. Reading, Pa., grad. Dickinson College, 1840. He was professor of natural history at Dickinson from 1846 to 1850. While at the Smithsonian In...

inbreeding

(Encyclopedia)inbreeding, mating of closely related organisms. Inbreeding is chiefly used as a means of insuring the preservation of specific desired traits among the offspring of purebred animals (see breeding). C...

Browse by Subject