Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

skyscraper

(Encyclopedia)skyscraper, modern building of great height, constructed on a steel skeleton. The form originated in the United States. By convention, a skyscraper is a building that is used primarily for human h...

Hippodamus

(Encyclopedia)Hippodamus hĭpŏdˈəməs [key], fl. 5th cent. b.c., Greek architect, b. Miletus. He was the first to plan cities according to geometric layouts. For Pericles he remodeled Piraeus (the port of Athens...

Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de

(Encyclopedia)Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de äntōˈnyō ᵺā ārāˈrä ē tôrᵺāsēˈlyäs [key], 1559?–1625, Spanish historian. Appointed official historiographer of Castile and the Indies under Philip...

Green, Hetty

(Encyclopedia)Green, Hetty, 1835–1916, American financier, b. Henrietta Howland Robinson, New Bedford, Mass. She inherited a large fortune from her father and invested it so shrewdly that she was considered the g...

George Washington Bridge

(Encyclopedia)George Washington Bridge, vehicular suspension bridge across the Hudson River, between Manhattan borough of New York City and Fort Lee, N.J.; constructed 1927–31. It is one of the longest suspension...

Fitzsimmons, Robert L.

(Encyclopedia)Fitzsimmons, Robert L., 1863–1918, British boxer, b. Cornwall, England. Fitzsimmons began fighting professionally in Australia and New Zealand before going to the United States in 1890. He won the w...

Jackson, Reggie

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Reggie (Reginald Martinez Jackson), 1946–, American baseball player, b. Wyncote, Pa. In 21 years in the American League, most notably with the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees, he hit...

McCarthy, Joseph Vincent

(Encyclopedia)McCarthy, Joseph Vincent, 1887–1978, American baseball manager, b. Philadelphia. A manager in the American Association and later (1926–30) in the National League, “Marse Joe,” as he was known,...

traffic regulation

(Encyclopedia)traffic regulation, control of the movement of vehicles and pedestrians, chiefly on city streets. Formal regulation of motor vehicle traffic was instituted in New York City in 1903; a set of Rules for...

Scott, Duncan Campbell

(Encyclopedia)Scott, Duncan Campbell, 1862–1947, Canadian poet, b. Ottawa. He was a civil servant in the Dept. of Indian Affairs from 1879 to 1932, becoming its head in 1913. Scott began publication with The Magi...

Browse by Subject