Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

McDonald Observatory

(Encyclopedia)McDonald Observatory, astronomical observatory located on Mt. Locke, near Fort Davis, Tex.; founded in 1932, sponsored by the Univ. of Texas in cooperation with the Univ. of Chicago. Its equipment inc...

Vincennes, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Vincennes văNsĕnˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 42,651), Val-de-Marne dept., N central France, an industrial and residential suburb E of Paris. Radio, electrical, and photographic equipment, machinery, an...

Pearson, Drew

(Encyclopedia)Pearson, Drew, 1897–1969, American journalist and radio commentator, b. Evanston, Ill. He traveled around the world as a correspondent before joining the Baltimore Sun in 1926. Pearson gained nation...

Scruggs, Earl Eugene

(Encyclopedia)Scruggs, Earl Eugene, 1924–2012, American banjo player, b. Flint Hill, N.C. He developed a distinctive syncopated, three-finger style on the five-string banjo that changed the way it is played. From...

Tsushima

(Encyclopedia)Tsushima tso͞oˈshēmä [key], two Japanese islands in Korea Strait. The islands are rocky, and fishing is the main occupation. Nearby, in May, 1905, occurred the major naval battle of the Russo-Japa...

Jansons, Mariss

(Encyclopedia)Jansons, Mariss, 1943–2019, Latvian-Russian conductor. He studied under von Karajan at Salzburg, and later conducted (1979–2000) the Oslo Philharmonic, raising it to international stature, and was...

Halas, George Stanley, Sr.

(Encyclopedia)Halas, George Stanley, Sr., 1895–1983, American football coach, b. Chicago, grad. Univ. of Illinois, 1918. He served in the navy in World War I, played baseball (1919) with the New York Yankees, the...

Woollcott, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Woollcott, Alexander, 1887–1943, American author and critic, b. Phalanx, N.J., grad. Hamilton College, 1909. Woollcott's flamboyant personality combined sharpness of wit with sentimentality. He was ...

teleportation, in science fiction

(Encyclopedia)teleportation, in science fiction, the process of instantaneously transporting a person or an object between two points, usually by disappearing from one place and reappearing at a second place as a p...

Schlafly, Phyllis

(Encyclopedia)Schlafly, Phyllis shlăfˈlē [key], 1924–2016, American conservative activist, b. St. Louis, Mo., as Phyllis McAlpin Stewart, grad. Washington Univ. (B.A. 1944, J.D. 1978), Harvard (M.A. 1945). A R...