Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tesla, Nikola

(Encyclopedia)Tesla, Nikola tĕsˈlə [key], 1856–1943, American electrician and inventor, b. Croatia (then an Austrian province). An ethnic Serb, he immigrated to the United States in 1884, worked for a short pe...

loran

(Encyclopedia)loran lôrˈănˌ [key], long-range, accurate radio navigational system used by a ship or aircraft to confirm or to determine its geographical position. The term loran is derived from the words long-r...

van Zweden, Jaap

(Encyclopedia)van Zweden, Jaap yäp vän zvāˈdĕn [key], 1960–, Dutch conductor and violonist, b. Amsterdam. An accomplished violonist, he was appointed concertmaster of Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestr...

Calloway, Cab

(Encyclopedia)Calloway, Cab (Cabell Calloway) kălˈəwāˌ [key], 1907–94, jazz singer and band leader, b. Rochester, N.Y. Known for his inventive creativity, he hired some of the top musicians of his day for hi...

Forssmann, Werner

(Encyclopedia)Forssmann, Werner vĕrˈnər fôrsˈmän [key], 1904–79, German physician and physiologist, M.D. Univ. of Berlin (1929). In the late 1920s, he developed the technique of cardiac catheterization, whe...

Pierre, Abbé

(Encyclopedia)Pierre, Abbé äbāˈ pyĕr [key], 1912–2007, French priest and social activist, b. Lyons as Henri Antoine Grouès. Renouncing a wealthy inheritance to become a Capuchin monk in 1931, he left the mo...

Amboise

(Encyclopedia)Amboise äNbwäzˈ [key], town, Indre-et-Loire dept., N central France, in Touraine, on the Loire. It is a wine and wool market, and its manufactures include sporting good...

Wilkins, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Wilkins, Roger, 1932–2017, American government official, civil-rights activists, journalist, and educator, b. Kansas City, Mo., grad. Univ. of Michigan (B.A., 1953; LL.B. 1956); nephew of Roy Wilkin...

Brel, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Brel, Jacques, 1929–1978, Belgian singer and songwriter. His literate and theatrical songs made him one of the 20th cent.'s most influential French-language songwriters and performers. He first sang...

Jolson, Al

(Encyclopedia)Jolson, Al jōlˈsən [key], 1888–1950, American entertainer, whose original name was Asa Yoelson, b. Russia. He emigrated to the United States c.1895. The son of a rabbi, Jolson first planned to be...