Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bode, Johann Elert

(Encyclopedia)Bode, Johann Elert yōˈhän āˈlĕrt bōˈdə [key], 1747–1826, German astronomer. From 1772 to 1825 he was astronomer of the Academy of Science, Berlin, and from 1786, director of the Berlin Obse...

navigation

(Encyclopedia)navigation, science and technology of finding the position and directing the course of vessels and aircraft. The next great revolution in navigation occurred in the 20th cent., when radio signals ...

Minnesota Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)Minnesota Orchestra, founded 1903. Since 1974 its home has been Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis. The orchestra was one of the first to be recorded (early 1920s) and featured in a radio broadcas...

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...

Koper

(Encyclopedia)Koper kôˈpĕr [key], Ital. Capodistria, town (1991 pop. 24,704), in Slovenia, on the Istrian peninsula in the Gulf of Trieste. It is a fishing port and has salt mines and a radio factory. From 1278 ...

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...

International Telecommunication Union

(Encyclopedia)International Telecommunication Union (ITU), specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Geneva. It was created in 1934 as a result of the merging of the International Telegraph Uni...

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...

Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Miguel

(Encyclopedia)Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Miguel, 1960–, Cuban political leader. Trained as an electrical engineer, he served (1982–85) as a radio specialist in the armed forces and taught at the Villa Clara provinc...

du Plessix Gray, Francine

(Encyclopedia)du Plessix Gray, Francine, 1930–2019, French-American writer, b. Warsaw, studied Bryn Mawr, Black Mountain College, B.A. Barnard, 1952. She worked first as a writer and editor for radio and magazine...