Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

470 results found

United States Naval Observatory

(Encyclopedia)United States Naval Observatory, a federal astronomical observatory, located in Washington, D. C. It evolved from the Navy's oldest scientific institution, the Depot of Charts and Instruments, founded...

Van Allen, James Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Van Allen, James Alfred, 1914–2006, American physicist and space scientist, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. A graduate (Ph.D 1939) of and professor of physics (1951–85) at what is now the Univ. of Iowa, where...

Pousseur, Henri

(Encyclopedia)Pousseur, Henri äNrēˈ po͞osörˈ [key], 1929–2009, Belgian composer, b. Malmédy. Considered the leader of the Belgian avant-garde, he studied composition with André Souris and Pierre Boulez an...

Abilene

(Encyclopedia)Abilene ăbˈĭlēn [key]. 1 City (2020 pop. 6,460), seat of Dickinson co., central Kans., on the Smoky Hill River; inc. 1869. It was (1867–71) a railhead for a large ca...

hula

(Encyclopedia)hula, traditional Hawaiian dance usually performed standing with symbolically descriptive arm and hand movements and gracefully sensual undulations of the hips; it is also done in a sitting position. ...

intendant

(Encyclopedia)intendant ĭntĕnˈdənt [key], French administrative official who served as the chief royal representative in the provinces under the ancien régime. The intendants first gained importance under Card...

harmonic

(Encyclopedia)harmonic. 1 Physical term describing the vibration in segments of a sound-producing body (see sound). A string vibrates simultaneously in its whole length and in segments of halves, thirds, fourths, e...

harpsichord

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Harpsichord harpsichord, stringed musical instrument played from a keyboard. Its strings, two or more to a note, are plucked by quills or jacks. The harpsichord originated in the 14th cent. an...

Piccard, Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Piccard, Auguste ōgüstˈ pēkärˈ [key], 1884–1962, Swiss physicist, b. Basel. He became a professor at the Univ. of Brussels in 1922. He and his twin brother Jean Felix (d. 1963) are known for t...

Seeger, Pete

(Encyclopedia)Seeger, Pete (Peter Seeger), 1919–2014, American folksinger, composer, and environmentalist, b. New York City. Seeger, a son of musicologist Charles Seeger and violinist Constance Edson Seeger, step...