Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

69 results found

Haggard, Sir Henry Rider

(Encyclopedia)Haggard, Sir Henry Rider, 1856–1925, English novelist. From 1875 to 1881 he served in the government of South Africa, which was the scene of many of his highly popular romances. King Solomon's Mines...

Griswold, Rufus Wilmot

(Encyclopedia)Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815–57, American editor, b. Benson, Vt. He was influential as editor of Graham's Magazine (1842–43) and the International Monthly Magazine (1850–52) and as anthologist o...

Cronquist, Arthur C.

(Encyclopedia)Cronquist, Arthur C. krŏngˈkwĭst, krŏnˈ– [key], 1919–92, American systematic botanist. He was the author of two introductory botanical textbooks, with Henry Allan Gleason: The Natural Geograp...

Cunningham, Sir Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Cunningham, Sir Alexander, 1814–93, English archaeologist and army engineer; son of Allan Cunningham. He retired (1861) as a major general after 30 years of service with the Bengal engineers and the...

Quinn, Edmond Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Quinn, Edmond Thomas, 1868–1929, American sculptor and painter, b. Philadelphia, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with Thomas Eakins, and in Paris. His monumental work is marked...

ballad

(Encyclopedia)ballad, in literature and music, short, narrative poem or song usually relating a single, dramatic event. Two forms of the ballad are often distinguished—the folk ballad, dating from about the 12th ...

Hounsfield, Sir Godfrey Newbold

(Encyclopedia)Hounsfield, Sir Godfrey Newbold, 1919–2004, British electrical engineer. A radar expert for the Royal Air Force during World War II, in the 1950s Hounsfield began developing computer and X-ray techn...

Moskenstraumen

(Encyclopedia)Moskenstraumen mālˈstrəm [key], tidewater whirlpool in the Lofoten Islands, NW Norway. Formed when tidal currents flow through coastal fjords and a maze of small islands, it is c.2.5 mi (4 km) wide...

Penzias, Arno Allan

(Encyclopedia)Penzias, Arno Allan, 1933–, German-American physicist, b. Munich, Germany, Ph.D. Columbia Univ., 1962. He fled Nazi Germany with his family and after finishing school began work at Bell Telephone La...

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

(Encyclopedia)Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, case decided in 1978 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court held in a closely divided decision that race could be one of the factors considered in choos...
 

Browse by Subject