Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gibbs, Josiah Willard

(Encyclopedia)Gibbs, Josiah Willard, 1839–1903, American mathematical physicist, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Yale, 1858. He studied abroad and was professor of mathematical physics at Yale from 1871. His great con...

Dickey, Eric Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Dickey, Eric Jerome, 1961- 2021, African-American author, b. Memphis, TN, Memphis State Univ. (BS, 1983). Dickey studied engineering and, after completi...

Shimonoseki

(Encyclopedia)Shimonoseki shēˈmōnōsāˌkē [key], city (1990 pop. 262,635), Yamaguchi prefecture, extreme SW Honshu, Japan. An important port and fishing center on Shimonoseki Strait, it is opposite Kitakyushu,...

Sibiu

(Encyclopedia)Sibiu sēbyo͝oˈ [key], Ger. Hermannstadt, Hung. Nagyszeben, city (1990 pop. 188,385), central Romania, at the foot of the Transylvanian Alps. There are mechanical engineering works and industries pr...

Pontoppidan, Henrik

(Encyclopedia)Pontoppidan, Henrik hănˈrēk pôntôˈpĭdän [key], 1857–1943, Danish novelist. He shared the 1917 Nobel Prize in Literature with Karl Gjellerup. Pontoppidan devoted himself to engineering, journ...

Baghdad Railway

(Encyclopedia)Baghdad Railway, railroad of international importance linking Europe with Asia Minor and the Middle East. The line runs from İstanbul, Turkey, to Basra, Iraq; it connected what were distant regions o...

Tainan

(Encyclopedia)Tainan or T'ai-nan both: tīˈnänˈ [key], special municipality (2010 pop. 1,840,257), W central Taiwan, on the Taiwan Strait. It was created in 2010 when Tainan city was merged with Tainan co. Taina...

Sunderland

(Encyclopedia)Sunderland, city and metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 195,064), NE England, at the mouth of the Wear River. The city was established as a shipbuilding center and a coal-shipping port in the 14th cent; ...

Bury St. Edmunds

(Encyclopedia)Bury St. Edmunds bĕrˌ sənt ĕdˈməndz [key], town, Suffolk, E central England. It is the market and processing ...

Whorf, Benjamin Lee

(Encyclopedia)Whorf, Benjamin Lee hwôrf [key], 1897–1941, American linguist and anthropologist, b. Winthrop, Mass. Although he was trained in chemical engineering and worked for an insurance company, Whorf made ...