Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Sloan Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Sloan Foundation, fund established (1934) by automobile executive Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. as a philanthropic institution supporting research in various areas. In its early years it stressed support of U....

prophet

(Encyclopedia)prophet [Gr.,=foreteller], a religious leader and spokesperson, particularly used in the Bible. The prophets emitted messages from the divine through inspired speech, the interpretation of omens and d...

Dobell, Sydney Thompson

(Encyclopedia)Dobell, Sydney Thompson dōbĕlˈ [key], 1824–74, English poet. He is best known for the melodramatic, extravagantly emotional poem Balder (1853). In 1855 he published jointly with Alexander Smith (...

Hare, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Hare, Robert, 1781–1858, American chemist, b. Philadelphia. He was professor of chemistry (1819–47) at the medical college of the Univ. of Pennsylvania. Hare made important contributions to early ...

Geneva, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Geneva, city (2020 pop. 12,812), Ontario co., W central N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region; inc. as a city 1897. Located in a farm area, Geneva's manufact...

Van Dyck, Cornelius Van Alen

(Encyclopedia)Van Dyck, Cornelius Van Alen, 1818–95, American missionary, b. Kinderhook, N.Y. In 1840 he went to Syria as a medical missionary. In 1846 he was ordained in the Congregational ministry. Besides bein...

dynamite

(Encyclopedia)dynamite, explosive made from nitroglycerin and an inert, porous filler such as wood pulp, sawdust, kieselguhr, or some other absorbent material. The proportions vary in different kinds of dynamite; o...

Heckscher, Eli Filip

(Encyclopedia)Heckscher, Eli Filip ĕˈlē fĭlˈĭp hĕkˈshər [key], 1879–1952, Swedish economic historian. Influenced by the neoclassical economics of Alfred Marshall, Heckscher advocated the use of monetary ...

Ohthere

(Encyclopedia)Ohthere ōthērˈə [key], fl. 880, Norse explorer. His account of his voyage around the North Cape, along Lapland, and into the White Sea was incorporated by Alfred the Great in the introduction to h...

Maclise, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Maclise, Daniel məklēsˈ [key], 1811–70, British painter and illustrator, b. Ireland. His character sketches contributed (1830–38) to Fraser's Magazine under the pseudonym Alfred Croquis were la...

Browse by Subject