Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Nodier, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Nodier, Charles shärl nôdyāˈ [key], 1780–1844, French novelist and poet. From 1824 he was librarian of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris. His salon was the nucleus of the beginning romanti...

Bras d'Or Lake

(Encyclopedia)Bras d'Or Lake brä dôr [key], arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.360 sq mi (930 sq km), indenting deeply into Cape Breton Island, N.S., SE Canada, and occupying much of the interior. A narrow channel link...

Watkins, Vernon

(Encyclopedia)Watkins, Vernon, 1906–67, British poet, b. Maesteg, Wales, educated at Cambridge. Like his close friend Dylan Thomas, Watkins was profoundly influenced by his Welsh background. His poetry combines s...

Pärt, Arvo

(Encyclopedia)Pärt, Arvo pârt [key], 1935–, Estonian composer, b. Paide; grad. Tallinn Conservatory (1963). He worked for Estonian radio (1958–67), left his homeland (1980, then part of the USSR), and settled...

Karlin, John Elias

(Encyclopedia)Karlin, John Elias, American industrial psychologist and human-factors engineering pioneer, b. Johannesburg, South Africa, grad. Univ. of Cape Town (B.A., M.A.), Univ. of Chicago (Ph.D., 1942). With a...

Brantford

(Encyclopedia)Brantford, city, S Ont., Canada, on the Grand River. It is a leading manufacturing city, noted particularly for its large farm implement factories. The ...

Wigan

(Encyclopedia)Wigan wĭgˈən [key], metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 88,725), N England, located in the Manchester metropolitan area on the Douglas River. Wigan has a wide variety of industries, including electrica...

Pierce, John

(Encyclopedia)Pierce, John, 1910–2002, American electrical engineer, b. Des Moines, Iowa, grad. California Institute of Technology (Ph.D. 1936). Pierce worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he proposed...

Fort Henry, in United States history

(Encyclopedia)Fort Henry, Confederate fortification on the Tennessee River, S of the Ky.-Tenn. line; site of the first major Union victory of the Civil War (Feb. 6, 1862). The fort was attacked and reduced by Union...

Indian Removal Act

(Encyclopedia)Indian Removal Act, in U.S. history, law signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830 providing for the general resettlement of Native Americans to lands W of the Mississippi River. From 1830 to 1840 ap...