Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Horrocks, Jeremiah

(Encyclopedia)Horrocks or Horrox, Jeremiah both: hŏrˈəks [key], 1618?–1641, English astronomer. He made the first observation of the transit of Venus. His Venus in sole visa, which narrates this experience, wa...

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn

(Encyclopedia)Gruffydd ap Llywelyn or Llewelyn grĭfˈĭᵺ äp hləwĕlˈĭn, lo͞oĕlˈĭn [key], d. 1063, ruler of Wales (1039–63). A series of campaigns against other Welsh princes made him the ruler of virtu...

gas mask

(Encyclopedia)gas mask, face covering or device used to protect the wearer from injurious gases and other noxious materials by filtering and purifying inhaled air. In addition to military use (see chemical warfare)...

montage

(Encyclopedia)montage mŏntäzhˈ, Fr. môNtäzhˈ [key], the art and technique of motion-picture editing in which contrasting shots or sequences are used to effect emotional or intellectual responses. It was devel...

Metcalfe, Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Metcalfe, Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 1st Baron, 1785–1846, British colonial administrator, b. India. He entered the Indian civil service as a young man, rose quickly, and was provisional governor-...

Newlands, Francis Griffith

(Encyclopedia)Newlands, Francis Griffith, 1848–1917, American legislator, b. Natchez, Miss. After practicing law in San Francisco from 1870, he moved (1888) to Nevada. He became well known for his interest in irr...

Lucas, Robert Emerson, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Lucas, Robert Emerson, Jr., 1937–2023, American economist, b. Yakima, Wash., Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1964. Lucas taught at Carnegie Mellon Univ. (1963...

Lippman, Gabriel Jonas

(Encyclopedia)Lippman, Gabriel Jonas, 1845–1921, French physicist, Ph.D. Sorbonne, 1875. He was a professor at the Sorbonne from 1883 until his death in 1921. Lippman received the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physics for ...

Palm Springs

(Encyclopedia)Palm Springs, city (1990 pop. 40,181), Riverside co., S Calif.; founded 1876, inc. 1938. It is a verdant desert oasis and a resort with classic mid-20th cent. architecture (known as Mid-Century Modern...

Wandering Jew, in legend

(Encyclopedia)Wandering Jew, in literary and popular legend, a Jew who mocked or mistreated Jesus while he was on his way to the cross and who was condemned therefore to a life of wandering on earth until Judgment ...