Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Altman, Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Altman, Sidney, 1939–, Canadian-American molecular biologist, b. Montreal, Ph.D., Univ. of Colorado, 1967. A professor at Yale Univ. since 1971, he discovered that RNA could function as enzymes; it ...

Sewell, Jonathan

(Encyclopedia)Sewell, Jonathan, 1766–1839, Canadian jurist, b. Cambridge, Mass. He was educated in England and emigrated to Canada in 1785. A lawyer, he became attorney general of Lower Canada (Quebec) in 1795 an...

Nelson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Nelson, Robert, 1794–1873, Canadian rebel, b. Montreal; brother of Wolfred Nelson. Like his brother, he was a surgeon in the War of 1812, and with him he entered the Legislative Assembly of Lower Ca...

sun dance

(Encyclopedia)sun dance, ceremony typical of the Plains Indians of North America. The ceremony was performed in the summer and lasted from two to eight days. Some of the ceremony was secret. Smoking, fasting, and o...

Byng, Julian Hedworth George, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy

(Encyclopedia)Byng, Julian Hedworth George, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy vĭmˈē, vēmēˈ [key], 1862–1935, British general. He served in India and South Africa and had several commands in World War I. In Apr., 19...

Brooks Range

(Encyclopedia)Brooks Range, mountain chain, northernmost part of the Rocky Mts., extending about 600 mi (970 km) from east to west across N Alaska. Mt. Chamberlin, 9,020 ft (2,749 m) high, near the Canadian border,...

Gallant, Mavis

(Encyclopedia)Gallant, Mavis (Mavis Leslie Young Gallant) gă-lăntˈ [key], 1922–2014, Canadian writer, b. Montreal. After graduating from high school, she was a newspaper feature writer in Montreal (1944–50),...

Ignatieff, Michael Grant

(Encyclopedia)Ignatieff, Michael Grant ĭgnătˈēəf [key], 1947–, Canadian politician, writer, and academic, b. Toronto, B.A. Univ. of Toronto (1969), Ph.D. Harvard (1976), M.A. Cambridge (1978). He was an assi...

Davies, Robertson

(Encyclopedia)Davies, Robertson (William Robertson Davies) dāˈvĭs [key], 1913–95, Canadian writer and editor. After receiving a B.Litt. from Oxford (1938), he joined the Old Vic Theatre Company before returnin...

Charest, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Charest, Jean zhäN shäˈrĕ [key], 1958–, Canadian politician. A lawyer and member of the Progressive Conservative party, he was a member of parliament from Quebec from 1984. From 1986 to 1993 Cha...