Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dabo, Leon

(Encyclopedia)Dabo, Leon däˈbō [key], 1868–1960, American painter, b. Detroit. He worked with John La Farge, studied in Paris under Puvis de Chavannes, and was influenced by Whistler and by Japanese landscape ...

Parker, Sir Hyde

(Encyclopedia)Parker, Sir Hyde, 1739–1807, British admiral. In the American Revolution he broke (1776) the defenses of the Hudson River at New York City—an exploit for which he was knighted in 1779. He later he...

Taconic Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Taconic Mountains təkŏnˈĭk [key], range of the Appalachian Mts., extending c.150 mi (240 km) north-south between the Green Mts. and the Hudson Valley along parts of New York's border with Vermont,...

Champlain, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Champlain, Lake, 490 sq mi (1,269 sq km), 125 mi (201 km) long and from 0.5 to 14 mi (0.8–23 km) wide, forming part of the New York–Vermont border and extending into Quebec. Lake Champlain lies in...

Kirkwood gaps

(Encyclopedia)Kirkwood gaps, regions in the asteroid belt within which few asteroids are found. Astronomer Daniel Kirkwood first observed (1886) that few asteroids had an orbital period close to 1⁄2, 1⁄3, or 2...

Heckman, James Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Heckman, James Joseph, 1944– American economist, b. Chicago, Ill., Ph.D. Princeton, 1971. He has taught at the Univ. of Chicago since 1973. Heckman shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Scienc...

Hackney

(Encyclopedia)Hackney, inner borough of Greater London, SE England, on the Lea River. Clothing manufacture (in Hackney) and printing and furniture making (in Shoredit...

Hardin, John

(Encyclopedia)Hardin, John, 1753–92, Native American fighter, b. Fauquier co., Va. He served in Lord Dunmore's War (1774) and was a noted member of Daniel Morgan's riflemen during the Revolution. His services at ...

Sheppard, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Sheppard, Jack, 1702–24, English criminal. Raised in a workhouse, he ran away with Bess Lyon, known as Edgeworth Bess, who, with another girl known as Poll Maggott, incited him to a short but specta...

Smith, Hamilton Othanel

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Hamilton Othanel, 1931–, American biologist, b. New York City, M.D. Johns Hopkins, 1956. A professor at the Univ. of Michigan and Johns Hopkins, Smith worked with Daniel Nathans and Werner Ar...

Browse by Subject