Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

470 results found

Kunitz, Stanley Jasspon

(Encyclopedia)Kunitz, Stanley Jasspon kyo͞oˈnĭts [key], 1905–2006, American poet, teacher, and editor, b. Worcester, Mass. He graduated from Harvard (B.A., 1926; M.A., 1927), worked as a journalist and editor,...

bubble chamber

(Encyclopedia)bubble chamber, device for detecting charged particles and other radiation by means of tracks of bubbles left in a chamber filled with liquid hydrogen or other liquefied gas. It was invented in 1952 b...

Rehnquist, William Hubbs

(Encyclopedia)Rehnquist, William Hubbs rĕnˈkwĭst [key], 1924–2005, American public official, 16th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1986–2005), b. Milwaukee, Wis., as William Donald Rehnquist. After r...

Hare, Sir David

(Encyclopedia)Hare, Sir David, 1947–, British playwright. Hare is a prominent member of the British theatrical left. A founder of the Portable Theatre and the Joint Stock, he became resident dramatist at the Roya...

James, Jesse

(Encyclopedia)James, Jesse (Woodson), 1847–82, American outlaw, b. Clay co., Mo. At the age of 15 he joined the Confederate guerrilla band led by William Quantrill and participated in the brutal and bloody civil ...

Tutankhamen

(Encyclopedia)Tutankhamen or Tutenkhamon to͞otˌängkäˈmən, –ĕngk– [key], fl. c.1350 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, of the XVIII dynasty. He was the son-in-law of Ikhnaton and succeeded to the throne after a...

Work Projects Administration

(Encyclopedia)Work Projects Administration (WPA), former U.S. government agency, established in 1935 by executive order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the Works Progress Administration; it was renamed th...

Wright brothers

(Encyclopedia)Wright brothers, American airplane inventors and aviation pioneers. Orville Wright 1871–1948, was born in Dayton, Ohio, and Wilbur Wright, 1867–1912, near New Castle, Ind. Their interest in aviati...

Browse by Subject