Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Oort, Jan Hendrik

(Encyclopedia)Oort, Jan Hendrik ōrt [key], 1900–1992, Dutch astronomer. He confirmed (1927) Bertil Lindblad's theory of the Milky Way galaxy's rotation. In the 1950s he and his colleagues used radio astronomical...

Machilipatnam

(Encyclopedia)Machilipatnam bŭnˈdər [key], city (1991 pop. 159,110), Andhra Pradesh state, E central India, a port on the Bay of Bengal. In the 17th cent. it was a center of French, British, and Dutch trade. It ...

Mackay, Hugh

(Encyclopedia)Mackay, Hugh məkīˈ [key], 1640?–1692, Scottish soldier. After service with several continental armies, he joined the Dutch forces in 1673, took his regiment to England (1685) to help suppress the...

Koxinga

(Encyclopedia)Koxinga kŏksĭngˈgə [key], Mandarin Kuo-hsing-yeh [lord of the imperial surname], 1624–62, Chinese general, whose original name was Chêng Ch'êng-kung. From 1646 to 1660 he led many unsuccessful...

Willem-Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Willem-Alexander, 1967–, king of the Netherlands, eldest son of Queen Beatrix. He served (1985–87) in the navy and graduated (1993)from Leiden Univ.; he has been a member of the International Olym...

York, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)York, city (1990 pop. 42,192), seat of York co., SE Pa., on Codorus Creek, in an agricultural area; laid out 1741, inc. as a city 1887. It is a market, trade, processing, and distribution center in th...

Blaeu, Willem Janszoon

(Encyclopedia)Blaeu, Willem Janszoon vĭˈləm yänˈsōn blou [key], 1571–1638, Dutch cartographer and printer. He studied astronomy and instrument making under the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. The printing es...

Zernike, Frits

(Encyclopedia)Zernike, Frits, 1888–1966, Dutch physicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Amsterdam, 1915. He was on the faculty at the Univ. of Groningen from 1915 until his retirement in 1958. Zernike received the 1953 Nobel Pr...

Unalaska

(Encyclopedia)Unalaska ŭnˌəlăsˈkə, o͞oˌnə– [key], rugged island, 30 mi (48 km) long, off SW Alaska, one of the largest Aleutian Islands. Visited (c.1759) by Russian explorers, the island was a center of ...

Sekondi-Takoradi

(Encyclopedia)Sekondi-Takoradi sĕkˈəndē-täkôräˈdē [key], city (1984 pop. 93,822), capital of the Western Region, SW Ghana, on the Gulf of Guinea. An important seaport and commercial city, Sekondi-Takoradi ...