Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Perrault, Claude

(Encyclopedia)Perrault, Claude pĕrōˈ [key], 1613–88, French architect, scientist, and physician. One of the most eminent French scholars of his time, he advanced the study of anatomy and made other scientific...

Victoria, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Victoria, city (1991 pop. 71,228), capital of British Columbia, SW Canada, on Vancouver Island and Juan de Fuca Strait. It is the largest city on the island and its major port and business center. In ...

Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm frēdˈrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm bĕsˈəl [key], 1784–1846, German astronomer and mathematician. He became (1810) director of the new observatory at Königsberg and professor of a...

Weiss, Rainer

(Encyclopedia)Weiss, Rainer, 1932–, American physicist, b. Berlin, Germany, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1962. Weiss has been on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1964...

Paiute

(Encyclopedia)Paiute pīo͞otˈ [key], two distinct groups of Native North Americans speaking languages belonging to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native A...

Tasman Glacier

(Encyclopedia)Tasman Glacier, largest glacier of New Zealand, 18 mi (29 km) long and 5.6 mi (9 km) wide, on the South Island, in the Southern Alps. It flows SE to the Tasman River. Ski meets are held there. ...

University Park

(Encyclopedia)University Park, city (1990 pop. 22,259), Dallas co., N Tex., surrounded by Dallas on three sides; inc. 1924. A residential suburb, the city is the seat of Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Love Field A...

Brittan, Sir Leon

(Encyclopedia)Brittan, Sir Leon brĭtˈən [key], 1939–, British politician. Educated at Cambridge, he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 1974. Under Margaret Thatcher he served as home secretary (198...

Marcy, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Marcy, Mount, 5,344 ft (1,629 m) high, NE N.Y., in the Adirondack Mts.; highest peak in the state. Lake Tear of the Clouds, on its southern slope, is the source of the main headstream of the Hudson Ri...

Eyre Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Eyre Peninsula, 200 mi (322 km) long, southern South Australia state, Australia, between Spencer Gulf and the Great Australian Bight. There are large iron ore deposits in the Middleback Range near Why...

Browse by Subject