Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cowper, William

(Encyclopedia)Cowper, William ko͞oˈpər, kouˈ– [key], 1731–1800, English poet. Physically and emotionally unfit for the professional life, he was admitted to the bar but never practiced. After a battle with ...

Butaritari

(Encyclopedia)Butaritari māˈkĭn, mŭgˈĭn [key], triangular atoll (4.5 sq mi/11.7 sq km), central Pacific, in the ...

Carte, Richard D'Oyly

(Encyclopedia)Carte, Richard D'Oyly doiˈlē kärt [key], 1844–1901, English impresario. His choice of presentations did much to raise the level of English musical theater. In 1875 he produced Trial by Jury, the ...

dyne

(Encyclopedia)dyne dīn [key], unit of force in the cgs system of units, which is based on the metric system; an acceleration of 1 centimeter per second per second is produced when a force of 1 dyne is exerted on a...

MacInnes, Helen

(Encyclopedia)MacInnes, Helen: see under Highet, Gilbert. ...

inertia

(Encyclopedia)inertia ĭnûrˈshə [key], in physics, the resistance of a body to any alteration in its state of motion, i.e., the resistance of a body at rest to being set in motion or of a body in motion to any c...

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de

(Encyclopedia)Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de pyĕr lwē môrōˈ də mōpĕrtüēˈ [key], 1698–1759, French mathematician and astronomer. For his skillful support of Newton's theory he was admitted to the Ro...

Whiston, William

(Encyclopedia)Whiston, William, 1667–1752, English clergyman and mathematician. He won favor through his New Theory of the Earth (1696) and in 1701 was made deputy to Sir Isaac Newton, whom he succeeded (1703) as...

Lewis, rivers, United States and Canada

(Encyclopedia)Lewis. 1 Early name of the Snake River. 2 River, c.95 mi (155 km) long, rising in the Cascade Range, SW Wash., and flowing SW to the Columbia River NW of Vancouver. Three privately owned dams furnish ...

Browse by Subject