Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

300 results found

Newport Jazz Festival

(Encyclopedia)Newport Jazz Festival, annual summer music festival, probably the best known of all such festivals, held at Newport, R.I. Originally sponsored by Newport socialites Mr. and Mrs. Louis Lorillard and ja...

Himalayas

(Encyclopedia)Himalayas hĭmälˈəyəz, hĭməlāˈəz [key] [Sanskrit,=abode of snow], great Asian mountain system, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) E from the Indus River in Pakistan through India, the Tibet regi...

Hill, James Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Hill, James Jerome, 1838–1916, American railroad builder, b. Ontario, Canada. He went to St. Paul, Minn., in 1856. He became a partner of Norman Kittson in a steamboat line and, with Kittson, Donald...

Argall, Sir Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Argall, Sir Samuel ärˈgəl [key], d. 1626?, English ship captain, prominent in the early settlement of Virginia. He commanded a ship sent to Jamestown in 1609 and had charge of one of the ships Baro...

Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, astronomical observatory located 35 mi (56 km) S of Tucson, Ariz., at an altitude of 8,500 ft (2,590 m). It is operated jointly by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Obse...

New York, City University of

(Encyclopedia)New York, City University of (CUNY), at New York City; created in 1961 by combining the city's 17 municipal colleges. It includes Bernard M. Baruch College (1919; specializes in business studies), Bro...

Lenox

(Encyclopedia)Lenox, town (1990 pop. 5,069), Berkshire co., W Mass., in the Berkshire Mts., 7 mi (11 km) south of Pittsfield. It is primarily a summer resort. The Tanglewood Music Festival, one of the country's pre...

Tompkins, Douglas Rainsford

(Encyclopedia)Tompkins, Douglas Rainsford, 1943–2015, American business executive, conservationist, and philanthropist, b. Conneaut, Ohio. In 1964, he and his first wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, founded The North F...

Calgary

(Encyclopedia)Calgary kălˈgərē [key], city (2020 pop. 1,239,220), S Alta., Canada, at the confluence of ...

Canberra

(Encyclopedia)Canberra kănˈbərə [key], city (2020 pop. 457,000), capital of Australia, in the Australian Capital Territory, SE ...