Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

298 results found

Millikan, Robert Andrews

(Encyclopedia)Millikan, Robert Andrews mĭlˈĭkən [key], 1868–1953, American physicist and educator, b. Morrison, Ill., grad. Oberlin College, 1891, Ph.D. Columbia, 1895, studied in Germany. He taught (1896–1...

Cambridge, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Cambridge, city and district, Cambridgeshire, E central England, on the River Cam. The city, set in flat country, is most famous as the site of the Univ...

Patterson

(Encyclopedia)Patterson, family of American journalists. Robert Wilson Patterson, 1850–1910, b. Chicago, grad. Williams, 1871, became (1871) a reporter on the Chicago Times and after 1873 was attached to the Chic...

Holly, Buddy

(Encyclopedia)Holly, Buddy, 1936–59, American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, b. Lubbock, Tex., as Charles Hardin Holley. He performed country and western m...

American Civil Liberties Union

(Encyclopedia)American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Founded (1920) by such prominent figur...

Museum of Fine Arts

(Encyclopedia)Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, chartered and incorporated (1870) after a decision by the Boston Athenæum, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pool their collections of art objects...

Abruzzi

(Encyclopedia)Abruzzi äbro͞otˈtsē [key], region, 4,167 sq mi (10,793 sq km), central Italy, bordering on the Adriatic Sea in the east. L'Aquila is the capital of the region, which i...

New Journalism

(Encyclopedia)New Journalism, intensely subjective approach to journalistic writing prevalent in the United States during the 1960s and 70s, incorporating stylistic techniques associated with fiction in order to pr...

Ayckbourn, Sir Alan

(Encyclopedia)Ayckbourn, Sir Alan ākˈbôrn [key], 1939–, English playwright and director, b. London. One of Britain's most successful and prolific dramatists, he had his first play produced in 1959 and since th...

Southampton

(Encyclopedia)Southampton, city and unitary authority (2011 pop. 236,882), S England, at the head of Southampton Water. Southampton is Britain's second largest port. The London-Southampton railway, finished in 1840...