Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Nottingham

(Encyclopedia)Nottingham, city and unitary authority (1991 pop. 273,300), central England, on the Trent River. A center of rail and road transportation, the city's most important industries are the manufacture of l...

Dyson, Sir Frank Watson

(Encyclopedia)Dyson, Sir Frank Watson dīˈsən [key], 1868–1939, English astronomer, b. Ashby-de-la-Zouch, grad. Cambridge. He was astronomer royal of Scotland (1905–10) and of England (from 1910). As director...

Chinon

(Encyclopedia)Chinon shēnôNˈ [key], town (1993 est. pop. 8,961), Indre-et-Loire dept., W central France, in Touraine, on the Vienne River. Chinon was an important medieval town and many buildings (notably three ...

chronicle plays

(Encyclopedia)chronicle plays, dramas based upon 16th-century chronicles in English, particularly those of Edward Hall and Raphael Holinshed. These plays became very popular late in the reign of Elizabeth I, when, ...

Challenger

(Encyclopedia)Challenger, U.S. space shuttle. It exploded (Jan. 28, 1986) 73 seconds into its tenth flight, killing all seven crew members, including the first civilian in space, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Th...

executive privilege

(Encyclopedia)executive privilege, exemption of the executive branch of government, or its officers, from having to give evidence, specifically, in U.S. law, the exemption of the president from disclosing informati...

Harrod, James

(Encyclopedia)Harrod, James, 1742–93, American frontiersman, b. Bedford co., Pa. He fought in the French and Indian Wars and in 1773 made a journey down the Ohio River to Kentucky. In 1774 he returned to Kentucky...

Hart, Lorenz Milton

(Encyclopedia)Hart, Lorenz Milton, 1895–1943, American lyricist, b. New York City, studied at Columbia. Hart began collaborating with Richard Rodgers in 1919; their initial success was The Garrick Gaieties (1925)...

Gonzales, Pancho

(Encyclopedia)Gonzales, Pancho (Richard Alonzo Gonzales) gŏnzălˈĭs [key], 1928–95, American tennis player, b. Los Angeles, of Mexican parentage. After two straight wins in both the U.S. lawn and clay court si...

Fleming, Renée

(Encyclopedia)Fleming, Renée, 1959–, American soprano, b. Indiana, Pa. In 1986 she made her professional debut in Salzburg, Austria, in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, and has since performed at Covent Gar...