Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Adams, Samuel Hopkins

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 1871–1958, American author, b. Dunkirk, N.Y., grad. Hamilton College, 1891. He was a reporter for the New York Sun (1891–1900) and then joined McClure's Magazine, where he g...

Adhara

(Encyclopedia)Adhara ădhârˈə [key], bright star in the constellation Canis Major; Bayer designation ε Canis Majoris; 1992 position R.A. 6h58.3m, Dec. −31°54′. A bluish-white giant (spectral class B2 II) w...

thunder

(Encyclopedia)thunder, sound produced along a path of a lightning flash, caused by the rapid heating and expansion of the adjacent air; lightning can heat air to temperatures as much as five times hotter than those...

Balmont, Konstantin Dmitrieyevich

(Encyclopedia)Balmont, Konstantin Dmitrieyevich kənstəntyēnˈ dəmēˈtrēəvĭch bälˈmônt [key], 1867–1943, Russian poet and translator. After first hailing the Bolshevik revolution, he repudiated it and l...

Sillanpää, Frans Eemil

(Encyclopedia)Sillanpää, Frans Eemil fräns āˈmĭl sĭlˈlänpăˌ [key], 1888–1964, Finnish novelist. As a young man Sillanpää studied natural science at Helsinki and came under the influence of an artisti...

Aberdare

(Encyclopedia)Aberdare ăbərdârˈ [key], Welsh Aberdâr, town , Rhondda Cynon Taff, S Wales. Originally a processing center for iron and coal, Aberdare has become the service center a...

Dessie

(Encyclopedia)Dessie, Dessye, or Dese all: dĕsˈyā [key], town, capital of Wallo prov., central Ethi...

Cobre, El

(Encyclopedia)Cobre, El ĕl kōˈbrā [key], town, Santiago de Cuba prov., SE Cuba, in a high valley of the Sierra Maestra. Once famous for rich copper mines (hence the name El Cobre), it is chiefly noted for a shr...

Johnston, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Johnston, Mary, 1870–1936, American novelist, b. Buchanan, Va. Her books combine romance with history. She is chiefly remembered for To Have and to Hold (1900), a story of colonial Virginia, and its...

Minnesota, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Minnesota, river, 332 mi (534 km) long, rising in Big Stone Lake at the W boundary of Minnesota and flowing SE to Mankato, then NE to the Mississippi S of Minneapolis. Earlier called the St. Peter or ...