Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Homer

(Encyclopedia)Homer, principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet. The Odyssey is written in 24 books and begins nearly ten years after the fall of Troy. In the first part, Telemachus, Od...

London Company

(Encyclopedia)London Company, corporation composed of stockholders residing in and about London, which, together with the Plymouth Company (see Virginia Company), was granted (1606) a charter by King James I to fou...

Wharton, Edith Newbold Jones

(Encyclopedia)Wharton, Edith Newbold Jones, 1862–1937, American novelist, b. New York City, noted for her subtle, ironic, and superbly crafted fictional studies of New York society at the turn of the 20th cent. T...

Collins, Patricia Hill

(Encyclopedia)Collins, Patricia Hill, 1948–, American sociologist and social theorist, b. Philadelphia, Ph.D. Brandeis University, 1984. A noted ...

Hazlitt, William

(Encyclopedia)Hazlitt, William, 1778–1830, English essayist. The son of a reform-mindeed Unitarian minister, he abandoned the idea of entering the clergy and took up painting, philosophy, and later journalism. He...

Huy

(Encyclopedia)Huy üēˈ [key], Du. Hoie, commune, Liège prov., E Belgium, on the Meuse River; founded in ...

Green, George

(Encyclopedia)Green, George, 1793–1841, English mathematician and physicist. He was largely self-taught until, in 1833, he entered Caius College, Cambridge. In addition to making a number of contributions to the ...

Makhachkala

(Encyclopedia)Makhachkala məkhächˌkəläˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 317,000), capital of Dagestan Republic, SE European Russia, a port on the Caspian Sea. It is an important commercial and industrial center with o...

McLennan, Sir John Cunningham

(Encyclopedia)McLennan, Sir John Cunningham, 1867–1935, Canadian physicist, grad. Univ. of Toronto (B.A., 1892; Ph.D., 1900). He taught at the Univ. of Toronto from 1892 to 1932, was professor of physics from 190...

Lynn Canal

(Encyclopedia)Lynn Canal, natural inlet, c.90 mi (145 km) long, 7–12 mi (11–19 km) wide, SE Alaska. It connects in the S with Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage and thrusts north between mountains to break fin...

Browse by Subject