Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Udall, Stewart Lee

(Encyclopedia)Udall, Stewart Lee yo͞oˈdôl [key], 1920–2010, U.S. cabinet member and environmentalist, b. St. Johns, Ariz. After serving in World War II, Udall practiced law in Tucson until elected to the U.S. ...

Ostrom, Elinor Awan

(Encyclopedia)Ostrom, Elinor Awan, 1933–2012, American political economist, b. Los Angeles, Ph.D. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, 1965. She was on the faculty of the Univ. of Indiana, Bloomington, from 1965 unt...

Bellah, Robert Neelly

(Encyclopedia)Bellah, Robert Neelly bĕlˈə [key],1927–2013, American sociologist and educator. He was educated at Harvard (Ph.D., 1955) and taught there before becoming Elliot professor of sociology at the Univ...

Wen Jiabao

(Encyclopedia)Wen Jiabao wĕnˈ jyäˈbouˈ [key], 1942–, Chinese political leader, b. Tianjin. Originally a geologist, he worked for the Gansu provincial geological bureau (1968–82), where he was the head of i...

Sichuan

(Encyclopedia)Sichuan or Szechwan sŭˈchwänˈ [key] [four rivers], province (2010 pop. 80,418,200), c.220,000 sq mi (569,800 sq km), SW China. The capital is Chengdu. A naturally isolated region surrounded by mou...

ironclad

(Encyclopedia)ironclad, mid-19th-century wooden warship protected from gunfire by iron armor. The success of the ironclad when first employed by the French in the Crimean War sparked a naval armor and armaments rac...

Peterson, Roger Tory

(Encyclopedia)Peterson, Roger Tory, 1908–96, American ornithologist, writer, and illustrator, b. Jamestown, N.Y. He became famous with his best-selling pocket-sized Field Guide to the Birds (1934) and is known fo...

Noether, Emmy

(Encyclopedia)Noether, Emmy (Amalie Emmy Noether) ämälˈyə ĕmˈē nöˈtər [key], 1882–1935, German mathematician, b. Erlangen, Germany, grad. Univ. of Erlangen (Ph.D. 1908). She made important contributions...

Kassebaum-Baker, Nancy Landon

(Encyclopedia)Kassebaum-Baker, Nancy Landon kăsˈəbômˌ, –boumˌ [key], 1932–, U.S. senator from Kansas (1979–97), b. Topeka, Kans. A Republican and the daughter of Kansas governor Alfred Mossman (Alf) Lan...

Kenai Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Kenai Peninsula kēˈnī [key], S Alaska, jutting c.150 mi (240 km) into the Gulf of Alaska, between Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet. The Kenai Mts., c.7,000 ft (2,130 m) high, occupy most of the ...

Browse by Subject