Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ting, Samuel Chao Chung

(Encyclopedia)Ting, Samuel Chao Chung, 1936–, American physicist, b. Ann Arbor, Mich., Ph.D. Univ. of Michigan 1962. Ting was a professor at Columbia from 1965 to 1969, when he joined the faculty at the Massachus...

Schwinger, Julian Seymour

(Encyclopedia)Schwinger, Julian Seymour, 1918–94, American physicist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Columbia, 1939. He was a professor at the Univ. of California, Berkeley (1939–47) and worked under J. Robert Oppenhe...

Proclus

(Encyclopedia)Proclus prōˈkləs [key], 410?–485, Neoplatonic philosopher, b. Constantinople. He studied at Alexandria and at Athens, where he was a pupil of the Platonist Syrianus, whom he succeeded as a teache...

life

(Encyclopedia)life, although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and ...

brown dwarf

(Encyclopedia)brown dwarf, in astronomy, celestial body that is larger than a planet but does not have sufficient mass to convert hydrogen into helium via nuclear fusion as stars do. Also called “failed stars,”...

Bering Sea

(Encyclopedia)Bering Sea, c.878,000 sq mi (2,274,020 sq km), northward extension of the Pacific Ocean between Siberia and Alaska. It is screened from the Pacific proper by the Aleutian Islands. The Bering Strait co...

Alsop, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Alsop, Joseph ôlˈsəp [key], 1910–89, and Alsop, Stewart, 1914–74, American political journalists, b. Avon, Conn. Joseph joined (1932) the New York Herald Tribune as a staff reporter and moved (...

Eberhart, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Eberhart, Richard ĕbˈərhärtˌ [key], 1904–2005, American poet, b. Austin, Minn., grad. Dartmouth (1926) and Cambridge (1929, 1933). He taught at various universities before becoming a professor ...

Constantine, Donation of

(Encyclopedia)Constantine, Donation of, Lat. Constitutum Constantini, forged document, probably drafted in the 8th cent. It purported to be a grant by Roman Emperor Constantine I of great temporal power in Italy an...

Clark, Tom Campbell

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Tom Campbell, 1899–1977, U.S. attorney general (1945–49), associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1949–67), b. Dallas, Tex.; father of Ramsey Clark. He received his law degree from t...