Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

486 results found

Engelbart, Douglas Carl

(Encyclopedia)Engelbart, Douglas Carl, 1925–2013, American engineer and inventor, b. Portland, Oreg., Ph.D Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1955. He was a radar technician in the navy during World War II and an ele...

Exmouth, Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Exmouth, Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount pəlyo͞oˈ, ĕkˈsməth [key], 1757–1833, English admiral. He entered the navy in 1770 and served in both the American Revolutionary War and the subsequent Brit...

Pago Pago

(Encyclopedia)Pago Pago pängˈō pängˈō, pängˈgō pängˈgō [key], town (1990 pop. 10,640) and capital of American Samoa, on the Southern shore of Tutuila island. Pago Pago has an excellent, landlocked harbo...

Wilkinson, Charles Burnham

(Encyclopedia)Wilkinson, Charles Burnham (Bud Wilkinson), 1916–94, American football coach, b. Minneapolis, Minn. He was an all-around athlete at the Univ. of Minnesota and later was assistant football coach at S...

Yost, Ed

(Encyclopedia)Yost, Ed (Paul Edward Yost), 1919–2007, American balloonist, b. Bristow, Iowa, grad. Boeing School of Aeronautics, 1940. The father of modern hot-air ballooning, Yost pioneered the used of propane (...

Vernon, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Vernon, Edward, 1684–1757, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1700 and rose steadily in rank. A member of Parliament from 1722, he opposed the government of Sir Robert Walpole and urged war wit...

artillery

(Encyclopedia)artillery, originally meant any large weaponry (including such ancient engines of war as catapults and battering rams) or war material, but later applied only to heavy firearms as opposed to small arm...

Decatur, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Decatur, Stephen dēkāˈtər [key], 1779–1820, American naval officer, b. Sinepuxent, near Berlin, Md.; son of a naval officer, Stephen Decatur. After joining the U.S. navy in 1798, he rose to fame...

Byrd, Richard Evelyn

(Encyclopedia)Byrd, Richard Evelyn, 1888–1957, American aviator and polar explorer, b. Winchester, Va. He took up aviation in 1917, and after World War I he gained great fame in the air. He commanded the naval ai...

McKay, Donald

(Encyclopedia)McKay, Donald məkāˈ, məkīˈ [key], 1810–80, American shipbuilder, b. Nova Scotia. He opened his own shipyard in Newburyport, Mass., in 1841, then moved to Boston in 1845. He grew celebrated as ...