Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

harbor seal

(Encyclopedia)harbor seal, most commonly seen seal of the Northern Hemisphere, Phoca vitulina. Harbor seals are found along coasts and in sheltered bays and harbors of North America, Europe, and NE Asia. They range...

Lloyd, Norman

(Encyclopedia)Lloyd, Norman, 1914-2021, American film and TV actor and director, b. Jersey City, N.J, as Norman Perlmutter. Lloyd began his stage career at age 9 appe...

Lichtenstein, Roy

(Encyclopedia)Lichtenstein, Roy lĭkˈtənstīnˌ [key], 1923–97, American painter, b. New York City. A master of pop art, Lichtenstein derived his subject matter from popular sources such as comic strips, the im...

Baskin, Leonard

(Encyclopedia)Baskin, Leonard, 1922–2000, American sculptor, graphic artist, and teacher, b. New Brunswick, N.J. In sculptural and graphic works that are figurative in style, Baskin's images of a corrupt, bloated...

Howe, William Howe, 5th Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Howe, William Howe, 5th Viscount, 1729–1814, English general in the American Revolution; younger brother of Admiral Richard Howe. He took up a military career, and in the last of the French and Indi...

Van Vechten, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Van Vechten, Carl văn vĕkˈtən [key], 1880–1964, American music critic, novelist, and photographer, b. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Chicago, 1903. While he was a leading music and dance cri...

Erie Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Erie Railroad, rail transportation line designed to connect the mouth of the Hudson River with the Great Lakes region. The New York and Erie RR Company was enfranchised and incorporated in 1832, and c...

Brandeis, Louis Dembitz

(Encyclopedia)Brandeis, Louis Dembitz brănˈdīs [key], 1856–1941, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1916–39), b. Louisville, Ky., grad. Harvard law school, 1877. As a successful Boston lawyer (1879...

Henry, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Henry, Joseph, 1797–1878, American physicist, b. Albany, N.Y., educated at Albany Academy. He taught (1826–32) mathematics and natural philosophy at Albany Academy and was professor of natural phi...

Japanese beetle

(Encyclopedia)Japanese beetle, common name for a destructive beetle, Popillia japonica, of the scarab beetle family. Accidentally imported to the United States from Japan, it was first discovered in New Jersey in 1...

Browse by Subject