Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Empedocles

(Encyclopedia)Empedocles ĕmpĕdˈəklēz [key], c.495–c.435 b.c., Greek philosopher, b. Acragas (present Agrigento), Sicily. Leader of the democratic faction in his native city, he was offered the crown, which h...

Feld, Eliot

(Encyclopedia)Feld, Eliot, 1942–, American dancer and choreographer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. As a teenager he danced in musicals, notably West Side Story on Broadway and film, and on television. While a dancer (1963–...

Haleakala Observatories

(Encyclopedia)Haleakala Observatories häˌlāäˌkäläˈ [key], astronomical facilities located on the summit of Haleakala volcano, 10,023 ft (3,055 m), in Haleakala National Park, Maui island, Hawaii. Because of...

Giedion, Sigfried

(Encyclopedia)Giedion, Sigfried zēkhˈfrēd gēˈdēôn [key], 1883–1968, Swiss historian of architecture. Giedion was a student of Heinrich Wölfflin and close associate of Walter Gropius. He was a key figure o...

Fomalhaut

(Encyclopedia)Fomalhaut fōˈməlhôtˌ [key], brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (southern fish); Bayer designation Alpha Piscis Austrini; 1992 position R.A. 22h57.3m, Dec. −29°39′. A white,...

Jodrell Bank Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Jodrell Bank Observatory jôdˈrəl [key], observatory for radio astronomy located at Jodrell Bank, Macclesfield, England. Founded in 1945 on the site of a botanical experiment station, it is administ...

Pentastomida

(Encyclopedia)Pentastomida pĕnˈtəstōˌmə [key], tongue worms, small phylum of fewer than 100 species of parasites living in the upper respiratory passages of reptiles, and occasionally of birds and mammals. Th...

mansard roof

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mansard roof mansard roof mănˈsärd [key], type of roof, so named because it was frequently used by the French architect François Mansart. It was not devised by him but was used early in th...

portico

(Encyclopedia)portico pôrˈtĭkō [key], roofed space using columns or posts, generally included between a wall and a row of columns or between two rows of columns. In Greece the stoa was a portico of the first ty...

Smoot, George Fitzgerald, 3d

(Encyclopedia)Smoot, George Fitzgerald, 3d smo͞ot [key], 1945–, American astrophysicist, b. Jacksonville, Fl., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1970. Smoot has been a professor at the Univ. of Califor...

Browse by Subject