Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Roberts, Elizabeth Madox

(Encyclopedia)Roberts, Elizabeth Madox, 1886–1941, American poet and novelist, b. Perryville, Ky., grad. Univ. of Chicago, 1921. She is best known for her novels and stories of the Kentucky mountain people, whose...

Buys Ballot, Christoph Heinrich Diedrich

(Encyclopedia)Buys Ballot, Christoph Heinrich Diedrich krĭsˈtôf hīnˈrĭkh dēdˈrĭkh boisˈ bälōˈ [key], 1817–90, Dutch meteorologist. Director of the Dutch Royal Meteorological Institute after 1854, he ...

Russell, Bill

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Bill (William Felton Russell), 1934–, American basketball player, b. Monroe, La. Named an All-American while on the Univ. of San Francisco team, he played on the gold-medal-winning U.S. tea...

Pinophyta

(Encyclopedia)Pinophyta pīˌnŏfˈətə [key], division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called gymnosperms. The gymnosperms, a group that includes the pine, have stems, roots and leaves...

Hughes, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, Richard, 1900–1976, English novelist. After graduating from Oxford in 1922, he helped found the Portmadoc Players and was for a time vice president of the Welsh National Theatre. In addition...

Howard, Sidney Coe

(Encyclopedia)Howard, Sidney Coe, 1891–1939, American dramatist, b. Oakland, Calif., grad. Univ. of California, 1915, and studied under George Pierce Baker at Harvard. His first successful play was They Knew What...

Hilprecht, Hermann Volrath

(Encyclopedia)Hilprecht, Hermann Volrath hĕrˈmän fôlˈrät hĭlˈprĕkht [key], 1859–1925, American Assyriologist, b. Germany; Ph.D. Univ. of Leipzig, 1883. He is noted as an authority on cuneiform writing. H...

Macdonald, George

(Encyclopedia)Macdonald, George, 1824–1905, Scottish author. Ordained a Congregational minister, he eventually abandoned his vocation to become a writer and freelance preacher. His first published works were seve...

March, Fredric

(Encyclopedia)March, Fredric, 1897–1975, American actor, b. Racine, Wis., as Frederick McIntyre Bickel. Equally distinguished on stage and screen, he won Academy Awards for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and The ...

outrigger

(Encyclopedia)outrigger, canoe-type vessel with a wood or bamboo float attached to the side of the craft and extending out over the water. The term outrigger also refers to the float itself. The craft is used throu...